Fender highway one stratocaster pots
The MiM has a narrower neck, thinner frets, and stock bridge (I believe the "stock" bridge, is called a "two point" bridge), and the trem bar screws in. The tone on my American is brighter, the pickups are a bit more responsive- some would say a lot more responsive. The neck on my American is solid maple the MiM has a maple neck, with a rosewood fretboard. I'll compare my MiM to my 1984 American as examples. There are some differences between the MiM and American. There seems to be a lot of controversy among guitarists as to the quality between them MiMs and American made, and, in my opinion, Fender is cashing in on it. For an American made Standard, more than double the price. The latest line of MiM Standard Strats retail, on average, for $399.99. My focus is on the Made in Mexico Standard Strat. A Standard Strat comes with 3 single coil pickups, a master volume and 2 tone pots, with a 5 way switch.įender now has a dizzying array of different model Strats- the American Standard, Deluxe, VG, Reissues (RI), Signature and Custom models humbucker pickups, Floyd Rose bridges, fixed tail bridges and noiseless pickups are some innovations Fender has made since the original Standard came on the scene around 1954. What you see above, is a stock Standard Stratocaster, Made in Mexico, a/k/a MiM.
"Classic" guitars, such as Les Pauls, Telecasters and Stratocasters are in great demand now by collectors, and vintage guitars are fetching incredible prices. I purchased this on an Ebay auction last week for $300.07 ($260.07 + $40 s/h.) Prices vary for any used instrument condition, original parts or lack of them, limited edition models, even color- these are some variables that will impact the value of a used guitar. And they have the benefit that if you don't care for the new sounds, they are easily reversible on the next string change, but I don't see me ever changing mine back.Įdit: Forgot to add - the middle without tone pot sounds the same as the middle with the pot at 10.Above, you see a used, 2004 Standard Stratocaster. The jumper from neck to bridge or moving the middle are even easier on the old 3 way switch.
#Fender highway one stratocaster pots mods#
These both are simple mods that added about 10 minutes to a string change on each guitar and both give you the bridge flexibility that Fender could have put into the strat at the beginning. I was leaning towards the no tone on the middle variation for a while, but I really like having tone on all three pups. I would compare it to how tone works on Gibbies but I don't want to confuse the issue. It seems to add a certain amount of "richness" (can't describe it any better than that) and has a lot more tonal variation than either pot would have on its own.
2 and 4 have both tone pots in the circuit, each controlling one pup each, but due to how a strat is wired there is a certain amount of tone rolloff for both pickups by each pot individually. The other strat has a jumper from the neck tone to the bridge and with the standard 5 way switch there is only one pup on any tone pot at any time, at least for positions 1,3 and 5. You can use position 2 or 4 to bring one of the tone pots into the circuit, but these positions in and of themselves change the overall tone as much or more than the pot will. I use the middle on both strats probably more than either the neck or bridge, but with this variation the way to control tone is with where I pick the strings. I have one of mine wired with the tone moved from the middle to the bridge.