2003 American Fender Highway One Strat!?

[papersoul]

Guys,

I have a 2003 Highway USA strat and was recently told by Fender that to keep costs down, some parts are made in Mexico, such as the bridge assembly.

Does anyone know what other parts are from Mexico?

I am thinking of upgrading to a Callaham bridge.

-Rich

[ratherdashing]

Is there something wrong with the current bridge?

[Mr. B]

He can hear Mexico in it...

California sounds better

[Mr. B]

Seriously though, the problem I had with the older HWY 1 bridges was not tone. The pre-2007 Upgrade Hwy 1's had much wider string spacing on the bridge saddles. This made the high E string unstable, too close to the edge of the fretboard. When Fender upgraded them, the new bridge had narrower string spacing fixing the problem.

[Frantic_Rock]

I have a hwy 1 with a callaham trem block.
You can hear it here with the original Hwy1 maple neck.
Pickups are Seymour Duncan Antiquity 2 single coils (alnico 2)



And here it is with an all-rosewood 1 piece monster neck from warmoth (pretty big difference in tone):


Overall i'd say the callaham was worth it, if you can justify dropping $150 on a solid chunk of steel.

[papersoul]

Seriously though, the problem I had with the older HWY 1 bridges was not tone. The pre-2007 Upgrade Hwy 1's had much wider string spacing on the bridge saddles. This made the high E string unstable, too close to the edge of the fretboard. When Fender upgraded them, the new bridge had narrower string spacing fixing the problem.

Wow, never experienced that issue! Weird. I like the wider spacing.

[papersoul]

He can hear Mexico in it...

California sounds better

Nope......I keep hearing from people what a great tonal improvement it is, and I hat always catching the palm of my hand on the height screws which are too long and sharp/jagged.

[ratherdashing]

Nope......I keep hearing from people what a great tonal improvement it is, and I hat always catching the palm of my hand on the height screws which are too long and sharp/jagged.

You can get some Callaham saddles to fix that problem. No need for the whole bridge, unless you have some cash burning a hole in your pocket.

[The Dali]

I heard that the bodies are made in Mexico.

I have a full Callaham trem on my US Standard and LOVE it.

[zenmindbeginner]

The name Highway One means that they drive the US bodies down Highway One for nitrocellulose lacquer and hardware, then drive them back up Highway One for electronics and final assembly.

I have a hwy 1 with a callaham trem block.
You can hear it here with the original Hwy1 maple neck.
Pickups are Seymour Duncan Antiquity 2 single coils (alnico 2)


And here it is with an all-rosewood 1 piece monster neck from warmoth (pretty big difference in tone):


Overall i'd say the callaham was worth it, if you can justify dropping $150 on a solid chunk of steel.

Great tone and playing man! I like the complex and more harmonic tone of the Highway One better than the sort of in yer face fundamental and more simple tone of the Rosewood neck personally.

[brunogio]

If the block is magnetic, then it's OK to keep.

If not, it's junky pot metal and worth an upgrade.

[papersoul]

So pickups are USA? They rock! Tuners are GREAT too!

Maybe I will just get the saddles.

Fender told me it is 100% USA except the hardware.

[ratherdashing]

Even the new MIM Strats have steel blocks.

I'm personally of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset, but that's just me.

[phil_104]

You can get some Callaham saddles to fix that problem. No need for the whole bridge, unless you have some cash burning a hole in your pocket.

Even the new MIM Strats have steel blocks.

I'm personally of the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" mindset, but that's just me.

My main touring guitar (anytime I have to take the plane) is a Hwy1 Strat, a 2008 or 2009 I think. Anyways, I pretty much lock the bridge down on mine, since I never use the trem. A year back, I broke a saddle in some freak accident, and ended up changing the saddles to graftech brand ones, the black graphite looking things. It's what the store had in stock when I needed a new set to be honest, lol. They are more pleasant to play when palm muting, but I can't say that they have made a difference in the sound what so ever.

I'm also in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" group. I play a Hwy 1 because I LOVE the features on it ; it's like if they built me a custom model, seriously. The only other mod I have on it is that I put a humbucker rails in the bridge, because I wanted a humbucker.

