Install Telecaster Pickups and Wiring in a Stratocaster

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Jordan from Violet Guitar Designs contacted me through my Reverb store and asked me if I would be willing to try out one of his custom guitar pickguards for the channel. • I only take products to review as long as I can provide my own opinions in the video. • Jordan has an Etsy store where he sells his custom pickguards and other custom guitar products. • He offers an array of pickguards for guitars like the Stratocaster or Telecaster but with unusual pickup configurations. This video highlights one as an example. Links to the store and the pickguard used in this video are both in the video description. • https://www.etsy.com/shop/violetguita... • • https://www.etsy.com/listing/15801598... • • Oddly enough this morning I was a planning on doing a Telecaster build with a very unusual pickguard Jordan sells. I found out I had the wrong body and after ordering the correct body I noticed there was something else in the box that he had sent me. There was a handwritten note saying he had sent me another pickguard to try. • I looked at it quickly but did not realize what he had sent. I thought it was a Stratocaster pickguard with only two single coil pickup cutouts and only two control cutouts. • I had a really cool set of Magneto Lab’s p90 pickups in a single coil size that I had purchased a long while ago and had yet to find the right project for. I emailed Jordan and showed him the two pickups and he emailed me back saying those look really cool but won’t work with this pickguard. • He said - Those are cool...but the Strat pickguard I sent is routed for a standard telecaster neck pickup and standard telecaster bridge pickup. • The first word out of mouth was – “What !!??!!” • I pulled out the Strat pickguard and sure enough it was setup that as long as you had a humbucker routing in the bridge of your Stratocaster body you could install Telecaster pickups and controls into Jordan’s pickguard. • Sometimes it is the easiest projects that are the most fun. • I have done something similar to this project with the Robbie Robertson Strat build that I did but, in that build, I still used two Stratocaster single coil pickups. • • I grabbed a really pretty Squier Stratocaster that was missing the loaded pickguard and had all of the correct pickup routings. It would make for a really great platform to give this pickguard a try. • Installing the two Telecaster pickups in the pickguard was easy and I then built a standard wiring harness with two solid shaft CTS 250k pots, an Oak Grigsby 3-way pickup selector switch, and a .047 uf Capacitor. I used the output jack that was already installed in the guitar. Instead of the normal Telecaster bridge ground wire I used the Stratocaster trem claw ground. • The three screws I installed the bridge pickup with were too long and I ended up trimming them to length. • When I was done building out the wiring harness, I set the loaded pickguard in place and connected the three remaining wires. After plugging into my bench amplifier and tap testing the pickups I was pleased that everything worked. • All of the pickguard screw holes lined up perfectly and I then restrung the guitar. • I cannot believe I had not ever thought of this configuration in a Stratocaster before and was flat out amazed how damn easy it was to do the project. • Gotta love the look of this and also the sound of the Tele pickups in a Stratocaster. I am really happy with how this turned out. I used standard Telecaster control knobs and a black pickup selector switch cap to finish the hybrid look. • The pickguard is available in a lot of different choices of colors and layers meaning three ply or single ply. The pickguard costs $65.80 and shipping is free. • I think the pickguard is well made and will last a very long time. • I am happy I got the opportunity to give this a try. I am already talking to Jordan about another project where it is a Stratocaster pickguard with two single coil pickup cutouts and two control potentiometer holes with a standard pickup selector switch cutout. Kind of like a Duo Sonic or Mustang layout. I still want to install the two single coil sized p90 pickups I have but in a Strat.

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