Fender Highway 1 Strat

Normal strat features. Thin coulour, sunburst. Rosewood fretboard. I bought it mainly because of the neck. The neck is very playable, not a fat one and suits me better than a standard neck. The guitar is not heavy and has a very good handling. The thin coulour may be sensible for dents and scratches, but this doesn't bother me. Think it soon will be a good "relic".

The stock pickups had to leave at once. They may be o.k., I tried them shortly. But they are not noise free in pos. 2 and 4 and this is a big dislike for me. I put in fat fifties and now the sound is very good, I love it. Fat fifties are reversed wound (other fender vintage pu's are not) and do not hum at 2 and 4. I play blues/rock and classic rock. With stock pu's a 7 with the fat 50's a 9 close to ten.

Action o.k, plays well. Finish: look above. I had to oil the fretboard, because there were dry areas on it. No big problem.

It is solid and reliable. You can use it without back up, only the normal problem when a string breaks. Because of that I take second strat with me at gigs.

I like the fender customer support, they were helpfull when I needed it (with another guitar).

I play ca. 8 years, started when I was already 41. I had several strats and this thing is one of the best. The feeling is great and the sound (with the new pu's), too. If you buy it and like the stock pu's enough, good. If not, put in any pu's of your choice (suiting your personal stile) and you will be happy with this strat (if you like a thinner neck and not fat necks).

Brand new, the lacquer still smells fresh. Three tone sunburst/maple neck. The dull finish is an amazing feature, whomever came up with the big labor saving idea should be fired so someone else can take the credit. It's not anywhere near as pretty as the shiny sunburst. But if that is what it takes to sell these USA Strats and make money, it's great! Standard American Strat 3 single coil vintage type alnico pups.
Original Contour Body!!!!!!! If you don't know the difference..........
The tuners are the same as my USA Deluxe Fat Strat but w/o the locking feature.

It has that loud clear bell/twang tone. Great for surfin' or country.
And it overdrives my amp (DSL50H / 4-12 Celestion Vintage 30 ) well enough I probably won't use the HH Strat MIM as much as I had planned. This guitar is not any noisier than my other two USA strats with Tex-Mex Pickups and the other with vintage alnicos. If you have a noise problem it might be something in your AC current. The pickups in this guitar are like the vintage alnicos. I am very happy with the sound of this particular guitar.

I bought this as a scratch and dent deal and it has a small scratch on the face of the body. The fit and finish is perfect, I had to tune it a little and it is already setup. The frets are perfecly smooth and the action is low. Maybe the party that sent this back set it up, that's a possibilty. But it is ready to go.

It's a Strat!, big thick body, strong maple neck, it can take a beating!

Don't know.

I've been playing for over 30 years, I own a whole bunch of Strats all Fenders various colors and configurations and this one is about the best buy I have made. I am very, very satisfied with this purchase!!!!!!! The MIM Strat just doesn't come close to this one, no way. I have 3 MIMs. You'll have to spend a lot more to get your MIM to sound like this one and you will never get the sexy original contour body with your MIM. Fender competes with itself and they know what to put on each model. You can't beat the system. This is the best deal Fender has right now. (They sure save a lot by not buffing them out, fur sure!)

Introduced in July 2002 this line according to Fender's website features Alder bodies, 22 Medium Jumbo Frets, 3 Vintage Style Single-Coil Strat Pickups with Staggered Pole Pieces, Alnico Magnets, Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo, Fender/Ping Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines. Maple or Rosewood neck option with Satin Lacquer Finish, body routed H/S/H and has chrome plated and white plastic parts. Includes a nice heavy gig bag with several pockets and duffel bag type straps and handle to transport the guitar. Street price at the big retailers is between $600 to $650.
Paying almost $300 for this above the going street price for a Made in Mexico Strat can't be justified. The hardware (pickups, tuners, nut, tremolo..) are nothing special. In my opinion the Made In USA on the headstock is probably why a person would purchase this new over the closely related Mexican version. For that much money they can keep the sticker. I picked up a like new used one in Teal Green that for what I felt is a fair price.

