09 Fender USA strat

[straycat]

Bought this one of a guy in 2010 and shoved it in a closet and forgot about it.Never even played it.
Was cleaning out the closet today and found it under a bunch of empty cases.
I took it apart today for a clean up and string change.
I'm no Fender expert just a sucker for the large headstocks.Anyway the sticker on the neck heel dates it an 09 OK no sweat but I see it says HWY1?
Never saw a HWY 1 with a big headstock double ? This one has a glossy 2 tone burst most HWY 1's were not glossy IIRC.
Body is routed hum sing sing OK.Tons of bar code stickers and I have no idea how to decode them.
Any of you guys know (the Fender forum isn't much help)
Body is dated 2010 so could be the neck was made first who knows how Fender marks the bodies and necks.
Any clues pop out at you?

[Hellbat]

Nice closet treasure. Thats a sweet old school lookin strat.

[xenophobe]

I have no clue.. very sweet guitar indeed. You might want to post this on the fender forum... there are some dedicated Highway 1 fans there that should be able to tell you what you need to know.

[straycat]

Thanks I may go there, just need to remember my password its been years since I've posted there.
Its a nice matched 2 piece body too.

[straycat]

Found out what this is, its a Highway 1 upgrade model.
Alnico 3 pick ups with the grease bucket tone circuit.Kinda cool with the bridge pick up on you can roll the tone down and it doesn't get muddy just gets real fat sounding but still clear even when running a lot of gain on the amp.
Jumbo frets and huge steel sustain block on the trem.
Kinda diggin' it damn good sounding strat.
The 03 bar code means 2 tone sunburst to so its original.

[DonP]

I am far from being a Fender expert. Always saw Highway 1's with big headstocks and jumbo frets so I thought this was normal. Didn't know these were the "special" ones. Don't have a clue clue what the stock specs are for a Highway 1.

[straycat]

Specs are over wound alnico 3 pick ups,grease bucket circuit,Steel block vintage trem,Jumbo frets.Large headstock came later in the run.
Some had satin nitro and some were gloss poly.

[xenophobe]

Found out what this is, its a Highway 1 upgrade model.
The 03 bar code means 2 tone sunburst to so its original.

Awesome! I've been a Jackson loyalist for so long and searched through so many USA and Customs looking for some good tone... when I opened my eyes and started playing and looking around, I've found some true jems. My Showmaster sounds godlike, but I still don't have it back yet... they have to do some pretty expensive restoration work on the neck which is being paid for by Fender (I'm assuming at least $600 worth of fret leveling, fret end filing and matching the original finish where it was starting to delaminate) and my other white Strat which plays and sounds just as good as my Jackson strathead.

I'm a big fan of Fender now. Sadly, I'm less of a Jackson loyalist, even though I currently have 2 customs on order.

[Hellbat]

It's funny, I couldn't bond with any of the Strats I've played at stores over the past 25 years until I got my new select strat. Now I'm finding the total difference in tones compared to my other guitars is something that I've really been missing. It's kind of fun and inspiring to be able to get these different tones. That said, my RR1T is still 'my' sound.

[straycat]

Xeno there are Fender gems out there so I'm in the same boat.
The MIJ HM's are really really nice guitars and I always consider them.

[xenophobe]

It's funny, I couldn't bond with any of the Strats I've played at stores over the past 25 years until I got my new select strat. Now I'm finding the total difference in tones compared to my other guitars is something that I've really been missing. It's kind of fun and inspiring to be able to get these different tones. That said, my RR1T is still 'my' sound.

Yeah, I swear... the same thing. I remember when the E-series Squiers were raved about... I played dozens of them anywhere I could find them, even asking them to bring out stock that were still in boxes from the back... I've played many dozens of Strats at GC, Showcase, Gelb, and other stores, and I always found some nice players with good tone, but nothing that said buy me.

When I saw that white Fender on that japanese site, I said WHOAH. It was like Charvel, but made by Fender. When I got it, I was highly dissapointed... the bridge was messed up, the action was set wrong, it only had two springs and whomever set it up before used the trem spring tension to adjust string height... the trem must have been pitched up 15 degrees and the trem posts were bottomed out. So I took it apart, inspected it, then gave it a real working over... now it plays as good or better than my Jackson strathead... and now I'm sold. Fenders can be pretty goddamned amazing.

Xeno there are Fender gems out there so I'm in the same boat.
The MIJ HM's are really really nice guitars and I always consider them.

I always liked those HM's, but they always had something cheesy about them that I could never get past.

There have been a few fat strats and highway 1's that I considered purchasing but never quite bit me, probably because I was so loyalist to Jackson.

I'm glad I have opened my eyes.

[DonP]

I have 3 HM Strats. I like them a lot, and they are very consistent tone wise. No duds, so far.

[straycat]

New set of 10's swapped out the long saddle screws for short ones ( I hate the long screws that chew up the hand) and its a damn nice playing strat.
All the pick up settings sound nice and clear, the pick ups sound more than excellent.
Still adjusting to the 9.5 neck radius ATM.