guitar longevity?

[fenderitis]

dont know if thats a proper title but...

i want a strat that i can hold onto for the rest of my life. I want a git thats going to be my #1 now and my #1 in 30 years, am i best off with a MIA?

[ghostwolf]

the best way to find the "one" is to play them all, then buy whichever one feels most at home in your hands. might be a MIA, or maybe a CV, but until you feel how each can be the same yet different, you can't really be sure.

[Uberstink]

As far as the durability of the instrument is concerned, a properly cared for solid body electric has more to worry about regarding your longevity than you do about its longevity ;)

[gaddis]

The short answer is yes. I believe the MIA guitars will hold up better over the long haul. They are made with better components. The MIM and MIJ guitars are made to feel great when you buy them, but are not made with longevity in mind. IMHO, anyway.

[tonyw]

Any component can and will fail, i always strip the guts out of a new guitar anyway and redo it to my liking. Along the way you will find things you want to change to make it a personal thing more so than what someone else has decided for you. A guitar thats tuned and maintained properly has no date stamp on it wether its bought in USA or India
or a well made partscaster.

[Geezer]

You can find "the guitar" for you, that doesn't mean you will always love it, or not have to part with it at some point. I think 99% of us regret selling a guitar we loved. So, I hope you find your one and only, and resist all temptation to sell it. Keep it clean and don't beat it up, case it when it leaves the house, it should last a long time.

[Vintagebrit]

I am hoping that my MIA Strat and Tele will last me the rest of my life - they get played regularly - they also get cleaned and restrung carefully. If I'm playing in a small grotty pub, I take the Westfield (which has had some hot pick-ups added) to keep knocks etc to the minimum. It's always in a hard case wherever it goes.
There will always be wear and the occasional mark, but that's natural and shows it gets used as it should.
I agree with Uberstink that the Guitars are likely to outlast their owners. Just treat them with some respect.

[67Strat]

Any S or T style guitar is pretty durable. I've heard some extreme example of busted necks here and there but that's the cool thing about most Fender guitars, you can beat the crap out of them.

[gaddis]

Other than the frets wearing down, I see no reason why one of these guitars shouldn't last forever given reasonable care. Moving parts like the selector switch, pots, and output jack will eventually fail but should last many decades on the MIA guitars. My oldest guitar is my 42 year old Tele. Only the output jack on it needed to be replaced.

[stonewall]

my dad has a fender mustang and stratocaster he got in the 60s . the only thing hes done to them is replace the plugs a few times and some frets

[Grounded]

Originally Posted by tonyw

Any component can and will fail, i always strip the guts out of a new guitar anyway and redo it to my liking. Along the way you will find things you want to change to make it a personal thing more so than what someone else has decided for you. A guitar thats tuned and maintained properly has no date stamp on it wether its bought in USA or India
or a well made partscaster.

+10 Well said!

I started out with a Squire Affinity and remodeled it piece by piece over the years. The only original part left is the neck plate which says "Squire" it my favorite one in the stable.

[woolleydick]

Originally Posted by Grounded

+10 Well said!

I started out with a Squire Affinity and remodeled it piece by piece over the years. The only original part left is the neck plate which says "Squire" it my favorite one in the stable.

George Washington had an axe like that, or so I read.