The sound is pure Strat. Running through Fender, Marshall and Roland amps it sounds the way a Fender Strat should. There is a serious noise issue with the pickups when close to video or audio equipment. More so than on some of the cheapest guitars I've owned in the same location with the same amps. Shielding and/or pickup selection should of been better at this price point. This guitar should suit anyone that covers alot of sonic ground such as Blues, Rock, or Country. It loses points due to the noise issue.

Action, Fit and Finish are average. The see through finish as mentioned by others will age/wear quicker than a thick coat of paint. This may be a minus or plus depending on if you are concerned with cosmetics or sound. The Satin Lacquer Finish comes in several color options and is thin enough to allow you to see the wood grain below. A few years of heavy use will get a SRV look going to this guitar. You'll get a relic strat without paying for one. Acoustic guitars don't have a foot of paint on them and neither should electrics. With new technology in production of guitars and other consumer goods the quality continues to increase. I'll take machine over man when it comes to producing a guitar body/neck or a car. They are all mass produced and I want the best QA I can have. One complaint that has been noted by another is that if you are using a see through finish better matching of wood should be done. No more than two pieces of alder should have been used and matching at this pricepoint should be expected. From a distance you can't tell but a player looking at the guitar can easily see this. Everything was up to expectation on the guitar with the exception of this. Finish loses points. Action and Fit pass the test.

The most popular and most copied guitar in the world will last to your last breath if you take car of her. As mentioned the finish will be worn out but everything else should be fine. Replacement or upgrade parts will never be a problem.

Never called with them. Your local music store should be your customer support and if they can't do the job shop somewhere else. The Fender website is the best of all major companies. Not just products with glowing reviews and hyped pictures but also things such as lessons, artist biographies... Spend some time there. I have a good Fender dealer, they have a great website.

Playing 20+ years. Long enough to know value. Any regular American Strat is not worth the street price unless you're looking for resale/investment and neither is this cost saving Highway 1 model. Resale will be high because of the Made in USA on the headstock. If you can find a used one cheap go for it. They're a great guitar and beg to be played. I always rate on dollar value. If you want a player and not an investment but a MIM Strat. This model new does not warrant the almost $300.00 extra than it's south of the border cousin. Play rated it would get excellent high marks, the neck and body are comfy and just feel right. The pickup noise issue will be addressed at some point. I credit Fender marketing for throwing USA stickers on a guitar that's not much different from a MIM then jacking the price. That USA sticker will make people dig deeper in their wallet It's born to be played but way overpriced compared to my MIM strat that reminds me what a great value it is. Buy this one used only or buy the Mexican model made not too far down the road.

Fender 2002 US made Strat, 22 frets, s/s/s pickup configuration, 3-piece alder in cocoa brown with the trademark thin satin nitro finish, maple fretboard, standard Strat layout that all of you should know, stamped vintage-style bridge, Fender tuners, came with a Fender gig bag. You buy a Strat for Strat features, so it's tough to give this category a rating. I'll go 8 just because all the Strat stuff is there. Nothing more, nothing fancy, nothing deluxe, nothing that is not needed.

The pickups are not quiet but not overly noisy either. There is no hum cancelling in the 2 and 4 positions because the middle PU is not reverse-wound.

The sound. It is all there. You buy a Strat for a Strat sound. The Fender Strat sound is there in all its glory. The neck PU is full-body and smooth and very soothing. Quacks in the 2 & 4 positions -- these are the real Fender Strat quacks, not the "close-enough" imitation quacks. There are guitarists who say they are tired of the quack, but not me. This guitar gives you all the famous Fender quack you could possibly want. Fender could have used a reverse-wound middle pickup to cancel hum in the 2/4 positions, so that deserves a mark-down. But this is a classic Strat, made in the US, and does what a Strat is designed to do, period.

