Fender Highway 1 Strat

Mine is a blue transparent finish (i can see the wood grain), it's from 2005, so it's the older version, obviously made in USA, it have 22 frets, a solid alder boby and a maple neck with maple fretboard.*
the finish is very, VERY thin, it make the wood resonate better, but it cracks easy, i bought mine used from a 12 year old boy, so it's a lot of damage in the finish, (things that i sacrifice for sound), tipical strat body, 3 single coil pickups, vintage 6 point tremolo, 25.5 scale, fender american tuners, and mine come with the nicest case i have ever seen

it doesn't suit my style a lot, so i need a few mods, but it is also nice, i play metal and progressive music, and the stratocaster is the more versatile axe, it's noisy as any strat. And the * in the part of the neck stand because, this isn't your typical 1 piece maple neck, the fretboard and the neck are glued, because for the 22 frets you need about 3 more mm so they need a fretboard that is longer than the actual neck, so it sound warmer than the one piece maple neck.
the sound is bright and in the second position there is a sound that i love for the clean soloing
Very versatile axe

i don't know because i bought it used 3 months ago, but the boy who sent my the guitar send it with, and unaligned neck, 1 string missing, completely awfull action, awful intonation, and the finish was so destroyed that in the look department i'm regreting buying this guitar, only because of that boy

the strap buttoms are really nice, after a complety setup it feels so solid that i can smash it on the ground, i gig whiout a backup, but the finish is so thin that if the guitar fall, it cracks instantly
also i think the finish is nitro, because it (no one warn me that this happens to this guitars) have marks (barely noticeable) of where the stand was (and i only leave it there 5 hours in 3 months)

i love it exept for the finnish issue, i'm planing on buying the "air norton s" and "tone zone s" because i want to make it more suitable for metal

i own 3 highway ones upgrade late 2006 and 07's
and there built like tanks.the craftman ship and quality
is top of the line.i compare the craftmanship of the highway one
to the custom shop strats thats how well there built.

i have been playing fender strats since age 11 (1973)
and the highway one is the most versatile strat to date.
classic/modern and everything in between the tones it
produces are unbeatable.the highway one walks all over the
2008 american american standards in the tone department.
the highway one strat is a tone monster.

it was set up perfect right out of the box.
the custom shop designd alnico 3's pick ups
are genius period.no fret buzz the neck smooth and fast
simply no flaws BRILLIANT!the nitro finish also BRILLIANT!

one of the best built strats i have ever come across.
the hardware on this strat will out last me. yes
i would and i have used the highway one strat with out a back up
and its never faild me.thats more than i can say for the
2008 american standard strat it has faild twice already.

35 years of strat playing and the highway one
upgrade strats just simply walk all over the new
american standards and most strats period. the highway one
is a legend all ready in my book.everthing on this guitar
it just BRILLIANT! THIS STRAT IS ALSO WAY UNDER PRICED.

Bought in 2008, this is a 2006 upgrade model Fender Highway 1 Stratocaster. It's got a 25.5" scale maple bolt-on neck, 22 jumbo fretts, Three Fender Special Alnico 3 pickups, two tone knobs, one volume knob and a vintage-style syncronized tremolo. Basically, it's a strat, which already makes it one of the most versatile guitars on the planet. Add to that Fender's custom shop designed Greasebucket tone circuitry, whiich rolls off the high end without adding more bass, and you've got some really clear and warm Gibson style tones too, which is especially impressive for a strat.

First and foremost I should make it clear that this is not your average strat tone-wise. The Alnico 3 pickups are hotter and darker sounding than an American Standard, and were specifically designed to handle distortion far better than regular strat pickups. That said, it's no Ibanez or Jackson, so you can still get a good amound of clean sparkle from it. Overall I'd say that the Highway 1 is more versatile than an American Standard, especially for warmer, darker and distorted sounds and is good for just about any style of music, from clean Blues guitar all the way up to Hard Rock and even Metal. If you want a REALLY clean sparkley sound or full-on death metal crunch, than get an American Standard or an Ibanez RG. Otherwise, the Highway one should suit you just fine.

