Fender Highway 1 Telecaster

This is a 2008 Highway One Tele in Honey Blonde, maple neck. I won't bore you with repeating the details of this guitar as it has been done. It's stripped down feature wise, which is expected for the price. I don't like that it came with a gig bag, and would have paid a little more to have a hardshell case. I will buy a hardshell case for it soon.

I play a variety of music from classic rock, country, hard rock, etc. It's not a guitar for metal, but was never meant to! The sound is great. these guitars are more versatile than you may think. Nice for chicken picking, strumming clean and even with overdrive! i am running it through a Traynor Custom Special 100 stack and it sounds like heaven!

Now it IS a single coil so it ain't all quiet - I used a Boss Noise Suppressor and that takes care if the humming. These are not as noisy as strats though.

The guitar was set up very well from the factory - real low action that I may raise a little. No flaws to be noticed. The body to neck join is not perfect, but better than to be expected in this price range. Some orange peel in the finish on the back of the guitar, but the Honey Blonde accentuates the grain beautifully - the grain almot looks blueish gray through the finish - it's absolutely stunning!

So far so good. No issues at home, jamming or on stage. Quite solid and dependable. Way beyond what I expected in this price range.

Never had to deal with Fender - and probably never will!

Bottom line I love this guitar! I ordered it in and took it home before I played it! Either I fluked into a really good one or they are all nice, I dunno cuz this is the only one I ever played. The neck feels great, the guitar sounds great and the thing is smoking hot to look at - what more could you ask for? I have a lot of guitars, this one is one of my favorites. If this was stolen I would get another one immediately and pray it was as nice as this one.

I LOVE THIS TELE!

It's a tele. I give it a ten because it is a tele the way a tele is meant to be and that is because it DOESN'T have a lot of features.

I like a lot of styles and a tele is a good choice for the stuff I play. It sounds like a tele but better....The Alnico 2's set this apart from most tele's (I think these PU's are on models 2006+). It has a nice attack, more mid sounding than Alinco 5's which I like....distorts well and has a edgy clean sound.

I got it used and the set-up needed attention. The previous owner had it all screwed up but wasn't hard to fix with a few simple adjustments. Even if new you will probably tweak it to suit yourself. I give it a 9 because the Bridge plate is a bit crooked. Otherwise it's a good looking guitar. I have the sunburst with maple board.....doesn't get any better than that.

This is a well made guitar, it will do what you need if you play out.

I did guitar tech work for profit....I don't need support or want anybody else setting up my stuff.

Been playing 40+ years. It's a good guitar. To be honest these things are 900 bucks now. I got mine slightly used for 500 bucks and that's the only reason I own it. I would say it's worth 900 bucks and would choose this over an American Standard Tele. If I had to replace this guitar I would head for ebay first though. I have a feeling most buyers will be hanging onto theirs. This guitar is one I think Leo himself would approve of. It is a well thought out design, it has the best of the vintage world with just enough of modern touches to make it practical. It's a players guitar. It has a nitro finish that will show it's history. The neck it extremely nice. The fat frets make it a good guitar for bends. I like the PU's.....BUT....I may see a set of Joe Barden's in the future...this would make this guitar a force to be reckoned with IMO. I give it a 9 only because I think Fender takes advantage of it's name being on the headstock.

I believe this a 2007 Highway 1 Tele (american made) bought new from Elderly Instruments in Lansing,Michigan.Traded an amp and some cash for it. 22 tall frets which I like very much. I like to have to dig in and small frets are too hard to bend on for me. Solid ash body I think with satin nitro finish over beautiful sunburst stain/white 3 ply pickguard. Maple neck w/skunk stripe and rosewood fretboard. Standard Tele bridge that will accept the ashtray cover if you want to buy one on line somewhere. I bought one but I cant play with it on so I just use it for pictures and put it on between sets when playing a job. It looks so cool with it on. Threeway switch with one volume and one tone control. Not sure what pickups came in it but they are standard tele style and sounded very good. I say sounded because they are single coil and too noisy when distortion is used so I installed Dimarzio Area T pickups which are noisless. The best move I could have made. When I did that the guitar really came alive. Not saying the originals were bad but these are true fender sound only more and no hum. Fender closed back tuners that work very well. No problems tuning even with the three barrel tele bridge saddles.

