Fender Highway One Stratocaster HSS "The Fool and Me"

[GameLevelEditor]

Great groove on this tune! I've owned real vintage stuff in the past and recently sold a 73 tele deluxe and a 70s strat etc. But I found the frets were too low couldn't get under the note as well as bigger frets for solos and thats 250 bucks for a refret.

I think with that highway one series they address alot of guitarist needs. It'll be this strat or a nice Ibanez Artcore AS103 would be the ticket. Great vibe.

[Bluestouse86]

love that color! If you take it to a body shop, they can buff it to a shine, if you like it that way anyways. I have buffed 5 highway ones in my area. They look like a 70's reissue after im done with em! Stellar Playing man

[rich655]

@Bluestouse86 I kinda like the low-tech flat finish on these guitars. I also find that BIG BENDS GLOSS SAUCE bring out a very nice shine to the nitro finish on the axes!

[MrMarcolaus]

Good playing man, and beautiful guitar. Bye.

[Aleksand89]

Which pickups should i put on my mexican,i want a funky/punk sound?

[rich655]

Funky/punk??!! Those two genres are pretty FAR apart IMHO! Punk especially doesn't really work on a Strat. (IMHO once again)

I personally love the DiMarzio Area 58's and Area 61's. The 61's are a bit ballsier (bridge) and the 58's are sweeter.

[JohnnyK98k]

@rich655

Yeah you're absolutely right about that 'punk doesn't really work on a Strat' statement. I figured that out the hard way! When I blast my Strat Highway One HSS with a ton of distortion on the amp, it just sounds like... Trash. It's VERY bright and VERY twangy, making straight chords sound so... Complicated and messy. It works well for rock, or late punk '77 kind of sound (with less distortion, more of an 'acoustic' type sound). Sex Pistols, The Clash, Skrewdriver, etc. :)

[ThrasherBlew]

you mean that sorta bright thin clean/ mildly distorted sound or like ramones punk  or like hardcore or what, as for funk ....it's a strat man, if it's the more distorted punk then you may want a humbucker or something stacked in the bridge my ibanez rg2ex2 actually does it pretty well... ill have to make a video of that someday

[geridg]

you can play anything on a Strat. It's all in the amp. Punk is not about the equipment anyway. Kurt Cobain played lots of Strats. Play the guitar that feels the best in your hands (like a proper bike to ride).. Ok? Ok...

[PedalTweaker]

Hello! How does the wiring go with 58 pickups and the 59? The dimarzios have dfferent wiring configuration. Did you reverse the wiring of your 59 to get an in phase sound with the bridge middle combo?

Thanks!

[PedalTweaker]

Also what's the value of the pot did you use. Tnx!=)

[rich655]

I gotta be honest....I have my 'guitar guy' do all that! I just play the thing! I've since had replaced the '59 with a the newly redesigned DiMarzio P.A.F. (I like it better...the '59 was a little thin IMHO)

As far as the pots go....whatever came stock in this guitar is what I used!

[PedalTweaker]

I had experience installing SD JB pickup for bridge pos and 2 Dimarzio Virtual Vintage 2.2 for neck and middle pos on an H/S/S strat. It took me a lot of time before I was able to tweak it. The reason for this is that the JB was out of phase when in combo with the middle pickup. When I reverse the polarity of the JB, the problem was solved. The next problem were the pots. Sd's suggestion for JB to use 250K pots. After I changed the pots with 250Kvol/500K tone pots, my problem was solved.

[Glephniven]

Nice Tone. Solid playing!!

[371944a]

i have same guitar

[rich655]

The '59 WAS a good match for the Area '58's...no big volume jump at all! The guitar is in the shop right now, however, getting the humbucker changed! I'm now putting in a DiMarzio P.A.F. in it's place! The '59 didn't really THRILL me as did the Area '58's. The newly redisigned DiMarzio P.A.F. should do very nicely!

[GaryCancer]

Oh, okay. That's what I was sort of hoping to hear, and what my bank account was hoping would never be uttered. :p

By the way it sounds great, you've really got that style down.

[highwayone69]

nice playing bro i have half the money down a sunburst hss

[grammar911]

do the new pickups make it sound more vintage? I am looking to upgrade my highway one with a new neck- Fender 57 CIJ. Then I want to upgrade the pickups. I think It will be my ultimate guitar then, what do you think?

[rich655]

NEW NECK!!!????!! The necks on these are GREAT IMHO! Don't do that! The Area 58's without a doubt, have a vintage sound!They're NOT high powered! Nice and woody and quacky! I love them!! They have become my favorite NOISELESS Strat pickup!

[rodderz57]

i second rich's comment. I'm really considering looking into new pickups at some point for mine though, although the bridge is great the neck and middle pickups are simply too dark and don't actually sound much like a strat i.m.o

[rich655]

See....I'm NOT the ONLY one!! Now that I've changed the pickups...these guitars ROCK!! I love all 5 of my Highway One HSS's!!

[coveruprock2]

Awesome well played!!