So... It's new.
Any problems with having a Mexican Fender?

I already discussed this. As in, post #3 in this thread.

personally i like my old '94 mexican fender just as much as the esp ec-1000 that cost me twice as much a year ago. the people who would give you crap about playing a mexican would probably also give you crap about what brand of shoes you wear. the only thing that matters is whether or not you feel good when you play it.

My more expensive, American Strat sounded like crap when I first got it off the factory line.

What I mean by "crappy sound" is weak output (cheap pickups are installed at the factory), little sustain, brittle/thin tone, bad intonation (this means that even though you have the open strings perfectly tuned, notes held on other places of the neck will be out of tune. So no matter what you do, only a small portion of the available notes will be in tune.)

All factory-made guitars need to be "set-up".

It sounds great now I've dropped new SD pickups into it, had new frets put in after sanding down the fingerboard to make it straight. Neck re-alignment.

Only thing left to do is shielding and upgrading the pots.

So, if you get serious about things you can upgrade your MIM instrument or buy a diffent guitar.

As far as sound goes, there's probably no difference between MIM & MIA & MIK Strats after you improve the electronics.

...but the 'snobs' would say "the ec-1000 is a Korean guitar". HAHA! The strat is a much different animal than the ec...if you were a Les Paul kind of guy the ec would be your thing...obviously the strat style is your thing.

Made in USA means a lot less than it used to with guitars. In fact for many years now guitars made in many places rival the USA guitars in quality and kick ass when it comes to price. Some companies still try to keep a few things (like the wiring and/or pickups) in their USA models a little higher quality but when you look at what that upgrade would cost versus getting the USA model it is not an even trade off...you still get a much better deal by buying the import and upgrading the wiring or whatever item it may be.

actually both are my thing. the strat wins for sentimental value more than anything else. having saved up early 90s grocery store wages ($4.75 / hour) to get that fender on my 19th b-day tops getting a fat tax return because of student loan interest.

This reply is almost a year late but what the hell - here's my two cents:

I teach a guy who has a Mustang (Mexican I think), and it's nothing to write home about. The pickups sound pretty weak in all positions, the floating tremolo means it takes quite a while to tune, and changing strings is a pain because of the old-style capstans that allow the strings to pop out if you're not holding them with a third hand.

Just like a Jazzmaster or a Jaguar, the best thing about the Mustang is the way it looks. A decent Strat beats it in all departments.