The action was nice and low out of the box with no frett buzz, the neck was bolted on tight and perfectly straight, The bridge and trem cavities were routed perfectly, the nut was smooth and fitted well, the tuners are smooth and the guitar stays in tune very well. Basically, it's made to full American Strat quality standards. I'd also like to point out that my guitar has a one-piece maple neck, i.e. the fretts are set directly into the neck rather than a seperate glued-on frettboard, which is very odd as I have not seen this advertised as a feature anywhere. I'm knocking off a point because of the thinner matte nitrocellulose finish, which even though I personally quite like it, I understand that most people probably won't be too keen on it.

It's very solidly built and I would use it without a backup, but I'm marking it down because it doesn't come with a hardshell case.

Never dealt with them, although Fender does give a lifetime warrenty on their electronics.

I've been playing on and off for the better part of ten years, and I have to say that this is my favorite guitar. While I currently own only one other guitar (a Gibson Melody Maker) I have played plenty, Including my dad's American Standard Strat, and overall I actually perfer my Highway 1. It's a fantastic guitar in every way, and for the price it's easily one of the best. I'd recomend it to just about anyone looking for a high quality and versatile guitar.

Fender US Special Highway 1

Alder body with Honey Blonde thin nitro lacquer finish
Maple neck with polyurethane finish
Maple fretboard
9-1/2" fretboard radius
22 Jumbo (custom shop) frets
25-1/2" scale length
3 vintage-style single-coil Strat?? pickups with staggered pole pieces and alnico magnets
5-position blade selector
Master volume control
Tone control for neck pickup
Tone control for middle pickup
White plastic parts
Original headstock shape
Original body shape
H/S/H pickup routing

Unbelievable. My Deluxe 57 Reissue with that stupid S-1 switching tone killing circut on its best day dosent have 1/10 the balls or tone that this HW-1 has! I picked up a used custom shop model (pre-grease bucket), and love it. I paid $650 for it and it feels like i stole it. The guitar is already relicing nicely. Also the light weight is a nice add.

I played it along side my friends '66 Strat (worth about $25K), and it kills it with respect to tone.

Great; i have jumbo frets but it comes standard with med-jumbo. A great blues guitar.

Built just like the original standards. Trem bar makes it go out of tune from time to time; but a quick upward snap puts it right back in.

Didnt need it.

I plan on buying a few of these. Maple neck, Rosewood, and various colors. Mark my words, this model will have collector value someday.

This is a 2006 Fender Highway 1. There are a lot of negative reviews on here about the Hwy series, and I'm not questioning previous reviewers. I'm not a professional, but I've been playing for a really long time and I've owned a LOT of guitars. I have to say that the 2006 and later Hwy Strat is my favorite production Strat post-CBS. I've got a couple of these, and I may have just been lucky. But, I think the features are everything a Strat should be. The frets are huge (for a Strat), which I love, the trem block is solid steel (I can tell a difference in sustain), and the nitro finish is awesome. It wears perfectly and relics just like a Strat should. I love the feel, and I'm sure it's acoustically more resonant. Big fan of the pickups. Yeah, they're noisy, but at least the middle is RW/RP (the one thing CBS got right). They're ballsy, but I think they retain a classic Strat quality. I know the trem unit is a downgrade, but I've always preferred the old-school trem. The tuners are standard. No neck adjustment, but how often is that really needed anyway? Too good to shim??? :-) Also, these things are insanely light, just like the classic Strats. I don't like to play a Strat that's over 8 pounds, and it's hard to find one of these that heavy. Most of the bodies are 3-piece to save cash, but I don't really mind. The only thing I don't like is the satin finish on the neck, but that's a matter of preference. I prefer a little traction. But, that's clearly what most folks want, so I can't fault them for that.

I like the sound. It's not a classic Strat tone, but it's not a 180 degree turn either. I replaced the stock pickups with gold lace sensors (hard to go back), and this thing is just a tone machine.

Here's where everybody rails on the Hwy. Like I said, I believe all the other posters. But, the Highways I've had have been setup perfectly. Great action, no dead spots, good fretwork, good intonation. I may have just gotten lucky here.

