Fender Highway 1 Telecaster

Others have covered this detail.... mine is the rosewood flavour
I've given it a 10 because a tele is a tele and this certainly is a great tele

I play all sorts of stuff. Main area is rock/blues. Most important factor here is the resonance of the axe. Bright sound in bridge and warmer at neck

Played good out the box. Finish was flawless. As was the workmanship. No problems in frets. Good value for money

Decently made. Won't let one down.

one year warranty...from shop. Never had to go to fender

few years. This guitar has drawn flak about the finish. The light finish makes it sing. Be careful with it. It is a deliberate decision by fender to make this guitar affordable, as the thick high gloss takes many hours to do. I'm happy with the fragile finish that sounds better, costs less on the tag. I tried the squier and the MEX teles, and this guitar sang and sustained much much much better

2003 model, rosewood FB, honey blonde finish. I bought this guitar used from a local luthier/amp tech who does amazing work on both amps and guitars. On this one, he put in compensated brass saddles, replaced the PUPS with Seymour Duncan Vintage Stacks, added a 4-way switch and put a clear finish over the original. With these mods, this guitar is one of the best Teles I've played, although I'm sure I would have been happy with it in it's original form, mainly because of the neck and the light weight of the guitar.

I play mainly blues and/or rock through a coupla old Champs and a 50's Magnatone Troubadour with the following effects: Tokai TC1 Compressor, Voodoo Lab Sparkle Drive, Ibanez DL10 Digital delay and an Alesis Microverb. This Tele with this setup works perfectly for blues, country, hard rock and probably eveything else. Sound with the SD's is rich, full and bright{without being harsh}. Not much to dislike.

Set up by above mentioned luthier{Thom Abriel, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada}. Best in the city. Doesn't appear to be any factory-made flaws either. Even in it's original form, it would still be a great guitar.

I don't gig, but it would probably be able to take some abuse no matter where you play it. Teles and Strats are tanks.

Dealt with Fender once, no problems.

Playing for 15 years, drunken jams, noodling at home, still a beginner LOL. I have 4 Strats and this Tele and they all deserve better but I'm a gear whore. I would definitely buy another one, probably the HWY One Texas Tele with maple FB and honey blonde finish for the 50's look. This is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Brand new 2003 Highway 1 Telecaster. NO FRILLS, NO MODIFICATIONS, JUST A STOCK FENDER TELECASTER. In my particular case I purchased a honey blonde (367) satin finish guitar with maple fingerboard. You can check out all the detailed specifications of a stock Highway 1 Telecaster at the Fender website (www.fender.com). The features that I have been most impressed with are as follows. The maple fingerboard is absolutely perfect! The wood tones really add a natural beauty to the appearance of an already good guitar, and when combined with the medium jumbo frets plays quite well. The stock Tele pick-ups emanate that classic ?Telecaster Sound? most commonly referred to as ?twang?. Well done! And lastly, the Ping Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines are far more user friendly than the vintage tuning pegs found on many Fender U.S. made guitars. Fender purists may not be so inclined to rate the ?standard cast/sealed tuning? pegs with much admiration since they don?t seem to exude the nostalgia of the yesteryear reissue guitars, but from my perspective string changes are much easier with the tuners that come stock on a Highway 1 Telecaster. I also own a Fender Telecaster with vintage pegs?I feel qualified to make the comparison. I was disappointed that this guitar only rated a ?gig bag?! The gig bag was of good quality, but it just wouldn?t protect my Tele to the same standard of a hard case?so I bought an SKB case fitted for a Telecaster at a great price. Lastly, I added a Tele ?ash-tray? bridge cover, which looks very sharp. Bottom line, this guitar is made in the U.S.A., albeit not far from the assembly line in Mexico?but my trained ears swear it sounds MUCH better than the MIM Standard Telecaster counterpart, and YES, I did compare them. This is the bottom line for U.S. made Telecasters, but in my honest opinion, Fender did NOT cut corners to make an affordable yet very solid performance guitar.

The Highway 1 Tele has that ?classic? Tele sound so sought after by professional musicians and vintage collectors. Really sharp, crisp and clean sound characteristics?NOT muddy. If you are looking for that naturally distorted power chord/humbucker sound, look elsewhere! This guitar probably won?t impress a metal/grunge enthusiast. But it can hold it?s own quite well in virtually every other genre. I play jazz, blues, classic rock, and dabble in country?the Highway 1 Tele easily crosses those musical boundaries. I have experienced numerous amplification options from direct to the mixer, to Fender Cyber-Twin, to the simple (but highly effective) Fender Hot Rod Deluxe; and the Highway 1 Tele has performed superbly and shown its ability to work well in most any recording/sound environment. Bottom line: this is a no-frills guitar?it was designed to be simple (i.e., economic) yet sound sophisticated. As such, Fender did succeed!

I bought this guitar brand new, it wasn?t in the music store for very long?definitely not long enough to become a scratch & dent special. It was is excellent condition, hardly a fingerprint or pick scratch. I?m not certain how this guitar left the Fender assembly line, but the intonation and action were set perfectly for my standards?not too low, and definitely not too high. I suspect JJ?s House of Music fine-tuned the guitar before it was hung on the display wall?and for that I commend them on extending excellent pre-sale dealership service. I wasn?t certain how much I would like a guitar with just three string saddles (2 strings per saddle), but I haven?t had to mess with the intonation or action at all, the guitar just holds it pitch quite well, even in changes of ambient temperature & humidity. On the bad side, the thin satin polyurethane finish is NOT that flattering. For a more eye-appealing coat of nitro-cellulose lacquer, the costs on the business end would have been much higher, and for good reason, lacquer application is an art. But despite the ?flat? appearance my guitar more than makes up for it in tonal characteristics. Besides, I?ve yet to hear anyone tell me my Highway 1 Tele was ugly!

Fender has a reputation for making guitars that last. I don?t think Fender will deviate from that reputation one bit with the Highway 1 line of guitars (Strat or Tele). Built with economy in mind, my Highway 1 Telecaster is still built quite solidly and is installed with high quality hardware/components.

My Highway 1 Tele has not had any problems since I purchased her almost two years ago. But I have had to deal with warranty repairs on another Fender product that I own (an amp). Bottom line: if you are looking for point-to-point customer support (i.e., from factory directly to your home) you will probably be disappointed. Many reviews exist on this website, in additional to a few others (Fender Forum), that amplify this point. But don?t walk away from a Fender guitar or amp purchase based upon the lack (or perceived lack) of customer support/service from the Fender Corporate Headquarters or Factory! I have always purchased my Fender guitars and amps (3 guitars & 3 amps) from reputable dealers. They make the difference! Buy online if you want a good deal. Or buy from a reputable dealer if you want quality customer service AFTER the sale?which I recommend. You get what you pay for, and in my honest opinion, the extra $$$ you spend at a dealership more than makes up for itself in the long run; especially in the perpetual care and maintenance they will provide for your instrument or amp if you should experience a problem. Fender quality control at the end of the assembly line is excellent, but they don?t catch all problems. I can assure you they are quite interested in honoring their warranty if you purchase a defective guitar or amp?and they do that through professional dealerships all across the U.S.A. As such, I would give my dealers a grade of 10.

