Fender Highway 1 Telecaster

Satin lacquer finish Alder body, Satin Polyurethane maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, standard Tele pickups, 3 saddle vintage style bridge, truss rod adjust at nut. Standard vintage Tele setup, nothing unusual here.

The sound was bright, bright, bright. Part of this was the Mexican Tele pickups; plastic bobbins, and no metal plate on the back of the bridge pickup. The steel saddles made it brighter as well. I replaced the saddles with brass ones, this tamed the high end quite a bit and should be a standard feature on this guitar.

I replaced the bridge pickup with a slightly overwound Broadcaster Reissue, and installed two Texas Special strat pickups in the neck and middle position. This pickup setup sounds fantastic in this guitar, probably the best I have owned. The neck and body in this guitar are outstanding.

The body finish is very thin and easily chipped, so don't buy this guitar if you want it to look pristine for a long time. Other than this, the construction and part quality are excellent. The neck on this guitar is magical, very low action with perfectly shaped medium frets. The guitar is also extremely light, as light as my SG. I think this helps the tone as well. All hardware is high quality, with the only problem being the string ferrules fall out when the guitar is restrung (a little superglue would fix this though).

I have gigged with this guitar quite a bit for several months, and haven't even broken a string. Everything has worked perfectly with no problems at all. Very dependable.

No opinion.

I have been playing for 25 years, and needed a Strat-like guitar for a beach/R+B gig, but I hate tremolos. I have never owned a Tele but liked the sounds, so I tried to find a rosewood fingerboard Mexican Nashville Custom (which is the least expensive new Mexican or US Tele with a rosewood fingerboard). After playing nearly every Tele in the store, this Hwy. 1 Tele just sang to me from the first note. I had to rout it a bit to get the pickup configuration I wanted, but it was very well worth it.

I give the guitar a 9 as it has turned out to be wonderful, very light and responsive, and the neck is pure magic. I can't think of any improvements. It was too bad that the pickups and saddles were so lame, but even with replacing these the guitar was worth it.

The finish is very fragile, but if you don't care about such things, please try the guitar. Have you ever had a guitar scream "Buy me!!!" when you first played it? This one did to me, over anything else in the store. I would definately replace it with another if stolen.

My tele is a 2003 tele (according to the serial number), alder body with maple fingerboard. If you never have told me the body is 3 piece, I wouldn't have known, It really doesn't show.I wanted it in 3-color sunburst, but the only new guitar the store had was in blonde. It's still a beatiful guitar. Everything is standard tele, which is the best.

It sounds just like a tele. Even me, who never played any brand name guitar, new it sounded like a tele, because the sound is so familiar from CDs. I managed to sound on it like The Eagles, Steve Katz, and even Robert Fripp (and he played a Les Paul!). It is quite clean, in the store it had absolutely no noise, plugged into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe. I use it with a Frontman 15G, so it is a bit noisy, but almost all noise comes from the amp.

Everything was just fine, and it was factory setup because the salesman opened the box in front of me. The E-A-D strings buzzed a bit. More importantly though, just like other reviewers here, the routing for the bridge pickup showed. It's really not a big deal for me, you can barely see it. Just like a certain reviewer, I think it doensn't damage the guitar's appeal and beauty. It does add some sort of grace to the guitar. The neck was beautifully finished, it's just so smooth to the hand. The body finish was really good, too. I really like it, it isn't shiny and glossy. Overall, this guitar was pretty well made. It's just a shame that the allen wrench for the saddles was too small.

It seems to me there's not much to go wrong on this Tele. I think it will last a lifetime. I intend to play it until it becomes a "Relic". The finish is thin, so it'll become a Relic quite quickly. I don't want a finish that's good to last, because the sound would be heavily damaged.

Never needed them.

