Hey all. Reading the reviews the Classic Players seems to be coming out on top. I've got a mexican telecaster but upgraded the pickups and now feel it could go against many american tele's. Any opinions on which is the better option would be great. Reason I may sway towards a Highway 1 is due to it being from the states.

Jon

Both can be awesome guitars! But I also like American made guitars. The highway one will probably seem more resonant, due to the very thin nitro lacquer finish. But this finish wears quickly and can be very easily damaged. I think you should be considering between the Classic Player 50's and an American Special Strat.......If you HAVE to have that vintage Fender look, go with the CP 50's......if bigger headstocks don't bother you, the American Special already comes with Texas Special pickups installed! When getting up near $800 for a guitar, and the choices are between a USA or import, I would always go for the USA for the simple reason that it will always resale for more if you ever decide to sell it. The import, well, you may not live long enough to see it sell for what you paid for it, LOL. I can sell an American Strat I bought 11 years ago for almost what I paid for it !!!! I own a few MIM Fender's, and they are nice for the money with good craftsmanship. I have found that the US models "usually" have better quality woods and better fret work overall. Best advise......sit down and play both, even better if you are in a big store that has both in stock so you can A - B them. Let your ears and hands tell you what is right!

Some great advice there its greatly appreciated. Food for thought. Another sticking issue is the finish. Ideally I would like to grab one finished in nitro but that's pulling away from these guys and towards the more, too expensive models.

Good advice, and that is exactly what I did in this same CP60s v Highway 1 dilemma. However:

I went with the Highway.. just. I was attracted by the superb reviews the CP60s was getting and actually slightly preferred the tone. And it was cheaper. But I always wanted a US Strat and the Highway1 was the cheapest way in. (Actually, I bought a CP60s as well just recently - much to the disgust of Mrs Adey. Never could get the sound of it out of my head.)

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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!

I think I view Hiway one guitars as not really USA guitars but that's me. I have a surf green classic 50's strat with the V neck. When I got it -- the sound was way too thin and trebley. It sounded bad-- I went to GC and bought noiseless USA pick-ups and that fixed it up real good. It sounds very good and plays nice. A very good guitar. The only thing I find that I don't like first with Mex and Hiway one Mex guitars are the pickups.

Agreed. I quickly replaced the pickups in the Highway. First for a SCN set, but then for a full set of Seymour Duncan alnico 2 Pros..

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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!

I really dig my '07 HWY1. It doesn't sound like my other Strats: '62 Copy with Texas Specials, EC Strat w/ gold Lace Sensors, or my '04 50th Anniversary Strat. It sounds great and has a voice all its own. If I turn the tone down and put some overdrive on it I can get it sound very nice without sounding muddy.

It's just one more color in my pallet of guitars.

Strats are a quirkey bird to begin with. You have to know a Strats workings to set it up right to get all you can from it. There's alot to know about them. Springs, bridge height off the body, pickup height, string retainers, etc- all that stuff comes into play on how one sounds. Not to mention pickups, switch wireing, string guage, wood, radius, even how thick a pick you use. One could spend a great many years on Strats and the thought behind it all.
Strats are like everything else. You can get a dud and no matter what you do to it or how much cash you pour on it-- it can still be a dud. They are frustrating and beautifull all at once. Kind of like a women.
Many of us have built our own Strats with much success and have paid dearly to do so. A Strat can be a battle , a hobby in itself, a cash hog or a cash cow. There is nothing like one. The first time I saw one when I was a little kid it looked so strange. It was like Flash Gordon. It was scarey.
Not many things retain thier original style and looks like guitars do. The Strat has to be one of the best original ideas in popular modern era music design ever.

I will start this post out with IMHO...for me its about the neck shape, those are two very different necks, the CPs have a nice V shape and the HiWays have the modern C shape...the neck is really the one thing you are most in conact with. Pickups and pots can be changed easily and for not a load of cash...so go with the type of neck you like best.

Regards,

T2

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What time is it? It's Fender Time.

I had never owned a Strat until 2 weeks ago. I wound up in the local GC one rainy and quiet afternoon with an American Special that I could not put down. The neck profile fit my hand as though it was made from my palm print.
The sales staff could not have been nicer, they cleaned up the guitar, oiled the fret board (Rosewood), put on a new set of strings and checked the intonation as well. I'm still learning the range of the Texas Specials, tonight I was fooling around with echo and reverb, very nice.

Cheers,
John.E

Cheers for your opinions guys. You are right in saying the hardware can somewhat suffer with the mexicans. As many people have done, I upgraded my tele's pickups with Seymour Dunc's Alnico pro II and fair play, it sounds amazing. The jack was also a bit of a pain so that was changed for a Les Paul style jack. In a few years I hope to add both to my small but growing collection. It is somewhat of an addiction definitely. I think a call to my local music store this afternoon to check if they have them in stock is in order. I am impressed with your affection towards the Cplayers, along with its positive reviews online.

Jon

Please go the Highway route. I did and I´m happy. I own a FSR American Standard also. They both play very nice, Mexican craftmanship can not compare to the American. Pickups you can change anytime, the Highway with a set of CS69 or FAT50 is the way to go! Mexicans can come with gaps on the neck pocket and other details that perfeccionists as me would not like. The mexicans can be nice players, but theyre not as perfect made as the americans as far as craftmanship details go.

Yeah I think its just that guy then. They´re pretty much USA made. Mexican comes with Zinc trem blocks for instance, the Highway Ones are Steel blocks. Otherelse why then Fender would put on the back of the headstock "Made in USA" ?

I had 2 Hiway One basses. I had 2 Mexican Standard basses. They were pretty much the same. The difference was the nitro finish and the body wood. I heard ( and this is just hearsay but I tend to think it may be true) that H1's are "parts from the Mexico plant sent up to USA and put together". If someone in the know can tell me if this is true or not , I'd like to know.
I'm not saying H1 guitars are junk or anything like that. I am saying that the H1 basses I had were not of the same quality as any of my USA basses and that they are similar to Mex Std basses. I ended up changing pickups on my H1's. They did not pass the "live performance test" so regretably I had to move on.
I'm sure there are H1 guitars out there that kick butt.