Field Trip 001
Within a mere 45 minute drive from my house, there are two different Sam Ash stores, two different Guitar Center stores, and about twenty mom & pop stores. And roughly once a week I will take a field trip to one or more stores.
Gear I Tested
I always learn something new, or see something interesting. And for Field Trip 001, the most interesting thing as a 2003 Fender Highway One Strat, for $450 with hard case. Looked like this:
There was some fret wear, but not too bad for a 10 year old guitar. The neck felt great. The body was the typical “you don’t get a nice finish” that Highway One guitars are known for. The pickups were… blah. To me, they sounded like the low budget ceramic pickups in the MIM Standard Strat. I pulled out my iPhone and tried to find out what pickups came stock in the guitar, but no luck. Later I dug around on Google and still didn’t come up with an answer. If anyone knows, please let me know in the comments section.
So… good buy, or not? It played great and sounded OK. As you can see, it’s a plain looking guitar. The best part of the guitar is the neck, and there was some wear on it. The hardware seemed to be similar to a modern MIM Standard Strat. But it did come with a hardshell case. It was a good buy, but not for me. Part of working on a budget means getting maximum bang for the buck. The neck was great, but the rest of the guitar was so-so. Had the body been great, or the pickups, or hardware, I might have pulled the trigger.
People I Met
I met three fellow guitarists on this trip. I never strike up conversations with people I don’t know, but they always seem to strike one up with me. I think it’s because they can tell I love gear. The first guy I met was a bald guy, about 6 ft 200 pounds, with tattoos on both arms. He wanted to know what I though about playing classic rock on a guitar with a vibrato bar. I told him it should be no problem. He also wanted to know if you could play classic rock on a semi-hollow body. I said you could, but that feedback became a bigger problem.
The second guy I met was a man in the process of becoming a woman. And the third guy was a 19 year old kid with tattoos on his arms – he was buying a Mustang I amp. Really polite kid. I was butchering the intro to “Closer to the Heart” on the HWY 1, and he told me it sounded really good. I like the Mustang amps for the money – they are great practice amps and great for beginners. See my Mustang II Amp review for more info. Um, after I’ve written it.
Guitar players are a strange breed. Go into a music store and you’re likely to find a guy with boobs, a 19 year old with tattoos, and a 48 year old weekend guitar junkie, discussing the merits of the Vox AC 15. But go into almost any guitarist forum and you’ll see some of the nastiest, meanest comments and insults hurled for absolutely no reason. I chalk that up to all of the 17 year old guitarists online. That same bratty teen is much more civil in person.
I don’t know what any of that means – it’s just an observation.
