2006 Blonde Highway One - Real or Fake? Need advice

[lucas_cddblues]

Hi everyone!

I'm about to buy a 2006 Highway One Fender Telecaster, but i'm not shure if it's a real or a fake.
I've tried to match the specs with 2006 guitars of the same model, but there's always something that doesn't seem to belong to the original guitar.
Could you guys help me out?
Any advice is appreciated!

 

[corliss1]

The bridge is real...but I have doubts about the rest. The font on the headstock looks wrong to me and the truss rod wood looks odd too. Let's see what others say.

 

[corliss1]

The serial number also isn't coming up here: https://fendercustomersupport.microsoftcrmportals.com/en-US/serialsearch/

 

[zumzool]

I have some concerns… the headstock looks like the older version before the 2007 upgrade, but the string tree is wrong. Also the bridge saddles look brass and compensated which they shouldn’t be…. And then the knobs are curved at the top and they should be the more modern style that are flat. Going off memory from the one I had and eventually sold.

 

[corliss1]

This is more what I'm expecting to see:

 

[jfgesquire]

Nothing about it is making my spider sense tingle that it's a fake. Decal, plug, tuners, shape, all look like real Fender.

The string tree, saddles and knobs are among the easiest to change and upgrade, so don't go by that unless it's being sold as all original. Still, those things would barely affect price.

The serial number also isn't coming up here: https://fendercustomersupport.microsoftcrmportals.com/en-US/serialsearch/

That one sucks, there's a better link.

It doesn't show which guitar, but it's in their system nonetheless.

 

[jfgesquire]

This is more what I'm expecting to see:

View attachment 938846

Other than the vintage string tree, which is easily swapped, it looks identical.

 

[Tuxedo Poly]

There are several Fender serial number lookup pages, there's one which is quite good.
This one
Fender Serial Number Lookup

The Ops guitar neck serial comes back as

Z6011746

0111202367

HWY1 TELE MN HBL

04/2006

 

[lucas_cddblues]

Thanks everyone!!

Is there any other way to identify a real fender highway one? Maybe if I removed the neck? Or the pickguard?

 

[brmusician]

Thanks everyone!!

Is there any other way to identify a real fender highway one? Maybe if I removed the neck? Or the pickguard?

This neck seems at least as good as a HW1's one. The Fender spaghetti logo seems to be from the earlier versions. String tree may have been changed to look more vintage. Compensated saddles are usual upgrades for teles with vintage bridges. If it's not a Highway One, what it would be? A Standard or a Special tele? In any case, a higher-end model. It can't be a MIM Tele in my opinion. From your pictures, the truss rod nut finish is wood as usual on MIA guitars. If it was a MIM neck, it would be the black plastic kind. It could be a Squier Classic Vibe neck though, but I think the truss rod hole would be different, since adjustment screw is the bigger, metric-based one.

 

[Blue Bill]

It looks like a legit parts-caster, like things have been swapped and modded a bit, but with nice parts. To me, the pick guard looks a little off. Looks like a nice Tele though.

 

[63 vibroverb]

I think it looks real. The bridge plate looks accurate because I love the Highway 1 bridge plate and use it on all my builds. Saddles must have been replaced with brass (which I also do). String tree was replaced. The badge on the back of the headstock is present on all 2006 Fender guitars and would be time-consuming and difficult to make for a fake. I have 2 strats from 2006 with the same badge.

 

[chezdeluxe]

The body finish looks like the satin nitro on the Hway 1s

 

[tomasz]

Had one of those, looks fine to me. The 60th anniversary badge and Z number look fine too.

 

[middy]

Who would fake a Highway 1?

 

[loopfinding]

Who would fake a Highway 1?

OP is in Brazil, so it doesn’t hurt to ask. Even here in the EU they fake American Standards in some of the poorer countries.

 

[boris bubbanov]

Easy way to check the validity of the neck, is to have the owner pull the tree off and shoot a quick but quality image of the maple underneath the tree. There should be a second hole - an "index" hole for a modern tree.

I think the rest is valid (except for the saddle material and compensation). Could the seller be persuaded to take the neck off and shoot some images of the heel and the pocket? If so, we could get to 99.999% pretty fast.

The price of these has skyrocketed - and people are sellers who never intended to sell and so there's more "innocent" mods on the guitars for sale used these days.

Last - don't pay more 'cause it is a "60th" guitar. Pay more because the wire size is hopefully Medium Jumbo (not stupid jumbo) and because the stock pickups can stay (the later Highway pickups (alder body Tele) are just about throwaways. I say, probably, because there are "mule" Highway Ones around this era with some early features and some "Upgrade" features - all different mismatches and mixes of parts from FMIC that way.

 

[Fenderdad1950]

Looks nice, maybe offer $600