I am exceptionally pleased with my Highway 1 Telecaster. This was my FIRST Fender guitar purchase, an experiment to validate the Fender brand name. Previously I was a stubbornly dedicated Gibson guitar fan, having played Gibson?s for over 20 years. Since then I have purchased a Strat and another Tele. Comparing my Highway 1 Telecaster to my Gibson Les Paul Standard is like comparing apples to oranges, so I won?t. Each stands quite well based on their merits. Don?t expect me to exalt one brand over the other?because they are both very good. I also won?t provide you with a never-ending list of amps and effects with which this Telecaster works well. Find your own sound?and then tinker with it! With that said, I would highly recommend a Highway 1 Telecaster to the beginning to experienced guitarist who is on a tight budget and wants a quality U.S. made guitar at an affordable price.

mentioned before... go to fender.com for all the details

i mostly play heavier styles of music... but i didn't buy this guitar for that, i wanted it for different styles (And a diferent sound than my other guitars)
i use it with a 5150 II head and a marshall jcm 900 cabinet or sometimes my small fender cab.
the 5150 is usually a pretty rought sounding head but this fender really cleans it up!! i was really surprised. i absolutely love the sound, it's very bright and quite clean but has a subtle dirtyness to it. tons of personality!! i don't use it for my heavier playing, but i love it for anything else.
i have no problem with the stock pick ups. i think they sound great and don't feed back, i'm most likely never going to replace them.

if this was just a rating for action/fit, i'd give it a 10. it played amazingly right from when i picked it up at the store.
i'm not too crazy about the flat finish but it doesn't look bad. if i had more choice i would go for something else, but this is still nice.

i haven't had this for too long, so i don't have much experience with its reliability/durability... but it looks like i can depend on this.

never had to deal with them...

i have been playing for about 10 years. i owned about 10+ guitars and this is easily my second favourite out of all of the gitars that i have owned.
right now i own a gibson les paul studio, sg special (with tony iommi pick ups) and a esp ltd ec-400. i like using the les paul for my heavier playing but i love the tele for everything else.
if this guitar was stolen or lost i would with out a doubt get the exact same one again.

i wish the finish was more glossy (or if they had more finish choices) and i would have also preferred if it came with the 6-saddle bridge (Which doesnt have the annoying metal pieces sticking out on the sides) BUT i can easily look past those things. they're not a big deal because it plays great and sounds great.
i HIGHLY recommend this guitar.

You know the story. It's a Telecaster, so it's perfect. Made in '04, Blonde satin finish, maple fingerboard.

Sounds just like a tele. Really sharp and clear, with that Fender "chime" when chording.

I bought it used, so I don't know about how it was set up at the factory, but when I got it, the intonation was beautiful, and acion was low without a buzz. This is the easiest guitar to play, and I own an American made Strat and an LP Standard. The fretboard is flat (very little radius), so chording is easy, and the frets are nicely dressed. A ten, easily.

It's a Tele. It will outlast me easily. I love this thing.

Never dealt with Fender.

God bless Leo Fender. I now see why he is often called a genius.

Made in USA in 2004. Body made from Alder. 22 Medium Jumbo frets. Chrome Hardware. Vintage Style bridge. Neck made form Maple, Fingerboard from Rosewood. Included was a gig bag, some tools, one cleaning cloth and a manual. It has a typical Tele String-thru-body bridge. Nothing is missing. So I give 8 points here.

The sound is very good. Very clean and bright. I use it with a 70's Rickenbacker Solid State Amp (TR 7) with both pickups. The sustain of the guitar is the best I ever heard. Solid 9 Points here.

I got it new from a Fender Dealer, but the setup isn't perfect. The action is not too low, but the deep E and A strings are buzzing. If I now turn the action higher the buzzing is gone, but I can't play anymore. Also the guitar is going out of tune every day.
The finsh was a disappointing too. There are some mistakes on the laquer. Someone should send a Rickenbacker guitar to the Fender Quality Control. They could learn a lot.
Pickup and bridge were ok.

Hm. It's a Tele. Everything is absolutely well built.

Never dealt with them.

This guitar is fine. Well built, great sound. But the finish and the setup are really poor. If you can get one without these disadvantages, you have a great guitar for a very low price.

Made in 2003, 3 tone sunburst, 22 frets, maple neck and board, Alder body. One volume, one tone, 3-way selector, the usuals of a telecaster. Two standard vintage style single coil pickups. Brilliant satin finish, has a very vintage look to it. The bridge is a vintage style telecaster bridge, but with stainless steel saddles. Fender sealed tuners. Chrome hardware. Very comfortable neck, soft 'C' shape.

I bought this guitar because telecasters can do anything. Especially for me, I play rock to blues, main influences Radiohead, Chillies, Jimi Hendrix. I found that this guitar helped me alot in the creation of my own sounds, and the sounds of my favourite artists.

I run my guitar through a Digitech Whammy RI, Line 6 Delay Modeller, Marshall Shredmaster, Boss Sd-1 Super overdrive, a Small Stone Phaser, and a Fender Princeton Chorus amp.

The guitar on its own sounds fasntastic, the bridge pickup being the greatest feature. It has a very coherent, punchy attack, and alot of brightness. Bridge pickups are what telecasters are all about, so having a good sounding one is very important. The highway 1 will gaurentee you that. The neck pickup gives satisfying glassy jazz sounds out of it, but at the top of the neck chords can be a bit muddy at times. However find the right EQ and you should be sound. When both pickups are selected you get a very nice shimmery tone, great for funk and jazz chords I find.

I got my Jonny Greenwood sound instantly. The Bends period that is, really.

I think the vintage bridge has quite alot to offer for the sound also, especially the saddles. I want to change them to brass ones one day, apparently they can warm up the tone a bit.

I give this category an 8, due to the slight (very slight, mind) muddy sound with the neck pickup, but I think that can be pretty much sorted with a well balanced EQ, and obviously a good amp.

Pickups are mexican. They can get noisy, however. I think i may need to get some copper shielding.

The guitar is a dream-come-true to play on. I ordered this from www.gak.co.uk, and what happened was apparently there was buzzing on the first few frets on the low E, so they sent it to the Fender factory to repair it. Apparently the intonation, action was fixed, and also the frets redressed. There is very SLIGHT buzzing on frets 1-8 on the low E however, im not sure what the case is with that, but im not prepared to send it back because I have it now, really. You cant hear the buzzing through the amp at all.

The neck is lightning fast, and my playing improved drastically within the first week of the having the guitar. Bending is so easy, and the guitar is very expressive. The action was set, convieniently, to my exact liking. The neck pickup is quite low, i may highten it a bit, itll probably boost up the volume a bit. The bridge pickup is well set-up.

The guitar didnt have any finish flaws at all. All the pots work great, no noise. Same with the 3-way switch. The tuning pegs work great and the guitar hardly goes out of tune.

I give this category an 8 because of Fender not properly fixing the slight buzzing problem, particularly because it took them 2 weeks to do it and send it to me.

The guitar is made for playing live and hard. Havent gigged it yet, but I can't wait until I do. The hardware do seem they will last a long time, probably the lifetime of the guitar. The finish looks like it could become a relic within five years, but do not be put off by this. Of course you can look after it, and the finish wont wear off. All it is, is that if you banged the guitar around, the finish will come off a bit easier because the Satin lacquer. But the guitar has tons of character, and looks beautiful.

I replaced the strap buttons with Schaller locks. Brilliant :)

I can very much depend on it, wherever I play. With playing live, I think it is always risky to play without a backup, but this guitar will give all I want it to, and alot more.

I did not appreciate Fender's slow and unsuccessful attempt on my frets. But they have given me a brilliant guitar which I absolutly adore. I'll just get a technician to fix my fret buzzing.

