Fender Highway 1 Strat HSS

This is the most recent version of this guitar (as of October 2009). I won't restate all of the details, but in summary, this is a Hum-Single-Single American assembled Strat with updated pickups and jumbo frets. Its really the only economical option with 22 frets as everything else less expensive has 21, which to me is kind of silly these days. I bought this guitar as a platform guitar, that is, a solid foundation upon which I could re-configure to my needs. For that it is just right; Alder body, great neck and jumbo frets. Still would have preferred a flatter neck radious, but all in all the guitar feels and plays great in the hands. The thin nitro finish was appealing in that it should let the guitar resonate, and it will age well and quickly without having to pay for an instrument that looks pre-beat up (ala the Road Warn series), which to me again is just silly. Special note: if you plan to change pickups, this guitar is routed H-S-S, so if you plan on going humbucker in the neck like I did, be aware; you're going to have to do some woodworking. The included gig bag is decent, but not very heacy duty like some of the better Levy's bags out there.

As above, I bought this guitar to rip it apart, but played one gig with it before I did. The new Alnico III pickups are actually very decent given my general dislike of Fender pickups. The guitar has an ice unplugged resonance, especially for a Strat, and has a nice balanced tone; not to bright, not too dark.

As with most guitars, this one came with the action set awfully high. I tweaked the neck and bridge saddles to make it better, but it appears that the nut on this guitar is actually cut too high. The fit and finish otherwise was flawless; I couldn't find any fault. The guitar arrived apparently a little dehydrated as the frets were protruding somewhat from the fretboard, but some time in its new environment and some oil on the fretboard and all was perfect. Very nicely finished neck and frets. This is a real player.

Its a Fender Strat, what more can you say? Should be ultra reliable.

Never had to deal with Fender

As the guitar arrived stock and after some setup work, it is an excellent instrument. The pickups are decent and better than average for Fender in my opnion and the guitar is worthy of gigs as is. Given how over-priced the American series instruments are and the limited features in the lesser instruments, this guitar in my opinion strikes a perfect balance, and it took very well to the customer pickups and piezo bridge I've installed since. Funny enough, I modeled the colors of my modifications after Fender's Dave Murray guitar, but got something that plays and sounds better than that guitar, has more tonal options (not to mention 22 frets) and looks just like it for about half the price.

I really have no right to bitch about these guitars. I own 6 (!!??) of them in all colors. Except for the Daphne Blue finish that was discontinued.....oh well....E-Bay!
Let me preface.....the guitars are well made....nice resonant wood, big frets, 70's headstock...ect.....
My bitch is with the electronics......see below!

The guitar, straight from the factory, was UNPLAYABLE to me!!
First:
The PING tuners on this thing bite ass!! Got rid of them....put on a set of Fender/Schaller locking tuners....now it's great!
Second: the pickups totally suck ass!! I replaced the pickups in ALL 6 of my HSS's, now....they're totally awesome guitars.
The single coils hummed like a mofo....I know ...I know.....typical of common single coils. But hey people.....it's the 21st century....we have indoor plumbing now, cell phones that have T.V. on them......so why deal with the HUM like some 1950's guitarist?
I put NOISELESS pickups in ALL of them...a combo of Fender Vintage Noiseless and DiMarzio Area pickups. NOW....they're awesome club guitars!!
Fender CANNOT do humbuckers!! So.....I put a combination of Gibson and DiMarzio P.A.F. humbuckers in ALL of them, and now they friggin' rock!!!

So...all you have to do is drop another $2-300 bucks in these and you will have an unbeatable guitar!

That pisses me off though!

The finish is GREAT!!

This thing is a tank!

As I mentioned....construction wise....they're GREAT!

The electronics totally bite ass!!

Once you change the pickups and tuners....they RAWK!!!

Nitrocellulose finish in midnight wine looks awesome with grain showing through. Typical Strat 5-way selector with vol & tone controls. C-shaped (fat) Maple neck w/rosewood and JUMBO frets. Pretty decent gig bag was included.

I like everything from blues to bluesy rock to hard rock to metal. This guitar is great for blues and blues rock. I think the Atomic humbucker does a fantastic job with those styles, but it's lacking for that fat & crunchy harder sound that I also want. If I wasn't such a tightwad, I'd just use it for the bluesy stuff and buy an Epi Les Paul or a PRS SE Custom for the harder stuff. Those are also good choices in the $400 - $600 price range, but I'd never trade this Highway 1 for either of them. I have already bought a DiMarzio Tone Zone HB to get a little more versatility out of this guitar because it really is a joy to play. Again, the humbucker is fine for blues and some classic rock, but I can't get the harder midrange crunch that I'm looking for with my gear. It's a pretty hot humbucker. Put me down for a 10 for blues and a 6 for metal. It averages out to 8 and I'm a tough grader!

No major problems out of the box, but I'm certainly not a pro. I'm having it set up when I have DiMarzio HB put in. Hardware was fine, action was fine, wood quality is excellent. High quality guitar.

I've had it for a couple of months now and it seems very durable.

I've been playing off & on for a few years. It's a hobby that I get a lot of enjoyment from, but I've never played in front of a crowd.

I use a Fender Super Champ XD amp and play around with a Crybaby Wah at times. This guitar sounds really good with that little amp and you can get a lot of ripping on the blues.

I compared this guitar to an Epi SG (made in China), a PRS SE Custom (Korean), a MIM Fat Strat and an American Standard Strat. I really think that I got the best value of all of them. I'm sure that I could have stretched for the American Std Strat & been happy with it, but for me the tone of this puppy is just as nice in a less subtle sort of way. It's a bonus that the money was less for the Highway 1 than the American Std. If this guitar was missing, there is no question that I would get another. I'm giving the overall score a 10 because of the value that I got for what I paid.

Built in March 2008
Basic Strat with grease bucket circuitry. like the way the tone controls affect sound. Not sure if this is unique to the gb circuitry but in the end it works out that the middle pup, when selected alone, has no tone control. Has the black nitro finish (looks awesome) that after less than a year has been polished up to a shine by my strumming arm. might just be sweat and grease that would polish out but I'm not that concerned about the half matt half polished finish.

Play it through a VOX VT50 and a VOX Hand wired AC15, no pedals. play it clean to thick distortion (never into metal territory though). For the most I play various genres of rock ad this guitar is well suited for that. I am happy with the stock pups, no need to upgrade. I did make one mod to it that makes it much more versatile for me. I swapped the pup sector switch leads on the neck and middle pups so it now goes... bridge, bridge + NECK, neck, middle + neck, middle.
traded the bridge middle for bridge neck which is way more useful to me.
lost tone control on neck(bummer, but had it at 10 80% of the time anyway). Gained tone control on middle which I never used and now use often. I am very satisfied with the sound, of course I will buy new guitars but I will hold on to this one for life. its a keeper.

set up was awsome, perfect action for me, love the neck
jack was loose in a week like EVERY new guitar I've owned (grrr)
all was right with this one.

freaked out when dead spots on the neck started to appear on me (A at 7th fret, my favorite note!), but tightened all the screws and what not on the guitar (the screws on the bridge were loose) and it went away.
I keep an eye on it and I've had to tighten them again. normal maintenance I suppose.

has the quality build that fender is famous for. a very solid dependable guitar. Stays in tune. built for professional use.

the finish as mentioned earlier is already affected by use. Still is a very nice looking guitar and am very happy with the way she is aging(if not prematurely).

Playing since the mid Eighties. Also have a Hagstrom Viking and between the two guitars through my Vox VT50 and AC15H1TV have everything I need covered. This is a Strat for rockers who want access to those single coil tones. perhaps a country or a metal player might be disappointed,don't know, but I'm not, especially after the one mod on pup selection pairing. Highly recommend this. (switch it back if you ever need to use your warranty, it probably voids it) . If it was stolen I'd get it again. when I bought this guitar I played it against other Strats and liked the sound and feel of this one best (not being the most expensive guitar was a bonus) If I was allowed only one guitar, I would seriously consider this one. It's very versatile.

I won't repeat what has been said other than to say that it is a stripped down Strat. You could compare it to the faded Gibson SG, Flying V series. Basically you do not get the glossy finish and deluxe hardware from a American Standard. For me, what Fender puts into the guitar is quality.

I would consider myself very critical when it comes to pickups. I dig these. I have a lot of guitars and replaced the pickups in many of them, but I have no desire to do that for this one. The humbucker is thick and warm. The single coil pickups are strat like, but not as glassy as some of my other models. Basically it sounds like a big, meaner strat.

The action is low and perfect. Set up beautifully right out of the factory.

It seems like it could handle a few world tours.

I am a fan of the Highway 1 series. I have a '91 that is still my favorate. In my opinion they have character, as opposed to just being a budget Strat.

Ive got a 2007 Highway One HSS Strat. American made with the nitro-cellulose finish, bridge humbucker, etc. Mine has the sunburst finish with a rosewood fretboard. Greasebucket tone circuit does a nice job of cutting the "sparkle" without making the tone boomy. Mine is still bone-stock with the exception of two extra trem springs I installed for tuning stability. I plan to install a Fender American bridge pickup to make it a straight Strat when the '72 Tele Deluxe I bought arrives. Very nicely featured for what you pay.