I've been playing for 3 years, and this tele is my first "good" guitar. It sounds great, it's built well, and playing it is really fun. Here in Israel, the prices of electric guitars are really high. 3900 Shekeles are about 861 Dollars, which is even more than the list price of Fender! And that's after a 10% percent discount!!.But It's still a great value. I'll upgrade it though with Kinman pickups, Graph Tech saddles, Strap locks, and other things. I fell in love with my Tele.

basic guitar mine is a 2002 model it was in the store fore 2 years and a bought it.

very nice sound super

the action was shit to high for me.adjusting was no problem,now very nice.the finish sucks one hole and one scratch. i think it is poor.the factory finish sucks.the music store a bought it is verry prof. thy give me a 25% discount.

super its a fender

i dont no

a have been playing for 20 years now.super guitar if stolen a by a new one.the finish sucks it is not the store its folt.quality control at the factory sucks.see other reviews.sorry for my english a am from belgium.

2004. It's a telecaster with all the standard tele features. Mine is Honey Blonde with solid maple neck / fingerboard. Has a satin finish which looks great and will probably wear quickly, which I also love. Very simple guitar, it has what it's supposed to have.

The sound is perfect for me. It;s very rich and sounds awesome both clean and overdriven through my early 60's Gibson tube amp. There's a little noise when I run it through high gain pedals. But there's always noise when I do that no matter which guitar I use.

The action was perfect for me, off the shelf. No flaws, finish is just about perfect.

Seems durable, finish will probably wear quicker than thick laquer.

Never had to call. Came with limited warrenty and no warranty card.

I've been playing for years and this has become my number 1 player. I love this guitar. I love it so much, I want to buy another to use for open tunings. I was interested in a 52 RI but I don't like the 7.5 rad. neck, the thick laquer gets sticky and the frets are too small. The Hwy 1 has everything I wanted in a classic vintage Telecaster, but with better frets, neck and finish. It's a pleasure to play.
I play mostly overdriven blues and some of my other guitars are old early 60's Harmony Rocket - great sound - played through an early 60's Harmony tube amp bought at the same time. Also have a Jazzmaster knockoff and Epiphone ES-335. My amps are all early 60's tube amps, such as Gibson and Silvertone. The amps from that era were great and this tele sounds awesome through them. I new when I first played it, it was exactly what I'd been looking for. This guitar really deserves a 10. great to play, sounds perfect and looks awesome.

Neck says 2003, body says 2004...Rosewood neck, Butterscotch finish,
super fragile matte finish (this is, by far, the most easily damaged
finish I've seen on a guitar). Mine came with a modern 8 hole 3-ply
pickguard but all the advertising from Fender shows a vintage, 5 hole guard. 22 frets, cool - BUT you can't remove the pickguard to adjust the neck pickup without removing the neck! The pickguard is locked between the fretboard and the neck pickup. The 9.5 radius fretboard is cool (one of the main reasons I wanted a Hwy 1) and the pickups are surprisingly good. Modern truss rod which is much easier to adjust than the vintage setup through the bottom of the neck.
(another key feature in my purchase decision)

Sounds like a Tele, through a Classic 30, Modded Blues Jr or Vibrolux, it sounds great. I might change the neck pickup to a Tom Anderson stacked coil pickup that I have in another Tele and like alot.

The factory setup is the standard deal, stinky strings and higher action than I like. The pickup adjustments were pretty far off the mark, way too strong on the bass side. Easily adjust tho, and now it's fine. This Tele is on the lighter side, but not super light (too bad). I think the nut might be a little to high as it is.
The intonation was off, but easily adjusted. I'm changing to
compensated saddles anyway. The input jack socket was a little loose
(standard for a Tele. I polished the Frets and oiled the rosewood neck and now it's fine.

Bullet proof (just like a Tele) except for the finish.

I've had good luck with Fender in the past.

