I own a Highway 1 Texas Tele and love it. The nitro finish wasn't a particular selling point for me. The big determiner was the bang for the buck of the Highway 1 series. Dang Dudes an American Fender for cheap!
Ain't no downside baby.

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"Life is like eating jalapenos. What you do today may burn your arse tomorrow"

It just may be the writing was on the wall 7 months ago. Sales numbers dictate these decisions and then they come about slowly do to stock reasons . Seems most times people start noticing these things well ahead of time but confirmation is not made for saless reasons. We now may be seeing that, we will see.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Given the highway1's low price i cant see it leaving the catalogue soon. The low priced guitars run forever. The only exception i can think of is the california series. Its new low prices could be a clearout to make way for another upgraded version.

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No no and no

That could be nik its a good deal at the present price and well worth it compaired to 900.00 and the Roadworns at 950.00. Seems even the MIM Stds. are down 50.00 but its to bad they did not drop to 450.00 as ad price.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

hey nik my friend. the highway one LIST - $1,130
AND RETAIL $900 TO $930 (with no case) i wouldnt call
that low priced you could add another $125 + to that
price if they did come with cases. anyways i beleve
its the end of the road for this brilliant strat. and i dont
think its because of low sale's like a few others here i
beleve its giving there featured strat the american standard
to much a run for the money and one has to go and its not
going to be there featured one. in my opinion if this is the case
the american standard should go. theres no way in hell the american standard even comes close to producing the tones the highway one sss
produces. in my own opinion the highway one is the real deal!

Dunno mate. Its never a good idea to drop something from the range that is a good seller. Its just not good business sense. I dont believe Fender have any loyalty to the american standard above everything else, its not a authentic vintage correct guitar after all. From a financial point of view fender would want us all buying customshop, so they can make the most money.

I read your post on the other thread where the guy hinted that it could be going away. I'd look at that as a sales pitch to encourage you to go buy another. Something fender want you to do every hour of every day. I also believe the temporary price is a sales pitch to encourage purchases in a time when people just are not buying like they used to.

I in all reality cant see the highway1 going from the product range. The 70's strat has gone, theres no other big headstock model and they need to cater for that part of the market. Its been a good seller, theres no reason it wont sell well in the future too.

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No no and no

They still make the Classic Series Strats and the American Vintage Series with the big headstock don't they? I can picture a Roadworn 70's even coming into the mix, at least thats what I would do and give another option there.

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

CV your 100% correct mate. Which was the 70's style strat they took off the product list a couple of months back?
Now a 70's roadworn would be the icing on the cake wouldnt it. 70's style guitars are obviously big sellers.

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No no and no

Powerhouse?

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The blues ain't nothin but a good man feelin bad.

Always/2004 i think all the less than $1500 guitars are kind of the lower priced strats. I kind of think the Am. Std. will be the one line they don't get rid of. Whether or not it stands up to the mark, it is kind of considered the spiritual descendant of the original Strat. It is kind of considered the base model.

I agree they shouldn't drop the HW1, it fills a unique niche in their product line. It may actually be the absolute best value in their entire line, best bang for your buck. I think the price drop may be a bit of an experiment, to see if a slight drop in price will stimulate sales. If a bunch move, I think we'll see a slight price roll back, probably not all the way, but a bit lower.

I would worry about them dropping it to make room for a 70's road worn though.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

nik is what you are saying is the road worn is the
replacement fof the HWYONE? OR could be or i'm
just totaly wrong.

it realy doesnt matter i have mine and more than just one.

I need to track one down in Daphne blue.

I have an older Am Std. and I don't like the new ones close to as much.

The only thing I don't like on the HW1's, and the reason I haven't gotten one yet, is I don't like the jumbo frets. i am sure i just need to play on em to get used to em, and if I don't,editted in here, cus if I left the 'T' at the end of don't with nothing between here and the word 'IT' the filter combines em and thinks I am using a dirty word, it's not like I haven't ever refretted a guitar before.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

i have a 2007 Daphne blue. the Daphne color was discontinued
back in january 2008. good luck finding one.

I didnt mean the roadworn should replace the highway one. I meant that a 70's style roadworn would be a good idea given the popularity of 70's guitars. Even a roadworn tele custom to even the strat to tele balance too.

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No no and no