I keep seeing posts here and in other forums criticising
MIM Fenders about different aspects.
...
- How does someone find a good MIM Fender?
- What actually is better/worse? Is it the build quality? Is it the wood quality? Is it only the tone? Is it the workmanship? Is there a secret serial number to be deciphered on the good ones (lol)?
- How much do these aspects differ amongst these basses (same design, different series/brand)? For example, maybe the wood is far superior in MIAs but what about the electronics?
- Is there really a huge gap between the good and bad MIMs or is it exaggerated? How much can two MIMs be different?
- Lets say that you ordered one online, do you think that its pure luck to actually get a good MIM? Or is it your bad luck that you got an exceptionally bad one? What are the odds of ending up with a bad one when picking blindly?
- Finally, what are your opinions about the latest (2018) MIM Fenders.
I know that there are people who are going to say that
'go try before you buy' and they are right. But what I want to know is your personal experiences when you went out to try these. Musicians here have probably tried thousands of basses in total which is more than I will ever see in my life. I am aware that it is always better to try yourself if you can.
I've been playing bass for over 20 years and I've played, owned and borrowed all makes and models of different basses. The MIM basses that I own I absolutely love. My main two gigging instruments for the better part of my time playing have been MIM basses, although they are former shadows of what they started out as.
While MIMs used to be a much better value, IMO, compared to what they are today, there are still some great values built into some of them. I'm not as big of a fan of the newer basic model MIMs because I feel that they don't justify the price anymore. When the basic models used to go for between $300-400, they were a killer value, I got my 96 MIM used for about $150 and it's been my main bass for nearly 20 years! These days, they're just too expensive for what they offer. I feel like a lot of the import companies offer much more value per dollar on a sheet of paper than the basic MIM models do. I'd much rather get a Sire, G&L Tribute, Lakland Skyline or higher end Squier for the cost than a basic model MIM.
To give you an example of my experience: about 3 years ago the new Sterling stingray copies came out and I walked into a GC with cash in hand to buy a new Fender Deluxe MIM P-Bass (seafoam green, maple neck with black block inlays, himass bridge and active PJ pups!). After spending some time with the bass in the store and messing around on a handful of other basses in the story, I gave the Sterling Ray a try. I was absolutely floored by the fact that this low cost import licensed Stingray played just as well as and had workmanship that was easily on par with the much more expensive MIM Deluxe bass. I weighed some of my options and took home the Sub Ray. I haven't looked back since. The Sub Ray got me over my Fender-lust because it made me realize that the value isn't there anymore for MIM Fenders.
There's a lot of "try before you buy" advice out there, and I completely agree with it. You might try out a basic model MIM and absolutely fall in love with it, but for the cost of a MIM Fender you can get something so much more robust and versatile. If I start aching for a 70's inlay neck on a Pbass again, I'll just get a Squier I've decided. There's nothing inherently bad about the MIM Fender basses, they're just dinosaurs in a human's world these days.
As far as American made Fenders go: They've always been a crapshoot as for whether or not they'll actually out perform a MIM bass for me. I got a MIM Deluxe back in 2002 that was clearly made using mostly American parts. The only parts on the bass that actually fit "Mexican" specs at the time were the pick guard, pots and tuners, everything else on it was American spec. That made me very wary of the value of MIA Fenders outside of the higher end range. When I got my MIJ Mustang and it outplayed my original Musicmaster and had better fit and finish than my MIA Jazz, I dropped my MIA Jazz and Musicmaster on Ebay pretty fast. I miss the MIJ Mustang... sad. I wanted a super versatile gigging bass that would do just about any sound that I could muster out of it and I started digging around for a Fender MIA Deluxe P with the active humbucker pups, figuring it would be a versatility monster and just be baller. I ended buying a MIK G&L Tribute L2000 that did everything and anything under the sun, except look the way I wanted it to for less than half the price of the MIA Deluxe. (God, I miss that bass...). And when five string fever came calling, I started my search with Fender Deluxe 5 string models and EB Musicman basses, I ended up with an MIK Ibanez SR505 because it was less than half the price of the EB and Fenders and has way more range of tone.
MIM and MIA Fenders aren't inherently bad instruments. After 20 years of experience and owning a huge array of basses, MIM and MIA Fenders just don't offer any value for myself. Yeah, my two mains are 02 and 96 MIM P-basses, but they're hardly stock and they're the two basses that have remained in my stable through thick and thin.
TL;DR: I've been around Fender basses for a long time, I just don't think they're a good value with the improvements in the import market and the fact that Fender prices remain relatively high for fewer features.
