FENDER HIGHWAY ONE 1 STRATOCASTER DiMarzio PUs USA AMERICAN BLACKOUT STRAT 58597
Fender Highway One Stratocaster--black beauty with SSS setup. Sweet player.
Description
This is a 2004 Fender Highway One Stratocaster in a Black on Black look. It has upgraded USA-made DiMarzio pickups and cloth wire that sound really great. They are: Neck: Area 61, Middle: Area 67, and Bridge: Area 58. That's about $250 worth of high end pickups. (Description of each pickup at bottom of auction.) Cool looking with a light relic worn vibe. Made in USA with a thin nitro finish to let your tone come through. Big jumbo frets showing mild wear. Soft satin finish on back of neck. Large 70s-style headstock. These are becoming collectible. Most guys have seen the Highway 1 quality and like the thin finish so they often sell for more than standard USA models of the same period. Weight is 7 pounds, 13 ounces. I do a full cleaning and setup on all guitars. (Details on my setups and packing at bottom of listing.) Thanks for looking.
Manufacturer Info
The Highway One models are hot-rodded versions of a '70s-style Strat with jumbo frets, a rounder tone and higher gain, as well as a thin-coated nitrocellulose body which allows the tone of the wood to come out. Two configurations are available: The Highway One Stratocaster (also available left-handed) which features the standard Stratocaster pickup configuration of three single-coil pickups and the Highway One Stratocaster HSS - which features one humbucker and two single coil pickup.
The Highway One models are hot-rodded versions of a '70s-style Strat with jumbo frets, a rounder tone and higher gain, as well as a thin-coated nitrocellulose body which allows the tone of the wood to come out. Two configurations are available: The Highway One Stratocaster (also available left-handed) which features the standard Stratocaster pickup configuration of three single-coil pickups and the Highway One Stratocaster HSS - which features one humbucker and two single coil pickup.
Pickups
Bridge: Area 58
DiMarzio modeled their Area '58 after one of the most celebrated Strat pickups from 1958, with two major differences. The Area '58 has way less magnet pull, and virtually no hum. It's recommended for neck and middle, and can also be used in the bridge position. A great pickup is clear and bright, but not thin-sounding. A great one makes the sound jump out of the amp when you pick hard and drop way down when you play softly, and the tone varies when the string is picked at different spots. DiMarzio designed the Area '58 to fit this profile exactly. Tech Talk: The Area '58 has obvious similarities to the Virtual Vintage 2.1 it replaces, but there are several non-visible performance factors that have changed. Dynamic range and string definition are greatly increased, leading to improvements in both clean chord-playing and overdriven soloing. The '58 is very sensitive to small height adjustment differences: close to the strings produces a fatter, slightly compressed blues tone and further away yields crystal clean sounds. The final improvement is in noise reduction. All of the Virtual Vintage pickups have better hum cancellation than full-size humbuckers. The Area '58 and Area '61 are even quieter.
Middle: Area 67
The DiMarzio DP419 Area '67 is a hum canceling pickup that has the chime of '60s pickups, and its 2 and 4 positions are light, bright and quack-happy. The Monterey Pop Festival of 1967 was a watershed event in American music. When it was over, the world had heard and felt the sound of a Strat in the hands of a master. Single-coil electric guitar pickups in 1967 were bright and very clean. And of course, they hummed. DiMarzio has captured this classic bright and clean sound but totally eliminated the hum with patented Area technology. They also reduced magnet pull by 40% for improved sustain and clarity. Recommended For: All positions, especially neck and middle.Tech Talk: Strat pickups in the late 1960s used full-strength Alnico 5 magnets. The patented magnetic field of the Area models is more efficient and focused than it is on true single-coils, which allows DiMarzio to use Alnico 2 in the DP419 instead. There's much less magnet pull, but no loss of output. This is a major advantage in the neck and middle positions, where sustain and intonation can both suffer if the strings are exposed to strong magnetic fields. In the bridge position, the patented technology of the Area '67 pickup produces a sound that's very bright but not brittle.
Neck: Area 61
Drawing upon the steely, yet woody-sounding tonality of several pickups from the early '60s, DiMarzio has produced a modern version of these vintage gems with no hum and less magnet pull. DiMarzio has been working on serious vintage single-coil design with no hum for eight years, with the goal of capturing the best qualities of guitar pickups from the 1950s and early '60s. The DP416 Area '61 succeeds admirably, is good in all three positions, and is a perfect bridge pickup with a pair of Area '58s if you want to go all the way from Nashville to Texas in one guitar. Tech Talk: Over the last 10 years DiMarzio received hundreds of requests from guitarists asking for the Texas blues sound. This sound is centered on single-coils from the early 1960s, but it's also based on heavy strings and strong hands. The Area '61 captures the tonal bedrock this sound is based on. Like the Area '58, the Area '61 really responds to different pick attacks: played hard, it sounds louder and tougher than you'd expect from a vintage pickup, but it cleans up immediately by picking softer or rolling down the volume control. And like the Area '58, its ability to cancel hum is superior to full-size humbuckers.See below for video demo of similar guitar.
What You Get
-- Full setup, cleaning, and new strings.
-- FREE USA shipping.
-- 30-day return policy.
-- Ship within 1 business day--pro packing.
