Re-string Sunday

Re-string Sunday - Fender Highway 1 Showmaster HH. Not mine, belongs to a friend. I remember accompanying him to the Swee Lee showroom for a look-see which ended up in this purchase. He requested for a set of Elixir 10s.

I'm the type who does not just re-string, I will look into the guitar's well-being to make sure it's in optimum condition, if not fantastic, for the owner / player. This guitar, due to its age, is fighting a fresh set of strings which was traced to a tension issue. If you look at the springs here, notice that some of them (3 to be precise) are sagging; these are the older ones. I had to initially tighten the trem claw screws to balance the tension but the older springs simply couldn't keep up. The screws were driven excessively into the cavity & it ran out of room. So I added two fresh springs in there to keep things in check, these are the straight ones you see above, slightly shinier as well. There are other parts of this guitar that needed upgrading / replacement. Will deal with this during its next re-string episode.

Fender... oops?

Just hours ago, my friend, Rosli, was at my residence. He was here for me to try & figure out why his high E string kept popping out of the retainer every time he whammies his bridge. This happened even after the nut of his Floyd Rose equipped Fender Highway 1 Showmaster Strat, was locked tight. He is also baffled by the fact the bridge itself suffers from over-projection every time he tried to tune his guitar.

After a closer look, the string-popping mystery was an easy problem to deal with; Fender actually equipped the guitar with a retainer of the wrong length as depicted above (A). I compared it to the spare I bought for my Ibanez RG guitar (B) & the difference was rather obvious. Easy solution for an easy problem.

Moving on to the bridge over-projection issue, I tuned the guitar accordingly & indeed saw the anomaly myself. So I thought a quick tightening of the whammy spring screws at the rear body cavity would do the trick but even after doing so, the problem persisted. This was when I decided to feel the strings & that's the cause of it all- the strings in there were a set of .010s. So the quick string replacement (the guitar now has a set of Fender .009s in it) & corrective tuning took place. Rosli wanted a slightly higher action to rid the guitar of that shred-action buzzing & he got his wish. But while at it, the rosewood fretboard got re-moisturized as well; the upper fret vicinity was rather dry. I expected it to be so because this guitar could be in storage for years; the reason it looks untouched & in splendid physical condition. 

I simply like how the guitar's default humbuckers reacted to high distortion settings; it's rather obvious they were conceived to rock. The instrument's build is also solid & blemish-free; how that wrong retainer bar got through was quite a mystery.

Fender: Highway1 Showmaster

This is a largely forgotten Fender offering, namely due to its unpopular Highway 1 manifestations- the satin body finish is the chief dislike. However, the Showmasters (both versions shown above) feature an original Floyd Rose unit which is the highlight of this guitar. The 24 frets on board is also a rare feature in a Fender make. The pickups are above average when it comes to distortion applications, the cleans are acceptable but not as immaculate as the typical Fender single coils. Nevertheless, I feel the Highway1s are under-appreciated models, with the American Special now being the highlight affordable offering (affordable American Fender that is...), the Highway 1s will soon bow out of the catalogue altogether. In fact, I have a feeling they won't be there come 2011...

My friend, Rosli, recently bought this guitar & I could see him beaming with satisfaction. It's really a good model to invest in if you have the typical shred features in mind. But when it comes to shredability, the typical shredder won't look at 'Fender', highly likely, he'll go with 'Ibanez' but it's anything & everything that works for us; there shouldn't be any firm restrictions.