As just stated, it had a different bridge than the one used previously, larger frets and the pickups were Alnico III.
The new Highway One, exhibited at the summer NAMM 2005 and introduced in the catalog in mid-2006, distinguished itself from the first series by the large headstock and a new nitro finish. The neck and the body were manufactured and finished with satin acrylic lacquers (instead of the gloss finish of the American Series) in the Corona factory, while the case was a normal Deluxe Gig Bag.Ī few years later Fender renewed the series. In 2006 Fender decided to change the bridge of the Highway (they probably resolved to do this for some models from the end of 2005) assembling the same bridge used on the American Special, of Asian origin (distinguishable by the engraving "PW-36" present on the bridges manufactured by Ping) and characterized by the same mounting space as the previous one (2 7/32"), but with a smaller string spacing (2 1/16") just like the MIM Standards or some Squiers.
The Highway One featured staggered coil pickups made in Mexico, Ping tuning machines, and a vintage style bridge already used on the Classic Series of the '60s so, the mounting space was like the string spacing, 2 7/32" (56mm).
It could be placed between the American Series and the Mexican Standard Stratocaster and it was the lowest priced Stratocaster made in US, thus occupying that market segment in which in the '90s were the hybrid Stratocasters made partly in US and partly in Mexico or in the East. In fact, this guitar had, at least in theory, everything that the Stratocaster needed, with nothing more. Not my first choice but the most afordable."Everything you need, nothing you don't" - this was the motto that Fender adopted in July 2002 to describe the newly born Highway One Stratocaster. So as a birthday gift to myself I ordered the HW 1 Tele. I’ve owned a few electric guitars in the past but never played ‘em. Not to brag, I own over a dozen basses now, mostly Fender (’72 Jazz, ’60 P, ’73 P, Kubicki era 5-string, ’83 frettless ***, ’62 Jazz reissue, among others). I guess I won’t really give a rat’s a$$ if it’s a decent piece.
I somehow thought there was an intermediate upgrade somewhere in between where only the Greasebucket pots were added. If I may, here’s how the Highway models lay-out as I understand:Ġ11-1260(2) Upgraded in 2006 w/ jumbo frets, Alnico III pickups, Greasebucket circuit, no-name tuners (in place of Fender-Ping).Īs per Wikipedia: “The Highway One Telecaster (introduced in 2003) features a pair of distortion-friendly Alnico III single-coils, super-sized frets, Greasebucket circuit and '70s styling (since 2006)”.
Also I though if I listed the model numbers someone would perhaps recognize them. Seriously, I guess it was mea culpa that I did not mention the word Telecaster in my original post ( I took it for granted since this is a Telecaster discussion). Cool username!Ĭlick to expand.Telecaster? Stratocaster? Did I mention I was a bass player? With those drastic differences in DC resistance, it should be a piece of cake distinguishing which version of Hwy 1 pickups you have. On mine, the bridge measured around 6.4k and the neck a little over 8k. The early version has the same pickups that were and still are the stock pickups in the '50s Classic MIM Tele. I measured the DC resistance on a set of them in a new version Hwy 1, its bridge was 14.5k and the neck was 11k. You can of course swap out the 8-hole for a 5-hole, if that's your concern.Īs boris noted, the newer version has hotter pickups. I asked here and no one reported having a Hwy 1 with a 5-hole pickguard stock. I remember seeing that stock Fender picture back then, and then seeing pictures of real ones owned by TDPRI members and one example in a store, all of which had 8-hole pickguards. Click to expand.The stock picture that Fender had online (and that dealers using the same picture had online) of the early version showing it with 5-hole pickguards was I believe an anomaly of photoediting.