I have been playing for 4 years. I don't regret buying this guitar at all, I think at the price and the quality it is, it is fantastic. If it were stolen or lost, I would use my holiday savings and buy another. I compared this guitar to an American series Telecaster. The american was a bit more punchier and darker sounding, but I didnt have the budget for it anyway. I guess the main thing that attracted me to the Highway 1 were the vintage features on it. Only thing I would have liked it to have would have been a better quality neck pickup, but not even that is a major concern at all.

2004 Dakota/Cherry Red with 3 ply white pickguard.this one has a rosewood fretboard.tone and volume knobs.old 3 barrel bridge,new sealed tuners

this is a good sounding guitar.the satin finish resonates good,but with steel frets and steel barrels it's a little bright.great with light overdrive.however, it just doesn't sound as good or as versatile as my american series stratocaster.

the satin finish deducts points.don't know how long it will last.it does resonate good.it is the second best playing guitar after my strat.came set up perfect

this thing is never going to break!it's a telecaster come on!

haven't had to talk to them.

this thing is awesome.it's american made and i paid $500,Brand New!The music store also gave me an american series nylon/leather strap,no tax,and a soft case,NOT A GIGBAG!One of the best values out there.

2003 sunburst, 22 frets, came with nice Fender gig bag, The finish is kind of dull and scratches easily. Made in the U.S.A. should have came with a hard shell case. gig bags suck no protection.

I can get Scotty Moore sounds from this to Joe Perry sounds. I use it through a Fender Twin Amp, a Marshall JCM2000 TSL, a Marshall 62 Bluesbreaker reissue, and a Peavey Special 212. I have a Korg Toneworks AX100G effects pedal. This guitar sounds great through all these amps

This guitar was perfectly set up when I received it better than my almost $3000 Les Paul. the action was remarkable.
finish seems like it could wipe off with a wet rag but it looks sort of vintage worn which is nice. No flaws what so ever I bought a mexican tele and took it home what a piece of crap I took it back the next day and traded it for this for a couple of hundred dollars more and got a flawless non buzzing smooth playing instrument which I love. I originally wanted a reissue 52 tele butterscotch finish but honestly the highway one has superior playability over the 52 reissue at half the cost. I am going to buy another highway one and have it refinished like a 52 butterscotch reissue which is beautiful.

I would never go without a backup on any musical equipment.

N/A

I have been playing for 25 years. I also own a Fender 2003 American Deluxe Fat Stratocaster, a 2003 Gibson Les Paul 1960 Classic, A Fender Highway 1 Jazz Bass, Tokai 335 copy, Tokai Love Rock, Tokai 1980 Springy sound stratocaster, and a fender American Standard telecaster I just won on ebay to arrive soon. I would buy this guitar again but in the new texas pickup version. This is my first telecaster and is now my favorite type of guitar.

Standard Tele features, with a thinner finish than American Series, vintage hardware.

Stock, it was about a 7 or 8. Not bad, but a little too plain. Bright, as any good tele is, maybe a little too bright with stock pups. About a week after I bought it, I had Lindy Fralin make me up some ungodly terrific pups, had a custom control plate (with 4 way switch, a must have), and locking tuners. Now, for less than the price of an upper ent Tele that sounds like all the others, I have my perfect blues guitar. I'm taking a point off because the stock sound was not a 10, but not bad.

Very well made overall, neck is not as great as the American Series Strat I used to have, but pretty good nonetheless. The satin finish is great, it wears quickly, but looks don't matter too much to me, only sound and feel.

I've had it about a year now, it gets abused like any performing guitar. But it has held up well, the finish is leaving rather quickly, but doesn't look terrible, just "relic" as Fender puts it.

Read the other 2000 bad reviews on Fender support.

This tele is one hell of a great value... I used it as a platform to customize. It would be fine for most people in it's stock form, a good value even for that. But to have a good body and neck, and the ease of "hot rodding" a Fender, this guitar is great. You don't have to pay a grand or more for bells and whistles that really don't mean too much if you like to put aftermarket stuff on, it makes a great basic axe to build on.

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.

Great Guitar!!! i love the 25.5 inch neck! it gives you great action and the pickups are awsome right out of the box. Theres not much to say besides the fact that it kicks a**. Does anyone know why people obsess over srats. I like tele's way better.

It can suit any style you can play. I personal play lots of metallica and this guitar can go from Fade to Black all the way to Master of Puppets. This guitar can do it ALL.

Not one problem at all. There wasnt a finger print on it when i bought it.

This is the only category that gets less than a 9 only because of the finish. It looks amazing, but it looks thin and will probably wear off quick.

I think this category is a waste of space. It can vary from great to not so great depending on where you bought it and all the people that had a bad expierence will give it bad ratings and make the guitar look bad. I hate this category

I have been playing a pretty long time and ive played my share of gibsons, fenders, and every other brand but this really stands out as one of the best ive bought

Manufactured in 2003.
3 tone sunburst.
Fender USA pickups which I tested versus a Fender '72 Tele Custom which squealed at volume/gain levels that the Highway 1 Tele had no problem with.
Tuners are excellent and tuning stablility far exceeds the recent Gibsons I have tried and dismissed.
Tone controls have a lot of variation too. This is basically what the USA Standard Tele would be if it kept to the original design.

Sound is classic Tele. The bridge pickup is very bright but can hold it's own when overdriven and of course you have the tone controls to vary this.
The neck pickup is more akin to a 335 than a start neck pickup and combines very well with the bridge on the middle setting, so you can get an in between crunch sound.

The action was superb straight off the wall in the shop. Nice and low with hardly any fret buzz at all.
The nut was cut perfectly in the factory.

The stability of the tuning and the wide variety of the tones means that this would be an excellent guitar to use live. Its biting sound would also allow the guitar to be heard above the band.
I will fit locking strap buttons.
It looks very solidly built and I have found this to be a consistent trait with Fender guitars. My gripe has been with Gibson's where the finish is blemished with the tiniest knock.

N/A.

Overall if you are in the market for a quality Telecaster and were wondering whether the Highway 1 would be significantly "worse" than the USA Standard then don't.
This is a class USA built guitar with quality USA pickups for Mexican money.
P.S. I know I've taken a swipe at Gibson's twice here and that's just because I have recently owned Gibson guitars which have not met the high standard of Fender.

All the features are listed below. This is a basic player tele. Mine appears to be solid. There are a few things I wish it had come with.
1. Brass saddles-it is a telecaster. Brass saddles are a must on a tele IMHO.
2. I wish that the fender logo was the old style logo.
Everything else is perfect.

I play rockabilly and Clash style punk. It works great for this. It is not a high gain guitar, but it sounds nice when pushed. Through my 63' Vibroverb RI it has great twang and punch. The middle postion is full and punchy. The neck pickup is jazzy and very fat sounding. My only problem is the bridge pickup. It is a bit on the harsh/brittle side. Some like this type of tele tone, but I like a bit more body in the bridge position.It is not horrible sounding, just not to my taste.
A big feature that I think makes this guitar, is the satin lacquer finish. The thin finish alows alot more resenence. You can tell the difference without even plugging it up. The thick modern poly finishes just rob some of the tone. This guitar moves when it is hit hard. I think that the wood will probably age better with the lacquer finish also.

Finish is transparent and satin. Mine is light blue, and the wood grain looks great through the finish. The fretwork is good, a little on the square side, but playable. I would say, all in all, that this guitar plays better off the self then most.

I know the paint will rub off eventually. I think it will look cool with that played look. I am comfident that this tele will hold up for years of abuse. It is solid.