I've been playing 20+ years, I play out regularly and have several
Teles and Strats (plus others). My favorite guitar was a '59 Esquire that I purchased in 1966 for $100, it was stolen in 1995 and I've been looking for a new favorite from then to now. I like the features
on the Hwy 1 Tele (except the finish), I seem to keep coming back to Tele's.

made in 2003(or maybe early 2004)-standard vintage tele setup,medium large frets. this one has a maple board...

It's a little rounder/fuller sounding than other teles but still has a nice snap...the sustain is quite good also in comparison with other 'planks' i've tried or owned. in the store i played thru an old super reverb,i use a deluxe reverb or a BF bassman (both older models)...also plugged it straight into a protools mbox with great results.

setup is pretty good and the intonation is ok also-i use compensated saddles on teles a lot but i may not have to with this one...the 'cheapo' pale yellowish satin finish is rather nice looking(i'm not big on glossy/shiny finishes anyway)- cheaper guitars than this have better looking fret work though-it's like they were not polished at all which is kind of weird...they feel good and play properly at least

not much that will break on here...yes i would and do use it without a spare(sometimes).

i had a LP jr i traded for this-i am a fender person although the jr sounded great...i have had 3 other tele style guitars(2 G&L's)and while this one is not quite as fancy as those or others i have tried/seen it plays and sounds great and feels just as sturdy-the fret thing is a minor pain and somewhat appaling but the bottom line is that one CAN MAKE MUSIC WITH IT without having to replace a bunch of stuff right away...cool!

I got a new Highway 1 Tele in red with a rosewood fingerboard.

Feature-wise, it's a standard tele pickup and control set-up. The bridge is a vintage style 3 barrel saddle. The saddles are chrome plated steel? Something. They are also straight across so the tuning compensation cannot be exact.

3 piece alder body.

I bought this guitar because I have a thing for Teles. This was a complete impulse buy. MF has this model listed for $600 and here my local store had it marked down to $419! What was I supposed to do???

I was REALLY surprised with the pickups. They sound wonderful! I was not expecting them to sound as good as they do. Very crisp, snappy response, balanced well across the spectrum.

They are, however, very prone to the dread 60 cycle hum. I'll be replacing them with some Kinman AVN48s.

The guitar is very resonant, sounds like a Tele ought to sound.

The Highway One is a no frills model. Still, this guitar was nicely assembled. I always mod the hell out of guitars but here's one I'd be happy to gig with right out of the box. The frets aren't fancy but they're finished correctly. The set-up and action are good. The intonation is as good as possible with the non-compensated saddles.

Mine came with a pretty big scratch already in the top. I'm sure that was music store damage.

The finish on the Highway One is one way Fender kept the cost down. It's growing on me. I have a feeling it's not going to be durable at all but Fenders seem to welcome the abuse. Lots of people pay extra to have them beaten up for them already.

Teles are indestructible guitars. I haven't ever played anything that felt as solid and road-worthy. I never bother to bring two guitars to a gig. All I need is a Telecaster.

As mentioned, the finish doesn't look like it'll last but to me this is not even an issue.

Never dealt with Fender directly. I always mod my guitars anyway so I'm sure the warranty is immediately voided.

I've played for two decades at least. This guitar brings my Telecaster total up to three. Besides the Teles I own a frankenstrat and a couple acoustic guitars.

What do I love about this guitar? I love how sweet it is without any mods for the low price. It's an American made instrument for under $450 new. You can't argue with that.

just stock setup i think, two pickups, nothing fancy until you plug it in. plus it came from the store with the action in perfect place.

