If you're looking for the best value in Fender's traditional American craftsmanship and distinctive rock sound, the Highway One Series Stratocaster is the best place to start. Although they are the lowest priced Strats made in Fender's US factory, Highway One gives you everything that made the Stratocaster the standard for generations. You sacrifice very little for the savings, other than the hardshell case that comes with other American Stratocasters. Instead, you get an excellent deluxe gig bag. The Highway One models are hot-rodded versions of a '70s-style Strat with jumbo frets, a rounder tone and higher gain, as well as a thin-coated nitrocellulose body which allows the tone of the wood to come out. Two configurations are available: The Highway One Stratocaster (also available left-handed) which features the standard Stratocaster pickup configuration of three single-coil pickups and the Highway One Stratocaster HSS - which features one humbucker and two single coil pickup.Highway One Stratocaster:Modern "C"-shape neck 9-1/2" maple or rosewood fingerboard with jumbo fretsMaple neck with satin urethane finish '70s-style large headstock with a black logoStandard sealed/cast tuners Alder body with a satin nitrocellulose lacquer finish that lets you see the quality of the wood and workmanship.The neck has the renowned Fender fit and finish that makes it comfortable to play for hours and easy to get around the fingerboard at the highest frets.Fender Hot Single-Coil Strat Bridge, Middle and Neck pickups with Alnico 3 magnets. The middle position pickup is reverse-wound/reverse-polarity. 5-way selector switch paired with Fender's Greasebucket Tone Circuit (which rolls off the highs without adding bass) with controls for Master Volume, Tone 1 for the neck pickup , and Tone 2 for the bridge pickup.Vintage-Style Synchronized tremolo bridge 3-ply parchment plastic pickguard and parchment plastic control knobs complete the package.Highway One Stratocaster HSS:The Highway One Stratocaster HSS has the same primary features and electronics as the Highway One Stratocaster, but also includes: Fender Atomic Hot Humbucking bridge pickup for heavy-duty tones along with the Hot Single-Coil Strat Middle and Neck pickups.This model is available with a rosewood fingerboard only.Although the Highway One Series does not have the S1 switching circuit of more expensive models, the hot rodded electronics of the Highway One makes it a great sounding instrument with noticeable improvements over some of the 70's models you hear in some of the great rock recordings of the past.