Never needed help

Not to sound over the top, but I am COMPLETELY happy with this guitar. It sounds good,plays nice, and is solid. The lacquer finish to me gives this guitar that extra push. The neck is a good medium thick C-shape. I would reccommend this tele to players. It may not be the prettiest guitar, but I think it would serve a real picker really well.

Hope I helped, feel free to email me if you have any questions.

I think you have all the details of a Highway 1 Telecaster already so I'll skip this part

Right off the wall this was a very nice sounding guitar. I like to play them without going through an amp for a bit and everything resonates beautifully. Plugged in, the pickups were good but a bit noisy to my ears. They do sound fine but I replaced them with Fender Noiseless pickups which are basically stacked humbuckers. Now the noise is gone and it has all the sounds you'd want from a telecaster but with a bit more richness. I think a telecaster is an extremely versatile guitar - great for rock, blues, country and metal and the Highway 1 doesn't disapoint.

Everything was done really well straight out. The fret work is very nice and i like the medium jumbo frets a lot. All the finish work was perfect on mine and is clearly very well made. Mine has the 3-tone sunburst finish and is really beautiful in the satin finish. Action was fine but no one should judge a guitar based on the factory set-up. Even though it was very playable, I still had my luthier adjust it to my liking and it is now perfect for me.

Everything seems really well constructed. I may change the pots as I think they could be a bit sturdier. I think the cost savings on the guitar is likely in the electronics - which is a perfect place to save $$ because I wanted to customize it with my choice of pickups etc to begin with. But nothing is flimsy at all on the guitar right from the factory.

Haven't needed any.

This is my perfect electric. I couldn't ask for anything more at all. This is the first guitar I've had where I no longer felt like I needed another. I get every sound I want out of it and I play all styles (not well but...). I highly recommend the Highway 1 line and particularly the Telecaster. It's a tremendous step up from the Mexican telecasters which are a great bargain. I think Fender cut production costs in the right areas with the Highway 1 line since I knew I'd want to customize the electronics anyway.

2003 model. 22 frets. Alder body with light finish. 3 saddle Tele bridge. Fender non-locking tuners. Maple neck/fretboard. Vintage neck style.

Let me just start off by saying that before I even plugged this thing in I replaced the bridge pickup with that of a Seymour Duncan STHR Hot Rails for Tele pickup. Now this guitar sings! I play just about everything but mostly rock/blues/fusion jazz. Some influences are Audioslave, U2, Steve Miller, Tool, Pink Floyd, Clutch, Johnny Cash....and the list goes on. With this pickup, I can get that crunchy distortion, with a good pedal, anytime I need it. My setup is as follows: Tele>Crybaby Wah>Digitech Hot Rod Dist.>Line 6 Delay Mod(effects loop)>Fender Hot Rod Deville. With the distortion through the amp with the neck pickup, I can get a really sweet, bluesy tone for some good solos. The middle position has a little more highs, but also good for blues. The bridge position (Seymour Duncan) does really well for sharp, cutting highs on soloing and some nice crunch for rythym. On clean channels, all pickup settings sound wonderful. Full, not thin, good for all ryhtyms. I can just about mimic the bright, chimey sound of The Edge, from U2, with my current setup and this guitar. The only thing I can say that I don't like about the sound is the output of the neck pickup. In contrast to the SD Hot Rails, the neck pickup seems a bit quieter. Maybe I just have to raise it a little. All-in-all, quite a versatile guitar. I love it!

From the factory, the action was a bit low. The E-A-D strings were buzzing a little bit, but a minor adjustment fixed that. Very easy to play. The neck on this thing is just buttery! As for everything else, it all worked like it should; new! No complaints.

I haven't had to deal with the Fender company directly, but dealing with the authorized repair centers has been an ease. I have had nothing wrong with the Tele, but when I got my Fender Deville, a reverb spring was broken. I just took it into an authorized repair shop and they had it done in a day, no charge (under warranty).

I've been playing for over 10 years. I've owned a number of guitars (Les Paul, SG, Ibanez SZ, Ibanez SQF, Squier Telecaster). This guitar is by far my favorite. I really never thought I would own another Tele, but after picking this one up, I knew I had to have it. If it were stolen or lost, I would definetly buy another one. The only thing I can say I wished it had was the Hot Rails pre-installed. I love the look, the playability, and the sound all around. I am one happy camper!

Well dsescribed already. Mine's maple neck/honey blond. Pity you'd have to take off the neck to adjust the neck pup height. You can't get the scratch plate off as the overlap of the fingerboard and the pup itself lock the plate ( duh )

I think it has almost the right recipe of features to get a classic tele sound: Thin finish, pressed steel bridge etc..but, that bridge pup is way too shrill. I've changed it for a SD APTL-1 and have changed the bridge pieces for brass ones. How come it wasn't supplied with brass? With those changes it sounds very, very, good. Ironically the standard neck pup is very good as it is. This sounds better than the two American series Teles I've recently owned and is way cheaper. Great sound, full and clear through a Hot Rod Deluxe with a boost from a Boss OD 3 and a CS 3 compressor. Now, it sounds perfect. Why that bridge pup is such a cheap-o is a mystery to me.

Crimimal: Routing for the bridge pup can be seen by the bridge plate ( another 'duh' ) The set up was good. Action and playabilty are fine. I'm expecting the finish to start falling off soon but the trade off is a looser natural sound.

The tuners will last. The finish won't but no problem. You could gig with this but I wouldn't gig ever without a backup.

This is the best value Tele out there at the moment apart from the bridge pup and thin steel bridge pieces and the visible routing and the difficult to adjust neck pup. I've been playing Teles since 1976...This is as good as the best of them. I'd buy another. Despite the imperfections it's a very, very good guitar.

Standard Tele features. Solid wood, USA made, although I think a lot of the hardware is the same as the Mexican Standard.

The pickups in this are the same ones used in the Mexican 50's and 60's reissues (I think Fender calls them their "Classic" series). Says they are vintage single coils and they sound pretty good. Close to a vintage sound and definitely has that (I hate this overused term) "twang". At first I didnt like them but I changed the bridge saddles to compensated brass ones and it made a world of difference. Now I like the pickups. I play a kind of "Americana Pop" and it suits me really well. Playing it through an Ampeg R-12R Reverberocket, which is an amazing amp in itself so that probably helps out with the tone a lot.

Set up fairly well from the factory but intonation was out a bit. Also, it came with 9s which are pretty thin for my taste and I have lead fingers so I tend to bend whimpy strings out of tune easily. Everything looked good EXCEPT for the neck joint. There is a considerable gap which I think should be better in a American made Fender. I can live with it though. The finish on this is really cool. Thin and non-glossy I stuck a black guard on it and it kind of has a 52ish vintage vibe to it without the cost.

If you know of the Highway 1 series of Fenders, you know that they have a very thin satin-like finish. If you want a durable finsh this is NOT it. You can actually scratch this finish off with your fingernail. I like it though because it resonates well and I expect it to "relic" really quickly, which I think is cool. The guitar as a whole should hold up nicely since it's fairly well made.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing way too long to be this crappy. I have about 10 guitars and this is quickly becoming my favorite. I always wanted a nice Tele with a vintage vibe and except for the $1200 52 reissue this one is about a close as a new Fender gets. Probably Fender's best value they have going right now. This is actually my 2nd HWY1 Tele. The first one I got by trading an acoustic to a guy but it was sunburst and I really wanted the Honey blonde so I sold it and bought the one I wanted. The burst was really nice but I had my heart set on the blonde.

