NBD2: Highway 1 Precision

[bovinehost]

Forgot to mention last week that I picked this up:

Every now and then, I just have to get another P bass because everyone else has a P bass and I don't want to be left out and also because every bassist should have a P bass and for various reasons I kind of think I am a bassist.

Probably once a year or so, one comes up and I think, "Well, I need a P bass, don't I?" And then I play it for a while and it feels like a P bass and sounds like a P bass and I remember that I'm not married to either the sound or feel of a P bass.

And people who know me are already laying odds that this one won't hang around very long, but I don't know. I've certainly had (and jettisoned) a boatload of sometimes good/sometimes excellent Precisions.....

Never played a Highway 1 before. Hmmmm. I like the feel of the finish on this. Kind of light and - is it nitro? Can't be. No one shoots nitro anymore. Whatever it is, it's got an "old" feel to it, which is how P basses should feel. Plus it's already got some dings so I'm not exactly worried about it being pristine.

And it plays GREAT. I don't quite know how to qualify that, because like all good P basses, it will fight back a little. "It does not invite wankery", I told someone the other day. It's not hard to play, I've got the setup where I want it and it's strung with flats, but there's something about P basses that says, "Play the notes and don't get all fancy." Nothing wrong with that.

Anyway, having no experience with the Hwy 1 stuff, I was very pleasantly surprised.

I think it needs either tort or maybe white. It's very 70s as it sits.

It also has a headstock.

Jack

 

[bassist4dalord]

Pretty sure these are sprayed with nitro. Bass looks nice! If you feel a compulsion to offload that as soon as possible, I'll give ya $100 for it Ya know, get rid of it quick.

Congrats!

 

[tjh]

That should be a nitro finish, if the body is the original for the neck ... somebody must have changed out the BAII bridge for the current one, along with the Basslines ... I like the look, if it was a Hwy 1 it would be Lacquer, this should be a Hwy ONE, which would be nitro ... very nice!!

 

[Jeff K]

It needs tort.

I used to have one. Nice bass. Here's how it looks with tort. The tort looked darker indoors, and matched nicely with the rosewood board.

 

[krstko]

Make it white. I don't have any white P, but I do have J that is as white as possible an it looks awsome

 

[TinIndian]

I think that the earlier ones didn't come with the BAII. But it is for sure Nitro on it. Part of the reason I want to pick one up.

 

[ksandvik]

I think that the earlier ones didn't come with the BAII. But it is for sure Nitro on it. Part of the reason I want to pick one up.

Yes, with nitro don't expect it to look pristine after a a couple of months' of use but then again it will get the real road-worn look after a while -- even better, it's a custom road-worn look.

 

[J Bass Flats]

You leave that black guard on there now!

We wouldn't want to ruin the beautiful contrast of white on black, now would we?

 

[tjh]

I think that the earlier ones didn't come with the BAII. But it is for sure Nitro on it. Part of the reason I want to pick one up.

This is not an earlier 1, this would be a Hwy ONE (2006-2011), which would have came stock with a BAII, if it is the original body for this neck, as I mentioned ... and if it was an 'earlier' 1, the bridge would have threaded saddles ...

 

[Antares]

Congrats. Really love the Highway 1 series.

 

[Johnny Alien]

When did they have headstock logos like that? I know the first ones were basically MIM necks and they had the truss rod adjustment on the headstock end. And then they switched to US style necks with the truss on the body end. But I thought that they switched to the 70's logo at the same time (like the picture above). Did they have a year or two of using the the standard style logo like in the OP?

 

[alembicguy]

This is not an earlier 1, this would be a Hwy ONE (2006-2011), which would have came stock with a BAII, if it is the original body for this neck, as I mentioned ... and if it was an 'earlier' 1, the bridge would have threaded saddles ...

If so the Fender logo is incorrect. The headstock in the center of the photo is a 2006.

 

[tjh]

Johnny, very good catch ... this indeed is the logo from an earlier Hwy 1 series bass ... with that said, Fender has been notorious over the years for mixing and matching components on their transitition models ... what I mean by that, is usually a Fender line transitions over and is introduced mid year, usually July range .. with that said, I have seen Hwy Series basses produced right around that date, with mix-n-match components, such as heel adjust, graphite supported necks on early Hwy 1 (number) series bodies ... this goes back to very early Fenders, even the '66 oval tuner Jazz I had was a bit of a question as to whether it should have had blocks w/binding, or dots/no binding, etc ... it was actually dots with binding ...

long story shorter, I would guess this to be a transition time period bass, where the early Hwy 1 series logo got attached errantly ... it would not surprise me if this bass came up with a Z6 + early production serial number, that would help to explain it ... if it has a newer serial #, I would have no idea how it happened, because the specs on the 'upgraded' Hwy ONE series very clearly includes that it should have the 70'slogo ...

... bovinehost, you care to put the serial # out, it would give us a better idea?

Edit to add: if indeed this is an 'upgraded' model Hwy ONE (word) neck that made its way onto an '05 end of the run Hwy 1 series body ... then you probably would not have a nitrocellulose laquer body, but the original laquer finish ... I still dont know about the bridge without the threaded saddles though, of course someone could have changed that along the way as well ... but that would be less likely than somebody changing from the BAII to the current bridge .. many folks were selling the BAII's off of these when they were going for crazy prices ($150+) on Ebay and installing less expensive pieces or other options ...

 

[alembicguy]

This is the serial number of the one I posted a couple up. This will be 2006-2007 model serial number.

 

[tjh]

yup, that would be a serial # well into the run ...

 

[bovinehost]

Well, I had no idea this could be so interesting. I'll snag the serial number in a bit and see if that clears it up. Clearly the pickups have been swapped out so maybe some other tomfoolery was going on, too!

Not that I mind. The thing really does work.

 

[Jimmy Stump]

As tjh said, I suspect that someone took the stock Badass II bridge off and sold it on ebay for $200 and replaced it with a $30 vintage style bridge. Not sure why everyone thinks a Badass bridge is the Holy Grail of bridges, but they do.

 

[bohemond]

I have the same one. Its a 2006-07. Bought it brand new back in 07 with a BA11 bridge and a whitepickguard, nitro finish.

 

[tjh]

I have the same one. Its a 2006-07. Bought it brand new back in 07 with a BA11 bridge and a whitepickguard, nitro finish.

... and does it have the 70's headstock logo or the logo from the Hwy 1 series? .. if it has the earlier logo, what is your serial # ... it may have been an early run also ...

 

[hdracer]

As tjh said, I suspect that someone took the stock Badass II bridge off and sold it on ebay for $200 and replaced it with a $30 vintage style bridge. Not sure why everyone thinks a Badass bridge is the Holy Grail of bridges, but they do.

You would be able to see the imprint in the finish if it ever had a BA on it.
Every bass I have taken one off of has a big mark in the paint from it.