Comments on: REVIEW: Fender Highway One Stratocaster (’06 Upgrade)

By: Stratocaster

Stratocaster — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:30:08 +0000

I have an 06 Highway one. I happen to like the matte non-glossy thin finish they have. Mine has began relicing already 8)

By: Powdered Toast Man

Powdered Toast Man — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:16:02 +0000

I want to say this was a well thought out and thorough review! I know you’ve gotten a ton of this so far, but I’m not sure how the neck was such an issue. I recently sold off an American Deluxe Jazz Bass. It has the exact same satin finish on the back of the neck as the Highway One Strat. I find it slick and fast! I should note that I own a 2007 Highway One Strat – except I have a maple fb. I’ve had mine for over a month now and I can’t put it down! When I was trying out Strats, I actually A/B’d it against a 2008 American Standard Strat. I played the Hwy 1 and thought it was ok. Then I plugged in the AS and I thought “wow, this one sounds better!” After I played it for a while I plugged the Hwy 1 back in. I realized that the AS didn’t actually sound better – just hotter – MUCH hotter. I ended up liking the Hwy 1 better and I feel and the nitro finish was the selling feature for me. Now that I’ve had it for awhile I have no regrets. Hwy 1 Strat is one of the best player guitars I’ve ever laid my hands on!

By: AJR

AJR — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:51:24 +0000

correction the highway one stratocaster sss will list
as of march 1st 2009 $1,230 you will pay $974.98 and worth
every penny and more.

By: AJR

AJR — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:58:15 +0000

the fender highway one strat is the best prodution strat
and just as good as some custom shop strats hands down.
its great to see there price increase from $750 to $900 and $950
thats what you will pay. the list price is $1,130 and its still
under priced. the highway one strat is one of the most versatile guitars
period out there today. its a brilliant old school strat that puts the new american standard to shame. i recomend the highway one to pro musician. this strat will become a classic and highly sought.

tone versatility/sustain/feel the highway one strat cant be beat!

By: Jaws

Jaws — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 02:23:41 +0000

Great review. I love these guitars. For me, Highway one are the best products fender makes. These are meant to be ancillary guitars for people who ordinarily play high gain guitars. The frets, electronics and price all target the product for a certain segment of the market. These are meant to be fenders for Ibanez and ESP players. I think most traditional/vintage purists will stay away. But I was amazed by the way they SHRED and absolutely drop bombs when playing rythem. I have a strat and am considering the tele as well. Oh and I chose one over a an EJ Strat and a US deluxe. But thats just me.

By: do you think that "fender stratocaster usa highway one" is a good electric guitar?? | Guitar Warehouse Blog

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:13:04 +0000

[...] http://www.electric-guitar-review.com/2007/06/05/review-fender-highway-one-stratocaster-06-upgrade/ [...]

By: matt

matt — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:04:38 +0000

I completely disagree with the review. I found the neck to be perfect. It’s Jumbo frets got me thinking that I’ve been missing the boat. Actually, the big frets made the guitar seem more machine like or more preciscion. AND, the bends are fantastic. I could do wide vibrato up and down the neck with equal tension. Very rare!
My ability is around the first Paul Gilbert instructional tape. I can do all the stuff he shows you, although I can’t do his very advanced string skipping stuff. So I can play decently. So take my advice everyone!
I have no idea what it sounds like! I did not try it through an amp. So there!

By: Nelson

Nelson — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 01:44:19 +0000

Wow, I cant believe the review I just read about the neck on the HW1. I never really liked strats until I played my friends HW1. Ive always thought the necks were narrow and thin like a twig. I have always played Gibson Les Paul’s so i love a thick chunky neck you can hit homeruns with. When I picked up his strat, it felt better than any other neck Ive ever played on. I had to go out and buy one after I played his. It is now my favorite guitar to play. Its a 3-tone sunburst that I upgraded to mint green pickguard, Lindy Fralin Blues Specials, 500k pots to open it up wide, and I locked the bridge. This guitar is sick as heck now. I am now trying to find someone who is selling one of these necks so i can build another strat. Best Strat ever!

By: Sonny

Sonny — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 23:59:36 +0000

It seems the very things you dislike about this guitar I love… The C neck, the 91/2 radius, the jumbo frets, lightweight body, the finish… This guitar is like it was custom made for me. The only changes I have made are DiMarzio Area PU’s and Graph Tech saddles, nut, saddles and trees. I Love the Fender Hwy Ones…

By: AJ

AJ — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 01:45:03 +0000

i have the highway one upgrade 2007 this strat is simply one of the best strats out today. vintage/modern tones this strat does it all and some.
tone/feel/playability the highway one upgrade walks all over the american standards past and the new 2008 american standards. the highway one is simply superior over the american standards. i have been playing strats a long time and i’ll tell ya the highway one upgrade strat is just a great/awesome all around strat.

By: Sneaky Peter Pocket Pants

Sneaky Peter Pocket Pants — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:00:54 +0000

I have the highway one tele (same excact neck) and the neck is one of hte best I ever had the pleasure to play with.