As I said above, I love the nitro. I don't think that anything else should ever be on a Strat, and it's awesome that you can get it here for so cheap.

It's a Strat. People say that over and over, for a reason. It's really hard to hurt it. As for the body, the nitro finish was made to take a beating and show the battle scars. If you want to keep a perfect finish, and actually play the guitar, then get an Am. Std.

Some will call me crazy, but this is my favorite production Strat that's been produced in my lifetime. I'd say the Fender Plus models owned that award before this, but I love the classic simplicity of this instrument, as well as the well-thought-out modern refinements. Big fan. You can grab these on eBay for 5 hudo becuase everybody else hates them. Pick one up, spend a hundred on a great setup, and you're good to go.

you know the features by now.
this is well equipped as most Strats are. alnico III single coils and vintage trem with steel block. and the late 60's headstock which i used to hate but it is super sexy to me now.
nice alder body with a satin nitro finish that shows the sunburst well.
super comfy maple neck and fretboard. big frets but c'mon they are not that huge as some may claim. the neck is one of the best playing necks i have ever felt.
i really like how the pickups can cover sweet bell tones and crunch in my Tiny Terror. a Strat is possibly the best designed guitar ever. and yeah single coils hum, get over it. i would take these over the sterile noiseless pickups Fender offers on other models.

i play a lot of styles from country to metal and this covers the ground well. sure it isn't as fat as a humbucker equipped LP but it can do metal. use amp gain for that. this is far from thin sounding. i prefer a Fender scale for hard music anyway, less flab on the low notes.
i use an Orange Tiny Terror into an Epi valve junior cab, with occasional Rat2 boost.the sound is big bell tone and can get skanky in the 2 and 4 pos and crunchy in the bridge. this guitar is a winner. the sounds i look for are always a selector switch away or achieved with a volume adjustment. no stomping on effects just do it all from the guitar, providing i have the amp cranked to drive.
single coils do hum and i have never had an issue with this. there is a lot of classic music done with humming strats. this is by no means a bad guitar. if you don't like hum don't buy a real single coil equipped Strat, duh.

it was set up well as most Strats. i prefer my trem flat on the body so i tightened the springs abit. this lowered my action but that is easily changed. don't expect a guitar to pleae everyone. some like high action and some like low. i am familiar with Fender's standard setup. this was well setup. better than Gibson does thier guitars.
i was suprised when i removed the rear plate to adjust the springs and seen super clean routing and finish. good job Fender, no runny finish or goop, just super tight workmanship. the fret ends are nicely polished and have no sharp edges. the fret tops are not quite as polished as on the Am Std, but close. everything is tight and in it's place. the neck is awesome.
the finish is starting to polish where my ar rests, i may polish the guitar to a shine eventually.
tuners do a good job. the nut is cut well and the proper height, but slightly binding the g. an easy fix. some people need to learn about their guitars. Strats are the easiest guitars to tweak, all you need is a screwdriver and brains.
it is a vintage trem and not a floyd rose, it isn't going to stay in tune for heavy whammy use but it can be optimized for that with a few tricks. i would have no problems gigging without a back up. i know enough to keep this thing in top shape and i don't break strings. really. my guitar stays in it's case and i change strings regularly. most people break strings because of corrosion. take care of you axe and it will be dependable.

no problems here

don't know, i do my own work. don't really need their help right now. but i will say they set this up as well as they do most of their guitars. i think any claims of Fender being slack in quality control are a bit much.
sure there may be the occasional dog as there will be in any factory. some workers are bound to be lazy. but generally speaking i believe Fender is doing great in their quality control.

i have been playing 25 yrs and have owned a pile of guitars, i returned a Gibson Lp BFG to get this. the BFG was nice but not as sweet a player as this is.
i wish it had a bridge bucker, but i love the single coils so much i am not sure i could remove one just for a bit more crunch.
i will eventually put locking tuners on this.
this guitar is quite possibly the sleeper of the fender lineup. 750.00 for a solid kickass Strat. American made and quality parts, what is not to like. to top it all off it has great tone that covers many styles.

