Members bgmacaw Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 I swung by Firehouse Guitars at lunch today and noticed they had just gotten in a Highway One Telecaster, one of the upgraded models, so I had to give it a try. This particular guitar had a 3-Color Sunburst satin nitrocellulose finish on an alder body and a maple neck. All of the Highway One series Fenders have this finish. It looked good on this guitar, if a bit hazy. However, I wasn't impressed by the look of a nearby red Strat with the same finish. The thin finish is certainly a change of pace from the thick poly you'll find on less expensive guitar. It will probably wear (aka relic) nicely as you play it and develop a personalized look quickly. If you're the type who worries about scratches on your guitar then this isn't the guitar for you. But if you want a guitar that will relic as you play it (as opposed to taking a belt sander to it), then this one would be a good choice. The 9.5" radius maple neck, which is a 'C' shape, also has the nitro finish. It feels a little slick in the new guitar but it should wear down rather quickly. One of the main upgrades Fender gave this guitar was switching from vintage style frets to jumbo frets. They're about the same size as the ones on my SX Tele copy so I felt right at home with them. Bending, including double stop and pedal steel bends, is a breeze with these frets. Fans of vintage frets or even medium-jumbos may not particularly like them though. The bridge is the vintage style 3-saddle, string through body, style. The saddles are steel, not brass, but that would be an easy swap if you were so inclined. The tuners are the standard Fender/Ping tuners and they did quite well holding tune while I played, including several pedal steel-ish bends. It comes with 9's which actually didn't sound or feel too bad considering I usually use 10's or 11's. I think this says a lot about the tonal quality of this guitar. The nut seemed to be cut just right although heavier strings would probably require adjustment. A rough check of the intonation passed muster as well. To try it out, I plugged it into a Line 6 Spider III amp. This is Firehouse's preferred demo amp and is right next to their 'No Stairway or Enter Sandman' sign. I mainly used the 'Twangy' patch which has a Fender-ish tone but I did try a few other settings as well. This guitar played great and sounded great. The pickups are Fender's Hot Tele single coils that have Alnico 3 magnets. The tone is very much on the modern side and not the vintage side. While I prefer the vintage tone I thought that these pickups didn't go too modern, ie sterile. They still had a lot of Tele twang and snap in them. When I switched briefly to a higher gain patch there wasn't a lot of noise, no stuck pig squeals, although the Tele 'Truth Detector' was in full swing. A sticker on the parchment pickguard advertised that it had a 'Greasebucket' tone circuit. This circuit replaces the standard Tele wiring with a single poly cap with two caps, a .100uf and .02uf, along with a 1/4-watt metal film resistor. In theory, this causes the high frequencies to be bled off without causing the bass to become overwhelming. I gave this new wiring system a workout with some Roy Buchanan-ish volume and tone swells. It really worked well with the volume and tone reacting well throughout the swell and the tone remained great as well. The knobs turned smoothly and were easy to grip. If you like to work your volume and tone, this guitar won't have a problem with that. The price tag was $699, pretty good for a local store since you'll see the same guitar selling online for more Trying this Tele out did give me a huge case of Tele GAS. Hopefully my SX will tide me over for now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Vibroluxman Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 I recently tried one as well, and I own an 03 HSS Hwy 1 strat. They increased from medium jumbo to jumbo frets I thought, mine don't seem to be vintage small, but maybe that's because I'm used to them. I really did like the new Hwy1s, I was expecting not to like the new pups, as they're supposd to be more metal. Good guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Burningleaves Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bgmacaw Posted June 9, 2007 Author Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 I recently tried one as well, and I own an 03 HSS Hwy 1 strat. They increased from medium jumbo to jumbo frets I thought, mine don't seem to be vintage small, but maybe that's because I'm used to them. I wasn't sure on the previous model's fret size. I had seen sources that said vintage and others that said medium-jumbo. The frets on the one I tried did feel a lot like my SX but the satin finish felt a lot smoother than the glop-o-poly on the SX neck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frets99 Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 Thanks for a great review. Something about the Highway 1 series that whets my appetite .... I watched a guy play a Highway 1 strat through a Fender Bassman amp yesterday. (my age guy) Played a bunch of Beatle 60's stuff like Octopus Garden and damn if he didn't nail all the tones with just that rig and no pedals!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members zum Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 i got an 06 model... best neck i've played.... it's beautiful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Ged LST Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 Nice write-up. Thanks mate! - Ged Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Sambora#2 Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 I've had Tele GAS for a while now, and you have just made me want one even more!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members GarysBlues Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 I had a HWY Tele that I really really like and should have NEVER sold. Foolishly I assumed that MORE MONEY meant a better Fender Telecaster. This was not the issue! I bought a Very Nice 02 American Series Tele. Though it looked great, played great, and was weighted perfect. It just did not SOUND right. I sold it becasue I didn't want to pull the electronics But the HWY-1? Man, I added a set of Sperzels, Bone Nut and a set of Seymour Duncan Alnico II Pro pups. SERIOUS sounding and Playing Telecaster. The frets were medium jumbo. They are just super sized NOW...since 06. Anyway as far as the Finish? Hey man its a Laquer finish regardless of what year. Never bothered me about the wear issue. I LIKE the THIN FINISH. IMO its better for the Tone than the Thick Poly! The necks are VERY similiar to the American Series. Only difference is the AS has the Dual Truss-Rod. But thats not a BIG issue. At least it shouldn't be. If you buy the Tele new and its warrentied.......It won't be a issue at all! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jbviper4 Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 I really dig the thin finish on my HWY 1 Tele. It has held up better than predicted with only minimal attention to taking care of it (no belt, goes in the stand or case, etc...) love the neck and frets (medium in mine) but wondering how the jumbos would work for my playing.... I can't fall in love with the neck pup though - too thin, thinking seriously of dropping a mini-HB or P-90 in there to balls it up a bit. Does doing this mean I don't have a Tele anymore?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jerry_picker Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 Thanks for a great review.Something about the Highway 1 series that whets my appetite .... I watched a guy play a Highway 1 strat through a Fender Bassman amp yesterday. (my age guy) Played a bunch of Beatle 60's stuff like Octopus Garden and damn if he didn't nail all the tones with just that rig and no pedals!! Vintage Strat through a Bassman is God's own setup, IMHO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ganjaseed Posted June 9, 2007 Members Share Posted June 9, 2007 Thanks for the review Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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