Planning on a HWY1 Stratocaster

D

Druw

New member
Hey guys,
I plan on getting a Highway 1 Fender Strat in honey blonde. I plan on changing the pick guard to either black or tortoiseshell. But i need some help. What parts will I need to get to make it into a vintage 70s strat (tuners, p/ups) I mean anything cosmetic or electric etc.
Thanks
 
My opinon, FWIW: skip it. The HWY1's seem fine, but basically are Mexican Fenders, assembled (maybe finished?) in the US plant, with an upgraded hardware package. The first thing you'll need for a true 70's look, is the correct headstock, so you're alread out the cash for a neck, before you even start diddling with pickups, tuners, trem, whatever.

Just get a MIM 70's Reissue, it'll cost far less in the end, and guessing from what I've seen on the 50's Reissue I tore apart, they are excellent. Put a neck on a new H1, and you're near $800 before passing go, even on the Bay. You'll still need a black 'guard, but they are pretty cheap.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-70s-Stratocaster-Electric-Guitar?sku=510471
 
TBH, I'd rather have an American guitar, I dont plan on selling it so the neck will be a miss. I was looking at tuners,heel plates, the tremolo is a synchronized one so that is good right? And ofcourse pickups.
 
I believe the new highway 1 strats have the 70's headstock, nitrolacquer finishes and upgraded hardware. They just changed them recently, so if you're shopping around make sure it has the 70's headstock otherwise you're paying the same amount for an inferior guitar. The new ones really are an amazing value and with a simple pickup swap you've got yourself a wicked guitar.
 
I totally forgot they changed the headstock on the H1's. That, of course, negates my previous post, except for the fact that they are arguably not really American. I do notice the specs include 22 jumbo frets, which would be noticably anachronistic.

Anyway, copy the parts list from the reissue, make sure the tuners fit the holes in your headstock, get period-correct pickups (guitarfetish.com has pups modeled after 70's strats), and yeah, that is the basic tremelo Fender used from the beginning until the eighties or so. The H1 electronics are upgraded, so you'll have to re-wire to "vintage" standards. The originals had a three-bolt neck, which may end up being a problem. If you're overlooking having too many of the wrong sized frets, and no bullet, I don't know why the heel plate would bother you, though.
 
Could someone please tell me when a `70's strat became Vintage?


Cause I can't recall too many guitars which were bigger POS, except maybe the 70's Gibsons.




Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
 
Light said:
Could someone please tell me when a `70's strat became Vintage?


Cause I can't recall too many guitars which were bigger POS, except maybe the 70's Gibsons.




Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi
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You know, a friend of mine and I were discussing this the other day. 70s guitars were known for being shitty, unreliable, etc... Why do people all of a sudden want them? Are they a cheap way to get a vintage (read: old) guitar? From what I've seen, the prices have gone up if anything. I don't get it. Don't even get me started on the 3-bolt neck. Fucking idiot idea...

Rory

PS. "for the money", I'd play the hwy 1 strat over the mexican one anyday. To say that they're the same sounds to me like someone hasn't played them side-by-side.

Also, I've never been a fan of, buy a guitar, then spend hundreds of dollars getting it the way you want it. Especially the squire and mexican stuff. They're great entry level guitars, but why put the extra money into them when you could've bought something nicer to begin with?
 
I dont plan on getting a 3-bolt neck, just a neck plate (4 bolt) with a classic fender logo or somethin.
 
I owned 2, 70's stats and they had kluson tuners which are not top of the line, I didn't have any problems with either of them but now have 2, 80's and they are a far better instrument, plus the jumbo frets are faster due to the fact that less finger actually contacts the fret board which = less friction. One of mine is a '61 reissue and has a 7.5" radius fretboard but with narrow fretwire, when I get time away from all my other projects I will refret it with jumbo wire.
 
Light said:
Could someone please tell me when a `70's strat became Vintage?
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Hence the quotation marks in my post. I bang my head on something firm whenever I see the eBAy prices on those things. You know, the fine instruments that nearly sank Fender? A 70's Tele costs more than its contemporary Les Paul or 335. Staggering.

I laughed when I saw the reissue, but FMIC is laughing all the way to the bank.
 
