Fender Highway 1 Telecaster

Perfect For Customising – This is a USA made instrument at an Asian built price. Everything is there just as it is; the guitar plays well, sounds great, and after a minor setup will go straight to the stage without any worries but for me the real beauty of this instrument is in its potential for upgrades. I really wanted a guitar to call my own. The first thing I did was to upgrade the neck pickup. I installed a Seymore Duncan stacked humbucker. I've always loved that fat sound and I use this pickup 95% of the time. Then I replaced the bridge with a Wilkinson model that allows individual tuning of the strings. Machine heads were upgraded likewise.

This was the extent of the essential upgrades. I made a few cosmetic changes, wooden pot controls, a new pickguard. I didn't touch the finish because I like it just as it is. Mine is the sunburst.

Finished! Very few changes really and I now have a Tele that plays and sounds just the way I want at a fraction of the price of a custom instrument but like I said, there is no reason to change a thing if you don't want to. The guitar is fine straight out of the box. Well, let me qualify that; I have never liked the Tele bridge. Even on the top shelf models the bridge is a crummy design that only allows you to tune the strings in pairs. Thus, tuning is always a compromise. Obviously this is not a problem as the Telecaster is one of the most recorded guitars in history but I am finicky about tuning. I want every note to be in tune on the whole length of the string. So for me the bridge had to go. Other people may want to keep it just the way it is.

I have played guitar for 40 years. My first serious guitar was a Telecaster Deluxe 1976, the one with 2 humbuckers. I love these guitars and the Highway One is no exception. I think a person could do a lot worse than investing in this guitar. I love mine.

Excellent – I've been playing guitar for 25 years and always loved Fenders. There are ultimately THE sound of rock. The Tele is an icon and a benchmark for many other modern guitars. I think it's the best value for money guitar for all types of musicians. It's a versatile guitar that can be used for ALL types of music and can easily be modified with new or used parts. 2004 model.

Great Tele sound.

The smoothest maple neck (C shape I think), just a pleasure to play.

USA made with vintage style hardware.

A simple yet enjoyable guitar.

Warm vintage style pickups.

Versatile sound. Non really.

The new (2006 ~) versions have jumbo frets.

Single coil pickups are noisy (hum). Replaced mine to noiseless pickups.