Mexican Strat vs. American Strat: What’s the Difference?

Can anyone explain the difference between Mexican-made Fender Stratocasters and American-made Fender Stratocasters?

Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**

Join now for unlimited access

US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year

UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year

Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year

*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription

Join now for unlimited access

Prices from £2.99/$3.99/€3.49

Since 1980, Guitar World has been the ultimate resource for guitarists. Whether you want to learn the techniques employed by your guitar heroes, read about their latest projects or simply need to know which guitar is the right one to buy, Guitar World is the place to look.

Latest

Photo of Jennifer FINCH and L7 and Donita SPARKS, Donita Sparks and Jennifer Finch performing on stage

“The crowd got ugly – they were just being assholes, throwing mud at us the whole set, hitting us hard on our bodies and on our guitars”: Donita Sparks tells the story of L7’s infamous set at 1992’s Reading Festival

See more latest ►

“I got a call from Glenn Frey. I just said. ‘Where do I sign?’ Here they were asking me to join The Eagles without playing one lick of music with them”: Timothy B. Schmidt joined The Eagles at the height of Hotel California – and didn't even audition

“Slash came to the studio, and told Axl that he was on his way to do this with me – Axl was keen to sing a few songs”: Michael Schenker on celebrating UFO with Axl Rose, Slash, and Dee Snider, and why he's come full circle with Gibson

“At the end of a tour Bert said to his roadie, ‘Do you want a guitar? Take your pick.’ And the guy said, ‘Well, I’d like that Fylde...” Gordon Giltrap on why Bert Jansch changed his life – and how he ended up with the folk icon’s ’70s acoustic

“You should know the music so well that you could still play it perfectly while someone is screaming in your ear”: 15 pro guitarists share their tips for memorizing music

“The Who, Van Halen – the whole thing where there’s a separate singer from the lead guitar player. That started with Hubert Sumlin and Howlin’ Wolf”: Vernon Reid on the 7 riffs that inspired him, from Hendrix to Chic, Cream, and more

“People warned me, ‘If you work with Ritchie Blackmore, you could last 5 minutes. He could chew you up, spit you out. You could end up with nothing.’ So I did have to think about it”: Bob Daisley on Rainbow, Ozzy – and pairing-up with Randy Rhoads

“We were opening for ZZ Top at Madison Square Garden. I told the guys, ‘I’ll go out there and blow for 60 seconds, then we’ll go into the first tune.’ I hit the first chord and my Marshall blew up”: Richie Sambora on Bon Jovi's nightmare arena debut

“My first real gig with The Band was in front of 25,000 people and we had no real rehearsal… We just flew out to Dallas and opened for Crosby, Stills & Nash”: Jim Weider on replacing Robbie Robertson – and the ’52 Tele he got while working at a car wash

“$499 is incredibly high value for a guitar you can go and buy, and go and gig it. And that’s what I want: it’s not a toy”: PRS’ Jack Higginbotham reflects on the history of the SE line

“Tom Morello ended up flying to Seattle and doing the vocals with Layne Staley. Tom came back and was like, ‘He’s in really bad shape. It’s scary’”: Martyn LeNoble on a career spent working with alt rock icons – and the kindness of John Entwistle

“I was a Brian May obsessive. I had the Star Licks video and had learned it all by the time I was 14”: Hooked on “bombastic lead rock guitar” before catching the songwriting bug, Seb Wesson is on a search for songs with meaning

Get The Pick Newsletter

Most Popular