I have been a long time player of Gibson guitars (and others) and I have built several tune-o-matic type guitars. I have a couple floyd equiped Gibson's but I haven't owned a Fender since the early 80's.

I just purchased a new Highway One Strat SSS which will be delivered soon. I wanted the 3-tone bust so I have to wait a bit. I have played several over the last couple of years, but none of the local stores carry many Fenders now becuase the economy has killed them. What do I need to know?

I see that a lot of people add extra springs and/or adjust the bridge to be flush. Is this the best way? What about locking tuners? Why 6 point vs. 2 point temelo? Are these pickups going to give me vintage sounds using the volume knob?

I am sure I can set this guitar setup, but ....

I want your knowledge and I want it now!

I own a 2009 Highway One, in Sunburst/Maple. They're loaded with Hot Alnico III pups. Not the usual strat tone you'll find with Alnicos V. But since you're a Gibson lover, you'll like the little more of a dark tone. In fact if you've bought a regular Alnico V I bet you would find it to thin for your taste. Those pickups handle overdrive/distortion very well indeed. And when I want that stratty bell like tone, I keep the tone up on 10 and use the volume to find the spot. The Hot Alnico III were made for rock tones, not for regular blues anyway.
Again, since you are coming from the Les Paul world, I recommend you put additional more 2 springs on the back and set the bridge flush to the body, and dont bother about the tremolo arm, just keep it off. You lived until today without a tremolo anyways. It takes a little time and intimacy with the tremolo system to get it setup perfectly well. If you leave the tremolo floating the regular way, but doesnt know how to use it or how to set it up, you'll fall into tunning problems very quick. The best stable tunning setup is for the tremolo flush. And thats how Eric Clapton likes it too.
Locking tuners will help a lot too in the tunning issues. If you decide to use the tremolo flush to the body, I think there's no reason for locking tuners now. I use my tremolo floating cause I learned to live strat that way, so Schaller Locking Tunners were a must for me. With the bridge decked you wont find any difference from the stock tunners for locking ones, except for that will be easier to change strings.
I find 6 point trem harder to use, when 2 point I find very more light on the hand. But the effect is pretty much the same and its a matter of taste, most known guitarrists like the vintage 6 point.
Play that strat a heck out of it, and if you find that you dont like the rocky tone of the Hot Alnico's III, and bought the strat to get the vintage quacky tones, go look for Custom Shop Pickups, as 69' for low output, Fat50 for a bit more, and Texas Special for gritty blues tones!

Here's my Highway One, on the sunset light:



Enjoy yours mate!

Welcome to the Forum,first of all whether you want the bridge flush or floating is purely a personal preference.I prefer to have the bridge flush as there are fewer tuning problems especially if you break a string midsong and have to keep playing as often a floating bridge will go out of tune in a case like that.The fewer the springs the less the resistance to using the vibrato arm and once again that's purely subjective.I have found that 3 is plenty but there's a bit of a balancing act involved in getting the screws in the spring claw adjusted to the right depth.
If you don't intend to pull up on your vibrato and only use the dive function having the bridge flush would certainly be your best bet.Fender does include a booklet on basic setup with the guitar however I would recommend a pro set up for the first time.As for 2 or 6 point bridge I prefer the vintage 6 point but that's only because what I've become used to over the years and many others prefer the 2 point as they find it easier to balance and maintain but then again it's just a matter of taste.Enjoy your new baby-I'm sure you will.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

That is exactly the model I bought. Thanks for the input. I think I may have read a post about your trem "setup" experience.

Yes you've might have. From there you can have a preview on how it has been a hard time for me keeping my tremolo into its peaces. But everyday I learn a new thing here at the Lounge. Nowadays I can setup my trem with my eyes closed. But Im a bit of perfectionist on everything I do, and that day I wanted my tremolo to be perfectly setup as if it was made from Custom Shop.

I vote for keeping the 3 stock tremolo springs and set it up to float per Fender's setup guide that can be found under the Support section at the top of this page. A well set up Strat will stay in tune just fine and are easier to maintain than your Floyd Rose equipped Gibsons.

Actually, here is the secret to setting up Strat's tremolo so it cna be used musically instead of just wanking away on the wang bar: http://www.thegearpage.net/board/showth ... p?t=768640 (sorry if it's not kosher to link to other forums here), but the Carl Verheyen's tremolo set up works great. I scoffed at it at first. Check out the comments. I tried it a month ago and my Strat came alive and it was instant Jeff Beck tremolo tricks. I'm never decking a Strat bridge ever again. If you like the sound and feel of a decked trem then more power to ya!



Don't worry about 2-point vs 6 screw bridges or any of that nonsense. It's personal preference only, like arguing over your favorite color. Find what sounds good to YOU and rock on! There is no "best way". If there was, then we would all be playing the same song on the same guitar through the same amp....yawn. As mentioned above, the stock pickups are a little too hot for traditional vintage sounds. Using the volume knod will do nothing to make a pickup sound vintage.