The guitar came with .009 strings and everything was adjusted for these strings. The nut was cut a bit too high. The truss rod came perfectly adjusted. Even after changing to .010 strings the truss rod did not require adjustment, but the saddles did in order to get proper intonation. Shipment and transport must have jarred the tuner retaining nuts loose, as all 6 required some tightening. Every other component was tightly installed. Overall, the workmanship is excellent.

Cosmetically everything was first-rate. The body was 3-piece and the seams were hard to locate given the dark cocoa brown color.

I was able to adjust the saddle heights for very low and effortless action with no buzzing. That shows that the factory did a fine job with the frets. This is one of the best-playing guitars I have ever come across, with low and buzz-free action.

Having just gotten the guitar, I cannot vouch for its longterm reliability/durability. Fender guitars, however, are known for being solidly built, and this guitar should be no exception. The Highway 1 has the thin nitro finish that is supposed to be less durable, but that remains to be seen. I do not abuse my instruments, so that is not an issue. Thus I have no opinion on this.

I have dealt with Fender before and have no complaints.

I own Fender Strats from Japan, Mexico, Korea, and the US. This is among the best Strat I have owned/played regardless of the country of origin and price. This is just a well-made, excellent-sounding, easy-playing Strat, all in one package. What else is there? You could spend more to getting fancier hardward, "better" PUs, prettier finishes, etc. But you would not have a better sounding and playing Strat. And it is US made. This is a bargain that could very well become a treasure for its owner.

Standard Strat Features. Enough said. A versatile instrument.

Will be throwing out the pickups for some better units. But the standard pots seem to be quite responsive. Typical Strat sounds and associated quirks (noise from pickups etc.). Neck PU quite decent, middle too, neck... bit of a bugbear, I have toi layer pedals to get what I want; not necessarily a bad thing but with a little money I know it can do more.
Will update...

I got a good one. This one's well screwed together, everything fits pretty much just right and nothing has fallen off.
Only gripes are typical Strat issues; tuning stability (well in fairness, I go very heavy on the whammy bar at times, and did the designers back in the early 50s have to worry about Van Halen-esque divebombs? I don't think so) and the thinness of the stock single coil pickups (easily remedied by simply shelling out for better P-Us)

She came beautifully finished in this off-butter cream satin finish that is turning to a glossy shine with wear (this is my no.1 gigging guitar).
The wood used on mine is magnificent. It resonates incredibly well and easily would justify a few dollars extra being spent on upgrades (Wilkinson Trem, Seymour Duncan pickups, Sperzel locking tuners etc.)
I DO love it...

Strats are generally built like... you know, and my own is no exception. Will definitely outlast me. Not keen on the standard whammy (as mentioned) or tuners, but that aside it has NEVER let me down, thank you Fender!

Never had to deal with them.

My dealer is based in Dublin, Musician Inc., helpful, outstanding service. They get a 10.

This is a 'budget' USA-made guitar that happens to be EXCELLENT value for money. Ideal guitar to hot-rod. I plan on making the upgrades in a few weeks time, and can certainly say that this guitar is any case is a keeper. A guitar with great potential... will report back in due course...

Fender Stratocaster Highway 1, 3 color satin sunburst alder body, maple neck with rosewood fretboard. All other parts are mexican:pickups,switch,tuning machines,tremolo.

Sound is fantastic!Beautiful Strat sound.Everything is now in your hands,no boarders,you can go from silent to loud,from dark to light.I love its tones.Maybe bridge pickup is little thinner,but it's not so important.It plays very well!

