The Tonequest Report - "Best Strat at any price" is built in Mexico!

[triburst]

On the Les Paul Forum the other day, there was a discussion about the really high subscription price for "The Tonequest Report." Print will cost you about as much as a mainstream pedal.

Anyway, it had been a long time since I looked in over there, so I had a look.

Sure enough there is a free "Sample Issue" available, and it looked interesting enough that I downloaded it. It had a really nice article about the history over at Mesa, but the article that really caught my eye was "Magic Mexican Silver." They were discussing the Mexican-built Robert Cray Strat.

Here's the link: http://www.tonequest.com/samples

The only Strat I own, I bought a few months back, and it just happened to be a Robert Cray Strat, built in Mexico. It just felt right to me when I tried it out at GC -- I had walked in looking for a reverb pedal, and... well you know how it goes.

Anyway, I have enjoyed this guitar so much! As I read this article, I really got an idea of the dumb luck I had to happen on to that particular guitar. I knew NOTHING about Strats at the time.

Now, I am not going to say that I agree with their blurb about "at any price" because I have a sample size of exactly ONE. I have no idea what the others would be like, but I'm sure there are some fine contenders! But I did think that this was an interesting article that would be good to share with you guys, just in case there's somebody else that might benefit from at least considering one of these as their next Strat purchase.

[buckaroo]

That was interesting! And not just about the Cray strat....the Randall Smith interview was cool too. Thanks.

[Banjowarrior]

What they actually said was 'one of the best Stratocasters made by
Fender anywhere, at any price.'

[DanD]

You picked a good'un with the Cray. Great necks and IMO the best pups in any Mexican fender.

[sliberty]

Which pickups do they use?

[bluespckr]

I believe they are Fender Custom Shop single coils wound to Cray's specs. The price break between the USA and Mexi-made version is in where it's finished and assembled.

I had one years back, in a tri-burst (when they made them in that finish) and really regret letting it go. Best Fender pickups out there, IMO, and you can't beat a hard-tail, which Fender only offers in this model nowadays, I believe. I might have to grab another one!

Paul