I play in a 4 piece (two guitars/bass/drums)classic rock band and a 3 piece easy listening band (acoustic guitar/electric guitar/standup bass). This is really the first guitar that covers all styles very well. I wish I would have gotten a Tele 30 years ago. After 40 years of going through different guitars,amps and effects I've finally gotten down to just a Fender Blues jr (15 mighty watts) and a Line 6 M13 stompbox modeler. This combo gives me everything I need and it's easy to carry around. The clean sounds are classic Tele. Rich/full and bright without being spiky or harsh. Putting the Dimarzio's in it gave me the sound I've been looking for for decades. Extremely smooth on distortion settings also.

The action was set too high to start with so I had Elderly Instruments lower it before I bought it. After a little playing I noticed it was too low and buzzing so I had a friend of mine who knows everything about guitars tweek it. It now plays great if you like medium to high action which I do. The only thing that concerns me is when he tweeked it he adjusted the truss rod as far as he could without stripping the threads. If it needs moving again I dont know what will happen. The finish on the guitar is beautiful with the satin nitro.What I like about it is the more you play it the shinier it gets in the wear spots.It gives it a good overall look.
Dont expect it to stay satin in the wear areas.

This guitar is very solidly built. I play hard in the rock band and it stays in tune even with big bends and wailing. Dont get me wrong. I dont abuse anything of mine and take care of my stuff. But I do play hard. The finish seems very good but changes gloss level very quickly. But I like that sort of thing on a classic style guitar.
Everything else is also very solid/electronics good with no problems. I usually take several guitars but only because I have twelve guitars that I rotate and love them all but I have a few times taken only the Tele and been very happy with using only it.

I've not had to deal with Fender directly but Elderly will bend over backwards to take care of any problems. I've always liked Fender equipment (amps mostly / this is my first Fender guitar).

I've been playing aprox 45 years. I also have a Gibson S1 with Dimarzio Virtual P90's and a Les Paul Standard Doublecut,a Fender Highway 1 Strat with Dimarzio Area 61 and 59 pickups and love that guitar as much as the Tele,a G&L S500 with TV Jones Supertrons ,an Epiphone Elite SG with Seymour Duncan 59's,a Heritage CM150 (Les Paul style) with Lindy Fralen's,a 63 Gibson EB0 with Dimarzio,a Rick Gledura prototype with Seymour Duncan Blackbacks,a Saul Koll Gold Top T (can be seen on Koll guitar website) custom built for 50th bday with Seymour Duncan P90 Stacks,a Mike Kauffman Copycaster with Jason Lollar Tele style pickups (he works for Vinetto Guitars),and a David Fitzpatrick (Les Paul Doublecut style)black korina with Dimarzio Virtual P90's and Tone Styler tone control.