Strings buzzes with frets,but this is first guitar in my 10 years in gear,when it doesn't bother me.I don't even think about it.The buzz is there and you feel(because this guitar is a matter of feeling) that it is some feature of this type of guitar,somehow.
I like that satin finish very much.It's much more warmer,than poly on AS, and i think i'll also relic faster,which i also like.
Body is made of 3-piece blocks,which are matched very well,so that you have to research how much pieces are there,really nice(one of the reason i've ordered 3col. sb.,because i've heard they select the bodys due to the fact if it'll be burst or not.Maybe it's true maybe not,there is stamped "SB"sign to the body inside.).
Guitar arrived properly packed in two paper boxes.

Everything fantastic,but 5way switch,tuners and missing 2 trem springs.
From first moment it arrived, i 've had a problems with that 5way switch. It sometimes didn't work in middle position(only two souns of neck and bridge).Tuners are cheapo MIM production,i'll mazybe change,don't hold tuning as i like,but work.
I'd be glad if Fender ship their strats witch all 5 trem springs,and the customer'll be the one who decide whether to use them all 5 or only 3 of them.

No experience yet.

Fantastic guitar!Beautifuly sounding,everything's there,fantastic bang for the buck(US quality instrumont for MIM price).

This is a 2003, made in U.S.A. S/S/S, Volume, Tone, Tone. Vintage Tremelo. Maple neck. I love the finish, it's got like no gloss, flat 3-tone sunburst. Came with a gig bag. I like the neck, but not as thick as I'd like it to be. Some of the frets have little indentations in 'em.

I like to play everything from classical to metal. When I play clean though I hear little crackles, tried it on differnet amps, so it's not that. I use a GNX3 through headphones, sounds good. Really noisy, I play near my computer though. Sounds pretty good, it's only my second guitar (Other is a Squier Tele, so I can't really compare)

Action is good, pick ups are adjusted alright. Some of the tuning pegs are a little loose, and the bridge saddles weren't aligned correctly, everything else though is good.

It is really reliable. The finish is really thin but its still in good condition, had it over a year, no chipping or wearing off. Its just smoothed out a lot since i got it. I replaced the strap buttons with dunlop strap locks, which I highly recommend. I'd use it without a backup at a show.

5 year warranty.

I've been playing for 3 years, I have a GNX3 and a Fender Frontman, I'm getting the new Twin though. If it was lost or stolen I'd probably save up for an American Deluxe. I just picked out this guitar almost at random, but I really like it. I'm going to replace the pickups with EMG DG20s. Good midrange guitar, but you can probably get better for the price.

2002 Fender Highway One S/S/S Stratocaster, Made in the Fear driven USofA. Standard Stratocaster appointments, 1 volume, 2 tone controls, 22 medium jumbo frets, 3 ply(wbw) pickguard, vintage 6 saddle bridge, 50's style headstock and logo w/ 2 string tees. Mine has a satin Ebony transparent finish which after 3 years of life has only a couple chips. I bought mine used with a tweed G&G hardshell case. Everything you could want in a Strat...that is why I bought a strat in the first place.

I tend to play more of a glassy, quacky tone with a minute amount of tube break up. I have paired it with a DOD A/B box, Boss DD3 delay, Fender Sidekick Switcher and Fender Twin Reverb. The tone is very nice and glassy but it is a little thin in the tone dept. Noise is a big issue with this guitar due to the mid pup not being reverse wound. there is no noise cancelling in its OEM form. I have been patient when it comes to replacing the pickups, I want to hear everything out there before I pull the trigger on the pups.

Bought used, had very low action and some buzzing, I adjusted the string heights after replacing the bridge and it plays amazing now. The factory bridge is similar to the MIM 70's RI. I found a used AV57RI bridge with saddles and had it swapped into the HWY Strat. The tone sweetened up a lot and tuning issues were pretty much eliminated. As far as any other flaws, I found no cosmetic flaws at this time, a few chips here and there but that is a result of the guitar being played 4-5 hours a day. I replaced the tuners with a set of deluxe locking tuners, the second best mod I could have ever done to the guitar, the OEMs were whooped.