I play blues, rock, funk, and the occasional country. As you might suspect, this guitar is a blues monster. I play through a Peavey Classic 50(best amp bargain ever) and use a ToneBone distortion pedal and assorted Boss effects along with a BBE Boosta Grande when I need it. The Highway One is perfect. I haven't played a song yet that it couldn't adapt to. Like any good strat, it does everything well and nothing perfectly. This is truly the working musician's guitar. I spend the majority of my rhythm playing in the 4th position (neck/middle), which produces very nice clean tones. No need to turn the lead channel/distortion pedal off. Just roll that volume back and you're there. For leads, I'll throw 'er on all neck or all bridge, depending on what I want. The neck pickup is beautiful, but tends to hum. The humbucker isn't just great, but it works. I'm yanking it soon anyway. I can't speak to what different pickups would sound like, but the stock ones suit me just fine. I might go all noiseless if I had to change something.

Cosmetically the guitar came out great. Setup wasn't perfect. I have had to take it back to the tech a few times for action issues - I'd fret out around the 15th-17th frets when bending. Finally I took matters into my own hands and set it up myself. I got it right and it's played great ever since. I use .10s, which sing really nicely. The jumbo frets are awesome, and the guitar can take a beating. I dont baby my guitars, and I paid for it with a now-crippled Les Paul I have to stare at daily. Fenders, however, are tougher than a Rhino's nutsack and don't snap like a toothpick when dropped. Mine has a few dings and a tasteful cigarrete burn in the headstock(emergency ashtray). It's getting that "worn-out" vintage look that you can't buy, and I love it. The only real complaint i have is on the bridge, specifically the adjustment screws. I had to crank the saddles on the high-E and B strings almost all the way up to keep them from fretting out, but the low E and A strings have the screws sticking out far enough to gash my hand all to hell during frenzied picking. Not cool.

As we all know, Fenders can take a shot from a tank and still play. My guitar has dropped, been through hot and cold playing, and survived multiple beer spills and has not complained once. I don't have a backup and haven't needed it yet. I use furniture polish on the body, which gives the nitro finish a really nice dull shine. I get comments on it all the time. I've had it about a year and it had been gigged at least twice a week if not more. As with all good Fenders, great reliability.

never needed it, so I can't say.

I've played guitar for about 7 years, although I've only taken it seriously for the last 4 or so. I was always the "fat tone" Les Paul guy, and I never considered a Fender. Glad I did though, because with a little touch and control this guitar will give you whatever you want. I'll probably retire it to blues only use when I get the 72 Deluxe in, but it's more than suited for classic rock and Haggard-style country. I've recommended the Highway One to many players, and I even earned a Guitar Center salesman's commission for him on one last week. Just a great, great guitar for a hell of a price. You can probably pick one up on ebay or craigslist for $600-#650 and spend the savings on pickups or whatever else suits you. I'd get another one of these over a straight up american strat anytime.

I reviewed this guitar last year (see 07/26/2007 below), but I wanted to come back to talk about pickups, based on my experience replacing the stock ones with some better options. It strikes me that pickups are the simple weak link on this guitar, and anybody thinking about buying one ought to consider this. Fender obviously cut some corners to get this guitar's price down, given that it's made in their American factory. And, since a strat is such an easy guitar to work on, pickups are an easy upgrade for anyone unafraid of a soldering iron.

I found the stock pickups to be quite likeable, but not exactly inspiring. The neck single-coil is the one you'll see mentioned here a lot, and it's definitely a nice sound. However, they may have gone a little too far in search of the "sweet, buttery" tone.

The atomic humbucker gets mixed reviews here, too. It's a high-output pickup, at something like 16k. The result is that it is, frankly, a lousy match for the single coils, since the output is WAY higher. It is also clearly designed to be a distortion pickup; it sounds pretty decent through a high-gain amp. But its clean sound leaves a bit to be desired, as it's really peaky in the midrange.

I replaced my single-coils with a set of GFS 70s Greybottom Overwounds (about $70 for a set of 3) and the result was a dramatic difference in PUNCH. There is a lot more going on here, more highs, more lows, and more dynamic range. No contest, these are way better PUs than the stock ones. For $70 or less, this is an easy way to spice up this guitar.

For the HB, I wanted something a little better balanced output-wise, and something with a better clean sound. I put in a Duncan TB59 (which is the strat-spaced version of the SH1 '59). What I didn't get here was much of a difference in output volume; it's not quite as high-output as the stock atomic, but it's still a lot louder than the single coils. But I did achieve a much better clean sound. The 59 has a much nicer profile: better high end and low end. It still sounds good with the gain cranked, but clean, it is a much more usable pickup... and with that, I think I did achieve a slightly better usable balance with the single coils.

I spent $70 on the GFS single coils and another $75 on the Duncan 59 (you might find a GFS alternative for less... I couldn't take sifting through their website any more). Not a huge investment, but I think it makes a major improvement in the sound of this otherwise excellent guitar. The rest of the Highway 1 is great, and I have zero complaints after playing it for a year. I highly recommend this guitar, but do take the pickup issue seriously. A strat is easy to tinker with.

What you would expect from a quality guitar

The Humbucker gets a 10. Really tight aggresive sound when I use it with my dist pedal. The single coils however sound a little dull for my taste. My cheap chinese strat copy with GFS pickups easily outperforms the highway in that respect. Id rate these a 4 :o(.

So for heavy rock its great, and thats its main purpose for me.

Beautiful all the way

Have no idea

Been playing for 20 years.
Would, at least, want to replace it if lost.
Love the design with the flat black body. I dont like that they have made the finish so sensitive to scratches. Yes, I know that it has been done so deliberatly, but I still dont like it. Apart from the boring single coils I love this axe.

Best regards.

Karl (Sweden)

Fenders Highway 1 "stripped down" USA Stratocaster is the way to go if your in a certain budget. Better than Squire for sure, a little better than Mexican & other 399$ Strats. The satin nitrocellulose finish is very nice. Mine has a rosewood fretboard, large headstock,
a "fat" Strat you could say. Not overly bright, very nice neck.

This Highway One Strat stresses mids and not with shrill highs.
That's the way I like it. The sound is a little thin on the single coils. I'm satisfied with it's tone, output, and vibe.

The action is pretty good. I get very little fret buzz with low action. The finish is already starting to change. It's a thinly applied finish and we were told about that up front. That's fine.

The guitar is a work horse for sure. Good tuners, a little less than average saddles and tailpiece. It's solid for sure. Dependable for sure. However, don't expect the thin finish to stay like new for long.

Fender offers Strats in all price ranges. The Highway One is another price range option. In my opinion it doesn't really give you a SRV vibe, or Los Lonely Boys vibe, but you still get your moneys worth.

See the Fender page for detailed features. What makes this model unique are the satin nitro finish, 70's headstock and alnico 3 pikups. All the other features are pretty basic "Super Strat" stuff.

For reference, my other guitars are high end Fender Custom Shop, PRS, Gibson and Martin acoustics.

For the price, this guitar sounds fantastic. I use mine with a bunch of different amps such as a Dr. Z Carmen Ghia, Fender Bassman and Marshall plexi and sounds good with all of them. The pickups are HOT and warm sounding, pretty much the opposite of what a "vintage" pickup sounds like. The alnico 3 is a good choice since it will not get "icepicky" at high volumes. The tone controls and "greasebucket" circuit are OK, pretty good choice for this type of guitar. If you want a classic chimey Strat, this is *not* your best choice. If you play rock, heavy blues or metal and want a mean sounding axe that can also cover other genres, this would be a good choice.

One additional observation I have is that the 70's style headstock actually helps the guitar balance more evenly than say a smaller vintage head stock. It also seems to provide a little extra mass to help with sustain. I like the aesthetics of a smaller head stock, but was pleasantly surprised with the 70's vibe and playability.

The build quality on the HWY1-HSS is first rate. My body is a nicely matched 3 piece affair with a well shielded pickguard and very playable neck. The sunburst is very even and has the right mix of black and red to make it look great (many don't, including the original 60's Strats). My particular guitar had some cold solder joints, but I usually go through them and double check everything anyway so no big deal. The controls are solid and the neck joint is tight and level. For an entry level American made guitar, it is well made and set up.

Very solid guitar, the nitro finish is fragile but it's supposed to be that way. This guitar is built for gigging, you would have to do something pretty extreme to make it fail.

Fender is generally good with service, hopefully you won't need them.

Given it's price and the purpose for which it was built, I would rate the HWY1-HSS a fantastic value. The PRS Custom SE is roughly the same price but is made in Korea and has crappy parts. Carvin, Reverend and Yamaha make some quality guitars in this price range but none of them approach Fender in terms of sound, brand appeal and classic musicality. This guitar will not appeal to everyone, but if you want an affordable workhorse rock guitar, there is none better.