By: SeaFoamStrat

SeaFoamStrat — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 17:11:22 +0000

I found this review to be dead on. I actually bought a LTD edition of the Highway One which included Custom Shop 69 pickups and Surf Green nitro finish. I was madly in love with the sound and the look of this guitar but after months of trying to get used to the neck I finally had to upgrade the neck. The neck was giving me heavy fret buzz even after a pro set up and the frets seemed to big. Simply put it was just uncomfortable. I purchased a American Deluxe neck (Ebay) and the difference was like night and day. I also recommend buying Fender/Schaller locking tuners which are amazingly simple to install without a tech and cost only $70 dollars. The Highway One has Ping tuners and they are not high quality. For those of you who are considering buying a Highway One Stratocaster I strongly recommend it, as long as you keep in mind that you may need a neck upgrade. Getting the strat of your dreams means be patient and being willing to upgrade and customize. But it’s worth it!

By: Peter Stricker

Peter Stricker — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 00:33:16 +0000

Excellent series going on here, good comments Cary et. al. I dont know what it was, pure luck, global warming effect, but GC here in Seattle had a few HW1s on sale for $366!!??. This was Nov 07. I bought one “Honey Blond”, only rosewood neck was available. There was a small gap at the back plate so the sales person installed new pearloid front and back no charge??!! then he did a set-up for free??!!and sent me home with a gig bag??!! I went back the next day to buy another one but chose to keep my wife instead.

I like the neck and jumbo frets. For me it’s easier to finger chords as they are less nimble than 30 years ago. I put on some 10′s and can really crank on those jumbos, as noted previously, Jeff Beck said he likes a little struggle from his axe, brings out that raw soul when playing blues.

As for the PU’s, they are vintage enough for me, they ring like bells when clean and you can even get close to metal with these distortion friendly little guys. I was thinking of replaceing them with Texas Specials, but decided that that these “hot Alinco 3′s” are really great. This is a Strat for the 21st century, I respect you purists out there, I learned to play back in the 60′s too. Take this gitar for what it is, which is versatile, fresh, a little edgy and just a damned killer for the blues!

I named my axe “Stone”. after Sharon, with the honey blonde!!! She has an IQ of 172, just like this HW1. For you youngsters, you can get away with spending more for a guitair if you name it after your wife. Thats good for one axe, then name the second one after the place you first fell in love.
Worked for me anyway.

By: JET III

JET III — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:17:57 +0000

I bought one of the very last 2006 Diamond Anniversay Highway One Stratocasters at GC in Honey Blonde (pre-upgrade model with a white pickguard and the Greasebucket circuit) just as the supposed upgrade model went into effect). I paid only $629.00 for it brand new. The upgrade model was available at the time for $749.00, but I much preferred the smaller vintage style headstock to the larger clumsy late 60′s/70′s style. My guitar is wonderful and to me is actually better sounding and feeling than the upgrade. The paint is semi-transparent thin skin lacquer and is glossy unlike many of the newer HW1′s. You can see the grain of the wood beneath as well. Maybe it’s me, but I can’t stand the look of most of the HW1′s colors. The Honey blonde reminds me of a 1969 or older Strat as colors tended to change over time and I also love the look of a rosewood fretboard as they seem much classier to me than maple on this model of guitar. I wasn’t worried about the pickup upgrade in the newer version as it would have cost me another $125.00 at that time, I used some of the extra cash to buy a Fender soft deluxe gig bag for $39.00 and a nice leather strap for $25. I got the Greasebucket circuit in this 2006 last of the pre-upgrade models and that was fine by me. The Custom Shop Fender Strat Pro from 2006 also had this same circuit, so I figured it had to be good. I did change a few things though, I removed the backplate and saved it (open springs I feel = more sustain), also removed and saved them aside (new) were the Alnico II pickups that came stock – the pickups now are the Fender Custom 69′s for $158.00 on Ebay and are hand signed by the famous Abagail Ybarra who has been in Fender pickup winding department since the days of Jimi Hendrix and even wound pickups for him as well. I removed the HW1 neck plate with the two little tiny stickers. It was removed new and stored, should I ever decide to sell the guitar, but this is a player not a saver. The new plate says Fender Corona CA like on American Strats from the late 90′s etc. I didn’t much like the blank neck plate anyway. I actually wanted one with Jimi Hendrix Logo on it from a Fender 1997 Hendrix Strat but they were going for almost several hundred on Ebay, so I went with the Fender American Standard Plate for around $12.00. I got a Roadrunner Tweed rectangular hard case with the red interior for $50.00 on sale at GC instead of a $139.00 Fender one. I saved all the case candy (tags etc.) though and bought a full set of the 2006 Diamond Anniversay picks to save for the future as well.

By: Rick

Rick — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 21:23:07 +0000

Howdy,

First off, great series of articles on the search for the perfect strat. I have found this to be extremely informative as I am still fairly inexperienced in what differentiates on strat from another. So a sincere kudos in your efforts.

I noticed that the thread is kind of stale, but I was wondering if any of you fine gents could explain why the price of the HWY1 is a little more now than previously mentioned in some of these posts. I like the guitar enough to really want to buy one (don’t worry Cary, I went and played one at the store first), but if I can find one for less than $750.00 I would be pretty pleased. Are retailers just raising the price for the Christmas season? And, if so, should I just wait for Guitar Center to have another one of their “Crazy-Sale-of-the-Season-for-Seemingly-No-Reason!” sales?