Bridge: Area 58
DiMarzio modeled their Area '58 after one of the most celebrated Strat pickups from 1958, with two major differences. The Area '58 has way less magnet pull, and virtually no hum. It's recommended for neck and middle, and can also be used in the bridge position. A great pickup is clear and bright, but not thin-sounding. A great one makes the sound jump out of the amp when you pick hard and drop way down when you play softly, and the tone varies when the string is picked at different spots. DiMarzio designed the Area '58 to fit this profile exactly. Tech Talk: The Area '58 has obvious similarities to the Virtual Vintage 2.1 it replaces, but there are several non-visible performance factors that have changed. Dynamic range and string definition are greatly increased, leading to improvements in both clean chord-playing and overdriven soloing. The '58 is very sensitive to small height adjustment differences: close to the strings produces a fatter, slightly compressed blues tone and further away yields crystal clean sounds. The final improvement is in noise reduction. All of the Virtual Vintage pickups have better hum cancellation than full-size humbuckers. The Area '58 and Area '61 are even quieter.
Middle: Area 67
The DiMarzio DP419 Area '67 is a hum canceling pickup that has the chime of '60s pickups, and its 2 and 4 positions are light, bright and quack-happy. The Monterey Pop Festival of 1967 was a watershed event in American music. When it was over, the world had heard and felt the sound of a Strat in the hands of a master. Single-coil electric guitar pickups in 1967 were bright and very clean. And of course, they hummed. DiMarzio has captured this classic bright and clean sound but totally eliminated the hum with patented Area technology. They also reduced magnet pull by 40% for improved sustain and clarity. Recommended For: All positions, especially neck and middle.Tech Talk: Strat pickups in the late 1960s used full-strength Alnico 5 magnets. The patented magnetic field of the Area models is more efficient and focused than it is on true single-coils, which allows DiMarzio to use Alnico 2 in the DP419 instead. There's much less magnet pull, but no loss of output. This is a major advantage in the neck and middle positions, where sustain and intonation can both suffer if the strings are exposed to strong magnetic fields. In the bridge position, the patented technology of the Area '67 pickup produces a sound that's very bright but not brittle.
Neck: Area 61
Drawing upon the steely, yet woody-sounding tonality of several pickups from the early '60s, DiMarzio has produced a modern version of these vintage gems with no hum and less magnet pull. DiMarzio has been working on serious vintage single-coil design with no hum for eight years, with the goal of capturing the best qualities of guitar pickups from the 1950s and early '60s. The DP416 Area '61 succeeds admirably, is good in all three positions, and is a perfect bridge pickup with a pair of Area '58s if you want to go all the way from Nashville to Texas in one guitar. Tech Talk: Over the last 10 years DiMarzio received hundreds of requests from guitarists asking for the Texas blues sound. This sound is centered on single-coils from the early 1960s, but it's also based on heavy strings and strong hands. The Area '61 captures the tonal bedrock this sound is based on. Like the Area '58, the Area '61 really responds to different pick attacks: played hard, it sounds louder and tougher than you'd expect from a vintage pickup, but it cleans up immediately by picking softer or rolling down the volume control. And like the Area '58, its ability to cancel hum is superior to full-size humbuckers.See below for video demo of similar guitar.
What You Get
-- Full setup, cleaning, and new strings.
-- FREE USA shipping.
-- 30-day return policy.
-- Ship within 1 business day--pro packing.
Guitar Setup
My setup on guitars includes new strings (9s or 10s depending on what the nut is cut for), overall polish, cleaning any gunk off fingerboard, oiling neck, and polishing frets when necessary. I spray out any pots that are noisy. I turn the truss rod (if necessary) and set string height at low-to-medium action depending on string buzz present. Since setup is highly subjective you may need to get it set to your particular needs by your personal luthier. I don't claim to be a trained luthier, but I'm able to set guitars/basses for a reasonable out-of-box experience and have had very few complaints. If you're looking for the perfect setup on a used guitar, please expect to take it to a trained luthier who is familiar with your individual playing style and preferences. ps: basses get the same setup minus the new strings. Thanks!
Packing
I use quality boxes, thick bubble wrap, and peanuts to pack guitars. I have a very high rate of successful guitar and bass shipping (meaning few damaged instruments). I have been doing this 10 years and know how to pack well--with or without a hard case. I wrote a detailed story with photos on how I pack a guitar, which you can find on my StillKickinMusic site blog. If you Google "THERE IN ONE PIECE...How to Pack a Guitar" you will find it. Thanks.
My setup on guitars includes new strings (9s or 10s depending on what the nut is cut for), overall polish, cleaning any gunk off fingerboard, oiling neck, and polishing frets when necessary. I spray out any pots that are noisy. I turn the truss rod (if necessary) and set string height at low-to-medium action depending on string buzz present. Since setup is highly subjective you may need to get it set to your particular needs by your personal luthier. I don't claim to be a trained luthier, but I'm able to set guitars/basses for a reasonable out-of-box experience and have had very few complaints. If you're looking for the perfect setup on a used guitar, please expect to take it to a trained luthier who is familiar with your individual playing style and preferences. ps: basses get the same setup minus the new strings. Thanks!
Packing
I use quality boxes, thick bubble wrap, and peanuts to pack guitars. I have a very high rate of successful guitar and bass shipping (meaning few damaged instruments). I have been doing this 10 years and know how to pack well--with or without a hard case. I wrote a detailed story with photos on how I pack a guitar, which you can find on my StillKickinMusic site blog. If you Google "THERE IN ONE PIECE...How to Pack a Guitar" you will find it. Thanks.