USA Made
Alder body (not solid)
C-shaped maple neck
Rosewood or maple fretboard
3 single-coil pickups with Alnico 3 magnets
Reverse-wound, reverse-polarity middle pickup
Vintage-style 2-point trem
Thin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish(satin-like)
9.5" Radius Fret Board
Jumbo Frets
70's style headstock
Width at Nut 1.6875??? (43 mm)
Gigbag w/ accessory bag (wrenches, cleaning cloth, special care instructions for the Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish) included.
______________________________________________________________
Master Volume,
Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Greasebucket Tone Circuit, (Rolls Off Highs without Adding Bass)
Tone 2. (Bridge Pickup), Greasebucket Tone Circuit, (Rolls Off Highs without Adding Bass)
______________________________________________________________
Unique Features:
Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Body Finish,
Parchment Plastic Parts,
Large '70s Style Headstock Shape,
Large '70s Style Headstock Logo,
Original Body Shape,
"Original Contour Body" Decal on Headstock,
H/S/H Pickup Routing,
Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity Middle Pickup


I have 2 of these. Daphne blue w/ rosewood fretboard 2006 model & sunburst w/ maple fretboard 2007. Both models are the same. Very generous w/ features.

Suites my style perfectly. Right now I'm playing Peavey Classic amp models (Classic 2x50 & Delta Blues) & the PODXT Live for direct recording. Simple is my pholosphy. Effects are:

TS9 & TS7 Tube Screamers, Dyna Comp, Boss GE-7 EQ, Boss SD-1 Super Overdrive ( all modded w/ Monte Allums parts & specs...absolutely the best). Arion SCH-1 Stereo Chorus & Boss MT-2 Metal Zone.

The pickups are typically noisey under high distortion as all single coils are, accept in the 2nd & 4th positions.

The middle pup is reversed wound which gives & different tone in the 2nd, 3rd & 4th positions & there's no tone control for it which I plan to alter (a simple jumper on the 5 way switch)...it's not better or worse just different.

The hot alnico pups are fuller & a little darker than typical pups & tend drive harder than my Fender classic 50's & standards I've had in the past. Because of this there is a slight loss of definition but nothing to complain about, it's almost jazz-like...again, not bad just different.

The bridge pup is bright & needs it's tone rolled back to about 8 or so but it's very usable. All 5 positions sound great & cover a lot of single coil ground.

And the jumbo frets are the BEST, really makes playing easy but I'll give details later.

I do my on setups after receiving guitars because let's face it, guitars travel through various climates, sit here & there for lengths of time & other circumstances so by the time it reaches you the original setup has drifted (& I pay no attention to reviews stating how bad a fectory setup is).

The 1st Daphne Blue Strat (I'll call it Daph) had the typical Fender setup which I don't care for, especailly the 9-42 strings. After installing Ernie Ball 10-46 strings, adjusting the truss rod,etc the guitar played great.

Now, this guitar comes with 2 string trees which makes it unique but mine were crooked as dog legs! I called the internet vender & swapped for another. Again the 2nd guitar came with, you guessed it, CROOKED STRING TREES. It didn't effect the playing but looked bad & just POOR quality...I can't beleave Fender USA would let these 2 guitars leave the factory. Poor quality control, both must have been made on a Monday or Friday.

The pick ups...all the polls were at the same level. I've seen others & this is the norm. Also, the poles on the neck pup don't exactly line up under the higher strings. Again, Ive seen this before on other Strats & seems to be the norm. Bottom line, they sound great.

The jumbo frets really make this guitar shine! On a 9.5" radius fret board you would think playability would be effected (like bending strings up a hill). But not with the big jumbo frets. They sit up high & lay flat but smooth around the fretboard edge. The strings seem to glide across like glass & your fingers never touch the fret board...this is what makes the guitar easy to play because you don't encounter any resistance from the fretboard wood. The frets seemed to feel a little rough, I suspect a polishing step was omitted to keep the price down, but w/ some playing they smooth out. And thats not to say they're uneven. Also, it makes fretting & inotating chords easier too, because the frets sit up high the inotation can be adjusted on each string by natrually applying more or less pressure w/ the fingers. On the standard Fender medium-jumbo frets this can't be done, the finger lays flat on the fretboard so there's no room & also some resistance (which is why I've sold every other fender I've owned in the past).

There some visual space between the bottom of the neck & the pocket of the guitar body but no effect. I suspect the space would be filled if the guitar had the usual thick acrylic or polyester finish. The tuners are Fender standards, not staggard. The Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo works really, I tended to favor the more modern tremlo but it works fine.

I've added a mix of teflon lubricant & powdered graphite at the nut so the strings stay in tune under heavy bends.

The finish will probadly wear more than usual due to the Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish but this is it's purpose. The finish is so thin you can see the wood grain in all the colored finishes. Fender seems to be very specific about care & warranty limitation on the finishes in the provied paper work, so take notice.

I don't break strings & take care of all my guitars but would use a backup for any live situation.

Standard Fender warranty. No support needed at this time.

I play blues, classic & modern rock, some jazz, country, Christian & anything in between. Influences are SRV, Eric Johnson, Kieth Richards, various country pickers, metal, 80's bands & all other great players.

Been playing over 20 years as a hobby, playing in church & some gigging. I've spent far to much money on gear looking for that perfect tone so I've got some things to say & an opinion.

I've owned at least 5 Strats, 5 Teles, several Les Pauls, Ibanez RGs, Alvarez acoustics & some others. Ebay allows me to buy & sell as I please so it's a good outlet.

My point is I've owned a lot guitars & the Highway One Upgrade is a keeper. I was so impressed I bought another one (sunburst & maple fretboard) & plan to add different pickguard/pup setups.

For the price brand new ($700 to $750) it's a great value compared to the current asking price for an American Strat ($950).

2007 Highway 1 HSS, Sunburst, Vintage Trem, *Satin/Nitro Finish, Greasebucket tone circuit, large headstock.

This is really a unique guitar for a strat. It is very "rough" feeling and sounding. The humbucker is very full and meaty sounding, with lots of natural harmonics. The more gain you give it, the better it sounds. The neck pup is fuller sounding. This has to do with the finish as well as the pup itself, I suspect.
Overall, it's got a heavier rocking sound than a typical strat, which I definitely prefer.
I don't know why in the year 2007 Fender refuses to put noisless single coils in these guitars. It's really just kind of stupid to have to deal with all of the noise produced by a single coil when you're playing high gain. For most guitar players (who play rock) a normal American strat ($1000) with 3 noisy single coils is pretty much useless until you change the pickups. Fender is just too pompous to really take notice of what it's customers need, I supose.
Thank God for the SCN.

Don't be fooled by the "nitro" label. This is not the same finish as you get on a Gibson or a 50's NOS Strat. This is nitro with some "satin" finish on top, whatever the hell that is. It's kind of cool and it feels almost like plastic. The finish reminds me of those Ovation accoustic guitars with the plastic backs, if that makes sense to anyone.
Don't get me wrong - I like this finish much better than the poly crap that they put on everything else. Again, I don't know why Fender can't just use a real nitro finish like Gibson or like they do on the vintage strats, but I suppose it doesn't matter since they save a few cents and they're selling these things by the ton.
The strings were set up high and when I lowered the action at home it fretted out at 21st. I guess I'll take it in for a set up and see what they can do.

This is a pretty cool guitar. It's not finished like a bowling ball like most other strats, so it weighs less and feels better. No suprise, the single coils are noisy on high gain, but the humbucker sounds very good. These are not set up very well and you're most likely going to have to spend some time making sure it doesn't fret out when you lower the action to a reasonable level. Many people say set up isn't a big deal, but a pro set up in NYC can run you $75 at GC or $150 if you care to get ripped off at Rudy's Music...
A good, light weight American Standard HSS is probably better if you can find a good one that doesn't weigh 50 pounds, but this thing has a little edge to it with the big headstock and flat looking finish. If I ever get the chance to run Fender, I will have 4 models of stratocasters - red, white, black and sunburst. They will all have real nitro finishes. They will all have noiseless pickups. They will all weigh under 8 pounds. They will all have 22 frets. If you don't like one of these, buy a Gibson!

2003 fender hss american (amber wood grain) rosewood neck.i read alot about this guitar before i finally bought it.i couldn't be happier its a great guitar.ive been playing lespauls for 20 years but i think i like the strat better now.it has a great clear tone for blues,jazz and the humbucker rocks for heavy stuff.the pickups are stock and i like em i don't think i will ever change them there's no need to

i play blues/rock/country and heavy metal and this guitar works for all these styles.i love this guitar and everything is totally stock.i am gonna sell my lespaul and buy another one for backup.this has a lot of different sounds more than any guitar ive ever owned before

mine was used but mint condition.there was a little string buzz but i fixed that and its perfect now

this is a very dependable guitar.i still can't believe this is supposed to be there (starter guitar)its better than any of the other strats ive ever played even the ones that cost twice as much.i would use it on a gig without a backup for sure but i am gonna buy another so i won't have to

ive never called for anything and never needed to

ive been playing lespauls for 20 years and this guitar turned me into a stat man.i am gonna buy another one for sure

2007 American made HSS Highway 1 Strat. 3 tone color like a tobacco burst, smoooth Nitro finish, Rosewood neck with Jumbo frets, STEEL trem block, 2 - Alnico3 single coils PU, 1 Diamondback Hummy ( I can't find specs anywhere on this PUP), Larger 70's headstock, Vintage Trem pivot (6 screw), Pickup covers and knobs are colored BLACK. 2 - Tone controls affects Bridge and Neck pickup only, "Greasebucket" type contour affecting high tones only, not bass or midrange tones. I have not played the previous version of H-1 , prior to 2006. The 2006 and 2007 are "upgrades" to the original H-1. There should be a seperate review catagory for the upgraded model which is markedly different than 2005 and prior models.