I HAVE 2 OF THESE IN HONEY BLONDE, ONE WITH A WHITE PICKGAURD SET UP FOR SLIDE AND 1 WITH A BLACK PICKGAURD I TURNED INTO A B BENDER. NOT SURE THE YEAR ON EITHER BOTH ARE CLOSE, I BELIEVE SOMEWHERE AROUND 04. I ALSO HAVE A PAIR OF HWY 1 STRATS. THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST PRODUCT FOR THE PRICE IN ANYTHING MUSICAL. BOUGHT BOTH OF MINE AROUND $450 AND 1 CAME WITH A CASE! THEY SET UP SUPER, GREAT ACTION BUT YOU CAN TWEAK IT LOWER. I DO PLAN TO CHANGE THE BRIDGE TO A 6 SADDLE SO I CAN DROP THE ACTION LOWER AS WELL AS BETTER INTONATION, BUT I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS NOW. NECK IS PERFECT SHAPE SIZE LOVE THE 9" RADIUS AND FENDER IS FINALLY DOING 22 FRETS. USED TO BE MY BIGGEST COMPLAINT ON THIER VINTAGE STUFF. I HAVE MAPLE NECKS ON ALL MINE AND THEY ARE TOPS, FAST, SMOOTH AND WARM. VERY, VERY FAMILIAR FEELING. SCHALLER TUNERS WRE FINE BUT CHANGED THEM TO THE SCHALLER LOCKERS FOR EASIER STRING CHANGES. ALSO CHANGED THE STRAP BUTTONS TO STRAP LOCKS. THEY COULD COME WITH A CASE SINCE A GIG BAG IS USELESS TO ME. LOVE THE SATIN FINISH BUT IT WON'T LAST LONG. THEY CLAIM IT IMPROVES THE SOUND AND MAYBE IT DOES, BOTH OF MINE SOUND BETTER THAN MY FRIENDS USA STANDARD. LOUDER, FULLER, MORE PUCH AND WAY MORE AGGRESIVE.

I PLAY CLASSIC COUNTRY TO MODERN ROCK, WHO EVER IS PAYING AND THESE GUITARS DO IT. I DID CHANGE THE P/U'S TO A HOT RAIL IN BACK AND A MINI HUMBUCKER UP FRONT. I NEEDED A LITTLE FULLER TONE AS SOMTIMES I AM THE ONLY GUITAR PLAYER. I USE A PAIR OF PRO JR'S IN STEREO MIC'D WITH AN SM 57. DIGITECH RP 14 THATS IT AND ALWAYS GET HOW ARE YOU GETTING THAT SOUND OUT OF THAT GUITAR? THE STANDARD P/U'S ARE SMOOTHER AND FULLER WITH MUCH MORE SUSTAIN THAN THE USA STANDARD AND THEY STILL RETAIN PLENTY OF TELL TWANG. YOU CAN GET A VERY HEAVY OR CLEAN SOUND EASILY BY ADJUSTING YOUR GEAR (AMP ECT.) WHEN NEEDED. I WAS GONNA GET A MEXICAN MODEL FOR SLIDE BUT GOT MY HWY 1 USED FOR ABOUT THE SAME PRICE AS THE MEXICAN AND LIKE I SAID 22 FRETS, CASE AND ITS US MADE. NO BETTER THAN THAT.

FENDER SET UPS ARE PRETTY MUCH STANDARD ON THIER US MODELS. TERRIBLE ON OTHERS. NECK POCKET TIGHT AND THE P/U ROUTING CLEAN. I LIKE MY ACTION EXTREMLY LOW SAVE FOR MY SLIDE RIG AND STILL LOWER THAN SOME PEOPLES PRIMARY GUITAR. MY NECK COMPLETLY FLAT. NOT ABLE TO DROP IT AS LOWER AS I WANT WITH THE 3 SADDLE BRIDGE BUT WILL WITH A 6. ON A SLIDE RIG ITS NOT AN ISSUE BUT MY B BENDER I WANT IT A LITTLE BIT LOWER, ALTHOUGH IT IS STILL AMAZING AND FAST GREAT SNAP FOR TELE STYLE PLAYING(BRENT MASON, BRAD PAISLEY, AND THE LATE GREAT DON RICH) YOU CAN STILL SHRED BUT NOT AS SMOOTH AS MY STRAT.... YET!

