Take a Spin Down Highway One: Destination Tonetown
You'll take to the newly "repaved" Highway One Stratocaster with its thin-skinned satin nitrocellulose lacquer finish, hotter and very distortion-friendly Alnico III pickups (that still sparkle when clean), and a reverse-wound, reverse-polarized middle pickup for better hum canceling. Other improvements include huge jumbo frets for faster action, bold '70s styling, a steel bridge block (more tone than the zinc version), and new colors.
Fender Highway One Stratocaster at a Glance:- Solid alder body with 3-color Sunburst satin lacquer finish and three-ply white pickguard.
- Three vintage style single coil pickups with staggered Alnico polepieces.
- One-piece maple neck and rosewood fingerboard with modern "C" shape.
Unique Low Gloss Finish for Extra Resonance
Players demanded it and Fender delivered it! This Highway One Strat was born with a new, unique 3-color Sunburst satin lacquer finish and a mind-blowing low price tag, making it one of the most in-demand Strats in the entire Fender catalog. The satin nitrocellulose finish allows the alder body to resonate freely, delivering crisp, glossy tones and maximum sustain thanks to the three vintage style single coil Strat pickups. A three-ply white pickguard maintains the classic Strat look. The vintage style synchronized tremolo allows you to bend notes or entire chords up or down with ease, without creating the tuning problems inherent in other designs.
The Trademark Strat Sound
The original Strat had three single coil pickups, so it was able to produce sounds that no other guitar could deliver, particularly once players discovered they could lodge the three-position blade switch in those "in-between" positions to access neck / middle and bridge / middle pickup combinations. These were often erroneously referred to as the "out-of-phase" settings. The Highway One Strats have made it easy to access all the pickup combinations thanks to the modern five-way blade pickup selector switch. The three vintage style single coil pickups deliver all the "spank" and sparkle the Strat is justly famous for.
Fast Playing Maple Neck with Modern "C" Shape
Leo Fender wasn't afraid to "think outside the box" when it came to guitar designs - after all, he was an engineer, not a guitar player. In the 1950s and well into the 1970s, the blond natural maple neck became almost synonymous with Fender guitars. The Highway 1 Strat carries on the tradition with a fast-playing one-piece maple neck, but adds a rosewood fingerboard. In keeping with contemporary player preferences, the neck is finished in a smooth satin polyurethane.
- Color: 3-color Sunburst
- Body Type: Solidbody electric.
- Finish: Satin nitrocellulose lacquer.
- Neck Wood: Maple.
- Neck Shape: Modern "C" shape with 9.5-inch radius.
- Body Wood: Solid alder.
- Machine Heads: Fender / Ping standard cast / sealed tuners.
- Fingerboard: Rosewood.
- No. of Frets: 22.
- Position Markers: Dot inlays.
- Pickups: Three vintage style single coils with staggered polepieces and Alnico magnets.
- Controls: Master volume, two tone.
- Bridge/Tailpiece: Vintage style synchronized tremolo.
- Pickup Switching: Five-position blade switch.
- Hardware: Chrome.
- Case: Deluxe Gig Bag included
- Scale Length: 25.5 inches.
Fender Guitars
You could easily make the case that Fender electric guitars were responsible - at least in great part - for the birth of modern rock 'n' roll. Originally designed to be easier to build, and thus more affordable, Leo Fender's masterpieces, which include classics like the Stratocaster (is there a more distinctive guitar shape in the world?), the Telecaster and the original Precision Bass, were at the core of a musical revolution that spawned everything from surf to country to punk!
In the 1960s, when Fender guitars first hit bandstands and stages all around the country, it was astonishing to see that trademark Fender maple neck and fingerboard. Though the company eventually offered rosewood fingerboards as standard or optional on its entire line of instruments, those first"blond" necks really shook things up. Others have picked up on the maple neck theme, but it's clearly yet another of Leo Fender's "firsts."
Today, no other manufacturer can match Fender for the sheer number of options available throughout its entire line. While vintage Fenders can command astronomic prices, the company now has the widest range of quality instruments in the world, along with the highest profile players like Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, all of whom are legendary.