If you are looking for "that" Vintage Strat sheen, sparkle and high end, you may be disappointed with this guitar. If you are looking for a more modern sounding Strat, ready for heaiver type music and still do Blues, 50's - 70's Rock, this is the one for you. Some sparkle can be had by turning the volume and tone controls all the way up. This is a good place to start in finding the guitar's tonal pallette, can't stress this enough. (Note:As stated above, Greasebucket tone control just cuts the highs, the volume control when not all the way on 10 cuts the highs also and some mids. This is a known Strat character. Installing a volume contour kit may help but may also affect the greasebucket circuit.) Sometimes I like a less high end sound With the volume control on 10 and playing with the Bridge PU tone control one can go from a PAF sounding hummy on 10, to a dark, midrange sounding for heavy distortion on 5 . Very good sustain attributible to the Steel trem block and larger headstock. As a bonus, the Bridge has a single coil sound to it and can be a bit noisey for a humbucker. I have not experienced these sounds before on a MIM Strat with hum-pup in the bridge. With any of the MIM HSS STrats I owned, the bridge hummy was shrill, shreik, not listenable to my ears (these are always in the used market). The H-1 Neck and middle single coil PU have that Strat sound but a little darker. Blues, Jazz, Modern country, whatever, can be played on these 2 pickups. Not very noisey for single coils. In fact all 3 PUPs compliment each other and are not too far from each other tone wise, none of them are "super hot". The sound on this guitar is very versitile. In fact I'm willing to say this is the only guitar one needs, well, except for today's Metal.

When Buying a guitar nowadays, I take a Fret rocker with me. You know the ones that guitar techs use to check fret level.
I do this to weed out bad axes. When BUY5ng a $500.00+++ guitar, one wants to make sure it is right, thus the fret rocker. After checking the frets , I play the guitar making sure its what I want. I know I'm probably being a bit anal but I do not want to take my guitar to a tech,even under warranty for a fret level, shouldn't have to. One thing I noticed with this tool, ever since Fender switched from Vintage small type frets on their MIM Strat to the Medium Jumbo type frets, height variance has gotten worse. Not too big of a deal if one sticks to Fender's standard 2mm string height but if one likes 1.2mm or lower string action, frets have to be even. That said, this H-1 Strat has no fret height variance and the neck is straight with the right relief. The nitro finish has no flaws, everything works fine. The only thing to do was lower the action as I pleased and play away. Very cool.

Fender markets this guitar for the busy professional and is built to take it. I see no reason why it would not standup to live use.

I have dealt with Fender for warranty claims, no issues

I have 6 Strats, all except this one are MIM and different configurations. This is the BEST attribute of a Strat, they can be almost anything you want for sound and performance. Fender basically says the H-1 is a 70's copy. This H-1 is not similiar to the 1970 reissue I have,, ash body, vintage frets, different pickups and trem block (Big block zinc type, ugh!). They sound miles apart. The '70 has Fender Vintage PUPs sparkle and sheen, great sounding guitar. Fender's marketing got it right saying the upgraded H-1 is a middle road in terms of tone, very versitile but not for "that" vintage tone. In regards to jumbo frets.. I do not know what a scalaped neck feels like but I imagine these Jumbo frets are close in playability. Real smooth string bending. All my Strats except the '70 reissue and this H-1 have mods of one sort or another. I can't say the H-1 is my best Strat (none really are), though this Strat gave the least trouble in setup, no need to modify pickups and sounds excellant out of the box.

Hss config.
Flat Black finish....nitro
Alder body

I really am a glutton gor punishment. As much as I bitched about the poor electronics on this guitar as well as the crappy tuners...I went and bought 2 MORE!!! a brand new 2007 and a 2003 off of E-Bay. I Just buy them them to mod the shit out of them....then they become AWESOME axes!!

BOTTOM LINE............The stock pickups bit ass!!

The guitars look gorgeous!!! The finishes are GREAT!! I love the headstocks!!

Electronics aside........The guitar's a tank!!

I wish Fender would pony up and put some good pickups; like those in the 60's classic player for instance, in these babies!! Then they would be KILLER axes.
I HATE the fact that I have to drop another $200.00 or so dollars in the guitar to make it playable!!

I bought a brand new (2007) one, black with rosewood. A really nice package... some "good old" features (like the vintage trem, the regular old strat electronics) and some new ones (easy-access truss rod, roller string trees). The feel is excellent... the neck is first class, and it all feels very solid; moreso than the MIM strats I've tried. Jumbo frets are a bit of an odd choice, but you get used to them pretty quick. Comes with a decent padded gigbag, a cleaning cloth, and a couple of allen keys.

It really sounds terrific. Unplugged, I think there's a noticable difference between the H-1 and the MIM strats. Don't know if that's the larger headstock, the paint, or what, but I think the sustain is noticeably better.

Plugged in, it sounds fantastic. I'm playing it through a vintage tweed Champ (an amp with one sound), and I can't believe how much variety I can get out of the H-1. Great dynamics; responds enormously to different picking, attacks. Those Hendrix/SRV tones are right there... that sweet spot in the middle of the neck sounds so fab I've been spending hours there since I got the guitar. The humbucker gives a whole nother facet, too. Clean, it sounds very nice and bright; overdriven, it sounds like, well, a humbucker.

The one complaint I have with the tone is the #2 pickup setting, between the bridge and middle, seems to use the whole humbucker rather than a tapped version, and so it's not quite the slinky tone that I expect there. The other 4 settings are all quite fab. Between the humbucker in the bridge and the single coil in the middle it's like there's two completely distinct guitars in there. Add the 2 neck pickup positions and you have that classic bluesy strat thing going on as well.

I got this at a big Fender shop, and it came just perfectly set up. I had them put 11s on, and adjust accordingly, and it is damn near flawless. A little fret buzz on the low E when unplugged, but otherwise it's perfect. I took a ruler to it and checked the adjustments according to the specs in Paul Balmer's Strat Handbook, and it's just about bang-on in every instance. Whether this is the factory or the shop, I don't know, but there's no doubt about it taking a good setup.

Stays in tune fine, too. I haven't been whammying, but it's hardly needed a tweak in its first week of playing.

Seems solid as a rock. I've only had it for a week. It's a strat; they're engineered pretty well.

Fender has authorized service shops all over the western world, so I don't think there's an issue with basic service. Never dealt with Fender itself. Lifetime warranty, whatever that means.

I've played guitar and bass for 20 years, but not seriously in 5 or 6. Getting this guitar has put me back in the woodshed for hours each night 'cause it plays and sounds so great. I'm extremely happy with it, ho wit feels, and the sounds I can get out of it. I'm glad I didn't settle for a MIM, and I'm also pleased I didn't spend an extra $300+ on an American Standard.

Two single coil pickups and one humbucker, 5 way switch...etc.
I could have spent the same money with Carvin and bought a MUCH better guitar.....and had better customer support!

I have been playing since 84' and this sounds like(I ordered it without playing one BIG MISTAKE!)a MEXICAN STRAT! Because it has MEXICAN HARDWARE AND ELECTRONICS!! This guitar should not be able to say "Made in USA" I gave it a 3 because that's all it deserves. The pickups are weak and noisy.

The action from the factory was pretty bad(when compared to my AMERICAN GUITARS!)so I set it up and when I tried to set the intonation the saddle for the G string did not move....The screw was stripped out, I bought this NEW and the intonation was never messed with before.

The finish is REALLY thin. If you are looking at one of these consider spending your money on a Mexican strat and get the same pickups and hardware and a MUCH better finish! The BODY and Neck are made in the USA and EVERYTHING else is made in Mexico. You can verify this by calling fender.

I called about the stripped out saddle, Hoping to BUY one and I was told to go to the Hardware store and buy a new screw........I FINALLY got someone who gave me a part number to order what I needed. ONLY THE NECK AND BODY are covered under the "Limited lifetime Warranty" So I am guessing that they think.....American CNC's are better than Mexican CNC's??

Like I said, I have been playing since 84' and have played everything from jazz to metal and I have owned and still own quite a few GREAT guitars......with the exception of the Highway 1 strat. I'm sure that there are people out there who love these guitars...to those people I apologize, This is just my opinion based on years as a professional musician.

Marks off for non-locking tuners, a plastic nut instead of the roller nuts used on USA standard models, a cheaper stamped bridge instead of the cast variety, and a finish that is very vulnerable to the elements. That being said, the Highway-1 was "dumbed down" to drop the price far enough to make a USA-made Strat affordable, although, it isn't THAT much cheaper than a Standard.

What I like about the guitar features-wise is its stability and its employment of very good pickups (all alnicos I believe).

