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JUSTIN NORVELL: Hi. I’m Justin Norvell, marketing manager for Fender electric guitars and basses. I’d like to talk about the new redesigned Highway One series. Basically, these instruments are completely overhauled, upgraded, hotrodded, and modded for 2006. We’ve changed everything on these instruments. Even though the look is still no frills, we’ve done a ton of changes that go underneath the hood and affect tone and playability in every way.

We’ve gone to huge frets on the necks. We’ve gone to a ‘70s vibe on the headstocks. We’ve got hot AlNiCo III magnet pickups which sound great with distortion, nice tight sounds, eliminates the harsh highs. We have a Greasebucket circuit that works on the tone control which rounds off the highs without adding bass. We have a higher mass bridge. Finally, the finish now, instead of an acrylic lacquer, it is a nitrocellulose thin lacquer which will naturally wear down over time and look like a vintage instrument in a matter of years rather than decades, and the thinness of the finish really lets the tonality of the wood shine through and lets the instrument breathe.

They’re awesome, blue collar workhorse, strong guitar tone machines that are really built to be made to be played, used and abused, thrown in the back of the car every night through smoky clubs and the drinks spilled on and just really just be in play. They’re built for tone.

We also have the basses, the P and J, which are also upgraded in different ways, each of them wet with the nitrocellulose finish but we have added a Badass II bridge which is probably the most common modification that’s made to a Fender bass after market, and then we also strengthened the neck by adding our patented graphite Posiflex reinforcement rods which will make these basses withstand a lot more punishment than before, so check out our new Highway One.