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Fender Highway One Impressions
- Thread starter NicholasF
- Start date
"The hardware is the same as on an American Standard, as far as tuners, pots, wiring, knobs."
... just a heads up, the tuners on any Highway Series have never been the same as either the American Standards, past and present, or the American Series in the middle years between them
... just a heads up, the tuners on any Highway Series have never been the same as either the American Standards, past and present, or the American Series in the middle years between them
should be the same tuner used on the MIM Standard, the American Special, and maybe even some of the Squier models ...
You mean they are loose when unstrung? that can be fixed by flopping the spring plate inside if it is real bad ... as long as they hold tuning under tension reasonably well, it should not be an issue though
You mean they are loose when unstrung? that can be fixed by flopping the spring plate inside if it is real bad ... as long as they hold tuning under tension reasonably well, it should not be an issue though
The tuners are fender standard tuners. The same as the special and MIM models. I have a black jazz, it's my backup for my Am Standard jazz, which have the Fender logo stamped on them and are 30% lighter for better balance, and they are. I love my highway one, I've got a nice little polish just off the bridge pick up now. But the tuners are the only thing below am standard quality and it's made me love badass II bridges. Great basses at a much lower cost than when they were a new model. If I recall they were around a grand like the Am specials are that replaced them in the production line.
Tons of threads on these.
Early 2011 was not a good year for Fender QC on Highway Ones. The goal was to ship product, get out of a severe backlog and not sweat the small stuff.
I've had a few apart on the bench, including two made on the same day. One was really good and the other was the worst MIA I've ever seen in working on Fender basses for over forty years -- unseated frets, mismatched pickups, etc.
The best thing about the HOs is the BAII bridge, which you can pull and sell for $150-$200 to people who don't know any better.
My "working" P and J basses are 2011 Highway Ones and excellent examples of the Precision and Jazz basses, by any standard, but they were cherrypicked, polished out and had vintage bridges put on. I have nearly nothing in them after getting them on long sale and cashing out of the BAIIs.
It's all about the deal and the individual instrument.
It's all about the deal and the individual instrument.
It's all about the deal and the individual instrument.
All other advice is essentially meaningless.
Well that's the end of the thread then! Ha!
Sorry, that just struck me as quite funny.
The machines on the HO are fine if they haven't been screwed up during assembly and are properly lubricated at the right spot (the face of the load-bearing shaft shoulder, not the gears). I was going to replace them, but could find no reason to. People worry about machines too much.
I dislike the Hipshots on my American Standard for several reasons, among them the apparent engineering fail of using tapered posts on treed D and G string applications.
The HO Jazz has the MIM 58358/9 "Vintage" pickup set, common to the Classic and RW Jazzes, not the same as the American Standard's. The Precision, on the other hand, uses the MIA 61276/7 set common to the American Standard Precision.
Out of boredom, I replaced the 58358/9 set with a tight-speced OV set, but the raw DI A/B reference control tracks I recorded in the studio prior to and after the swap indicate almost no audible difference when using flats -- certainly not enough to justify the time and money to swap them. Live and learn!
Both P and J HOs nominally have the "Greasebucket" foolishness, but some HOs I saw from the final production run did not have the Greasebucket, but rather the straight American Standard loom. There were some crazy substitutions going on to move units at the end.
The HO bodies are the same pattern as the USRI instruments and may in some cases be from the same pile. The final-run HO Jazz I picked up has an excellent two-piece body, and at this closing out of the model, it looks as though they just used the same bodies as the RIs to get the remaining HOs out and over with.
Hope this helps!
I think they would be a phenomenal bass. The USA necks, electronics, etc... Are better than others and the BadassII bridge kicks ass. I love the BadassII on my MIM, but the MIM is kinda flemsy, but I still love it. I used to have a Hwy 1, telecaster, and it was pretty awesome, sounds like or better than the amer. Stds. Just not flashy paint. Personally, I think the Badass II is the best bridge out there, just listen to Geddy Lee. I know most of his resonance comes from that bridge.
PS, what is wrong with MIM tuners? absolutely nothing. My MIM tuners (on 4 string) are just as good as my Gotoh tuners on my MIA 5 string. They hold the tune fine, I cant really tell tone difference in tuners anyway, its all in strings and bridge mainly.
I was going to swap my tuners out on my Geddy Lee but after playing the bass for a few weeks I don't think I need to spend the money. I don't have to tune it any more than any other bass I've had. I tune all the time. I'm a bit obsessive about it so it wouldn't matter what tuners I had.
I have the Highway One Jazz with the graphite reinforced neck and BA II bridge. Love it. I have gigged with it for several years stock and have had no problems with the tuners, bridge, or any other part of it. My wife bought it for me as a gift. She chose wisely.