2006 grease bucket. New as all my Fenders. made in USA. Neck is 9.5 radius. Rosewood fretboard. Gig bag.

Very poor sound. Very noisy pickups. Use a Vox 30 watt tube amp. 3 useless single coil pickups.

Terrible set up. Saddle screws stripped. Strings buzzed. Had a tiny chip in the black part of the 3 tone color. Use the trem arm instantly goes out of tune. Fender has poor quality control, you have been warned.

Once you change the pick ups and get rid of the cheap mexican parts should last a long time.

Useless. Fender has poor quality control. All 3 of my fenders bought new had problems and support was useless.

I wish someone would steal it. Lousy resale value, cant give it away.

Black vintage 60's color, 22 frets, large vintage headstock, strong C shape neck rosewood, vintage six point bridge, great hot fender pickups, Made in USA

Great tone!!! bought this guitar 2 months ago. So far I love it, and have come across several things. I play blues, blues rock, classic rock and this guitar is great for playing blues, as it has the perfect tone for it. I am playing it with Fender Twin 40 watts. With the sound I have one problem. On the clean channel it sound is very good to me. this guitar has tons of tones, especially with the amp clean, I'm playing it with..

The guitar was set up perfectly at the factory, This strat came with absolutely no flaws, and is amazing.

The guitar is solid, the strap buttons are solid, and never have they came off unless I loosened it to much by flipping it around. the finish wears off really easily, but I'm doing my best to reserve it, and if it does.

None

I play blues rock and classic rock, this Fender Strat is great for all sounds, and once my pickups get changed I think this guitar will sound great on lead. I chose this one because I preferred the look, and sound, the tone is great ilov this guitar... Everything is great.

I traded one of my guitars in for a natural-creme-color, maple neck HWY 1 and replaced the pickguard with an aftermarket white pearl. Looks absolutely sharp! It is the a 2007 model so the new pickups were used as well as the "grease bucket" tone pots.

I used to own a 64 strat once and exchanged the pickups because they were totally unbalanced due to the staggered magnets they used back then. The HWY 1 hits the happy medium here, it is very well balanced (due to NON staggered alnicos), bites if you want it to - or is Knopfler glassy if you like that. Very round earthy strat like tone! If you are shopping for an original USA strat, this is a good one!

Amazingly, it was factory-adjusted perfectly and in flawless condition overall. The dealer actually had 3 on display and they were all perfectly adjusted. I do not know if Fender will provide this great work forever (this is usually rare) but my compliment to the Fender guys here.

I own it too short to tell. The nirto finish will sure not be as durable as a high gloss, but what the heck, don't we all want a nicely broken-in strat rather sooner than later?

no need for customer support yet but I dealt with Fender in some other issues and it was fine.

I play since 40 years, went through 50 or 60 guitars in my live (lost count to be honest) and I really think that this is a good one if you are looking for a USA strat at a reasonable price.
I am convinced that it will be worth a lot more 20 years from now.

MODEL NAME: Fender Highway One Stratocaster (Upgrade)

MADE: USA

COLOURS: 3-Colour Sunburst, Daphne Blue, Flat Black, Honey Blonde, Wine Transparent (all with Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish)

BODY: Alder

NECK: Maple, Modern "C" Shape (Satin Polyurethane Finish)

FRETBOARD: Maple / Rosewood - 9.5" Radius (241 mm)

FRETS: 22 Jumbo Frets

PICKUPS: 3 Hot Single-Coil Strat Pickups with Alnico 3 Magnets and Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity Middle Pickup

CONTROLS: Master Volume. Tone 1 (Neck Pickup), Tone 2 (Bridge Pickup) Greasebucket Tone Circuits, (Rolls off highs without adding bass).

PICKUP SWITCHING: 5-position blade. Bridge / Bridge & Middle / Middle / Middle & Neck / Neck.