ALL FENDERS ARE EXTREMLY DURABLE AND ROAD WORTHY. I USED MY B-BENDER EXCLUSIVLY FOR A WHILE WITH STOCK P/U'S. NEVER FAILED AND ALWAYS PLEASED. THE FACTORY HARDWARE IS THE SAME QUALITY THE HAVE ALWAYS MADE NO REASON NOT TO FEEL IT WON'T LAST AS LONG OR LONGER THAN ITS VINTAGE BROTHERS. I WOULD NOT USE IT AS A BACK UP FOR IT WOULD BE A WASTE OF A GREAT GUITAR. THEY MAY NOT BE AS PRETTY AS THE POLY COATED TYPE BUT MORE THAN MAKE UP WITH TONE FEEL AND PLAYABLITY. PERSONALLY I LIKE THE NITRO COAT. THE FINISH WILL DEFINETLY CHIP AND RUB IN TIME WITH USE BUT ITS A GREAT GUITAR MENT TO BE PLAYED NOT A FASHION SHOW. IF YOUR GOING TO WORK ON AN OIL RIG DO YOU WEAR A SUIT? THIS IS THE TOOL YOU NEED FOR THE JOB AND YOU NEVER HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT EQIPMENT FAILURE. YOU WOULD NOT RACE A GO CART IN NASCAR, DON'T PLAY JUNK WHEN YOU DON'T HAVE TO.

NEVER DEALT WITH THEM ON GEAR ISSUE. TALKED TO THEM ONCE ON DATING AN AMP AND THEY WERE EXTREMLY HELPFUL.

PLAYING OVER 20YR. PLAYED THEM ALL. NEVER THOUGHT I'D STRAY FROM GIBSON BUT THE STUFF THIER PUTTING OUT NOW IS NOT THE SAME QUALITY THEY USED TO. FLIP SIDE FENDER SEEMS TO REALLY HAVE STEPPED UP TO THE PLATE IMPROVING ON WHAT MANY THOUGHT WAS UNIMPROVABLE. LOVE THE STUFF THIER MAKING NOW HOWEVER NOT TO BIG ON THIER IMPORT STUFF. CANT BEAT THIER USA PRODUCTS AND THIS IS EVERY BIT AS GOOD AND EVEN BETTER THAN SOME OF THIER TOP LINE STUFF, ESPECIALLY FOR THE PRICE NEW OR USED. ONLY IMPROVEMENT A HARDSHELL CASE.

This is a review of my telecaster as it stands now The Original review is apart from this the most current review.

07
22 frets
5 way switch wired like a strat with one tone knob
seymour duncan 1/4 pound neck, Seymour Duncan 59 middle (full size H.B.), Hot Rails Bridge pickup.
Alder Body Maple Neck
Neck Finish Satin? body piece of **** Nitrocelulose
3 Saddle tele bridge
Jumbo Frets

The guitar before was great and there were alot of things I really liked but when it comes down to it kids want to learn Kerry King not Roy Buchanan and this guitar has a job to do. wired the way it is I have a thick single coil in the neck the fifty nine does everything well, really a nice in between for the Hot Rails and the quarter pound. The Hot Rails is a monster and when I am forced to play Metalica or Some such Monster It handles the task easily. Thats not to say it cant be used for other situations because its tone retains what I would call the heart of a tele bridge pickup.

Properly routed well almost, Finish Ha!, Action spot on. I have downgraded my rating because I routed the sucker. Its not the cleanest but by the same token this guitar answers to the name Tina (as in Tina Turner) she can handle a beating.

finish no way, guitar yes

Hardware is good to go

I do depend on this guitar 6 or 7 hours a day.

The guitar has two distinct followings thats not to say that there isn't some crossover between the two groups but its a fact either your a player or the guy who constantly tinkers with mods and the likes. I guess where Im going with this is you mod a guitar so often nothing has a chance to break or you are willing to take the effort to replace that old pot or redo some of fenders horrid solder work. Unless your neck splits in half you should be fine and if it does get a neck from warmoth hell make it a AAA birds eye maple with An Ebony Board, or AAA flame maple with matching maple Fingerboard problem solved.

The Tele is great, its simple and elegant and for some reason the only guitar I am willing to modify (my only two teles and modded guitars for that matter are this and american deluxe strat o tele with S.D. little 59 in the bridge). I love how you can make a tele your own and it just does what you want it to with no fuss (Just like Tina Turner).

