Fender Highway 1

Single coils, wound hot with alnico III magnet slugs, non reverse-wound middle pickup

installed in '90 Strat Plus, all positions,replaced a set of Lace California Specials that were very quiet with low output

output is way up there, currently running it through Thomas International Crybaby, Moen Shaky Jimi vibe pedal, Ross Distortion pedal, Digitech Digidelay, and '76 Fender Champ...the tone is balanced through all positions, I have the TBX for the bridge and middle pickup if it needs it. I had to lower all the pickups because of the output and I raised the 5th and 6th strings a bit so they wouldn't sound discordant. With a rosewood fingerboard I get a nice round warm tone played clean...with a good vintage analog distortion pedal I'm in SRV territory. It is no more noisier than my MIM Strat with GFS vintage single coils...I have shielded both guitars pickup cavities with aluminum tape I might add. I play blues and classic rock and I wanted a little more output than the stock Lace Golds or California Specials..I don't change pickups very often and the these will stay in my Strat Plus for some time. If you have a good selection of amps, effects and guitars to begin with, I think most pickups will sound just fine once you find what combination works to bring out the tone you want to hear. I like these pickups.

Yes, I would get these pickups again because they work well with my signal chain. Been playing 'bout 24 years. I have a modded MIM Strat, modded Epiphone Les Paul, stock '61 Kay Vanguard, Fender Musicmaster Bass, Yamaha Bass, Laney LC30, Fender Champ, Crate G-20, Kustom Tube12, Line 6 Studio 110 Bass amp, Fender Frontman Bass amp, an assortment of Danelectro pedals, vintage Ross Distortion, vintage crybaby, Moen shaky Jimi vibe pedal, Holy Grail reverb, Digitech RP-50, Ibanez fuzz pedal.
What I love about these pickups is how I can now hear tones that I never knew my old Strat had. Okay the noise can be dealt with, it's a trade off because I can hear the difference in having a non reverse-wound middle pickup when you're playing in the 2nd and 4th postions.I bought these off Ebay for 57 bucks including the tone bucket circuit which I didn't use since I have a TBX tone control in my Strat anyway. I'm glad I didn't have to buy an expensive set of boutique handwound pickups to hear what I've been wanting to hear.

Single coil.

Came stock on my 2003 hwy1 strat. This is a popular strat and yet no review here, so I'll give my comments.

I have strats with CS54, SCN, texas specials, standard, so I compare these to the above. Play through a 57 Twin, no pedal.
Output level is the highest. I perceive it to be higher than texas special.
Overall these PU are way too bright, icepicky, and harsh. Not detail nor balanced. The poles for string 3 and 4 are way too high so the volume just jumps out when you hit these strings. Bass note are ok. They just hurt my ears badly. By rolling the tone down to 6, you can get rid of some of those icepick and it's ok. But w/ no tone control for the bridge, ouch. You can roll the volume to roll off the brightness but the tone is going in the mud direction.
Well these are the worst PU that I have heard in a stock strat.

Looking to replace the PU so I can play the guitar, which btw is very good for the money. The neck on a hwy 1 is as good as the standard USA ones.

These are passive, single coil pickups.

The came in my Highway 1 Strat stock. I haven't replaced anything. I plan on putting on a new strat body (different wood and routing), as well as new pick ups.

Output level is awful. I swear there's more noise than sound. I'm playing out of a Marshall AVT 150 with a 1960 cab. While that may not be the best amp setup, the strat is noisy on pretty much anything. The EQ of the pickups are pretty interesting. They're punchy and sharp, but lack a clear low end. Sometimes it can seem really muddy until the EQ is touched up on the amp.

I think that I'm going to replace these pickups soon. I know that they aren't the greatest, but i'm sure they aren't the worst either. Maybe not by far though.

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