I went with a Hipshot bridge, which I thought was the same screw spacing as the Fender American Standard. Well I was wrong. I made plugs for the outer holes by extruding dowels through a piece of mild steel stock which had the right diameter hole drilled in it, then glued them in. I then drilled holes at the proper spacing.
Pickups are Dimarzio Norton in the bridge and PAF Pro in the neck, CTS standard pot (I like the smoother feel with more resistance than the CTS Pro pot which is really loose), 5 way switch, and a Tesi Switch kill switch. Pickups are direct mounted with basswood spacer blocks underneath, so that the pickups are bolted right down onto the body. I can't speak to the sonic benefits of direct mounted pickups, but I always feel like using springs or foam under a direct mount pickup is kinda wobbly, so these blocks worked out nicely with a very solid feel.
Neck was left raw, finish sanded using 400 grit through 1000 grit. I leveled and recrowned the frets, as well as rounding and polishing all the fret ends. Gotoh Magnum locking tuners round out the neck setup.
I am extremely happy with how it came out, and I actually think this build has ruined me for all of my other guitars. The smooth, organic feel of the raw and oiled tone woods is amazing, and the guitar has such amazing clarity when played unplugged.