Here is where this guitar shines. I have played through quite an assortment of guitars including several high end and low end strats, and few of them came close in terms of their tone to the sounds produced by the Highway-1. The closest thing to it was a Korean-made Fender Lite Ash strat I modded heavily. The Highway-1 sounds spectacular right out of the box. Having no need to mod my guitar is such a huge thing for me. I'm picky about tones, and all I needed for my sound to come to the fore with this guitar was a change of strings!

For cleans, Fenders have always been tough to beat, and that remains as true for the Highway-1 as it is for their more expensive brethren. The only minor exception being the clean tone on the bridge humbucker, but honestly how often do any of us use the bridge pup for clean work?

The "magic tone" of the bridge/middle pup combination is right there, and the greasy blues neck tone is there in spades. Funk, country, blues, and southern rock are at your beck and call.

For gain sounds, the neck pup is extremely good and ranks as perhaps the best sound to be culled from the guitar's tonal pallet. Pile as much gain as you like in this position, and you'll still get note definition and clarity like you can't believe.

Switching from the neck to the bridge pickup is like switching entire guitars on the fly. Harmonics jump and squeal at the slightest provocation, and chords ring with harmonic overtones for eons. For those complaining about the sound of the brige pickup: what happened to your ears? If you think Seymour Duncan distortions and JB's are great improvements, you should seriously get your hearing checked. I've tested three different Highway-1's with the stock humbucker and was extremely pleased at its sound each and every time. Thin sounding? On what planet is this pup harsh? Dial your mids back in, Silly! I've used a lot of guitars with SD's and have found most of their models to be vastly over-rated. SD's are trendy now, and every guitarist under the sun is clamboring to buy guitars with them. Ridiculous. The only SD's that are all that impressive are the Alnico models and the Screamin' Demon.

This guitar will do nearly every sound you can conjur if you pay attention to things like your strings, your picking attack, your amp and its settings, and your speakers.

Eh. I don't get too fussy about this stuff. Even very expensive guitars can have setup problems. I assume I will have to spend time setting up every guitar I get no matter how great it sounds when I buy it. Setting string height, intonation, etc. is not a big deal, guys.

That being said, I was pleasantly surprised to find that minimal tweaking was needed to get things rolling with my Highway-1.

Construction and materials are flawless. Even considering it's rough finish, this guitar looks, plays and feels solid. Plus, as I've played the guitar, the finish is wearing in in a way that has brought out it's shine. The transparent finishes look much better than the opaque ones by the way.

Those complaining about the tuners make me curious. I've had zero issues with them.

I don't play live, so I'm a bad judge of how durable this guitar would be in a gigging situation. However, the finish on the Highway-1 is more easily scratched and dinged and/or damaged by moisture than a typical gloss finish. But you know what? I've played Ibanez guitars with gloss finishes that were just as flimsy. Anyway, the guitar feels quite sturdy to me, much better than the Mexi-strats.

If properly cared for, this type of guitar should present few problems.

Nothing to report. Have never need to contact Fender.

If you can't stomach the price of a Standard Strat, grab a Highway-1 and forget about it's pricey competion, because sonically, the Highway-1 models are every bit as good as most of the standard and deluxe models, and better than many of them. For the money, you'll be getting an absolute steal.

The Hummmmbucker sounds pretty loud and has a definitive tone. As for the single coils it's standard strat...if you like you'll like. I play trashy blues stylings so it all works out for me. I compared to a mexicain H/S/S strat and sound-wize I'd say there's a little somthing something that comes with the Highway 1. Im contemplating upgrading the single coils....but that's just cause Im addicted to tone.

I'd say the factory setup was pretty awefull. I brought it in to a luthier within 10 days after purchasing it...which was to be expected. My luhtier did an excellent job with it but was a little concerned with a slight buzz-that-wont-go-away on the low E 8th fret. I settled with the buzz as it doesn't bug me to much....it's very slight. Still I don't know....it requires a little compensation when setting it up which I guess is not a good thing. Other than that the guitar plays like butter. I've played my share of Fenders and a few Gibsons....it's up to par. Oh yeah there might be a slight issue with the G string....it goes out of tune a little to quickly...again compensation.

The finish is well .... lets say prone to scratches. I've had this guitar for less than six months and it's riddled with scatches in some places due to my normal picking technic. Any other finish ...the guitar would be scratchless. I don't expect it will be worth selling this instrument in a couple years...much less months...I expect it's resale value to be low due to the extensive scratching. Other than that I've only had this intrument for six months so....time will tell for the hardware, etc...

No idea....havent gone there yet.

It's a sweet guitar. Sounds great and plays like butter. BUT in terms of an investment....I dunno. The whole situation with the finish and the early problems with the frets....feels like I'll eventually (possibly shortly) reitre it, get an american standard and keep this one as a backup. I personally regret not getting the American Standard from the get-go. THIS GUITAR WILL DROP IN VALUE MUCH FASTER than an American Standard. Still I'm playing butter and it's sound pretty awesom......trade-offs.

I have a 2003 model that I bought in like new condition in 2004, still had the plastic on the pickguard and everything. I purchased a brown fender tolex case as the original gigbag was MIA. 2 vintage staggered Alnico single coils and an Atomic Humbucker in the Bridge. Vintage style (i.e. six screw) fender trem. I gave it a 7 because the tone knob didn't control the bridge, and I would like something similar to S1 switching.

Great for blues, even pulls off somewhat decent jazz. Not very noise, the sound is typical fender. I love it for clean rhythm in blues and distorted blues leads. I don't care for the bridge pup, its sounds very brittle to me. Love the two single coil sounds though, and a mix of the mid and the bridge is decent. I use this with a Fulltone OCD, a Fender Hotrod Deluxe and a Peavey 5150. Gets an 8 because of the Bridge pup.

I always do setups on my guitars because I tend to use heavier strings. I also had it modded for a blocked trem (not because of tuning issues, but because I wanted to see if there was a difference in tone. I think there was, your mileage may vary.) and I had the bottom tone knob modded to control the bridge and middle pups.

Thing is built like a rock. Leo did well. Finish has held up well for the last 3.5 years, a little finish checking in a couple of places but nothing major. I baby my guitars. Strap buttons are alright, I replaced with locking ones, Schallers. Would NOT do that again. the smaller screws started to strip the top button. My own fault. I use Dunlop plastic locks now. Much better and no mods to the guitar. I can gig with this and I wouldn't need to have a backup. In fact I have done that. I would say this thing is on par with my Gibson Les Paul Classic.

didn't use.

I've played for over 10 years now. This is a great guitar. I already mentioned my amps and my Gibson, but I also own a Taylor acoustic and a Samick Hollowbody. The fender gets a little less playtime then the others, but that is because I mainly play jazz now. The fender is a great guitar, but I find it better suited for rock and blues. I love almost everything on this guitar, especially the transparent honey finish. Wish it had a better bridge pickup though. For the $400 though, I got a steal. I probably wouldn't buy this guitar again, but thats only because I've change my views a bit in the last few years. If all I had was 400, then yes in a heartbeat. Otherwise, I think I'd go with either the EJ strat or a 50's American Reissue.

As much as I bitched about this guitar in my review of the 2005 model.....I went out and bought a 2006 HWY 1 Strat HSS and did the same routine with this one.

I bought the totally gorgeous SUNBURST finish model. The flat nitro sunburst is a thing of beauty to behold!!!

The 70's headstock is always a deal breaker for me....I love them!!!

Once again.....brass tacks time!! The pickups totally sucked!!! The Ping tuners ever so sucked!!
Once again I resorted to a Gibson humbucker....a '57 Classic Plus (not a Burstbucker Pro as previously stated) and put in two Fender Vintage Noiseless in the neck and middle (I LOVE those things!!)
I topped it off with Ferraglide Saddles and Fender/Schaller locking tuners.
NOW.....this be-otch is road ready!! You have to hear this monster now!! It kicks an American Deluxe's ass!!

The finish is truly Gorgeous!! The 70's headstock is very eyecatching!
It was set up like crap from the factory!!

(Sorry fender....I love you guys....but you gotta stay awake at the quality control center!!)

After much modification.....this thing (like my 2005 model) is a frikkin' monster!! A total rock and roll machine!!

I hate the fact that I have to do all these things to the guitar before it's "suitable" to me!! Oh well.....it's a lovely starting point for some guitar mods!

Features:
Looks: The thing is GORGEOUS!! The nitro finish is a welcome change! Love the big headstock!!

Looks aside let's get down to brass tacks here!

Upon purchasing my 2005 Cocoa Brown(pre-"improvements") HSS I had to do a few things to make it roadworthy! First.....the PING tuners BITE ASS!!! They're WORTHLESS!! I had to put on a set of Fender/Schaller locking tuners. Tuning problem solved!!
Second....the pickups totally SUCKED!! I dropped in a Gibson 498T in the bridge and two Fender Vintage noiseless in the neck and middle. I also changed the color scheme to LOOK like the new ones. Black pup covers and knobs. Now....this thing is a MONSTER!! Yeah it cost me $200 in extra parts, but now this thing kicks an Amer. Dlx's ass!!

