The American-made strats are the American Series (formerly American Standard) and American Deluxe. The American Series has upgraded hardware and the neck/body design, material and finish are upgraded from other strats. I don't know how the pickups differ from the Mexican strats. The American Deluxe has upgraded finish details and Noiseless pickups and is more like a custom-shop axe. The Noiseless pickups sound a little-different from the standard pickups, but there is very little noise. The Mexican-made strats are more like the "original" strats - the bridge hardware and tuners are very similar to old strats. There are also some hybrids - guitars that have the finish applied in Ensenada, Mexico, but are assembled in Fullerton, CA. I believe that this is due to EPA emission regulations (as well as labor costs). I believe that the Squier Strats are Pacific-Rim products. There are so many strat models now that it's hard to know where they are made, but I suspect that you can make a good guess based on price - you can buy American models starting at about $900 US, Mexican models starting about $325 and Squiers starting at about $160 for the Affinity. I have owned a standard Squier, an American Standard and an American Deluxe over the past 6 or seven years and found something to like about all of them. I currently have an American Deluxe, and like it so well that I don't even look at new guitars.