« Ouuu, nitro »

The Fender Highway One Strat was introduced a number of years ago as a lower priced counterpart to the famed American Standard version. It features many of the same features, but the most notable difference is a thinner nitro lacquer finish that will age quicker and give your guitar a more relic'd appearance, as well as improve the tone because of the minimal coats of finish. Otherwise, it features an alder body, a maple neck with 22 frets, a CBS style headstock, a Fender bridge and tuners, and 3 alnico magnet pickups with the Fender Greasebucket tone circuit living inside. Here's the full list of specs:

Body Alder
Neck Maple, Modern C Shape,
(Satin Urethane Finish)
Fingerboard Rosewood (p/n 011-1160) or Maple (p/n 011-1162), 9.5 Radius (241 mm)
No. of Frets 22 Jumbo Frets
Pickups 3 Hot Single-Coil Strat Pickups with Alnico 3 Magnets and Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity Middle Pickup
Controls Master Volume,
Tone 1. (Neck Pickup), Greasebucket Tone Circuit, (Rolls Off Highs without Adding Bass)
Tone 2. (Bridge Pickup), Greasebucket Tone Circuit, (Rolls Off Highs without Adding Bass)
Pickup Switching 5-Position Blade:
Position 1. Bridge Pickup
Position 2. Bridge and Middle Pickup
Position 3. Middle Pickup
Position 4. Middle and Neck Pickup
Position 5. Neck Pickup
Bridge Vintage Style Synchronized Tremolo
Machine Heads Fender/Ping Standard Cast/Sealed Tuning Machines
Hardware Chrome
Pickguard 3-Ply Parchment
Scale Length 25.5 (648 mm)
Width at Nut 1.6875 (43 mm)
Unique Features Satin Nitrocellulose Lacquer Body Finish,
Parchment Plastic Parts,
Large 70s Style Headstock Shape,
Large 70s Style Headstock Logo,
Original Body Shape,
Original Contour Body Decal on Headstock,
H/S/S Pickup Routing,
Reverse Wound/Reverse Polarity Middle Pickup
Accessories Deluxe Gig Bag

UTILIZATION

The design of this guitar feels good overall. It feels a bit slicker and I'm sure it's a bit lighter because of the thin and slippery paint job. It might not be for everyone, and to my credit I generally prefer a gloss finish, but for those who really want the aged or "pure" thing, you can't go wrong here. This guitar is a true Strat in every other sense... I can only say so much before I start repeating the same mantra. The Highway One is well designed and feels like a Strat when you pick it up... always a good sign!

Getting a good sound out of this guitar really isn't hard... I love the tone of Strats and this one is no exception. The nitro finish does make things a little bit different, but the difference is only really noticeable if I'm looking for it. The alnico pickups in this guitar are a bit hotter than most Strat pickups, but that's not a detriment to the pure tone that the guitar should and does deliver.

SOUNDS

I've tried this guitar through various different amps, most notably Fender and Mesa Boogie, as those are my preferences when I want to hear how a guitar sounds and hear it sound GOOD. This guitar sounded better overdriven than clean to my ears, but that might have just been that particular one. That isn't to say that the clean tones were bad... I just found them to be a little bit too overbearing at times... the certain understated quality that I look for in a Strat's clean tone wasn't quite there as much with this one. I'm sure it has to do with the hotter pickups in there, which is fine, as many players are using higher gain rigs with Strats nowadays anyway. The cleans were fairly gutsy and heavy sounding, breaking up the amp's preamp quite low on the gain scale. Definitely an excellent choice for blues or certain mellow/lite rock.

The drive tones were certainly a sound to behold! To say I had fun playing Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" on this guitar was an understatement. When hit with gain, this guitar comes alive. Harmonics just bloom from everywhere and it just sounds thick and righteous overall. When hit with a dash of reverb and applied to a more British amplifier, it was perfect for 80s era Yngwie.

OVERALL OPINION

All in all I feel that the Fender Highway One is a great Strat. For the $700 or so you can find them for new, it's a sheer bargain. Fender has superseded this model with the new American Special, and though I find that guitar to be superior for an all rounder... it doesn't quite have the viscous and raunchy overdriven persona of the Highway One. Definitely worth checking out!