After doing all that to the guitar....it suits me PERFECTLY!! Such a ballsy sound from the Gibson pup and such nice Strat sounds from the noiseless!!
I use a Fender Hot Rod Deville 4x10 60 watt amp.

ANY guitar from the store NEEDS to be set up!! I use heavier strings and higher action and need to have these adjustments made upon purchasing!

This baby is a BEAST!!! A total rock machine!!! I like the look and feel of it so much I'm buying one of the new "improved ones" and gutting it the same way but with a Burstbucker Pro in the bridge this time!

I've been playing 20+ yrs. I hated the fact that I had to do all that to the guitar before it was suitable to me. Let's face it....I bought it on looks and feel alone....not sound! Although it did resonate amazingly acoustically....the sign of a really GOOD piece of wood!! The electronics (pups) and the tuners totally SUCKED!!!
Sorry Fender....I love Fender guitars but sometimes the quality control and hardware choice people are either sleeping or they just don't give a damn!!

one thing i love about the highway1 guitars
is the satin nitrocellulose lacquer finish. i believe
it's the only ones with this kind of finish and
i prefer it a great deal more to the normal glossy
finishes of other strats.
it features a vintage style synchronized trem bridge like
most fenders, fender standard cast/sealed tuners,
alder body, single-coil strat pickups with staggered pole
pieces and alnico 3 magnets on the neck and middle pickup
and some humbucker i cant remember on the bridge (mine's
now an SD custom). the original neck wasa 22 fret maple neck
with rosewood a fretboard. my new necks the same but without
the fat headstock (pity). it has a 5 way pickup selector
which i plan to change to a 3-way because i just about never
use the 2nd and 4th pickup configuration (which are the ones
that involve more than 1 pickup at a time).

if you know strat sounds, you'd have a clearer
picture of what this one sounds like. it's not
the typical start cause it's not as sweet
as... maybe the '61 or something. but it doesn't
pack as much of a texas twang as the SRV (which
i bloody love). well maybe leaning slightly
towards the twang... it's a good balance. sounds
extremely good for the price.

the neck single coil is my fave pick up on the
guitar. sounds very fat and thick with a lil of that
fender texas twang. perfect if you're gonna play
a blues tune. roll down the tone knob a little and
you've got yourself an excellent little wing kinda
sound.

the middle single coil is much like the neck one
in the sense that it has that little twang thing
going on too. but being in the middle position, i
like to use it for stuff which needs more punch in
it. doesn't have that full round sound you get
from the neck, but that's the whole point.

the humbucker i'm sorry to say i can't really
remember. what i do remember is that it didn't
sound as crunchy with overdrive as i wanted. so
i changed them to SD customs (which sound really
good when the tone knob is turned down a little).

all in all it's a really great sounding guitar.
everything i want from a strat with this pricetag
on it. i put it through a modded boss ds-2, dd-3
and dunlop crybaby535 into a vox ad15vt at home and
whatever amp i get outside (for the record i loved
the sound off it from a marshall modefour and a
randall... some model i cant remember. but i'm dying
to plug it into a vox ac30) the ds-2's gonna be replaced
with a proco rat 3-way with a lil mid boost by next
week because this strat sounds particularly good with
a distortion pedal that sounds so rich and creamy it
almost sounds like a fuzz... yeah. highway1 HSS+fuzz...
think hendrix.

i know it's just my piece. but when i got the
guitar. the neck was messed up. towards the
7-9th frets the neck was thinner than the rest
of it. so i had to change the whole damn thing.
manifacturing problem. and a real bummer too
considering 1 thing i really loved about this
model was the fat 70s headstock.
after changing the neck, the thing is great.

knobs may have been slightly stiff when i first
got it too... if i can remember right.

other than those 2 things. i have no complaints
about the action or the body or the nuts or whatever
else.

i'm giving this a 10 because i'd rely on this guitar
till hell freezes over and beyond. it always seems to
perform when i need it too and has never given me much
of a problem other than in the start. but after changing
a few parts it's perfect.

another thing is that, it's subjective, but in my
opinion, nothing on earth ages as well as a fender
strat. so that covers durability... cause personally,
minor scratches, dings and the finish wearing down...
i look forward to the day it does...

basically everything that has to be said has been said in
the previous sections so i wouldn't repeat.

i've been playing for about 6 years and own a cortg260,
used to own an ibanez rg470, a yamaha fgx413sc acoustic,
and a crappy yamaha classical which i keep cause it's my
first guitar.
in the effects department i own a dunlop crybaby 535,
boss ds-1 (which is yet to be modded), modded ds-2,
proco rat2, marshall jh-1 and a dd3.
amps, i've owned a peavey (rage or soemthing i cant remember),
marshall mg15cdr and now a vox ad15vt. i don't have any
big amps cause if i play any louder at home the neighbours
will complain... they already have been...
oh... and with relation to the fender highway1 HSS, it
sounds great through my current rig.

if the guitar were stolen i'd hunt down the guy who stole it,
pound his face in, then i'd probably get the same guitar. so
far i haven't found another strat within this kind of budget
with that twang i like sooo much...
unless i have enough to get myself an SRV, i'd stick to this
one.

ok. about the guitar, the thing i love most is of course
the tone and that it has a humbucker... really... on a strat
you wouldn't think to have a humbucker... but the advantages
i got out of it are endless... it's really really really a huge
+ point. i love the strat feel and playability. its as
comfortable as a guitar gets.
what i hate is the stupid state i got it in... you can refer
back to the action/setup section...

i play some rock, classic and modern both, blues, and i like
to do a little exploration into everything else like jazz, metal
(which was my first love, hence ibanez rg) and pop and what not.
the guitar's served me really well so far and i couldn't ask
for more. i can't think of another guitar i'd rather have. maybe
a LP. but with one, my main axe would still be this one.

made in us, in the year 2002.
22 frets
alder body, maple neck.
they included a gig bag, witch is okey. not the best gig bag i have seen but, who gives a shit.

i mostly play metal, rock, prog.
at home i play a crappy peavy envoy 110.
i like the sound of it. i LOVE the single coil sound. its fantastic!
but the single coils has very low output compeard to the humbucker.
the humbucker is okey, but i am changing it to a dimarzio z2n soon.

the finish SUCKS!! I almost dont have any left!
the action when i bought it was veeery high, i had to do some adjustments on the truss rod and the bridge. but thats normal when you buy a new guitar..isnt it?

well the finish wore off very fast, but the rest of the guitar seems quite solid. dont need a backup on a gig. (yet)

newer needed them.

been playing for some years.
if this were stolen or lost, whould i buy a new one? yeah...think so.
love this guitar, this guitar is mine for ever. i will never sell it to anyone...well the paint wore off...so what? it really dosent mean anything. after you have adjusted the truss rod and the bridge.
its great!

2004,American made with HHS pickups. Thin satin finish, walnut stain, fat 70's style headstock.

Bright, typical Strat sound. Pickup configuration allows for a great variety of tones.

Good setup right out of the box, no complaints.

Finish is thin, but very nice. This is an entry level American strat and they have saved money on the finish to keep it at this retail.

Have played for 40 years, this was my first really good guitar. Bought a Gibson SG 61 reissue, worth twice as much, but still played my Highway 1 more often. I would highly recommend this guitar.

I recently purchased a Gibson Explorer, didn't like it and ended up trading it for two new Highways One's. The H-1's are 2006. One Amber colored, the other Walnut. Both HSS with rosewood necks and alder bodies. Both have the non-glare satin finish. Tuners are stock. Has a Fender "60th Anniversary" emblem on the back of the 70's style headstock, very cool addition. Just a personal note, I would have liked to see the Fender company logo engraved on the chrome back plate wherre the neck is bolted tot he body like it is on theo other American made models.

These two guitars have the new "Fender Greasebucket" wiring system. I don't know that its all that much of an improvement. All in all I own 6 Stratocasters. All but two (the H-1's) are American Deluxe models with the LSR roller nut, locking tuners, etc. They each have their own sound and all are capable of getting the deep tones you need sometimes for that rich rock sound. The H-1's are lighter sounding. The bottom sounds are not there. I play through a Vox 60 watt VTX and a Marshall TLS half stack. My other Strats can do anything from rock to blues to country, jazz, etc. The two H-1's can do most of the same but thay cannot reach the bottom like the others. I guess the correct wordage would be 'too bright' for my taste. Other than the 'too bright' comment, the sounds are just as good as the more expensive Fender models. I was very impressed for what you get for the price you pay.

When the two guitars came in I opened the first box while the guitar salesman opened the second. He looked over the walnut model, I looked over the amber model. On mine I noticed a low action, no bowing in the neck at all, it was slightly out of tune but all of them are when they come from the factory. I was please with what I saw. Then we switched guitars and I observed the same with the walnut H-1. Wow. Both of us were impressed. I was planning on leaving the guitars with the tech at the music store but niether one needed a thing. Low action, no buzzing, good tight jointwork. They literally came ready to play right out of the box.

The frets have a thinner width than my other Strats but I seem to prefer it. It plays fast and chords easily. There were no blemishes on the body, neck, headstock, etc. For a low priced guitar I was very impressed.

