GEAR REVIEW
FENDER HIGHWAY SERIES ACOUSTIC GUITARS | Eric Dahl
• Solid Sitka spruce or mahogany top
• Thinline mahogany body that is chambered .
• Bolt-on mahogany neck
• Indian rosewood fingerboard
• Fishman Fluence acoustic analog pickup
• 2.25 ” body depth
• Two different EQ sound settings
• Floating X bracing
• Polyester satin matte finish
• Checkerboard rosette
• “ C ” Shape neck
• 1.6875 ” nut width
• 20 frets
• 25.5 ” scale length
• Parlor or Dreadnought body shapes
• 6 inline tuners
KEY FEATURES
• Strat style headstock
If you were a fan of Fender ’ s Acoustasonic line of guitars but always felt like it wasn ’ t acoustic enough for you . Then you will like their latest release with the High Series Acoustics . For review purposes [ WM ] acquired the Sitka Spruce top with the Dreadnought shaped body . Highway Series Acoustics are also available in a mahogany top and in a Parlor body shape with your choice of the two top tone woods .
The Acoustasonic Series of instruments are obviously aimed at electric guitar players that desire acoustic guitar sounds , but don ’ t want to deal with the size or struggle of playing a fullsize acoustic guitar . The Highway series from the front and back appear to be regular size acoustic guitars until you look at the side of the instrument and realize it is only 2.25 ” thick . Here are some other things you notice when playing the guitar . The body is ergonomically designed meaning that the edges of the instrument are all rounded and there is a bevel where your right arm rests for strumming . The bodies are fully chambered , and feature tapered floating X bracing inside . The finish doesn ’ t feel sticky since it is a matte polyester matte finish .
The back and sides of the High Series are chambered Mahogany on all of the models .
Like Fender electrics the neck is a bolt-on and the 9-volt battery , to power the electronics , is in the back of the body for simple access . The neck has a satin urethane finish with a “ C ” shape and feels like playing an electric guitar . The carved in Fender logo on the headstock is a nice touch too .
Electronics on the High Series are the Fishman Fluence Acoustic pickup which you can see at the top of the sound hole . The controls on the body are for volume and contour . The nut and saddle are Graph tech TUSQ and the bridge saddle is compensated for better tonality . The fret board is made of Rosewood with a 12 ” radius and 20 narrow tall frets .
Playing the Sitka Spruce topped Dreadnought High Series Acoustic around the house was fun since it has a fuller acoustic body to provide enough sound where you don ’ t need to plug it in . When playing it with the Praise team at my church I found it easy to dial in a nice , contoured tone that didn ’ t step on the other instruments ’ frequencies . The neck took capos nicely , since we change keys frequently for the singers , and the Highway Series guitar stayed in tune during the entire service . Our Sound Engineers were pleased with the warmer sound I achieved with
64 February 2024 Subscribe for Free ...