A little demanding are we??? Yes sir, right away your highness.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

I am different from the norm here ..I prefer to float my tremolo..Some one said to block the tremolo since you haven't been using one for such a long time..
I disagree with this..It would be like buying a new car with a new function and before giving it a test drive saying take that new feature off..How would you know if you liked it or not?
You may find the tremolo opens you to a new style or some new creativity..As far as if you position it flush or not there is some major benefit to having it flush.If you break a string while playing live it wont throw the rest of the guitar out of tune ..Along with the fact it is easier to set up with it flush..
I myself prefer it floating because i do the Jeff Beck thing of playing notes while pulling up on the tremolo prior to picking .I also do the pull up thing with the tremolo arm so having it flush wouldn't work for me..If i break a string i grab another guitar anyway ..So i don't worry about breaking strings..
I personally also prefer the vintage tremolo that is on the Highway one versus the blocks on a Standard..As my guitar hero Robin Trower says the 6 point vintage tremolo is just the way a Strat is suppose to be..
The tuners on a highway one are decent and do hold tune well there not junk..Once again it is a matter of taste though..I prefer the vintage split tuners to just about anything .So that is my taste you may prefer something else..
The pickups IMHO are the weak point for me on a Highway one..I like the Highway one overall but i don't like the pickups..There based more for playing Rock than what i prefer in pickups..After about a month i put Texas Specials in mine..I believe they where Alinco's to begin with.Mine was also a HSS so i stuck a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gate in the bridge.
These were the only mod i did to the guitar and it served me well for several years as one of my main stage axes..It now belongs to my bandmate and it has become his number one stage guitar..So it has held up to ten years of touring playing out and countless of hours of play..So i can't think of much to complain about when it comes to the Highway one.

The pickup were the main concern I had. I would have prefered a lower output vintage set, but the rest of the guitar is pretty much what I wanted. I consider the Classic 70's version but was a little concerned with the radius of the board and the size of the frets. My must haves were 70's headstock, maple neck, and no 7.25 radius.

Obviously the 70's headstock preferrence narrowed the search quickly. I will play it and see if it fills the need as is. If not I will be looking for replacement pickups.

Thanks for the information on the setup. I do have Floyds so I can live with or without the trem but I will either go with floating or down only.

BTW there's one bit of important advice that I forgot to mention and that is..Never!!! Never!!!! put the guitar in the case with the vibrato arm screwed in,to do so is inviting a very costly repair as the arm can break off inside the block of the tailpiece and you'd have to replace it and the arm-not cheap.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Highway One's. My personal weakness...I own 8 of them!
I LOVE the guitars.....they're well made and toneful.
I did have HUGE issues with the stock pickups.
I , personally, found them to be weak, shrill, and noisy.
(I know....60 cycle hum...blah, blah ,blah.............it's 2011...there IS a cure for that!)
And being a former GIBSON lover....you may find them to be a bit weak also!
My current favorite NOISELESS pickup(s) are the DiMarzio Area series along with the new INJECTOR pickup. You will get all the necessary/required Strat sounds and sacrifice NOTHING!
Problem solved....
Next......(And believe me....after playing for 25+ years....I KNOW how to string an instrument!!)....the god-awful PING tuners!! I hate them! I use somewhat heavier strings (.010-.052's) and bend quite a lot; the PING's did not stay in tune I replaced ALL of them with Fender/Schaller locking tuners........MASSIVE improvement!
Add to that the addition of Graph Tech String Saver Saddles on all of them....
Springs...I'm a 5 spring player....non floating....flat to the body.....minimal tremolo use.....NO dive bombing here!!
After all smoke has cleared.........My Highways play and sound amazing! They are like no other 'off the shelf' instrument.

A little biased...........maybe...............

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

3 Springs and floating bridge for preference here. I like my trem vibrato moving above and below the target note - sounds more natural.

Thats how Leo Fender and his guys designed it to be used, and who am I to argue with that?

Get into constantly checking all the friction points, so the trem system is as stable as possible. Pencil lead in the nut slots, a little vaseline under the string trees and on the bridge saddles if nec. Learn how to lock the strings onto the tuning post as well. And watch out for the little black spring in the trem arm hole in the bridge block. Keeps some tension on the arm, but you can still move it out of the way when necessary.

Once you're satisfied with the set up, play the guitar hard to really ring the changes between Strat and Les Paul. It's my belief that a good LP is a slightly more refined player than a Strat. Hit the Highway hard (but fairly!) - it will favour a more dynamic and almost percussive playing style.. Thats where all the best tones are.. Try it, you'll see what I mean - get it squealing and clicking, with the strings slapping hard on to the frets and work those single coil pickups hard. A strat is not a guitar to be tickled!

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Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!

Float the bridge as per Leo Fenders' patent drawings. Use graphite paste in the nut slots and on the bridge saddles. See fenders website and set up the six point trem as per their specs and raise the four middle screws as per the instructions. Ditch the string tree between the D and G strings.
You will never use a locking trem again.
The ping tuners are great once you adjust the friction screws and break em in.
The stock pickups are better than any singles I have heard for metal.