I play daily and have recently joined the church praise team as one of the guitar players. I've never had a problem with any Fender guitar. They remind me of a hand tool-like a screwdriver. If you take care of them they'll last a lifetime. They'll even last if you mistreat them.

Mine came with the gigbags which was cool because I'm running out of space for storing hard cases.

Never delt with them.

I've been playing for about 8 years. I've had many guitars during that time but always gravitate back to the Stratocaster. It just feels right. It just sounds right. If it were stolen I'd get another one the next day. I have Strats that I paid way more than the price of the Highway One. I honestly cannot see the $500.00-$900.00 difference between the H-1's and the American Deluxe.

your typical strat......

it was that typical strat sound that sold this guitar to me
all the pick-ups sound fine to me

ok...here we go......the kneck was bolted on at a slightly off angle and it was hard to get a good set up....so i took it to a guitar tec and he had to shim the kneck,put it back on straight,stone the frets and i got him to put on a brass nut and now its lovely so im afraid the new condition of the action was very,very poor

the paintwork is extrememy thin and fragile and i have found knocks on it that i didnt even know i had done.
as i said earlier the nut was replaced with a brass one and that really livened up the guitar.
other than that its a strat......drop it and it will bounce back(minus the paint work)

2005 usa 22 fret
Same as the others. Killer 70's headstock. I have floyds in all my other guitars and to my surprise the trem on this is great. It does look a little shoddy, but it sounds great and is easy to adjust. I did not like the pickups so I put a Duncan Custom Custom in the bridge and a Dimarzio Red Velvet(incredible p/u) in the neck. It had some tuning issues so I installed Sperzels and they work flawlessly. I can dive bomb with no tuning problems. The stock nut is excellent and does not bind up at all. Came with nice gig bag. The tone controls really add some variations to your tone. A lot of guitars have all these knobs and what-not and they really don't change the sound much, but not this guitar.

I play metal mostly and some blues. I have a VHT Ultralead and a little Line6 practice amp. The sound is great. It is sort of "open" sounding if that makes sense. It isn't like super tight sounding but it is very defined. Pretty bright sounding, in a good way. You can change that with the aforementioned tone knobs. Harmonics fly off this thing. With the Dimarzio neck pickup on the clean sound is absolutley amazing. Better than my PRS or Jacksons. It has that chimey, bell like tone. It's a Fender.

Well, I am not sure where this was assembled at (us, mex) but it did need some work. Nothing much though. Just a couple of turns in the truss rod and some bridge adjustments. Otherwise it was perfect. I love the finish. It is going to look great 10 years from now. This is definitely a guitar that will just get better and better with age. Plus it cost 1/4 the cost of my PRS. The more dings and scratches this guitar gets the better.

Seems to be built great. When I changed the pickups I inspected the electronics. Cheaper guitars usually skimp in this area, and the solders and everything were perfect. Very clean and organized. With the Sperzels I would gig with it. Without the new tuners I would still gig with it but would stay away from the trem bar or really wide vibrato.

Never dealt with Fender.

Manufactured in USA in 2003. Alder body. Maple neck. Rosewood fretboard. 2 single coils and 1 humbucker as fitted. Came with Fender gigbag, cloth and manuals. When I went to Peter Cooke's I wanted a 3 single coil version. Fell in love with the SSH when they plugged it in.
I decided I would buy a USA Strat but haven't got a grand for a Clapton or Custom Shop etc so chose Highway 1 on reviews in Guitarist. I have not been disappointed and all they say about this guitar is spot on.
My only other electric is a 30 year old Yamaha SG30. I was simply blown away by the range of sound the Strat produces.

I play mainly acoustic, but plug the strat into a Line 6 Guitar Port so I don't wake up the children. Sold my amp years ago. I play along to many songs from Steve Earle to Jet. The Strat sounds fantastic. Probably even better through a good amp.
The humbucker gives a very warm cultured sound at high gain. The setting for the neck and middle together is awesome. Individually the SCs are great too. I've only had the guitar for about 7 months so I'm still experimenting with the sounds but I've been inspired to play things I only dreamed about previously.
The pickups are a bit noisy and the SCs lack the output of the HB but then they are supposed to.
I can't think of anything I really don't like about the sound.

Action was not brilliant from the box although the bloke in the shop did some setting up.
Finish on the body was flawless and very neat indeed. The body on mine is 3 pieces which have been bookmatched very well. The fretboard was very dry and had a few minor lateral scratches i.e. at 90 degrees to the grain. Have restrung and treated with lemon oil a few times and its getting better.
Frets were finished to a good standard. Tuners worked fine, nut well cut.
I did have it profesionally set up by Dr Robert who adjusted the neck and the action, fine tuned intonation and dressed the frets. The guitar is now at least twice as good as it was when I bought it. He also tapped down the magnets on the single coils and adjusted the height of the pickups which has improved sustain considerably.
Overall, good setup out of the box but you have to have it set up to your own tastes.

Definately for live work. This is an alround workhorse which will probably look and sound even better with a few miles under its belt. I haven't gigged for a few years but other than for broken strings wouldn't want a back-up.
All hardware is solid if basic.
I use the tremelo accasionally and it never goes out of tune!

Have never had to contact Fender.

Been playing for 25 years (break for about 12 - family).
I have a Yamaha SG30, Yamaha FG423 and a Yamaha FG312 12 string. I also have damaged Fender DG4 which I have given to my 10 year old son.
Didn't really compare to others except a Mexican Tele and a second hand Yam SG2000. Chose this because of the range of sounds, and to be honest, the strat is the best looking guitar around.
I would not buy this model again because, now I have more knowledge about Strats I would spend the extra #100 or so for an American Series with a hard case. The gigbag is a bit of a joke. I bought a cheap hard case on ebay for #25 which is much better.
Wish it had a coil tap, but look at the price! Awesome value, a gem.

My HWY HSS strat is a new 2004. Had to order it from my local music store, because they did not have it in stock at the time I wanted it. Ita has a rosewood fretboard, 22 frets, and a light stained amber color body. I chose the amber color because I liked it. Its a strat with a humbucker in the bridge and two single coils in the mid and neck. Has late 60's - 70's style headstock. Came with a nice Fender gigbag.

I play many styles of music, including classic rock (VH, 60's, 70's and 80's stuff), jazz, blues, fusion. This guitar has handled all styles so far with ease. The humbucker seems to be very hot, great for that raw rock sound. The single coils are noisy, but what do you expect from them. All and all, the guitar handles my styles greatly.

When the guitar arrived at my local music store, I went to pick it up and gave it a test run. The action(setup) seemed great. The neck played very good. I could and still do not see any flaws in the finish. I dont care about all that, because I bought this guitar to be a work horse, and do not care it it gets scratched up. I think it adds to the personality to the guitar anyway. It speaks of where a player has been in his musical life.

The guitar will def withstand live playing. The guitar came off with no problems the other night. Rock solid. Like I said before, the finish is a ligh amber color, and I dont care if it gets scratched up or banged up. Im going to play it until it falls apart. I never gif without a backup, so thats not even considered.

Never dealt with fender.

I really like the HWY 1 HSS strat. It fits my styles very well. Looks great, plays great. I may later on replace the 6 point vintage trem with a Wilkinson 6 point trem for better tuning, and also may replace the neck with a Warmoth all maple neck, because I really prefer maple fretboards. All and all, the HWY 1 HSS is a great guitar, and for the price tag and quality you cant beat it. You get alot of guitar and more for the money.

This is a follow-up review. I posted my original review in the "Fender Highway 1 Strat" section. Now that the HSS section exists, I figured I might as well post my follow-up here. Anyway, I've had the guitar for about a year now. I figured it would do the good to see a review of the guitar that wasn't written immediately after it was purchased or tried out in the shop. Now that I've had the guitar for a year, I know what it's capable of and I think I can provide the readers with a much more informed opinion on the guitar.

Anyway, the features (still all stock):
Rosewood fretboard, 22 frets.
Maple neck.
Large headstock.
Cocoa transparent finish.
Black atomic humbucker in the bridge.
Two standard single coils in the neck and middle.
Vintage trem.
Came with a deluxe gig bag.
Basically a regular strat with a humbucker in the bridge.

I still play metal (Ozzy, I attempt Dream Theater from time to time), and I've also moved onto some classic rock (Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top). I've since gotten a new amp, a peavey classic 30. Compared with my old peavey rage 15 watter, the sound is obviously far better. The hss pickup configuration makes this guitar very versatile. I can go from screaming humbucker distortion to twangy single coil sounds with a flick of the pickup selector switch. I've managed to set my amp up so that I never have to touch it. I can just roll back the volume on the strat to lower the gain, and eventually get a nice clean tone. Switch to one of the "in between" positions, set both of the tone knobs to 0, and you'll get a very deep, warm, muddy overdrive which seems very well suited for blues. The best clean tones this guitar makes come from the "in between" positions. They provide a very woody clean sound, almost like an acoustic! Overall, the pickups are great. I absoloutly love the humbucker, and will never consider putting a different one in. The single coils sound exactly like single coils should. They are a liitle noisy, but that should be a dead issue by now. If you can't take a bit of noise, don't buy a guitar with single coils.