The guitar has not failed me yet. I play it daily be it practicing or actual band work. It is my number one.

Never used Fenders CS.

I have been playing almost 20 years. My main guitar over the last 15 years has been a MIJ 68 RI which I have switched over to slide guitar due to lack of frets. The highway one had to earn my trust, I liked it in the store but was weary of it when I got it home. I have owned it about 6 months now and I haven't been able to put the guitar down. Someone said it best before me..."it makes you want to practice"...ain't that the honest truth. I went from playing 2-3 hours a day to 4-5 hours a day. The guitar has a neck that just wants to be played. I love the whole feel of the guitar, vintage vibe, vintage tone. All around Fender hit the mark with these guitars, they don't cost an arm and a leg, they lend themselves easily to modifications with out remorse, and they have a "play me" attitude. A very dependable workhorse Strat and since I am not a superficial guitar player I could careless about the looks, I bought it to play and play hard. It exceeds my demands everytime. Congrats to FMIC for creating the Highway series. With some mods this guitar will easily smoke any American made Strat be it Custom Shop or not because at the end of the day I know I spent less than $1000 on a guitar that gets the job done and sounds great while doing...forget pretty looks and fake wear, leave that for the flakey guitarists out there, my HWY1 Strat is comfortable, sounds good and is reliable...why ask for anything more?

It has standard strat features - 1 volume, 2 tone controls, 22 frets, s/s/s pickup configuration, made of Alder, vintage bridge, satin finish.

The sound is Ok, a little thin, but the worst thing is that it doesn't have 2 and 4 position hum canceling, so you'll get that noise at any position.

The factory setup was awful, I had to set it up myself according to instructions. But even after that, the strings (especially 3-rd) buzz against the frets no matter how I adjust the neck and string height.

It's a nice guitar, it's built well (as any other Fender strats).

Don't know.

Ok, I?ve read many reviews about Highway Strat and partially agree, but let's just point a couple of thing out here: Generally it's a really nice guitar, it's built well (as any other Fender strats), but with several flaws - it's NOT EXACTLY US strat, the electronics (pickups) and hardware (tuners, bridge) are Mexican (the pickups are most likely Fender MIM 70's and hardware are same as Fender MIM standard). My friend has a Fender MIM standard strat and I can?t differ them from each other ? they are made with same materials, the only differences are the paint, number of fret and also Fender MIM strats have ceramic magnet pickups and this one has alnico magnet pickups. So I?ve decided to lower the frets and change pickups (I?ve bought Lace Holy Grails noiseless pickups). The bottom line is ? get the usual Fender Mexican strat, change the pickups (if you want to) and you?ll have the same guitar that I own, or just buy an American standard.

ive already review this guitar but wanted to share some of the mods ive made to mine. the first mod was to wire the middle tone pot as a master tone. change the value of the capacitor to something smaller, as the stock one is way too big to be usefull. wire the other pot to blend the bridge pickup in series with the neck pickup when the bridge pickup is selected. its hard to explain but diagrams can be found on the net. this is my favourite mod and i can get some really good les paul through jcm800 style crunch out of this guitar, a boss sd-1 and a fender bassman 10. shouldnt happen hey? it does. next, if you feel like butchering your loved one, you can make positions two and four hum cancelling. all you need to do it grab some pliers and slowly pull out the polepieces of the middle pickup. you can do this safely because being the cheap pickups they are, they are wound around a solid plastic bobbin and not around the polepieces themselves. pull them out one by one, turn them upside down and push them back in. next you have to reverse the phase of that pickup. there you have it. hum cancelling. i use the second position alot so this was good for me. if you do the neck pickup in series with the bridge pickup thing, do the pole piece thing to the bridge pickup aswell so you get a big humbucker happening, otherwise its hum city at high gain. have fun with these mods as they can really make this guitar just that bit more versitile, and you cant really stuff your guitar that easy. if you dont like them, change them back. simple.