![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7373/1875/200/strat-old.jpg)
I couldn't wait to get home from our trip today so I could work on my
Strat. I basically just replaced the existing
pickguard with a new Pearl one. I think it fits the color (Candy Tangerine) better than the original "aged" plastic guard that came on it (
top right photo).
It was pretty easy to do. At first I
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7373/1875/200/strat-guts.jpg)
thought I was going to have to unsolder a few wires, but after getting the
pickguard off I realized that everything would come right off and transfer right over to the new one. I was very careful not to disturb any of the wiring because all that stuff is very delicate and it's easy to break a solder if you're not paying attention. ;)
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7373/1875/200/strat-dremel.jpg)
It was necessary to make a simple modification to the new guard in order to fit the vol. and tone pots through the holes. I just took a
Dremel bit and made the holes bigger to
accommodate the pot poles (
left photo). Other than this, no other mods were necessary to fit the guard onto the guitar. Easy
![](http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/7373/1875/320/strat-done2.jpg)
as pie.
After getting all the parts threaded back onto the
pickguard (pickups, switch and pots), I put all the screws back on the guitar and strung it up. I used a new wooden
trem block that I whittled down to size so I could get my approximate float back before tuning up. This makes life a lot easier when you have to cut all the strings off (like I had to do on this project).
Voila! That's it. It looks much cooler now, and more like it should in my opinion. Next project... the Ernie Ball
MusicMan Petrucci. I have already replaced one of the saddles and it's still slipping out of tune on that string. At this point I am pretty sure it's still the nut that's causing the binding. Should be an interesting project. ;)
Until later...