Tuners work well, too, and of course the Highway One sports a ’70s style oversized headstock––a feature you may love or hate, though I could personally go either way. The Highway One’s tremolo worked as advertised, and while I’m not a huge user of this feature I did find the whole thing to stay in tune quite nicely even after judicious use. While I didn’t mess around with this feature a whole lot during my testing (that’s just the kind of player I am… I tend to dial in a nice tone and then stay put,) I can definitely see its uses, and it makes for a great extra touch.
#Fender highway one stratocaster 2002 plus#
I also really liked the electronics in the Highway One Strat, though once again, this really comes down to personal preference, and what exactly you want to do with your guitar.įor instance, while the hot Alnico 3 single-coils absolutely pop, and they sound great pushing a tube-amp or pumped through a nice high-gain distortion pedal, I found that clean tones lacked the warmth of a vintage-style single-coil––not a big deal for someone who wants to push their Strat into the heavy shred zone, but a possible deal breaker for those who prefer that old-school Stratocaster squawk.Īnother plus is Fender’s Greasebucket Tone Circuit, which modifies the traditional Strat wiring by providing tone control for the bridge pickup instead of the middle, and helps to ease back on the high-end without adding weighty low-end bass into the mix. Of course, that delicate finish tends to scratch easily, but the upside is that you get an instrument that should age beautifully–– kind of like a nice bottle of wine. In my experience people who’ve never played a Strat with a true nitrocellulose finish tend to underestimate its effect on tone and sustain, but to my ears a nitro-finished guitar sounds richer, with more sonic subtleties, and with just a little more oomph. Nice, nice finish… OK, it’s not for everyone, and it certainly brings a unique look to the Highway One, but if you’re at all enamored of a satin finish, and if you’ve been looking to get into a guitar that doesn’t look like it’s been dipped in a vat of gooey varnish, well, this one’s a no-brainer. The guitar’s Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish (no poly here!) comes in Honey Blonde (shown,) Flat Black, Wine Transparent, Daphne Blue, and 3-Color Sunburst. H/S/H pickup routing and a deluxe gig bag.3-ply parchment pickguard, fat ‘70s-style headstock, and original body shape.Vintage style synchronized tremolo and Fender/Ping Standard tuners.Master volume knob and 5-way pickup switching.Greasebucket Tone Circuit on bridge & neck pickups.A trio of Hot singlecoil Strat pickups w/Alnico 3 magnets.Rosewood or Maple fretboard w/22 jumbo frets (9.5” radius).
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While the Highway One Stratocaster will undoubtedly be a perfect fit for many guitar players, especially those prone to high-gain mayhem (these pickups sounds phenomenal with a little overdrive,) I’m not afraid to tell you that the three guitars I played for this review weren’t particularly comfortable in the neck department. The guitar does sport some nice amenities––including a set of suped-up “hot” singlecoil pickups (reverse wound/reverse polarity in the middle position,) a satin nitro lacquer finish, and Fender’s Greasebucket Tone Circuit––though to my mind there are some downsides to the design as well. If you buy - you will no be disappointed.Introduced in July of 2006, the upgraded Highway One Stratocaster is Fender’s least expensive American Made Strat, and as such has been highly touted as the obvious answer for those guitar players longing for American Made quality at a reasonable price.
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All in all, I found (when I went to see one in a shop) the new version of this looked too blingy for my taste which made me hesitate in buying one however, but the bullet and bought this used version and it looks so so amazing. The body was "Vintage Black) which is a matt, flat or dull black however, on the back of the neck the dullness had worn down and it had a very dull shine to it which looks absolutely beautiful and aged. The gold hardware was no longer a blingy yellow gold, it had aged or something and was still gold but far less yellow and believe me, it looks amazing in comparison to a new version. As for the fact it was preowned - the whole guitar was immaculate but there were 2 things you could identify that made it known it wasn't new and both of them made me EXTREMELY happy I bought a 10 y/o preoweed. Fantastic price - the guitar itself doesn't need to be reviewed, I've recently seen players such as Andy James using this guitar all the way to Teloch from Mayhem (not this style of guitar - this exact model) so the guitar, speaks for itself.