BRIDGE: Vintage Style Synchronised Tremolo

MACHINE HEADS: Fender Ping Standard Cast / Sealed Tuning Machines

HARDWARE: Chrome

PICKGUARD: 3-Ply Parchment

SCALE LENGTH: 25.5" (648 mm)

WIDTH AT NUT: 1.6875" (43 mm)

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

STRINGS: Fender Super Bullets, Nickel Plated Steel (.009 to .042)

ACCESSORIES: Deluxe Gig Bag

INTRODUCED: July 2006


Basically just your standard Stratocaster design with a few changes, most notably the jumbo frets and the lacquer finish. For me, the taller frets are a great bonus, because the last guitar I owned was a Jackson Dinky MG series which came with jumbo frets as standard; so I'm just naturally more at home with higher frets...but it's all personal preference in the end. Try this one before you buy it, I love these frets, but others may not.

The lacquer finish on the body is again just down to your own preference. Looks-wise, it's just a matte finish instead of a shiny finish. I actually prefer the matte, it's much nicer looking in my opinion. Because it's such a thin finish it lets the wood vibrate more freely, therefore giving amazing sustain and body to your tone, but it also needs more maintenance...if you accidentally hit the guitar off something it's much easier to dent or chip. Just take care of it and you'll be fine.

Another feature which either you'll love or you'll hate will be the large '70s style headstock with the more flamboyant logo design. Again, all down to your own preference; I love it.

In the end I would give this guitar a perfect 10 for features, since it perfectly supports my playing style; but someone else may complain about the lack of a Floyd Rose, tuning locks, gain booster switch or even the guitar modelling capabilities of say the VG strat. So, to keep it impartial I'll happily give the Highway One a high 8 for features.

I can only describe my playing style as a hybrid of progressive, blues, rock, jazz fusion, country and metal... and, more than any of the other guitars I've owned, I have to say the Highway One has an absolutely fantastic tone for any of these styles.

Right after I got the guitar, I immediately restrung it with D'Addario .011 to .049 XLs. I find light strings feel too clumsy and just compromise the overall tone of the instrument, therefore I prefer the sturdy feel and fuller sound that comes with heavier gauge strings.

I play straight into a Marshall VS2000 AVT100, usually with no effects, although occasionally I'll wire up a Cry Baby in between. The amp itself doesn't have that good a clean channel to be honest, but this guitar makes it chime as good as I've ever heard it. When you turn it to overdrive it's just mouth-watering. Every nuance of your playing style comes through, it's just such a responsive guitar. I normally just set the amp to quite a medium to heavy overdrive, so I have enough gain in reserve if I need it, but then I turn the volume control on the guitar itself down until it's just a light crunchy overdrive. ('Volume control' is a misnomer, it's really a gain control) Many guitars lose much of the original tone when you do this, but the Highway One preserves it very well; still such a dynamic sound. Now for heavier styles. Set the amp to an extremely high-gain overdrive and the guitar sounds simply amazing. It has such an incendiary tone especially during solos, it just soars and rips right through the mix while sounding as full as ever. Absolutely airtight wall of sound, still so toneful even at really high gain settings.

Note: If you are used to playing with high output pickups such as EMGs, then you may be thrown at first by how much less gain the single coils give. This is easily remedied by just turning the gain up on your amp though.

Like all Strats, the Highway One has a sharp but very full tone from it's bridge pickup... a glassy subtle treble with more body on the bridge and middle... a very full all round tone on the middle pickup... again a very glassy yet creamy tone from middle and neck pickups... and such a beautifully creamy full airtight sound from it's neck pickup. The tone controls do exactly what they say on the tin, rolling off the highs without adding bass, and no complaints there.

The only thing that stops me from giving the Highway One a 10 for sound quality is the inevitable hum that comes with any guitar wired with single coils. To be honest, it's so quiet you really don't notice it at all, and it's virtually non-existent when the pickup selector's set to positions 2 or 4. Personally I think when you're buying a Stratocaster, the hum of the single coils is as much a part of the classic guitar as any other aspect of it, but then again, opinions may differ.

At the end of the day this guitar will provide you with beautiful tones for any kind of music. You can perfectly replicate the glassy sounds of Rory Gallagher, the creaminess of David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler, and the fullness of Jeff Beck or the many tones of the Eagles. For metal fans, a great sounding Iron Maiden or Megadeth tone is right there; just up the gain. Scoop the mids and with enough gain you can even get this Stratocaster to emit the sounds of Pantera. These are such versatile and beautiful sounding guitars.

