0:00 Intro 0:55 Sounds - "Dog in You" by Richard Thompson 3:00 Dirty little secret 3:39 8 gauge strings 6:54 Acoustic resonance 8:33 eBay purchase 9:54 Initial impressions 10:04 Refretting 10:50 Maple board refinish 11:41 Choosing pickups 14:08 Tuners 15:00 Wiring 17:21 Additional tone control 19:11 Tremolo 21:18 Nitro finish or not? 23:55 Sounds - pickups 30:23 Final thoughts

Great insight into a guitar i am about to purchase, thanks!

Beautiful tones and playing, I have a set of early Highway One Strat pickups in my Squier standard Strat

.008 is my gauge too, I love it ! ....... 👍

Nice playing and great tone. RT is my all-time favorite player.

nice, I can fall asleep looking at you :) in a nice way, not boring way. nice playing

A really nice job on the RT sounds

Great clean Strat tone

The guitar sounds great and you play beautifully. I just bought a red 2005.

Hey its nice to see you, hope you're doing well

Can i like it twice?Great demo sir!

Super informative. I have 3 Highway One guitars and think they’re a gem and n Fender’s history. I love the finish. It looks like yours is the early type (2002-6) which had the smaller traditional headstock, Alnico 2 pickups, and a rare acrylic lacquer finish. That’s a type of lacquer so it’s a cool finish and very rare. I have one 2004 Highway One guitar, and two of the later Highway Ones, a 2006, which had Vintage Noiseless Pickups, I’m assuming by the previous owner, and a 2007 HSS with Hot Alnico 3 pickups. I just bought the 2004 about five months ago so I could try the earlier version and complete my Highway One roster. I paid $1100 for it. The later Highway Ones seem to go for at least a 1000 USD. I play the 2006 and 2007 guitars a lot on my channel and also did a review of the HSS. Im getting ready to put together a review of the 2004. I think the 2004 is more suited for that classic Stratocaster sound, like Mark Knopfler, while the bigger headstock guitars are more for cranking like Robin Trower. I often play with fuzz, which I love but probably limits appreciation of the pure Stratocaster qualities. Thanks for posting a really worthwhile commentary and demo of these awesome guitars.

I actually sold my Highway One Strat last Summer. I don't know why I ever bought it (back in 2007) because it was an SSH and the humbucker in the bridge position made it impossible to get those Knopfler-esque sounds! I replaced it with a new American Pro Strat that is just wonderful! Also - listening to you play reminds me that I need to work on some of those Down to the Waterline riffs!! So soulful!

That's a nice sound bud 👍 👌

I totally agree, small 8-9 are so much clearer and easier to play with.

I want to get more acustomed to play like that where you solo a bit into a few chord progressions telling a story but sonically. Absolutely beautiful playing. I love David gilmour and Mark K. I need to check out the Thompson guy. You would certainly know i think. Lol. Im limited to mediocre gear at the moment as far as brands but i think ive been fortunate in my journey. My first electric is still my favorite but, since i played many others with taller frets, its now sadly still my baby but its frets i wish were taller. It is a MIM Limited run 2017 (Big box run) from 2010s i saw them all over and they finally quit with thay last run and now its player series. I got the spaghetti logo and 21 standard fret and body , neck and stamped trem 6 screw. Black with black 3 ply PG. Ceramic pups. The guitar is awesome. I wonder why medium jumbo are so low? When i first got it and rarely played on it i never noticed any issue but due to classic Vibe 60s frets being taller and super strats i had and sold taller frets , Harley Benton fusion Stainless Jumbo i love. I think that is what happened and they are normal on the strat maybe its the poly on the maple. Making my fingertips feel the board more than i like. The strings do not touch at all. So i may one day get it fretted with jumbo Stainless. Lol.

Nice and useful discussion! I just got a Highway One Strat body and installed a Warmoth roasted maple neck. It has an outstanding Acoustic Resonance. May I ask what model of the Smitty pickups did you choose? Thank you!

Great video and playing thank you 👍👍 what year is it, mine is 2011 which has the larger 70s headstock, I also changed the strings to 10 cauge 😊

I have one, 06, diamond coin on the back of the head bought new in 06. My first guitar and I still pick it up lots, kept al'original cause I love it for that but I prefer my Fury's.

Sounds b****y good. On the subject of accoustic resonance, i recently bought a Robert Cray signature strat mainly for the weight as these are light, any way they are string through body, no whammy bar antics, and boy is it resonant, rings out for ages and you can feel the vibrations through the body. Should mention this is a mexican made guitar and is now by far my favorite, so much so i've sold my american elite and a Japenese strat i had.

Great sound and playing. I’ve an 04 HW-1 Strat in crimson. I’d like another with a rosewood board. I’ve two HW-1 Teles also. Excellent guitars with really cool finishes that wear away as you play! 2002-2006 have Satin Acrylic nitro which eventually shines from wear, and 2006-2010 have thin Satin Nitro. It’s a pity they screwed up the Strats from 2006-2010 with the stupid big headstock. That really limits the series for me and worse still they continued it with the American Special and Performer series to deter people from getting a regular USA style Strat for a lower price. Clever marketing gimmickry.

You've played before!

Hey, are you interested in selling this guitar?