The classic 30 isn't exactly a high gain amp, so I will probably end up getting an overdrive pedal eventually, for when I feel like more gain. On it's own, the strat coupled with this amp can produce excellent Randy Rhoades type sounds, or growly classic rock sounds.

Anyway, this guitar is very versatile sound-wise. You can cover almost any genre with this guitar. Metal, classic rock, blues, jazz, country. The only thing missing for me is a neck humbucker. However, as some reviewer here once said "different horses for different courses". For what this guitar is made to do, it's perfect.

From the factory, the guitar wasn't set up perfectly. That doesn't matter though. All that matters is that the guitar can take a good setup. My rating for this category is based on that, not how it came from the factory. Once this thing was set up properly, it played great, and still does. I have the action set pretty low, and I get minimal fret buzz. If you don't strum too hard or press too hard, you won't get any buzz. The neck on this guitar suits me perfectly. I haven't tried a guitar that feels better to me (yet). The guitar didn't have any flaws when I got it.

The finish is thinner than most (that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone reading this review). Because of that, it is a little easier to scratch up. Since I first got it, a few scratches and dings have surfaced. If you can't take take, don't get this guitar. I treat my instruments well, so, this isn't really an issue for me.

This guitar can certainly withstand live playing, although I've never played live before. The hardware will certainly last, as will the finish if you treat it right.

I've heard many people bitch about vintage trems. I can't say I've ever had severe tuning problems with mine. If you wind your strings properly, stretch them properly, and occasionally tighten the tuners, you should be fine. Look at Yngwie Malmsteen. All his guitars use vintage trems, and he quite often goes crazy with them. He doesn't seem to have tuning problems. If you set it up properly, you shouldn't have any severe problems. I will admit, the vintage trem can't compare to a floyd rose as far as tuning stability goes, but it can come much closer than you think if you know how to use it.

I've still never dealt with Fender directly, so, no rating here.

I'll now have been playing for a bit under two years. I'm still quite pleased with this guitar. I can safely say I'll never make an effort to get rid of it. I'd be really pissed if it ever got stolen. If it were stolen, I don't know if I'd get it again. This is a great guitar, but, I may still want to step up on the Fender ladder, or try something new. When I first tried it out at the store, I compared it to an Ibanez RG, a Gibson SG special, and some ESP. The RG was decent, but the pickups blew and the neck didn't really agree with me. The SG was too expensive, and the ESP just plain sucked. This one was clearly the most versatile and wasn't insanely expensive.

Anyway, even after a year of owning this guitar, I still love it as much as when I first got it (if not more). I still find myself itching to play it every day. That right there has got to mean something. Pardon any spelling/grammatical errors. I didn't proof-read this.

2004 Fender U.S. Highway 1 Stratocaster HSS

Alder body, maple "C" shape neck, 25.5" scale, rosewood fingerboard, 9.5" radius, 22 frets, satin finish, 2 vintage single coils (neck and middle positions), Atomic humbucker in the bridge position, vintage style tremolo

This is a cool combination of vintage and modern styles, with the added edge of a humbucker.

No single guitar ever has or ever will have all the features that one could want, but a Strat is essential, so it gets a 10 on features.

The stock Fender humbucker sounds great. The single coil pickups are a little weak output-wise, but nevertheless sound good clean. The guitar excels in overdrive and high gain amp settings. Single coil sounds are very much like Hendrix or SRV. The humbucking sound has just the right amount of brightness and clarity, and has great sustain. I might try different single coils in the neck and middle positions, but other than that, the guitar sounds great.

The guitar was set up very well. The action was just how I like it, frets were polished, and the guitar was very close to being in tune right out of the box. The pickup height was a little low, but I figure there's nothing to complain about there, everyone has their own preferences for that. The satin finish is very cool. The guitar itself is lighter than my other Strats. Everything was in perfect condition when I pulled it out of the box. Superb!

I find that most guitars hold up very well as long as you don't smash them on a stage floor. This guitar looks like it will hold up for a long time. It is very solidly built. The satin finish seems a little thin, but I guess I'll find out its durability over time. This is my new backup guitar for gigs (my main is a PRS Custom 24). I will rely on it heavily.

Never had any trouble with any of my Fender gear. Any diagrams or schematics I needed, or any questions I needed answers to are covered on Mr. Gearhead, Fender's customer support website (www.mrgearhead.com). Lifetime warranty, so I should be good.

I've been playing for 10 years. I own 3 Strats and 2 PRS's. These five guitars cover all the tones I desire. I checked out the specs on the guitar, liked what I heard, and ordered one. They were back-ordered at the time and I waited a little while for mine to be built and shipped out. I pulled it out of the box at the store, tuned it up and played it, and it sounded great. I couldn't ask for much more than that.

My main rig is a Mesa/Boogie Triaxis preamp, Mesa/Boogie 2:90 power amp, and TC Electronic G-Major running through a stereo Mesa/Boogie 4x12 cabinet. Everything is controlled through MIDI. I have one set of presets for my PRS's, and one set for my Strats. The Strats do not have high output like the PRS's, so the Strat presets in my preamp need the gain and volume boosted slightly. When I bought this guitar, it fit right in with my other Strat presets, no problem.

For $450, I got a guitar that rivals my $3000 PRS Custom.

The same as everyone else. I did have the trem blocked and 11's put on though.

I give it a 10 because it has everything I would want in a Strat and more (humbucker).

I like to play blues, pop rock, and 90's alternative. This guitar sounds great to me and suits my style just fine. I have seen some bashing of the pickups in other posts and beleive that if a player can't make this sound good the problem must be personal and not the guitar. This will sound like a strat with a humbucker, it will never exactly replicate a les paulr or other mahogony humbucker equipped guitars but that's not it's purpose. If you are expecting that, I would buy a different guitar.

The middle, and neck pickups sound very traditional while the humbucker is meaner and gritties. I am very happy with the range of sounds from the humbucker and beleive it gives you a lot more versatility than going with a standard sincle coil at the bridge.

To be honest, this guitar is flawless. It is very sturdy, the frets,and finish are also very smooth.

The finish is perfect.

This is definitely a 10.

I feel this guitar will stand up as ell as any fender guitar. The finish is a little bit thinner to cut costs but I see absolutley no issues with it. All of the knobs and switches are also spot on which is different than previous Fenders I have owned.

I have been playing for about 5 years. Currently I own an high end acoustic and this is my only electric but I have been through a mim strat, a mim telecaster, and a squier telecaster. I would defenitely buy another one as this guitar just seems to have "it" for me. I would have considered a G&L Tribute but this one just felt right.

Made in the USA 2002, 22 medium jumbo frets, vintage bridge, alder body, maple neck with 9.5" radius, 3 vintage style alnico pups with staggered pole pieces, this one has a HSS pickup routing. What I like about this guitar is it has some modern feautures like the neck radius and medium jumbo frets and some vintage feautures like the vintage bridge and pups.

The sound and playability is what I like about this guitar. Amps consist of a Fender Silverface Champ and a Mesa f-30 (great clean sounds) and a tonebone classic distortion that I play through the clean channel of the Mesa. I had been searching for a strat for about 6 months and had considered an American Series, American Vintage, American Deluxe, etc. but this Highway 1 just seemed to feel right and sound right.

I have been intrigued with the noiseless pups so after owning the H1 for about 7 months I dropped in a set of very well regarded 50's vintage style noiseless pups (not fenders) hoping I could keep the great sound of these pups without the noise. Here is the interesting part. The noiseless pups sounded very good, bell like and chimey. However, I preferred the stock pickups so the noiseless came out after a couple weeks and I have the original pups back in and I am very pleased with the sound again. These stock pups are somewhat darker with more midrange and don't have that twangy bright 50's sound. All 5 positions sound great and are very distinct. The bridge is biting, the middle is very clear and usable clean or driven, and the neck pup is throaty and woody. When driven these pups become rude and nasty in a good way - think Hendrix.

I bought this from a local small shop that is a Fender dealer so I think they spent some time with it before putting it on the floor because the set up was good. I inspected the guitar closely so it was in good shape with no other issues.

Here is the rub on this guitar. The finish is thin and not durable so any slight bumps to the finish either cause a dent or the paint comes off to the wood. However, I knew this in advance and for $535 bucks new it is what it is and I'm not worried about it. Other than that it is a strat and the reliability and durability should not be a problem.

Have not had to deal with Fender or have not had any warranty issues.

I have been playing for about 22 years. I also own a PRS McCarty, and a Hamer Newport. Both very nice and expensive guitars. Believe it or not I like this strat the best. There is just something about a strat the sound is so unique. If lost or stolen I would replace.

If you take your time and play a bunch of different strats you can find a good one without having to pay a lot of money. Strats are made different that most other guitars because they are held together by a bunch of screws, the pups are mounted to the pickguard, etc. Certainly if you buy a more expensive strat you will get a better paint job, maybe better pickups (but that depends on what you like), and better hardware. But I don't think that always necessarily means the guitar will play or sound better (with one disclaimer the electronics need to be of good quality).