What's the difference between Fender's Highway One and American Standard guitars?
I'm thinking about buying a lefty Fender Stratocaster. My first choice was the American Standard because I've been told the tone is much more superior than their Mexican counterparts, but searching the web I found that the "Highway One" series are also American Made, but their price is almost half of the American ones, I want to know what's exactly the difference between this series (I'm guessing the hardware, woods and materials are of inferior quality) and if this differences affect the overall tone of the guitar?
In case you want to know my playing style varies from an overdriven blues sound to prog-rock style shredding.
The tone differences between the MIM's and USA Fenders is mythical. They use the same wood. All hardware is obtained from the same parts depot in San Diego that supplies both the Corona, CA and the Ensenada, Mex. Plants. The difference is Quality Control and labor. As a result, the USA Fenders cost more becuaseof the extra salary layers for QC and the higher labor costs of assembly. Also, there are many features that you can get on a USA Fender that you can't get on a MIM... that helps prop up the price. The Highway Ones are more marketing tools than specialized guitars. They are designed to attract the mid-price buyer into the Fender fold, because Fender had no market share at all in the medium range. So they offer USA Fenders, with some upgraded features (but not all) and wholesale them to distributers (GC, Sam Ash, etc) at a break-even/loss leader price in order to gain market share. Yes, they are a good value for the dollar and I would consider buying one before I bought an American Standard. However, If you can afford an American Deluxe, there's nothing more smooth and beautiful that that (except maybe a high-end Gibson).
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