07 American
Alnico 3 pickups (I think)
Maple Neck
Jumbo Frets

Style-Funk, Jazz, Bluegrass, Classical, Neo Classical, Classic Rock all of which this guitar handles well.

Effects? huh funny the amp has reverb and maybe a wah but thats all you need.

60 cycle hum but who cares

This guitar has the biggest piece of shit finish you could imagine. deduct three points here.

The neck and the actual body itself are great and thats why I bought this guitar. The 3 saddle thing is vintage and It can be intonated so no problems there the pickups are dynamite. The neck is great input jack aligned I say top notch on everything else.

Everything but the finish is going to last. My buddy has one from 03 worn away about a quarter of the original finish to bare wood and the rest has somehow lost that ugly dull appearance. To be hohnest I bought this guitar because I like the vintage look and I know in six months Im going to have it(and all without paying the custom shop 3 grand to do it for me).

I am a guitar teacher this is my second telecaster the first is an American Deluxe, Apart from that I have Am Dlx Strat, Yamaha AEX 1500, Ovation 1763, etc etc. The tele is a great guitar with great tone and playability and a classic look to boot. I bought the guitar to do the dirty work and by this I mean take 20 hrs of lessons a weak, play gigs and to generally be abused in the way I wouldnt want my other guitars to be treated and for that purpose it performs amazingly.

Brand spankin Highway 1 Tele. You know the story it has frets (22 Jumbos of) Great new High-Octane Alnico Tele Pickups (2 of), satin finish in black, modern locking machines and hole to plug into. If i was after tons of features i would have bought a Swiss army knife, or anything but a Tele. But I was after a guitar. Its got everything I needed so I gotta give it a 10 here. I know this is going to sound like an add for Fender but I really love this guitar. I compared this guitar to a range of more and less expensive guitars in the shop, Luckily they had a large range, and this one was my first choice, price did not come into it.

I went with a friend who plays way better than anyone I know to try this axe out. We played every Strat, Tele and G&L in the shop. I just handed them to him without telling him exactly what they were and this was the one we both loved the sound and feel of. Wow those strats were noisey too. Single coil hum like you would not believe, you couldn't really put up with the noise some of them made. This Tele is almost silent when not being played, no matter where the selector is set. It has a powerful sound and a huge array of flavours available from only 2 pickups. I love the middle position as I play mainly country and blues but the neck pickup also offers a wide range of colour. the bridge is pure Tele , a real chicken picker. I would have given it a 10 for sound, but I've heard my friends Deluxe B Bender and it is even nicer.

The factory setup was ok but luckily the store I purchased from, Haworths Guitars, has a master luthier and a few guys he's trained. It took them only 10 minutes to get it to what i would describe as beautiful. No buzz and low and fast. i love the feel of the neck too, wide enough for my fat fingers and smooth and fast. Its Rosewood btw. Pickups factory set - fantastic. I've been all over this baby with a fine tooth comb and have found absolutely no flaws. Also love the satin black finish, makes it look sort of vintage but modern, I dunno what it looks like, but i like it.

Can't really comment here because its so new. But i will say it is lighter than some of the other Fenders i tried out and for my back that is a real plus. My friend has a 1980s strat that requires a second man to carry it for you it is so dammed heavy.

Having had a little bit of dealing with the manufacturer i would not ever bother to contact them if I had a problem. Fortunately, however, the retailer, Haworths Guitars, is a top noth dealer with fantastic staff and I'm sure any problems that may arise will be sorted out for me.

I've been playing professionally since i was about 15 and Im now 45. Most of my career I've been an acoustic man and a singer but bI've moved over to the3 electric side of things about 5 years ago. I have a 1969 Guild acoustic - the nicest Acoustic I've ever played, A couple more acoustics , a banjo, Ukelele, A profile Vintage Strat and A line 6 Variax. I mainly record and play for love now days having semi retired from the game 12 months ago. The Tele has been a dream for a while and it lives up to expectations. Now that music is my hobby rather than my profession it is more important somehow that I have the best toys I can get. It leaves all the rest in its wake.

