Fender Highway One review

[Alexi]

I've been looking around at this site for a while and I'm pretty hooked now. Right now I have a mexican strat and I'm thinking of upgrading to a Highway One. I remember in some review Dan Agosto said he used a Highway One strat as his main gigging axe so I was wondering if maybe you guys could do a review of it in the gearwire labs.

[two4motion]

I'll second that request. I've been looking at getting an American Strat and I'm very interested in hearing experienced owners of these share their input on them.

I was looking at the American Deluxe until the guy at my local shop pointed me towards the Highway One as another possibility.

[dagosto]

They are very nice guitars for the price. I wasn't entirely happy with the pickups in mine so I changed them. The stocks were a little tinny. The new singles are from a 50's reissue and the humbucker is a DiMarzio super distortion. I play it in this video, this was before I changed the singles:

http://www.gearwire.com/media/hbe-ufo-stompbox.mov

I have not played any of the new ones though. They were updated with different pickups and a different finish chemical in 2006. We'll see if we can't get one of the new ones in for a video.

[two4motion]

Cool review, very cool pedal. Thanks for pointing that out, for some reason, I didn't look at the review, even though you've had it up almost a month now.

They were updated with different pickups and a different finish chemical in 2006.

Yeah, when I was at my local shop the other day I was admiring the "thin satin nitrocellulose finish." As for the pick ups (Alnico III's), I saw that on Fender's Highway One website, where they have a pretty good informative video about all the changes they've made to the newer Highway Ones. However, I still need to figure out if it's worth saving a little more for either an American Standard or an American Deluxe.

Basically, I'm looking for something to use in place of my Les Paul (just for more versatility), but I'm afraid I'm going to miss having humbuckers, so I may either bring both guitars or go for an HSS either as a American Standard, American Deluxe, or a Highway One (I'm repeating myself). I guess it just depends on which sounds/plays better, and what I'm willing to pay. I also can't decide between a maple or rosewood fretboard... decisions, decisions. Either way, it's going to be several months of saving before I can afford to buy one anyway.