Green Strat build

[GoDrex]

Hey guys, I'm back. Just got some very nice parts in today, and as usual, it can't be one of my builds with some kind of problem. So I'm here to post some pics and then ask for some advice.

 

[GoDrex]

 

[GoDrex]

 

[GoDrex]

Ok so everything looks fantastic but when I decided to do a little mock up I noticed a minor but annoying issue. I'm not sure what's going on here but maybe you guys have experience.

 

[GoDrex]

So basically the pickguard doesn't line up right with the bridge. The pickguard is from 920D and there's no way to move it around to even get it close.

So I wonder what's wrong here. If I just swap the parts on to a new pickguard does anyone think it will fit correctly?

I'm having trouble figuring out why it's off by so much.

Is there something I can measure to find out is there is something off (God forbid) with the routing?

I have a couple of strats here that I'm going to have to compare. I just can't see at the moment what is off here.

 

[GoDrex]

Ok so I took the pickguard off my black strat and still no 100% sure what's up but I learned a couple things:

The 920D pickguard lines up on my MIM body.

 

[Hodgo]

The pickguard is from 920D and there's no way to move it around to even get it close.

Why doesn’t it move around? Is the humbucker cavity too tight?

 

[GoDrex]

The pickguard from my black mim strat doesn't quite fit because it's an old Toneshapers pickguard and there a circuit board under there.

So why doesn't it quite fit? Because there's less room on the Warmoth despite having the universal route.

 

[ruscio]

What's catching the side of the route beneath the pickguard, preventing you from moving it into position? Maybe it's a wire or something else that you can redirect? Hard to believe Warmoth would get the universal route wrong. That's done on the CNC.

 

[GoDrex]

Why doesn’t it move around? Is the humbucker cavity to tight?

I don't know. I got the universal route so I could maybe later swap the guard out if I didn't like it.

I actually think it's lower tone pot that keeps it from moving. It looks fine though on the side. Like I wouldn't want it to move to far over to the edge.

I think it might be that's there's not as much room in the control cavity compared to my MIM body. As I posted above, my old pickguard lines up right on the Warmoth but the control cavity stuff doesn't fit right.

Why doesn’t it move around? Is the humbucker cavity too tight?

 

[GoDrex]

What's catching the side of the route beneath the pickguard, preventing you from moving it into position? Maybe it's a wire or something else that you can redirect? Hard to believe Warmoth would get the universal route wrong. That's done on the CNC.

There are no lose wires yet. I'm just trying to do a mock up. Just got the body and neck today.

 

[Hodgo]

Can you take a pic of the guard mounted as straight as you can get it from the front with the whole body in frame? Is the neck pocket and horn lined up when the bridge is askew?

 

[GoDrex]

I think this spot is the reason why my old pickguard from my other strat won't fit right, but I'm not sure if it's why the 920D won't line up. I'm stumped

 

[GoDrex]

Can you take a pic of the guard mounted as straight as you can get it from the front with the whole body in frame? Is the neck pocket and horn lined up when the bridge is askew?

The bottom tone pot cannot move side to side at all. So there's no way to move the bottom of the pickguard over at all. The neck side of the pickguard moves maybe a centimeter or less side to side. It pivots at the bottom tone pot.

 

[Hodgo]

Hmmm. That is a real head scratcher. I would have been inclined to think the pickguard isn’t quite to spec, but it fits the MIM. Still, 920D had quite the QC fiasco last year, so I’ll always be a little suspicious of them.

If it were me, I would loosen the nuts on the pots so they can spin slightly in position and wiggle it around to see if maybe one of them just needs a little turn… but that wiring is pretty tight, and that could break a lead if you went gorilla on it.

Also, that green is ridiculously pretty.

 

[GoDrex]

Like I said above the only movement the pickguard makes appears to pivot on the bottom tone pot. Every part of the guard moves a little except that corner. So I'm really at a loss. Do I need a mini pot in that spot to give it some leeway? I don't know. I don't know why it should need a smaller pot. It's the normal size from what I can tell. I guess my next step is to try the other pickguard(s) I have to see how they line up since they don't have anything funky going on like the first one I tried. Still kind of suck that that one will not fit either, but it is very non standard so it's more understandable.

I'm just so stumped and upset and I have to go to sleep. Nothing more I can do today.

 

[stratamania]

I think this spot is the reason why my old pickguard from my other strat won't fit right, but I'm not sure if it's why the 920D won't line up. I'm stumped

View attachment 60127

It is not that. Where this type of thing happens, it is nearly always a wire that just needs to be moved slightly. Every so often, how the pickguard is placed in the body will make the difference of things lining up or not. Lower the pickguard so the end closest to the control cavity and bridge is positioned first, followed by lowering it at the neck pocket end.

Not all after market pick guards are the same but I do not think in this case that this is the issue either.

The bottom tone pot cannot move side to side at all. So there's no way to move the bottom of the pickguard over at all. The neck side of the pickguard moves maybe a centimeter or less side to side. It pivots at the bottom tone pot.

However, looking at this photo, the orangey ( or is it red) ground wire running along the lower side of the pots could well be the culprit that is stopping you lining things up. See if you can move that wire at the bottom tone pot and that will probably solve it. You might have to remove it and resolder it to a better position than it currently has.

 

[JohnnyHardtail]

I'm going to take a wild guess. I think the placement of the lower tone pot on the 920D pickguard may not be same as a Warmoth pickguard, or even a Fender pickguard. If the control route on the warmoth body is smaller than the MIM body, then it may cause this fitment issue with the 920D pickguard. It would be possible to check by unscrewing the tone pot and doing a test fit.

 

[stratamania]

I'm going to take a wild guess. I think the placement of the lower tone pot on the 920D pickguard may not be same as a Warmoth pickguard, or even a Fender pickguard. If the control route on the warmoth body is smaller than the MIM body, then it may cause this fitment issue with the 920D pickguard. It would be possible to check by unscrewing the tone pot and doing a test fit.

Definitely worth doing a test fit that way.

A comparison could be made between the 920D and Warmoth with the below PDF printed out.

https://warmoth.com/media/wysiwyg/PDFs/StratPickguard.pdf

Print the full-size PDF above for comparison. When printing, be sure that "Fit to Page" is not selected.

 

[Rick]

I've gotten a tele pickguard from 920 . It would've worked on a warmoth body, but after transferring the pups etc to a warmoth guard everything lined up perfectly.