get the H1

its an american made instrument

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Paddle faster! I hear banjo music!

Atypical or typical..from everthing I read on these post everyone suggests trying out as many guitars as possible because some are far superior to the others. What does this say about fenders mass production...It says inconsistency and lack of any quality control..No guitar should have left the factory like mine did but I'll bet for every outstanding strat theres 20 so-so stratsand 5 horrible ones...I'm just lookin at Fender as another Greedy Corporation that puts profits above product and sacrafices steps like better quality controlto control internal cocts....Folks it's all about profit margins in Corporate America and these companies will do anything to increase them including putting out an overpriced (they had to cut it..once so far) and now offer rebates to reatracr customers that thay alienate by puttung out a sub par peoduct. I think with Fender it's getting harder and harder to find a really good strat when this is a day and age (and especially at this price point) where it should be easier and easier..I think I'll try one more time and then I'm going to somebody who sells Reverends and get a JS390...Hell, I may go there now..

I have had teh Deluxe Players Strat and a few other high end MIM Couple weeks ago I got a Highway One and it is now my main guitar.
Good Luck

I have my highway one strat for two years now, and I like it over my american standard, vg strat and american deluxe strat. I just love how it has taken a character within two years of playing it practically 24/7. It has worn nicely and the satin nitro finish has worn off in certain areas making it look older than it is. I'm sure if I had a maple fingerboard, the fingerboard would be showing bare wood by now with the amount of play I put it through. I need to redress the frets now as they are showing heavy wear. The only mod I did to the highway one is replacing the hot pickups for custom shop 69s. Now, this guitar sparkles like vintage strat. Now they are $699 at GC, and I'm thinking of getting another one, but can't decide on a honeyblond with maple fingerboard or a wine red.

My sloppy highway one demo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGu_i57Ifj4

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http://www.youtube.com/user/gmlasam

I compared the MIM and the Highway side by side. The MIM is a great Stratocaster buy nothing felt like the Highway did, it is a fantastic guitar and a finely crafted instrument.

I don't know what amps people are using who are changing the pups, Solid State amps maybe? I have a Fender valve amp and the stock pups on the '09 model are fantastic!

I have been playing a '04 Highway through the same amp for the last three months and the '09 has greater sound quality and is a far superior instrument than the MIM or the '04 model.

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Fender Highway One HSS Stratocaster '09
Modified Fender Champ600
Honer Special20 Harmonica

Strat0Blues,

I like the stock hot alnico3 pickups that came with the highway one very much, but after hearing and playing my friend's highway one with the CS69 pickups, I was hooked on the sound. It is not a hot pickup like the stock alnico3, but CS69's tone is broader, more bottom end with out sounding farty and brilliant high end without sounding thin and shrill. I don't regret changing the pickups.

I play through mostly tube amps and at times play through a Vox Valvetronix VT30 digital modeling amp ( I guess this amp can be considered solidstate though it uses a tube for the power section).

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http://www.youtube.com/user/gmlasam

Thanks to all your replies but for $550dollars you can get a Reverend solid Korina wood body, sunburstfinnish maaple fretboard and three P-90 Reverend style pickups with Bass contour rooloff, locking Tuners and Designed and Built for Joe Naylor in Korea. It plays like butter and I couldn't be happier. It sounds fantastic. Doe sthings I only greamed about on a strat and It's a hundred dollars less and not mass produced..Waranty Famous and the best kept secret in the USA guitar world. These guitars are an awsome value for the money and are perfectly set up and intonated right out of the box...Small Buisenss America wins one. Corporate America losses a customer for life to better quality and consistency.. I am not alone in being fed up with badly finnished guitars and their price and what else is available and in my opinion this is a much better guitar. You should try one

Hi. My name's Pol. J. I play a Red Mex Strat I have done for about 2 years, I purchased it new from a guitar shop.
I think that's important, to support shops rather than buy online, and I also got a great deal, I was allowed the time to play the Instrument before buying that's important as well, since I've owned it I've uprated the strings to 10 gauge and cleaned the fret's up a couple of times.
The only problem I had was the E and A string's snapping at the bridge end when it was new, to overcome this I re- adjusted the bridge, standard stuff really, and I hammer the beast every time I play it, I have a heavy rhythm style, and I dont take any crap when I play. Ha Ha.
It stays in tune, sounds great, does what it says on the tin, wicked. Clean channel Marshall Valve Amp sounds like a bell ringing, like you I'm not into distortion, I'm into letting people hear you play man.
Pol. J. Cornwall Great Britain.