2003 HWY1 Tele
Serial Number indicates built in 2003.
US made. 22 frets Rosewood board
satin finish skunk-stripe C-shaped maple neck
Truss rod adjust at the headstock, one string tree B/E
Chrome T/V knobs, 3-way switch, stock passive S/S PUs,
'Fender' sealed tuners (exactly like my Am Strat)
Ashtray bridge assembly with 3-piece saddles w/strung thru-body setup
Satin Lacuqer 3color sunburst with 3 piece alder body, fat body but not heavy, very comfortable for a non-sculpted tele body I have to emphasize
>>> The satin sunburst finish on this guitar is REALLY BEAUTIFUL.

Note: The reason for multiple wood body pieces in NOT for sound or construction, it is because it is cheaper than a one-piece body of solid alder. (That may help explain the price differential between the '52 solid Ash body or a one piece alder Strat and this guitar.) However, on this guitar, the pieces were very well matched and you can hardly tell it is not a one piece body. I believe on colored-over bodies the paint will cover pieces that may have very different grain patterns - almost butcher-block appearance. But that is okay because you will never see it anyway and it will probably be sonically correct.

I play a little bit of everything from old standards to country to rock'n'roll, (no metal or fusion tho), so this guitar fits my style. My main guitar is a strat (see the '95 American Strat review by BobbyC). I go direct into a Fender Deluxe or Marshall valvestate. This Tele has a harder-edged sound than my strat and does not have the versatility that the strat offers, but it does nail down the funky, 'honky' country sound and is pretty effective for Rock and Roll tunes. For live gigs it sounds very good and is easy to play.

I have noticed early on that this guitar has tremendous sustain. I am not sure but it may be combination of the alder, the neck, the light body weight, and probably the thin lacquer finish for sure. Maybe just plain good luck too. It has more sustain than my strat. It really sings.

However... I have noticed a very subtle problem that seems to come and go when I am playing either PU, sometimes there is a hint of noise or distortion 'riding on the note' even with a 'clean' amp setting (Fender Deluxe using bright channel). It is not a hiss or crackle, it seems to coincide when a note is played. You have to be in a quiet room to hear it. Can anyone tell me if this is a problem with the PUs? Have you experienced the same noise? When played through the same amp setup, my strat does not have this problem. Again, I do not believe it is overdriving or distorting the amp, it is noise generated by the PUs themselves as a note is played. If this persists I will have to swap out to after-market PUs. Thus 7 rating.

Guitar had 9s so I switched to 10s. The action is very good.
Action and fit is basically perfect and no adjustments were necessary. I like the C-shaped neck it is fat enough to keep your hands from tiring but thin enough to enjoy. The fret board seems just slightly wider than my Am strat, but since I like to fingerpick too, this is a plus. I belive it has a 9.5 radius and bending high up seems to work okay.

Again, the 3 peice alder body was well matched and the satin finish on this guitar is SPECTACULAR - really!

When changing strings I noticed one flaw - behind the first fret under the high E string, there was a section of rosewood that was not filed or sanded very well and has a 'ridged' rough spot. However, it is not a problem as you never feel it when playing the guitar. It was just a small flaw that might have missed the inspection. Thus have to give it an 9.

This guitar appears to have the same tuners and neck as my '95 American strat. If it holds up like my strat I will be pleased. It may be too eary to tell since it is brand new. I do expect the body to get dinged due to the thin satin lacquer. Too early so have to give it an 8

I have never contacted them. Their website seems to be okay.

My initials are 'BC' which could also mean 'before Christ' so I am about as old as dirt. I have been playing on and off for a long time. I have several other guitars mainly Epi Sheraton II (ES335) and a Fender American Strat that I play out regulary.

Buying this guitar was the happy ending to a 'love affair'. I had seen it in this shop over the summer and had played it several times. The action, fit and finish were superb. I finally had the money and it was still available so I brought it home and played it out that night. I have since discovered a possible subtle noise problem with the PUs, but the finish and neck alone are enough to warrant the purchase. With new PUS this would be a 10+.

One thing I love about the Tele is simplicity. You plug the thing straight into an amp and it is totally up to you and your ingenuity to play music. One volume and one Tone, three settings. You and your guitar. (You have to admire Danny Gatton and Roy Buchannon and what they did with the Tele mostly direct into the amp.) In the current age of computerized midi files and effects, to me there is something refreshing about that. When I am playing out, I find that most the time I need a good tone for chording and a good lead tone for leads. While going back and forth, I do not want too many knobs and buttons to get in the way, I want to concentrate on the choice of notes I am going to play. To me the Tele takes the art of guitar playing back to its roots.

What do I miss? I suppose I would like a tremolo bar because I use it some on my strat, but I will sacrifice it to get the string-thru-body tone and sustain of the Tele.

In spite of the fact that I may have to replace the PUs. I will still give this guitar a 9

If anyone has any comments or suggestions about the PU noise, please contact me at weblazer@cs.com. Thanks in advance.

2003 Highway 1 Tele. Mine's beautiful sunburst w/maple board. It's really just basic Tele features. The "vintage" features include 2 vintage single-coils and three saddles (steel, I assume?). Most all the other features are "modern:" flatter radius (9" or so I think?), med jumbo frets, modern tuners, alder body. Came with Fender gig bag.

It sounds like a Telecaster should: twang, sweetness, and raunchiness. The bridge pickup is a "10" clean; I'd rate it more of a "7" or "8" w/gain. Don't get me wrong, sounds great; but can't do "crunch" like a humbucker equipped guitar. May eventually put a SD Lil 59 in just to experiment. Single-coils are of course a little noisy, but not overly so. Tone and vol seem to work well.

Very impressive. The fret ends were just slightly rough on the edges (could be due to fact I'm in humidity-less Colorado), but all else PERFECT. It has an airtight neck/pocket fit, which is VERY important to me. Have no idea if it impacts tone, I just think it looks like crap when a bolt-on has a sloppy neck/pocket fit. Mine body doesn't have as much grain showing as some of the others I've seen, but that's okay. I love it! Mine is also light-to-med weight, which I also prefer on a Tele.

I believe it'll hold up well. If not, backed by Fender's warranty (limited lifetime?).

Dunno.

Awesome. I love this Tele! I really like the "matte" style finish. It's obviously not for everyone, but I dig the looks. I would like to see the Daphne blue in person, that one looks cool in the pictures. This is a great value in an excellent quality American-made axe. Go out and get yourself one!

My Highway Strat is good so a real US Tele will make my gear complete.
I bought it in a shop in Rotterdam and compared it with an "Amarican Telecaster". I could not discouver any differance in the sound that will make me pay more for the "American Telecaster". The Amarican was also not build very nice, the nut was not good and the body finisch also not nice, i think it was too long in the shop. But this pointed me just more in the direction off the Highway.
So i bought the Highway Honey Blonde with maple fretboard.
I also ordered a black pickguard and an original bridgecover to look it original vintage.
The neck is very good, real US. The body is made off 3 peaces Alder, i think 3 peaces is very importend. The mid section holds the neck and bridge on one peace, i think this is importend for a good sustain. This is where the US shows the difference compared to the Mexican witch often is made off 5 to 7 peaces wood with a veneer cover (i dont like that).

This guitar rings like a bell! As play songs off Lou Reeds "Magic and Loss" my Tele sounds the same as Lou on the record and i think Lou's guitar is more expencive than a Highway.
The good sound comes from the good body and thin and soft laquer i think. (See Stevie Ray Vaugh and John Frusciantie, there strats have or had no finish at all, the bare wood resonates best).
The Highway serie profits from this issue.