It sounds great, better than any guitar ive owned, I had an Ibanez electric of the same value, that one didnt sound like this. Although one thing i do notice is a very sensitive pick up, mabye thats good , I am not, but if you do anything other than play the guitar it will amplify that noise- like touching the guitar hard in certain places,

the finish is great but i can notice that the guitar was made from more than one piece of wood, as apposed to my Mexican tele that is made of one peice, who knows if this is better or worse? I am sure i will think about it alot only when i look at it, but other people should be looking at it, i should just play it.

well, i believe the pick up near the bridge.? or bottom of the guitar DOes NOT WORK. it came like this from the store, I will have to find oout whats up, only the left and middle settings on the knob work. I am sure its nothing but i almost dont care that much to give it back for awhile, actually it pisses me off because it did work and does alittle bittle, but I love her anyway.

havent called them yet, it looks like they didnt get a rating but I am sure they wont screw me, It came with a lifetime warrany (Limited) thats great because something will go wrong, like it already has.

I like this guitar alot, It would be cool however if they made the bridge or whatever area is the bottom of the strings, it looks cheap and the allen wrench screws for the string holder things scratches your hand. And i stink on the guitar, youd think i would be happy

Mine's a late 2003 or early 2004 American Highway Tele with a blonde finish and a maple fretboard. I do like the modern tuners as opposed to Fender's vintage on this particular guitar. No flashy features, not needed.

This guitar really does sound great. The pickups are not that hot (I understand they make a texas special model Highway for those that prefer that route). Personally, I have traditionally been more of a a humbucker fan but lately I have been playing this and a strat. I get some great, shimmering well defined rhythm sounds with this guitar through 6V6 tubes. I find myself enjoying clean reverb sounds a playing Jeff Buckley-type riffs with droning open strings. It is great to bend strings on a non-trem guitar and not send the other strings out of tune. Of course these guitars are well suited for blues/country/rock. It will shred with a Metal Zone, but these pickups won't drive your stack to death metal by itself. A very useful addition to my set up. No gimmicks, no trends.

My tele plays like an absolut dream. It was perfect in the store. But, I can't give it a ten because I played 4 similar telecasters in the store. One was identical to mine in color and features. The others needed a little attention. They did not play nearly as well as the one i walked out with. After playing a number of Highway Strats and Teles, I would recommend that you play yours in a store before you buy. I have seen highs and lows in this line and, personally, would be more cautious ordering this guitar through a mail order house then i would be ordering effects and such. I am sure the others could have been set up nicely, nut with so many fine guitars out there who has time to fuss with it. If I buy a brand new guitar it better play well out of the box.

It is a solid little brick. There is not a lot to go wrong. Good snug joint. Good finish. Have had no wiring issues. (It still has that little black cap on the tele 3-way selector that everyone steals from the music stores for some reason).

I have been playing for about 14 years now. I've played a lot os "super strat" types (floyd rose/high output humbuckers) and a number of amps (fender/marshall/carvin/mesa). Lately i've found the single coil sound very rewarding (i also play an American standard strat i've had for a few years). This tele marries up nicely to a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp. Solid little workhorse.

I am considering another. I was thinking while shopping for a tele that i would let a local tech put a B-bender in it. Now i don't want to change it. It handles the sweet jazzy stuff well enough that i am encouraged to put a hotter single coil in my strat.

It has been my own experience that often the more you pay for a model of guitar, the greater probability you have of getting a good one off the line, but there are always freaks out there. There are always lemon taylors and PRSs, and conversely every now and then you will find a well built genuinely playable Squier. The Highway line is a quirky mid priced little guy. You are going to get some good hardware on that and there is nothing wrong with the materials. If you are patient shopping for these and play a few before you decide, you can reward yourself by getting a great value on an american strat or tele.

2004 Highway 1 Tele, USA made. 22 fret, solid top, 1 tone, 1 volume, 2 single coils (neck has a metal cover).

Body is alder, neck is 1 piece maple (maple fretboard is not a separate piece) with a walnut skunk strip where the truss rod was installed.

Passive, "vintage" tele pickups

"Standard" Fender tuners (non-locking, I believe the same as used on other USA models).

Neck is a modern "C", 9.5" radius fretboard. Medium-Jumbo frets

Comes with gig bag and a couple of allen wrenches.