I suppose I'm in the minority here but I think the 2009 MIM's are excellent and a big improvement over previous years.

My new MIM is absolutely perfect, has excellent tone and fret work and keeps tune after long sessions. Now I did play it before I bought it and the small dealer I bought it from did a set up on it so I guess the moral is it's best to play the guitar before you buy it - unless it's such a steal that you take a flier on it.

Otherwise, the new MIM's, which don't have Made in Mexico on the front of the headstock but on back, went back to the old contour body and seem to be an excellent value.

If you can play both models, play several of each models. I love my Highway 1 Stratocaster. In my opinion after playing several of each model, it was the Highway 1 Stratocaster that won me over. I love the oversized headstock, jumbo frets and the HOT alnico 3 pickups. Aside from the tunners that came with mine, it is a great guitar. There is also an HSS for even harder sounds.

In the end some people love the MIM Standard while others are happy with the Highway 1. Let us know (and post pics) which one you decide on.

RK

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

Excellent answer rekeisher - well said.

I love my new Highway One! I played.. and played.. and played in the guitar shop for hours.... It was a real toss up between the highway one and an American Deluxe (used)... but the nitro finish, sound and feel of the HWY1 really just spoke to me... Love the Honey Blond finish also

Congrats on your new guitar, looks real nice. I know how you feel, I played mine in the shop for a couple hours before I bought my Highway 1. I still have a hard time putting it down even 9 1/2 months later.
RK

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RK

2007 Fender Highway 1
2012 American Deluxe
2015 MIM Dave Murray HHH
2010 Fender Blacktop
1987 Fender Avalon Acoustic
2012 Marshall DSL 15 watt head

makinglemonade orginally wrote:


Yeah one of the local stores by me got a few reverends in, I gave em all a test drive and yep they are pretty sweet for the price (Tried a Flying V repro and something else I thinks a tele repro but not sure).
But Yeah, I wouldn't consider Fender to be classified in the same department as Wal-Mart in terms of corporate America, I think they learned from the CBS era what happens when you start to slack off on quality. To be honest you're one of the very few I've known who got a strat that probably would have failed the quality check but somehow made it through. I asked the owner of the Fender dealer near me how the guitars have been and he gave me the count: 525 were right on, 1 got damaged during shipping and was sent back. Anyways don't let that one turn you away for life, you never know what you may come across. For now though, you got a guitar that sounds great, plays great, and feels great, all that matters ^^

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I traded my car in for a microphone.

I checked with one of the largest Fender Dealers in Upstate NY they sell well over 1,000 strats a year and I was told that at least 30% of all incoming strats, American, highway One and especially the MIM had serious issues with quality. The guitar inspections by Fender are a joke. I would rather buy from a smaller dealer..aka Reverend where quality control is not just done on every guitar, it's done so well it's legendary. My new JS390 stomps all over that Mexican right out of the box and was one of the best set-up guitars I have ever played and I've been playing for over 40 years. Mass production leads to lots of problems and thats why Fenders are now my LEAST favorite guitar. After playing a Reverend I will NEVER buy another Fender. These Reverends beat the snot out of the strats. My JS390 sounds like a strat on steroids. Only it;s a much better guitar. Solid Korina, not poplar...Locking tuners (Std) beautiful sunburst finnish (no extra charge) and the fretwork and maple board are as smooth as glass. All for $550..I will NEVER buy another Fender when I can get twice the guitar for a lot less money. Fender is the most overpriced, poorly made guitar in America. It sells on name alone because when it comes to quality...Fender doesn't have any..IMO