Nice build, good wood and hardware, nice finish.
Only the nut needed some work to adjust the action.

US Fender, need to say more?

Life time Fender warrantie and good support from the shop.

Play a few years on a Fender Strat an Ibanez AS73 and an acoustic Yamaha.
I would buy the same Highway.
But beware off poor wood, look at the rear end off the body too see the parts.
Better than an Mexican, better base material, cheep finish but i see that as a purpose.

2003 Fender Highway 1 Telecaster (made in the USA)
22 frets
solid top
volume, tone and 3 way selector controls
two single coil pickups
Alder Body
Satin 3-colour sunburst
Strung through bridge
medium jumbo frets
Maple neck and fingerboard
Gig bag included

Im not limiting myself to a style, I bought this guitar to find my own sound, Im getting closer to it, and all I need now is a different amp and effects, so Im pretty happy with this guitar.
It has 3 very distinct sounds, from a bright twang from the bridge, to a mellow sounds with both, and a clear, crisp sound from the neck pickup.
Distortion on this isnt realy for metal or anything where you want high gain unless you use a pre-amp. I dont like my distorion pedals with my old guitar anyway so I cant comment about it coz I wont like my distortion anyway, but my overdrive pedal sounds a lot smoother on this guitar. If youre using a DS-1 it get noisy if you turn distortion past 3 o clock, on my SD-1 I can turn everything right up and all I get is amp buzz, no feedback, but plenty of sustain.

the setup from factory was realy good, could do with less string rattle and the higher strings are a bit tight, but Im gonna get it set up once it gets worn in again anyway so Im not bothered.
The top is lovely and smooth, has one scratch, but its absolutely tiny. The bridge pickup routing sticks out from under the bridge, but as the guy bellow said, personality.
The neck is as comfortable as any other neck Ive played, but the sides are so nicely rolled you can barely feel the frets.

It looks solid, should be able to withstand a lot.

1 year warranty for some things, lifetime warranty for other things fender could be blamed for.

I love this guitar, I bought it to take with me to college, and I expect to be picking it up when I walk on stage during glastonbury *dreams*

Suits me great coz I didnt want anything stereotypical.

Built in Usa, numerically it has telecaster classic features... but sure of excellent quality : 22

comfortable medium jumbo freats (against 21 freat of vintage tele), fluent maple neck screwed to the

(alder?) creamy white body, basic volume and tone control, sturdy three way selector (bridge PU,

bridge&neck PU, neck PU), two mellow arnico pickup (like vintage ones), lacquer body with classic

white pickguard, vintage three-saddle type bridge, Fender tuners... well I think that's all folks...

Well, there's everything you need on a telecaster so I think I'll rate 10 this category :)

I've owned this guitar only for a day... and I already love it...
I used to play an Epiphone Les Paul Model and a Gibson The Paul and this guitar is totally different
from them. Really creamy sound, expecially from the neck pickup, ideal for blues and country but also for slow piece where you can nearly make this guitar talk... An extraordinary dynamic is its main feature and if you have a particle of feel, this guitar will show it.
Thin sound with really delineated bass (which I really like), with typical amount of treble of telecaster. However all strings are well balanced in volume so with your amp eq you can easily tame its brightness.
If I wouldn't have made use to play Les Paul-like guitar with their loud pickup signal I use to create walls of sound my band likes, I will rate this category 10 : compared to my Epiphone Tele pickup signal (coming from single coils) is really softer but I think the "problem" can be solved installing an HOT ROAD minihumbucker PU at the bridge and changing string (I usually use .11 against .09 mounted on HIGHWAY TELEs). However, despite its pickup power with my JCM800 and with a Cry Baby this night during trials I was able to obtain all the feedbacks I wanted (better than with my Epiphone) so I really satisfied by this guitar.

I used to play with quite high action so I like this tele.
Then its maple neck (despite what lot of people say about maple necks)is really fast and fluent for my taste so action is not a problem for me, obviously if you are a shredder (but I don't think you would choose a tele) you probably will have to set up it.
Pickups height is ok... You could have some trouble changing neck PU height due to the presence of the Pickguard who (looking at the guitar and reading a review) is probably quite hard to remove...
My HIGHWAY finish is ok even if I think that AMERICAN STANDAR TELE have a better one (but better finish isn't worth its price)

Due to its simpleness it's quite sturdy and I think It can live forever if I don't make it fall like I did to my epiphone :
I installed two Schaller strap security locks to avoid any damn...

I've bought it in the Music Store I collaborate with, so I will rate this category 10!

I'm the singer and the guitarist of the Ashclay, a grunge band in Italy (www.ashclay.com) and I've been played for 4-5 years.
I'm really satisfied of this guitar even If I've played it just for a day... Its price, discounted, is good to be in Italy (on the price list its priced 1118 Euro) and with it I got even a good solid case, a fender strap and two Schaller strap security locks...
Maybe is too early to say it, but if I lost it I would probably buy another one (Would my mum think the same?)

2003, USA Made, Maple (head adjust) 9.5" Radius, "C" shape, 22 (medium) Fret Neck, bone nut, 2 or three piece Alder Body, (Honey blonde, satin, no gloss finish) Standard Telecaster Pickup Configuration, 1 volume, 1 tone control, 3-way pickup selector, two single coil waxed flat pole pickups, I believe the bridge plate has been borrowed from Mexican Telecasters, it's made of thicker, heavier metal than the "52" reissue plate, plus it features three 60's style steel saddles...strings through bridge & body, Fender / Ping (Chinese) tuners. Included bag full of paperwork, allen wrenches and polishing cloth...I passed on the cheap gig bag, so I saved $40. I fell in love with the weight and neck on the guitar, but most all of the hardware will be replaced.

Although it sounded great unplugged, I didn't care what it sounded like plugged in, because I knew I would be replacing the pickups. When I got home, I pluged it into my Victoria 45-410T, (Bassman clone) and sure enough, you get the 60 cycle hum and buzz, which is just no good for recording. The other thing I noticed was that after tuning the guitar with a boss tuner, the guitar would not stay in tune up and down the neck.

I bought the guitar because I wanted a light Tele body with the 9.5" radius, Head Adjust neck. The first thing I noticed was that some knuckle-head at Fender put one of the screws in crooked that holds the control plate, plus the guitar had a finish ding in the body, (it's really hard to get a perfect guitar from Guitar Center..the guitars are handled too much). However, since I was looking for the lightest Tele possible, these were faults I was willing to live with. Fret and nut work on the neck was great. The body is routed exactly like a 50's tele should be, with the wiring channel and the truss rod adjustment channel, (this was a bonus).

Fender can put these guitars out cheaply because they put a bunch of cheap, Chinese and Mexican parts on them...my feeling is though, that it's a great guitar to customize with high end parts. The guitar is a great value, especially for a novice player, but if you've got a few years under your belt, you're going to need better parts. I would say, if you're going to be playing out a lot, you're going to have to install some better parts.

The guitar has a lifetime warranty if you don't change anything or turn any screws on the instrument. I've never had to put Fender to the test regarding a warranty, but I would imagine they would steer you to the dealer you purchased the instrument from and the guitar would be repaired locally, hopefully by someone with more than 5 minutes of guitar repair experience.