Overall, I bought this guitar for it's simplicity, so it does not have as many features as other guitars, but that is part of it's charm.

My style is blues/classic rock/country/alternative. I don't generally use a lot of gain or effects (usually a little slapback echo on chicken pickin, sometimes an overdrive to boost solos, sometimes a wah, but that's about it), as I want my playing to shine through. However, I do use a GNX3 and/or Line6 POD 2.0 to plug right into the mixer, so I have a wealth of effects/amp sounds available, I generally stick with a Fenderish tone somewhere between the old Deluxe Reverb and Bassman sounds.
This guitar sounds great for my style, although probably the lowest output of all pickups I have played with over the years. The bridge pole pieces are flat instead of staggered, which seems to give it a little more compression and a little less twang than other tele's I've played. The lower output pickups mean that I usually have to turn the gain up a little more than with over guitars that I have used, but I don't fault the pickups. The pickups have that nice, transparent tele tone that is mellow in the neck, great rhythm in the middle, and fairly twangy at the bridge (more on that later). With careful manipulations of the tone/volume, more tones are available than I need.
I'm very particular when it comes to my tone, and I expected this guitar to be a little twangier than it was (maybe it's a little mellower because of alder vs. ash body and flat pole-piece bridge pickup?), so I changed the tone cap to a 0.01 uF from a 0.05 uF, which made it brighter and twangier. That was more a personal preference, as I like my tone to be very bright when the tone knob is all the way up, then back off if I want to smooth it out. I also added a bypass cap to the volume knob to keep the high end from muddying up when I back off on the volume.

Anyway, as tone/sound is sooo subjective, I don't fault the guitar for not being exactly what I wanted stock, I was more interested in getting close and having a cheaper vintagey guitar with a thin, hard finish that would let the wood breath. I do love the tone, both before and after my mods...

I won't judge the factory setup, because I switched the steel saddles over to brass and up'd the strings to 11's almost immediately. The finishing is pretty good, the neck pocket's tight, the fretwork is pretty good, the nut is cut well. The finish is a honeyburst blonde, and it has that great vintage vibe. No flaws that I found, then again I spend most of my time playing it and not looking for imperfections.
I did have problems with the set screws that allow for saddle adjustment digging into the palm of my hand, which I haven't had be a problem on strats I've had/played with the vintage bridge. I ended up replacing the set screws for some button heads of the same size, and now my hand doesn't get chopped up when I get a little to aggressive. No crackling or switch noise on the electronics side, although I did replace the tone cap (see above) and slightly modified the volume circuit.
Other than the saddle adjustment screws, nothing I was unhappy about as far at fit, finish or action.

I have seen plenty of Fender teles that are much older than I that are still playing and sounding great, so durability is not a concern with me. I haven't broken any strings on it, but always keep extras when I gig (I don't bring a backup guitar however). The finish is thin, and I like a guitar that has playing wear, so I hope that the finish will show the hours I put into playing this particular piece.

Been playing about 7 years, have/do own G&L S-500, a US Fender Strat, a Mexi-Strat, a '72 Thinline Tele reissue, an Epiphone Genesis (converted to lap slide), a Martin 000-28, Martin HD-28, a few other guitars that don't deserve mentioning. I have also had a collection of stomp boxes and a couple of tube amps (Fender Hot Rod deluxe the better of the amps I've owned) although now-a-days I use amp/stompbox modellers for the convenience in a live setting and the variety of tones available. This is my favorite guitar that I currently own, I think as I get better at the electric guitar, my guitars and setup gets simpler, and playing is more enjoyable.

I chose this for the finish type and because it was American made, and I think tele's are great for pushing my playing to new heights (no where to hide when you play a tele, it's simple enough that your skill or lack thereof are readily apparent, whereas other guitars I've played are a little more forgiving and have features to hide behind, but not as fun to play). With a tele it's a fixed bridge, couple pickups and my hands, and my playing better be spot on or it will get noticed.