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It's the same with basses. Check out the bass forums, Squires get high marks, especially their "Classic Vibe" series. Then there are the Mexican made basses, which are very good. My main bass is a Mexican made Classic Series 50's Precision Bass. It's nearly an exact copy of a '57 precision. The only difference I'm aware of is the finish. A '57 had a nitro finish, the Mexican has a modern finish. It's not a "cheap" bass, it lists for over a thousand bucks. The Mexican bass's finish holds up better than the old nitro finish. My made in Mexico (MIM) Classic Series has the same pickups, neck, body and wiring that the American '57 reissues have. A friend has an original '57 precision, the real thing, and he says mine is just as good, just a different finish. Here's a thread on the difference between them. In it, mostly, it's not the sound that makes people prefer one over than the other:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/fe...american-vintage-57-a-748229/index2.html

I'll put mine up against any Fender precision, made anywhere, for sound and playability. The neck and fretboard are a thing of beauty.

I also have three other mim fenders, two of which I've modified, putting in different pickups and wiring. I do my own setup and rewiring. The necks feel fine, the only difference in the necks are the lack of a graphite rod. A friend of mine who is an MIA snob points that out often, then I point out to him that his '62 precision doesn't have a graphite rod either. Generally speaking on the run-of-the-mill mim fenders you get the same necks and bodies you'd get on an American standard, assembled in Mexico (about 50 miles from the American plant), the same wiring and often the same pickups. The mia's have better hardware and better fretwork on the edges. For a standard, either mia or mim, I'd change the pickups anyway. The deluxe mim models have better pickups and in the case of my Classic '50s, they are the same as the mia reissue.

For guitars, I really like the Seagull. I've been playing it for a few years now, it has a great tone and a wider than normal neck at the nut, which is good because I'm so used the the bass string spacing. It's made in Canada and is good quality. I've played a lot of Chinese guitars and the acoustics sound surprisingly good. The electrics will often suffer because of the pickups, but I've heard the Squire Classic Vibe series has pretty good pickups.

A lot of session players here will buy Mexican, Japanese, Chinese or whatever instruments and modify them, putting in better pickups, wiring, shielding etc. and maybe only have their main instrument be an old mia. That's what I used to do, until I got that Mexican Classic 50's. Now that's my main squeeze.

Of course, the big stars with the big bucks are given the expensive gear for promo, unless they are collecting vintage stuff.