2006 60th anniversary. It has the standard tele features and Alnico magnets. Only extra: the greasebucket tonecircuit.

I'm using it with a 70's Silverface Fender Vibro Champ. This guitar makes it sing in a way I've never heard before. It's a match made in heaven. The sound has everything: it's bright, rich and warm. I can't stop playing!

The finish is great. The neck is as soft as the skin of a baby. Once you oick it up, you will never want to put it down. It's a masterpiece, especially when you look at the price.

It's a tele, it's American. It will be around for the next 50 years.

I give this a 10 because it has everything I need on a Tele without any other junk....I like it simple and this is perfect in that regard..I have the sunburst with maple neck...

This suits my style PERFECTLY...I use a Peavey Bandit (once again a no frills product)....Very little noise, a bit more with mild distortion which is normal for single coils..The sound is what I have been looking for in a tele...Nice mid-rangy bark and a good warm neck pickup which compliment each other very well. I normally remove the chrome cover from the neck on any other tele I have owned (lots of them) but will leave this one as is. I like it....a lot

I bought it used, the strings were changed to 10's which I use anyway but it did need a complete set-up due to the previous owner and really can't comment on the factory set-up. I will say the fret work is superb, I really like the jumbo frets. The finish reminds me of a very nice vintage instrument. The only thing I found that wasn't perfect was the routing for the bridge is visible on the bass side indicating a miss-aligned bridge. This really doesn't bother me but would be unacceptable to most people..Otherwise everything else is perfect.

You could probably use this guitar as a pogo stick with no problem. Fender guitars are solid and this is no exception. Drop a Les Paul and snap goes the headstock. I'm sure the finish won't stand up to a lot of rough playing but I look at this as a plus as I expect some character marks and checking due to the nitro finish and expect it to age gracefully...I like....a lot.

I work on my own stuff....

I've been playing 35 years or so. I own maybe 25 other guitars, haven't counted lately and this is one sweet tele...If it were stolen I would cry then go get another one. I like the simplicity mainly, and the simple nitro finish, it lets the wood sound come through. As far as I am concerned there is not a better tele for any price. It has everything I need and no more which makes it perfect.

2006 HIghway 1 Tele. Daphne blue (WOW, GORGEOUS) with black pick guard, and some non-standard humbucker in the bridge position. Typical tele features elsewise... it has really big thick frets on it, which maybe is standard for this guitar, but my last tele was a 50's reissue with teeny little ones that made it difficult to intonate. My last tele had a bigsby installed after-market, which was novel and very cool looking, but a huge hassle to work with.

It's a tele, with a humbucker! Wahoo. I always use the neck position pickups (or, for some clean stuff, a mix of bridge and neck), and now I can do it without using a noise suppressor. Not sure what the pickup in there is (as it's covered) but whoever put it in made a good choice. It's very dark sounding, but works well for heavier sounds. For clean stuff, esp. with the humbucker, I find myself mixing the bridge and the neck pickup a lot more.

Mine was used, and whoever owned it before didn't hesitate to wear belt buckles with it... there's a decent amount of scratching on the back, but the front looks great. I love the sorta satin-feel and look of it (pus the Daphne Blue is a really cool grayish bluish blend).

Action was great (and the main reason I traded my previous mexican tele for it), although when I picked it up on the shop, there was some weird issue where the G string sunk all the way through the nut at the top of the neck (which caused it to fret at the first fret)... they fixed it up right on the spot though, and I ended up walking out with it, so that's a pretty good testament to how well it played.

Other than the stuff mentioned above, I think it'll suit me just fine. I don't blast my gear, but I don't baby it either... I imagine it'll show some decent wear in a few years, but I'd prefer it that way. Just my opinion.

Good guitar, decent price (esp. used), and one that'll really suit a variety of needs.