I've been playing guitar for about 25 years and love Telecasters. If you're into Telecasters, be sure to pick up a book by A.R. Duchossoir entitled "The Fender Telecaster", it's worth every penny. I also own an Ernie Ball Albert Lee and a Rickenbacker 370 12 string, amps include a Victoria 45-410T, a 1967 Fender Blackface Vibrolux and a 1962 Gibson Ranger. This guitar is a "must have" for a couple of reasons, #1, it's made in the USA, don't waste your money on Mexican, Korean or Japanese crap, ...it has a great neck featuring a "head adjust" truss rod, (you won't have to take your guitar apart to adjust the truss rod) 9.5" radius and lightweightweight 50's style body. The 9.5" radius neck is a much better way to go, because with a vintage 7.25" radius neck, you can't stretch your strings above the 12th fret without having the strings bottom out on adjoining frets, plus the neck isn't covered with heavy lacquer which will drag down the speed of your freting hand. My advise would be to get to a store where you can compare several of these guitars at the same time, then choose the lightest one. My upgrade parts list includes: Fender Schaller locking tuners, (great tunders, plus the mounting holes match up, which means you don't have to drill new holes) set of Joe Barden Tele pickups and Joe Barden (Gatton modified) bridge plate with angled brass saddles, (Angles saddles is the only way you'll be able to keep the guitar in tune all the way up and down the neck) Jay Monterose "Vintique" neck kit (with heavier neck mounting plate) and Vintique dome top heavily knurled knobs and last but not least a Fender black pickguard.

It's a tele so there's not a lot of special features here..
Highway 1 Tele
Crimson Transparent,(Satin Lacquer Finish)
Alder body, maple neck ( Modern ?C" Shape with Satin Polyurethane Finish), Fender/Ping Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines. Maple , 9.5" Radius (241 mm) fingerboard with 22 Medium Jumbo Frets. 2 Standard Vintage Style Single-Coil Tele Pickups with Alnico Magnets (Neck & Bridge) scale length 25.5" (648 mm) width at nut 1.6875" (43 mm) controls:master volume, master tone. Vintage style 3-saddle strings-thru-body tele bridge pickup switching:3-position blade (position 1. bridge pickup, position 2. bridge and neck pickups, position 3. neck pickup). Chrome hardware, 3-ply white pickguard . Comes with fender super 250l, nickel plated steel strings, (.009 to .042),
Mine came with a case (not a fender case though) I didn't get any wrenches nor a users guide. Which shouldn't be that much of a problem if you've had some experience with setting up guitars. They should have been included though! This has ofcourse nothing to do with fender but with the shop I bought it from.. since they trew in the case I didnt make a fuzz about it..
Ooh yeah.. most importantly it came with a very cool Fender bumper sticker and a sweet Highway one sticker!

Overall a very clear and crisp sound (it has a light body).. virually no noise. The telecaster sound can go from blues to country to modern britpop and everywhere in between (whereever that is.. )
I run it trough a Roger Mayer Voodoo-vibe into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe
unfortunately the stickers don't add to the sound....

Action was a little low and I prefer 011 instead of 009 strings, but that's a matter of personal taste. The fretwork is exelent and the neck is very comfortable. The paintjob was also done well. So overall it looks really good..... especially with the Highway 1 sticker! The only flaw it has is that the cavety for the bridge pickup shows from underneath the bridge(there's a hole of ~1mm at the lower site of the bridge where the pickups is) I've never seen this before , not even on cheapass korean guitars! It's not really a problem but it just looks strange. But the way I see it is that these little production erros ad charater to the instument :)

I've had my other fenders for years .. never had a problem with any of them...so I'm gonna stick with this for quite a long time i think

It's Fender we're talking about! Ooh well at leat you get the stickers!

I've been playing for about 8 years, I own a lot of guitars but the ones I pick up mostly are my fender Strat and my Ibanez Jem... and this one. The bottom line is this: if you're looking for a good allround guitar this is not it! If you're looking for a metal monster, again, this is not it!
If youre looking for a (nice & affordalble) telecaster you should give the highway 1 chance!
Great guitar for the money! If it were to be stolen i'd get a new one, no doubt. Why pay more for something that doesn't sound or play or look any better!? Besides: dont forget about the cool stickers!

I have a 2003 in Satin Honey Blonde with the maple fretboard. I have always found that Fenders with maple fretboards play better, as they have a smoother feel than the rosewood. I particularly like the feel and profile of this neck because my fingers seem to stay where I want them better than with some other neck profiles. The fretwork was finished flawlessly on this Tele. I agree with the reviewer who lamented the lack of the ashtray bridge cover. Teles always look unfinished without them, so I have ordered one, and hope it fits! A case would have been nice, but for the price, why quibble?

This is a very versatile guitar. With a little experimentation, it will produce a wonderful variety of tone. It will Tele Twang, but it will also mellow down. I like to finger-pick James Taylor on the neck pickup. I am running it through a tiny Ibanez amp, which makes all my guitars sound good.

I received this Tele from Musician's Friend in the box, and I don't believe the box had been opened since it left the factory. And so, it was very well set up-the strings were rather low, but pickup height was fine, and the neck looked good. The sixth string intonation could use a tweaking, but you can't expect a guitar to travel half way across the country without some adjustment. Finish on the body and neck are flawless. I like the satin finish. In the Honey Blonde, the color is almost a pale canary, but that's ok. All the pieces fit beautifully, but be warned, if you want to change the pickguard it is a very tight fit around the neck.

I would recommend Strap-lock buttons. This is a good solid made guitar, rugged, yet not as heavy as some Teles.

Have not dealt with Fender. But this guitar was made with pride, so I have confidence in it.

I have been playing badly for over 30 years. I have bought and sold dozens of guitars, but this is the first one that I have sat up all night and played. It is just so comfortable, and sounds terrific. In my opinion, with electrics, there are Rickenbackers, and everything else. But this Fender is a stand-out in quality construction and sound. It has got to be the best value out there. Get one! I bought it sight unseen, unplayed, and I could not be happier with it!

The Highway 1 is a typical Telecaster, made in the U.S., with some interesting features. Most notable is the satin finish on the body (mine is sunburst). The finish makes it feel like the guitar was built around 1955 and has had the gloss played off of it. It's just dynamite. The bridge is the vintage three-saddle type; unfortunately it didn't come with the bridge cover/ashtray. That and a pair of flat-top knobs would really add to the vibe of this guitar. About the only bonehead thing they did with it was to use an American Standard neck, one piece with 22 frets and maple fretboard. It feels and plays great, but I think they would have done better to use a vintage-style 21-fret neck. As it is, the fretboard extends over the pickguard, which makes pickguard removal very difficult. It wouldn't be an issue except that the bridge pickup (in true vintage fashion) is mounted to the body, so that you have to remove the pickguard in order to adjust the pickup height (which I immediately had to do; mine was set too low from the factory). The American Standards have the pickup mounted to the pickguard. I may do that too, although I prefer the way it looks now. The Highway 1 came with a good Fender gig bag and two allen wrenches. One is for the truss rod, and the other is for adjusting the height of the bridge saddles. Which is to say, it would be if it were the right size for the screws. But it isn?t. (Hey, at least they tried!)

It may sound funny, but I didn't even plug this guitar in before I bought it. I was so blown away by the look and feel of the guitar that I didn't really care what it sounded like. If the pickups sucked, I'd replace them. Well, believe me when I say, suck they don't. It uses vintage style pickups, and they sound fantastic. They?re plenty bright, but not obnoxiously so, with just the right amount of mids. And they warm right up with the tone control. Exactly what I was looking for.

Like most Fenders, this guitar came with 9?s, which I can?t stand. The setup was pretty good, but I?ve since replaced the strings with 10?s and readjusted everything. As I said before, the finish on the body is gorgeous. The neck, I believe, is also supposed to have a satin finish, but it doesn?t feel very satiny to me. But, it?s not objectionable.

