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ANY love out there for MIM's?

#61
I have a MIM '50s P bass that I got back in Early Dec, and it's my main gigging bass now, I love this bass. I've also used it on a recording session. The neck feels great, has a excellent fret job, has that classic P bass sound, and it's lighter than both of my AVRI P basses.

Bassically, Michael
 

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#67
I really love my '96 " Black Label " MIM Precision. I shimmed the neck, added Labella DTF, gold annodized PG, & most recently a Geezer Butler EMG pickup. This P has never sounded so good & the action is low & sweet. The only reason I think I'd buy an American Standard is due to the " Made in USA " on the headstock.
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#68
OldCityBassman said:
Interesting observation, are the new Squier's better quality than the mim and would Fender let that happen since their name is on the mim?
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That's hard to say. One, it's a signature bass and Matt Freeman made his own demands on the quality. Two, it's built overseas and the money they save on labor they can put into pickups and other stuff. Three, the factory the Matt Freeman came out of seems to be skilled because everybody is saying the same thing about the bass. The MIM P-Bass I played the other day had a floppy E-String and that's a deal breaker for me because I play hard. The E-string on my MF bass is nice and taught. The PU's are thunderous and the finish and fretwork are very good. It also comes with the high-mass bridge, which used to be an upgrade.
 
#70
tjh said:
yup, note the date stamp in the neck pocket, July 26 of '01 .. this is past the mid '01 point that I mentioned above, and would probably have been entered as a completed bass into the Fender system early in August '01 ... these are considered changes made for the '02 model year, which also happened to be the first year of the 4 year run for Blue Agave as an offered color ... your bass will also have the solid shaft pots, top-hat style set screw knobs, and the raised A & D pole pups to fit that longer bridge routing .. and an alder wood body ...
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Wow you know your MIMs ! It did have those things before I removed them .Those were 4 fantastic years :cool:
 
#74
There are a lot of great deals to be had on MIM Fender instruments since they carry this weird online stigma that they suck. Middle Child of the Fender line - not a Great American (aka The Best), not a wunderkind Squier CV (aka Such incredible deals I can't even belieeeeve it!). MIM do not suck in any way, but very often have poor setups from stores or years of sitting around and are then purchased by younger or inexperienced players who don't know what they're doing, who then badmouth them. Generally you really don't need to mod them, you just need to set them up, adjust your pedals and amp to cooperate, and then play them as well as you can. I gigged full time for a few years on a very boring MIM Jazz bass, and never once was asked to leave.

If you forget about exquisite finishes and pickups that don't require the overwhelming task of adjusting an amp a tiny little bit and get a good setup, these are functionally about as good as anything, which is exactly as good as you can play them. People do realise pickup height is adjustable too, right? Wow, I sound like Old Man Ranter. Whatever, I'm right. Short Answer: I think MIM are pretty nice overall and like anything have some real gems, never judge by a headstock, play the thing whydoncha.
 
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#75
I bought a MIM P a couple of months ago because I couldn't handle not having a P any longer. I have an American J (2008) and a Squier J VM V (2010) and both are good. Sometimes I wonder if I paid too much for the American or got a super deal on the Squier. They are different, but both sound great. I found the Squier to be a bit brighter than I liked, so I strung it with flats. I didn't want to spend the money for an American P, so I found a 3 color MIM at GC and replaced the hideous white guard with a tort from All Parts. It looks really good and plays and sounds as good as any P I have ever owned. I don't plan any mods for it. It is now my #1 goto. The American J is my backup or used when I want a J sound and the Squier is for when I need a 5 or I want the flat thud.
But, to me the rule is play it before you buy it.
 
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#76
From personal experience i had one good MIM Jazz and one heap of junk (just badly put together with cheap parts), so it might be a quality control or parts supply issue in their Mexican plant. I see a lot of nice basses there guys and I'm happy for all of you that got good ones :)

But on the issue of Fender basses in general, there are lost and lots of other manufacturers out there now manufacturing jazz or P 'type' basses, very often to a superior quality than the MIM fenders (or even MIA) at the same price. I can just think of PRS, Sandberg(F.East), Fame(Poland), Warwicks(Korea) etc. I think Id go for one of these if I had the money for a MIM fender. I know they dont have the same 'cool' factor, but if they play great and sound great who cares.
 
#77
Noot said:
I had a MIM P-bass once. It was the most poorly bass I had ever seen. Screws came off it all the time, the truss rod wasn't trussing anything anymore and the volume only had two options: max or off. Sound was good but still, I haven't considered any MIM since.
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With all the praise they've been getting, here and on many other threads, I'm going to make an educated guess and say you probably got a lemon. It happens, and not just in the MIM models. Eventually, any factory, model or line will produce a bad one that somehow slips past Quality Control.

Just out of curiosity, Noot, did you take said P-Bass in for maintenance and a proper set-up?
 
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#78
Malak the Mad said:
With all the praise they've been getting, here and on many other threads, I'm going to make an educated guess and say you probably got a lemon. It happens, and not just in the MIM models. Eventually, any factory, model or line will produce a bad one that somehow slips past Quality Control.

Just out of curiosity, Noot, did you take said P-Bass in for maintenance and a proper set-up?
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Well this is the problem with their Quality Control. Lemons shouldn't be getting through. Everyone knows a dissatisfied customer tells 10 others of their bad experiences. I'm sure there are fine MIM basses out there aswell.
 
#79
Quilbert said:
Well this is the problem with their Quality Control. Lemons shouldn't be getting through. Everyone knows a dissatisfied customer tells 10 others of their bad experiences. I'm sure there are fine MIM basses out there aswell.
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Very true, but I'm mainly speaking about the Law of Averages. A 100% win-to-loss ratio is impossible to maintain, especially over the long reach of decades in production. Fortunately for all of us who wield our MIM's without shame, Fender (and yes, even Squier) apparently made a huge effort to upgrade and maintain their QC somewhere around 2008.
 

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