Fender's Highway One Stratocaster

Another gunless weekend, but lately that has just been how it is.  I have literally been scouring every local music shop in hopes of finding something while searching for nothing in particular. 

What I've noticed is that nearly every shop carries guitars in 5 colors - white, black, sunburst, red, and blue.  Personally, I get excited when I see a guitar in a nice daphne or sonic blue, fiesta red, surf green!  Just anything other than the standard. 

I had this strange feeling the other day when I saw a nice Gibson semi-hollow guitar.  I wanted it.  I haven't felt that way in a long time.  And over a Gibson?  That almost never happens.  I think the start of a quest has begun.  Now I need to find the model for me.  Gibson has made so many models over the years.  Plus I think I am over my hatred of the humbucking pickup.  I get it now...well again.  I used to understand before I knew any better. 

Having worked with Perri Ink and Boogie Bodies, I get it again!  Just like single coils, humbuckers can have life or be dull toneless pickups.  It is about picking and choosing. 

Nearly all of the local stores were exhausted when I remembered that another big box store started carrying musical instruments a few years ago...Can you guess which one?  I decided to take a stop inside.  I was pleasantly surprised by a wall of nice guitars, staff that left me alone, and Fender guitars which had been marked down.  This was most likely due to the fact that they had 2007 serial numbers meaning they had probably sat in the store for 3 years without being purchased. 

I was never a "strat man".  I've always wanted to be.  The format is so cool!  3 single coil pickups, vibrato that mostly works, tons of modification possibilities!  I've owned strats in the past.  Quite a number of them actually.  And what usually ends up happening is they get sold because they don't ever quite feel right.  In the end, I usually end up regretting selling my strats and end up buying another for twice as much money. 

Additionally, I have been lusting for rosewood finger boards again.  The only rosewood finger board I have on an electric guitar is on my Jazzmaster AVRI.  Since I play so much acoustic guitar anymore, it just feels more natural to me. 

So I pick up this strat and notice it is marked a little over 500$ and peak at the back of the headstock to see country of origin and am surprised by the made in the USA note.  I had to pick it up!  I payed more than that more than 10 years ago for my first American Standard Telecaster in 1999.  It played okay and felt a lot like any other American standard guitar...So what is the deal then? 

It was Fender's Highway One Stratocaster.  Their lowest price point American made guitar.  They feature 3 Alnico 3 pickups (with no stagger on the magnets), a nitrocellulose lacquer finish, and a large CBS style headstock.  There are apparently other incarnations of this model with different pickup configurations and models which are known as "pre upgrade" models which some people prefer and some do not. 

Up until this point, I hadn't even plugged the guitar in.  Most of the time, I don't find it necessary but I was still pretty intrigued by this guitar.  I gave it my usual visual inspection and noticed some dents and dings...Most likely from sitting in the store for 3 years.  I also spotted one of the straightest and nicest fret jobs I have seen on an off the shelf Fender to date.  I am not sure if the staff at the store set the guitar up or what, but the neck was set extremely well.  The bridge was a sitting a little high, but an easy fix. 

I decided to plug the guitar in.  I chose a 1965 Deluxe Reverb RI.  Here is a cool trick for all vintage 2 channel Fender amps with reverb.  Plug into the non reverb channel...This channel will have less tone sucking.  The reverb circuit has huge tonal losses and large series resistance which makes it sound less bright and dull when compared to the normal channel with equivalent settings.  Anyway, as for the trick, crank the reverb on the reverb channel to 10.  Be sure the tubes for the reverb circuit are not microphonic or otherwise resonant or else this will probably make you sorry.  Now turn the amp up on the normal channel and play.  You will hear reverb.  This is because the reverb tank is being naturally vibrated by the amp cabinet.  The reverb will not be real loud and in your face, but it will be much more musical. 

I was pretty happy with how the guitar sounded.  I had read reviews later that night which mentioned how the guitar was too hot to have a vintage sound.  I disagree.  I think people's reference is probably skewed.  I have had some custom pickups wound by Ken at Angeltone to 50's spec and these pickups really reminded me of those.  Early Fender pickups were almost always generally hotter and later years usually made them less hot. 

I was able to get some nice tones regardless of my impression of the pickups.  Another quirk I found is the middle tone control was left off of the middle pickup and put on the bridge pickup.  I will end up rewiring later.  I think the Delta Tone style controls are the best.  No load at 10 and otherwise normal when turned down.  My American Standard Telecaster has this setup from the factory and it is great!

While playing the guitar, I spotted its older brother in the corner.  Another Highway One Stratocaster in the same honey blonde finish.  I played it and compared the two.  Both played exceptionally well.  The necks were both extremely straight with no twisting or buckling of the frets.  Both were also from 2007.  It showed the same sort of bumps and bruises of any 3 year old guitar getting played by whoever walks through the door. 

I asked about a discount for the scrapes and was pleasantly surprised when I got one.  It wasn't much off but it put the guitars at 500$ even.  I took both!  You can imagine my surprise when they gave me gig bags with each guitar and 2 free packs of strings of my choice so long as the cost didn't go over 20$! 

I am still honeymooning, but I have a few criticisms that I knew going into the guitars.  Firstly, I don't like blonde finishes where the wood grain makes it apparent that you have like 3 pieces of wood glued together.  Both of these guitars have that.  It isn't a big deal, but it is a little pet peeve.  Just the same as when Gibson purposely does not line up the grain of book matched tops.  I am also not crazy about the "modern c shape" necks as they are a little thin.  I tend to like meatier necks.  However, that doesn't seem to be too common anymore as most companies use smaller necks. 

I was surprised that the large frets didn't really bother me.  I expected to hate them, but I wasn't really bothered by them.  Perhaps it isn't large frets that bother me so much as large frets on poorly fretted guitars.

The 9.5" radius isn't too bad either.  I think it works for a strat and makes the non staggered pickups make sense.  Perhaps I am reading into this a little bit much though. 

Now if only the people working at the store would have checked the gig bags.  I asked to make sure they included the fender kits with the manuals and tools and whammy bars.  I was told yes.  One bag had a strat kit.  The other had a tele kit.  Additionally, the strat kit was for a strat with a cream colored pickguard so the knob on the whammy bar was cream instead of white.  Not a big deal, but it is that sort of attention to detail that is missing. 

In other guitar related news, I have not one...but TWO circuit boards for the Fernandes FSK-401 Sustainer on the way to replace the one I managed to crack a while ago.  I didn't intend to buy two.  But sometimes things just happen to work out that way.  A quick note for anybody going this route, if you have to order replacement parts, try with the manufacturer before the distributor.  They distributor will mark up the cost above the manufacturers cost.  The like to make money all along the way. 

I realize the circuit isn't the complex part.  I probably could have wired something up to work.  But I just don't feel that motivated.  However, now I will have a second board and no driver.  I have been considering cannibalizing a pickup and making a new driver.  It doesn't look too hard.  I just need to find the right gauge magnet wire. 

Another fun project on the horizon is an Alembic active pickup set for a Telecaster I have.  It needs one of the knobs and a trim pot repaired.  I emailed Alembic about it today to see if they still stock the parts or if I need to get them from Mouser or elsewhere.  I remember the pickups sounding really good in the junk tele they were in.  I hope my memory serves me correctly.  I thought it was interesting that Alembic claims to be the first active electronics company for guitar.  On their site, they say they started back in 1969!  Impressive! 

Some wah parts I ordered from www.dandyjob.com came in as well.  I have 2 broken crybaby wahs that I plan to fix and toy with. 

All of these projects and I always wonder how I have so much to work on!?