C?mon, it?s a Fender. I expect this guitar will last a long time.

I?ve never had any direct dealings with Fender, although dealer support (multiple dealers over many years) has always been good.

I?ve had a thing for Telecasters ever since a friend of mine showed up one day with a new candy apple red Esquire. That was around 1967. So of course my first quality electric was a Tele, purchased in 1971. Since then I?ve gone through a variety of different guitars, including several Strats, but the basic functionality and simplicity of the Telecaster has never lost its appeal. When I bought the Highway 1 I had actually gone out to look at Standard (made in Mexico) Tele?s (which is another reason why I expected not to like the pickups). I wasn?t really interested in the American Standard; there was just no way I was going to pay over $800 for a Telecaster. Well, once I saw this guitar I couldn?t pass it up. I think $600 is just about the limit of what I would pay for a Telecaster. That being said, however, I think Fender has done a pretty good job.

Basic electric guitar....2 single coils, 3-way selector, T&V knobs.

Biting treble to mellow bass. Bell-like single notes. Excellent string to string volume balance. Does't go into heavy saturated OD, but does break up nicely for bluesy tones. A very clean sounding guitar with excellent twang.

Action a bit high for my taste, but perfectly acceptible for an assembly line guitar. Perfect intonation from the factory.
Honey blonde semi-transparent lacquer...matte finish, not high gloss...flawless application. Looks like an old Tele with a faded finish in great shape. I love the color. Maple neck/fretboard.
Nice fret work. Frets don't dig into my thumb when I wrap a barre chord.

Seems incredibly solid...like a piece of lumber. So simple that not much could go wrong. Design has been perfected over the last 50 years. Back in the day I had other Fender stuff that was very durable. This probably will always be played in the den or at the cabin.

Limited Lifetime warranty. Pretty standard for a guitar in this price range. Dealer up-graded me to a molded case.

Playing 37 years. My first Tele. I am really pleased with this. I have a dreadnaught, classical, electric and a bass...all Guilds. Also an imported banjo and mandolin for messing around. I play the accoustics and elecdtric through a Princeton Chorus. The electrics through a Blues Jr. Both sound good yet different. I'm liking the simple sound of the Tele through the BJ more and more. Some effects too.

2003, USA Made, 22 Frets. Maple Neck, Alder Body, Standard Telecaster Pickup Configuration, Satin Laquer sunburst finish, Three saddle string through bridge, Schaller tuners. I figured that I would upgrade the bridge to American individual saddles, but after playing this for a while there doesn't seem to be a reason to.

A blues and tone machine. Y'know when you plug in a guitar and you get exactly the sound you were after? This Telecaster did that for me. I play through a Roland Blues Cube 30W and use a Crybaby Wah, Boss Distortion and Boss Super Chorus. Very quiet, especially for single coil PU's. Full range of Telecaster sounds and for a bolt-on neck it sustains and sustains and sustains. It tunes up effortlessly with my KORG LED tuner because it holds the note for so long. I've never had a guitar do that before.

The guitar was tuned down a step so I had to retune it when I got home. I thought it might really tweak out the intonation but it was spot on. The neck is very precisely finished, medium jumbo frets, rolled edges, perfect nut, it's really well fit into the neck pocket. I prefer rosewood fingerboards, but this maple neck is easy to move around on and not as tacky as most that I've played. It should only improve with age. The Alder isn't as good a choice as Ash for a sunburst, but if they used ash it wouldn've cost $200 more because of the extra steps to seal the wood. That being said the sunburst is perfectly applied and the wood grain is very clean for alder. The finish is satin lacquer and is quite thin. Even for the most careful handler you will mar or dent the finish at some point. Be careful of rubber guitar stands, they will react with the lacquer finish. 10 years from now the lacquer will have aged, chipped, checked and mellowed and really have a lot of character.

The guitar itself is a beast. The hardware is stamped steel, chrome plated, tuners are sealed Schallers. Totally dependable, stable and solid guitar and construction. The finish is the only potential drawback for some. I prefer lacquer and believe that a guitar should show its age. This one will. If you prefer a poly, waterproof slab to withstand a nuclear winter buy the Mexican reissues. If you want the better guitar step over to the US Highway 1 Telecaster.

Limited lifetime warranty, plus one year on pickups, wiring, etc. I can't imagine what is covered for the lifetime since everything will eventually wear on a guitar. Fender is hit and miss for service, but my local shop is great. This is the sixth guitar that I've bought from them and I will continue to return for more.

I've been playing poorly for 20 years. I own a 1987 Squier MIJ Strat (still my favorite guitar,) a 1998 Squier Affinity Telecaster (currently in pieces, getting new paint and a Bigsby Tremolo,)a 2000 DeArmond M75, a 2001 kit strat from Saga, a 2001 Johnson Tele, a 2003 Essex LP and this new Telecaster. I fiddle with and modify the cheap guitars and play the Squier and now the Tele for most of my stuff. I traded in my Squier Standard Telecaster to upgrade to this. I compared it to the Mexican Standard, Mexican 50's reissue, Japanese Paisley and American Series. For my purposes it was equal to or superior to them all. The American Series has a more durable finish, stainless six-saddle bridge and bi-flex truss rod, none of which are crucial to me. I love that this guitar will age quickly. It already looks incredible under stage lights, as if it's been there for 20 years soaking up sweat, smoke and the blues. It will take me some time to get used to playing a maple neck again but I need maple if it's really to be considered a Telecaster. Six-saddle bridge may be on the horizon but not yet. For me, this is the best value in the entire Telecaster line.

Brand new March of 2003 production HW1 Tele, US Production or assembly or something..it's not really clear. Rosewood board, traditional 3 saddle steel bridge, standard Tele PU configuration.
Late 50's Blond (read whitewash) style finish . Schaller style "Fender" diecast tuners..Includes GB, wrenches (most of which don't seem to fit much) and the usual paper work.

TWANG!!! that what it does and it does it well..if you are looking for a good Honky Tonk guitar with the action set low and slappin' the frets this is your baby..a dead on late 50's eary 60's twang box..mine has RW board and is still a treble buster..not recommended for those looking for that early "P-90" Broadcaster sound or for rock or blues use..a country guitar pure and simple. Sounds great thru a Deluxe 'Verb RI...OK thru my SF Princeton..like crap thru any SS amp.

Not bad...not good.. Better than the MIM Standard..not up to American Standard "Standards"...About the same as the high end Mexican stuff with out all the fluff and buff. OK PUs (wax potted lead). good pots, switch, bridge(steel)..crap saddles (will be up graded to brass...) good finish, nice neck..OK set up, but really needed to be shimmed so the saddles could be raised enough not to dig your hand.

This one should be around for awhile...

Lifetime warranty. hope I won't need it.

This is my second Tele..and not a bad deal for the $$..similar story to my Faded Finish Gibson SG... both of these fall down in the little details and have quicky factory set ups...a few more $$ and a bit of time turned both of thes guitars into really nice players. The 5-600 price point is one I'm comfortable with for a US electric..its been awhile since both of these makers has produced a domestic pro level multi PU guitar at that price point and they obviously need to get some of the bugs worked out. If you like to work on your own stuff these can be a lot of fun..if you want something awsome right out of the box you should look elsewhere....Think of these as a preassembled kit guitar of great quality... sorta like a entry level domestic Pick -Up truck... Solid basic quality that will get the job done..but with a bit of TLC....Look out!