To be honest, out of the box, the setup could have been better, but after some tweaking it's almost completely sorted.

It had .009s on when it arrived, and even though I was going to change them to .011s immediately, naturally I plugged my new guitar in right away to test it out. There was quite a bit of fret buzz, but this poor setup didn't bother me too much as I knew I'd need to set it up again after putting heavier strings on it.

I removed the plastic plate on the underside of the guitar (I just keep it off, it's much handier that way) I put the .011s on. I then tightened the springs and adjusted the action, and the fret-buzz was non-existent, apart from when I struck a chord really heavily; but that's only natural to have a little buzzing when the strings are vibrating to the extreme. An absolute veteran once told me he prefers a little fretbuzz even in his normal playing, as he feels it adds to his tone, so it's all personal preference. But I fixed the fretbuzz with minimal effort, so it's not a problem anymore.

The tuning was a problem for the first day or so, but it could have been caused by the heavier strings. For example, I'd be tuning the G string up and sometimes instead of hearing the sound gradually rise in pitch, I'd hear a "ping" from the nut and the pitch would jump up half a semitone. This was initially a tuning nightmare for me, but I've completely fixed it now with the use of Vaseline. Just lubricate the strings at the point where they pass over the nut and they won't ever get stuck. The only tuning problems I could foresee people having is when they do divebombs with the whammy bar (I don't usually incorporate these into my playing so it doesn't affect me) I tried it about twice to see how the tuning would hold up without locks, but the strings all came back up slightly off pitch. However, I'm no guitar tech, and I'm sure that maybe even through something as simple as tightening the springs at the back to create more tension on the tremolo, it might keep more control over the tuning of the strings. I know this solved my Jackson's tuning problems. Another tuning "problem" is just the fact that the bridge acts almost like a Floyd Rose in that you can't just tune the low E to perfect pitch and tune the rest of the strings in turn and still expect the low E to remain exactly how it was. Compensate for increased or decreased tension, it goes with the territory with these guitars, and it's really not a problem.

Beautiful neck, so comfortable to play, smoothest wood finish I've ever felt on any guitar, and I just adore the jumbo frets. Perfect intonation and the maple fretboard looks great too.

Absolutely stunning 3-colour sunburst, matte finish (satin nitrocellulose lacquer) but like I said, take good care of it. It'll chip twice as easily as your other shiny guitars.

Perfect weight, perfectly balanced.

Pickups were adjusted perfectly, haven't tweaked with them at all. They sound fantastic just the way they are.

One problem I had recently was that the jack port was coming a bit loose, but this can happen any guitar at any time. Pair of pliers and it's fixed in ten seconds.

So overall, you might have to tweak with it a little, but this is mandatory with nearly every guitar you buy. You're not going to find any inoperable flaws with the Highway One. You can fix it to your exact playing specifications in no time.

You'll have to take care not to chip the lacquer finish but other than that this guitar's as sturdy and durable as any of them, and I see no reason why it won't last me a lifetime. I just know it's going to be the workhorse of the rest of my guitar career.

I've only owned it two months, but it's a rock solid sturdy instrument and I can't see myself needing to complain to Fender anytime soon.

85% of this guitar was made in America, so you know the quality is there. The fact that it doesn't fall under the "American Series" category just means that you're paying a fraction of the price for a stunningly good instrument. $437 for a USA Stratocaster that's as good as if not better than any other USA Stratocaster I've played. Brilliant value for money.

I've been playing since September 2002. I taught myself on a Yamaha Pacifica 012, then upgraded a year later to an Epiphone Les Paul Standard. I played that for a year and a half and moved onto a Jackson DKMG. The reason I moved from guitar to guitar so much was because no matter how much I loved the guitar, there would always be something about it that wasn't quite up to scratch. But the Fender Highway One Stratocaster is the first guitar I have owned that I completely endorse to anyone and everyone, no matter what their style of playing. Perfect sound, perfect feel, sturdy workmanship and beautiful finish. I can still see this being my main guitar in 30 years' time