I still have almost every guitar I ever owned except one - a 70s telecaster custom or deluxe. Whichever one keith richards plays with the single coil bridge and the humbucker rhythm. I never pine for that guitar. It was black. Weighed a ton. the neck had the tiniest frets. the neck had thick thick finish on it and the edges were really sharp. Did I mention that it sounded like 3 kinds of shit? I used to hock it all the time because the pawnbroker would give me a hundred for it (since it was a fender). It was a bad karma guitar, too. I was glad to get rid of it. I actually sold it to Bill Crook who makes a bunch of money making custom teles.

So, Amen to 70s "vintage" fenders being shit pieces.
 
The hwy 1 has its pro's and cons.....
PRO - Its American, so it will theoretically have a better chance at holding its value or possibly maturing in value...
CON - 'American Made' as most already know, is not all it seems in this case as to the best of my knowleadge all that happens in the US is the assembly of the guitar, from foreign parts..(mexican I assume?)
PRO - The finish is a thin laquer, which is great if you like your guitar's looking vintage, as the thin finish will get chipped away at and have a chance of looking descent, unlike the standard laquer placed on most newie fenders these days, where if you get a ding or chip it it will look extremely ugly...
CON - The pickups.....Havn't owned one myself but a simple search of reviews show the pickups are extremely noisy. This is the reason why I didn't buy one and instead are opting for a 60th Anniversary Mexican, (All Made in Mexico's are now made with their cavity shilded to reduce hum, noise etc...)

slap on some new pickups and the hwy1 would be a worthy buy, but if you can't be bothered, ah what the heck who am i to dish out advice......... :)
 
i went on a fact-finding mission of playing a bunch of strats a couple months ago at my local axe shop, and played everything from the $150 squier to the $1600 customs, and the ones i liked best of the bunch were the $500 Highway 1's.

i didn't plug a single one in, so i can't speak for the sound of the pups. i'd be replacing them anyway, so i didn't care. i was playing and evaluating simply on the 'acoustic' nature of the guitar.....b/c if an electric sings acoustically, it'll really sing plugged in (assuming decent pups).

anyway, part of what i liked was the finish. being thinner, it allowed for a little more resonance of the wood. it seemed that the heavy finish on some of the recent reissues really helped kill the natural resonance of the guitar.

the neck was another thing i really liked. it "felt right" to me. a lot of the modern (and reissue) fender necks are either too thick (baseball bat) or thin for my tastes and playing style. the Highway 1 was "just right".

they also had more consistency across the board. the 4 i played were all very similar in feel and tone. that couldn't be said for similar ones from the different lines.

personally i don't give a damn where the guitar was made as long as it feels right and sounds good. a buddy of mine has a late 90's mexican tele that will run circles around 99% of the american ones being made these days. that tele of his just sings and resonates for days. sure he's given it a proper setup and swapped out the pups, nut, bridge, pickguard, etc, but isn't that the name of the game?


cheers,
wade
 
oz_fenda said:
CON - The pickups.....Havn't owned one myself but a simple search of reviews show the pickups are extremely noisy. This is the reason why I didn't buy one and instead are opting for a 60th Anniversary Mexican, (All Made in Mexico's are now made with their cavity shilded to reduce hum, noise etc...)
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This is why I don't read reviews. First of all, its a strat and will be somewhat noisy. Thats the nature of the beast. The noise will also be tamed or exentuated depending on the quality of the cable. Cheap cables equal lots of noise. I've played lots of hwy 1 strats and teles and tons of its mexican counterparts, and most of them were not exessively noisy, especially for a strat. I doubt that they take more care into shielding their mexican guitars than the hwy 1 guitars. I rather like the pickups on the hwy 1 series. They bite. It sounds like a strat. Maybe I'm a traditionalist, I don't know, but the cheaper strats lack some of the feeling and tone of the nicer ones. Maybe I'm a gear snob...

Rory
 
Why take the neck off a highway 1 that is the best part of the guitar.
You could probably sell it on ebay and get enough to buy another neck
plus a set of picksups. The only thing I don't like about my HW1 is the tuners.
It looks pretty vintage just the way it is IMHO
 
Planning on a HWY1 Stratocaster
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Shop around and get a used, in new condition, real American Standard Strat with a real finish and no other cut corners for around the same price or less. You'll get a Fender HSC with that too, not just a "gig bag".
 
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