Don't worry about it too much man. If it's a good guitar, just have fun with it, unless of course, you want to spend the money.

[StratFreak]

I have a hwy 1 with a callaham trem block.
You can hear it here with the original Hwy1 maple neck.
Pickups are Seymour Duncan Antiquity 2 single coils (alnico 2)



And here it is with an all-rosewood 1 piece monster neck from warmoth (pretty big difference in tone):


Overall i'd say the callaham was worth it, if you can justify dropping $150 on a solid chunk of steel.

I cant really help out on the Highway One situation sorry. But that new Warmoth neck looks SO GOOD !

[DonP]

Nope......I keep hearing from people what a great tonal improvement it is, and I hat always catching the palm of my hand on the height screws which are too long and sharp/jagged.

I had that issue on some of my newer MIM Strats, The older ones had shorter screws on the sides but the newer bridges it's like Fender got lazy and just uses the same screw size for all.

I bought the Callaham saddle height adjustment screws of various lengths. The screws were just a little small for the MIM saddles, so I put a dab of crazy glue to lock them in place.

[papersoul]

My main touring guitar (anytime I have to take the plane) is a Hwy1 Strat, a 2008 or 2009 I think. Anyways, I pretty much lock the bridge down on mine, since I never use the trem. A year back, I broke a saddle in some freak accident, and ended up changing the saddles to graftech brand ones, the black graphite looking things. It's what the store had in stock when I needed a new set to be honest, lol. They are more pleasant to play when palm muting, but I can't say that they have made a difference in the sound what so ever.

I'm also in the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" group. I play a Hwy 1 because I LOVE the features on it ; it's like if they built me a custom model, seriously. The only other mod I have on it is that I put a humbucker rails in the bridge, because I wanted a humbucker.

Don't worry about it too much man. If it's a good guitar, just have fun with it, unless of course, you want to spend the money.

True, and it sounds great! Seems just like the 2000 American Standard I owned except I much prefer the 6 point bridge on this one over the American Standard two point. If the new American Standard bridge was a 6 point, it would be my favorite.

I might just take a whetstone to the saddles to get the screws down lower since it can be annoying....but since I play a strat for mostly clean and light crunch, my picking hand is almost always between the middle and neck pickup so never really gets near the saddles. She is a killer strat.

My tech played it when he set it up and said it sound OK and sounds a bit boxy like most American made strats. Not sure what the heck he means, I think it sounds HUGE and so does everyone in the band who hears it at practice. My tech must have magic ears! LOL. He will only play Japanese Fender SQ strats from the 80s, go figure.

To make this strat perfect for me, it would have the new American Standard saddles and rolled fingerboard edges. But to be honest, the neck and fretoboard are so comfortable and well crafted on this 2003 Highway strat, it wouldn't nmatter!

[Mr. B]

So pickups are USA? They rock! Tuners are GREAT too!

Maybe I will just get the saddles.

Fender told me it is 100% USA except the hardware.

You like the stock pickups? I remember those being some of the most bland sterile sounding A5 single coils I've ever had. I thought the upgraded A3 pickups were better, but not in the same league as Duncans or Fender Custom shop. If you still have the stock pickups in it, get those out first and then see if you need to replace saddles and such.

[Frantic_Rock]

You like the stock pickups? I remember those being some of the most bland sterile sounding A5 single coils I've ever had. I thought the upgraded A3 pickups were better, but not in the same league as Duncans or Fender Custom shop. If you still have the stock pickups in it, get those out first and then see if you need to replace saddles and such.

Actually before putting in the Antiquities, i remember how nice the stock A5s were in my 2000 model. I remember woodshedding to Eric Clapton DVDs, and i could almost get that same neck tone like "Badge" solo, with a little overdrive, with my blues junior. They are very glassy sounding, and not shrill or brittle at all. They're great pickups. I put them into my friends cheapo afterwards, and his brother had fun with it too.

[Powdered Toast Man]

So it sounds great to you, and everyone in your band loves the sound of that guitar. So... what difference are you trying to achieve with a new bridge?