Fender Strat Pickup hole size?

[M29]

Hello,

I will be replacing the pickups in my Squier Strat and was curious if the hole size is the same as a U.S.A. Fender, I thought I had read that the Squier pickguard holes were smaller then the U.S.A. holes? I am looking to find some Fender original pickups, probably on ebay to replace the Squier parts. Any insight on this?

Thank you for your time and help.

M29

 

[Jimi75]

Go ahaead - the sizes are the same.

 

[Spudman]

Go ahaead - the sizes are the same.

I'll second that. Fear not.

 

[M29]

Thanks guys, I see I should have put this in the pickup section, sorry.

Thanks again. I don't know where I read that they were tighter then stock Fender openings.

M29

 

[TS808]

Thanks guys, I see I should have put this in the pickup section, sorry.

Thanks again. I don't know where I read that they were tighter then stock Fender openings.

M29

The only difference usually with Squier pickguard holes are the locations sometimes (the 11 or 8 screws holding on the pickguard). Some models of Squiers use smaller pots than on Fenders, so those holes might be a bit smaller too. If you replace the pots, you may have to file the holes a bit or dremel them a little larger.

 

[tremoloman]

The only difference usually with Squier pickguard holes are the locations sometimes (the 11 or 8 screws holding on the pickguard). Some models of Squiers use smaller pots than on Fenders, so those holes might be a bit smaller too. If you replace the pots, you may have to file the holes a bit or dremel them a little larger.

Very true!

I had to file quite a lot of wood to get CTS pots to fit in my Jagmaster. The pickguard screw holes are always a bit out of whack when compared with a standard Fender model.

 

[M29]

Thanks guys, sounds like it is nothing too bad, I was concerned that the oval pickup opening might need to be opened up some and that would not be terrible but not pleasant.

Well I just about had my steel trem block finished when I was drilling the last small hole for the springs to mount in and broke a drill bit off in the block. I suppose I should have done those holes first before all the milling and tapping.

Thanks again guys.

M29

 

[tremoloman]

Well I just about had my steel trem block finished when I was drilling the last small hole for the springs to mount in and broke a drill bit off in the block. I suppose I should have done those holes first before all the milling and tapping.

You made your own steel block? Would you care to post a few pics when you have a chance? I'm going to try and build a couple for my Squiers soon and would love to see how yours came out.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Homemade steel block? (obvious echo in here). Tell us more with pics. Material and how you did it.

 

[M29]

Hello All,

I have looked around and cannot find a steel block for a Squier with the odd hole spacings so I decided to make my own. I ended up with way too many hours with having to go down to my dads to use the mill which is about 45 miles one way. I go down to visit dad and mom anyway so it was no problem, dad is 91 now. I did end up with quite a bit of time on the mill. I took the rusty nasty piece of steel and milled it square and then marked off my hole spacings and drilled and tapped the holes. Then when it was pretty much done, I started to drill out the 1/16th noles for the spring mounting and broke the bit on the last 1/8 of an inch to go. I was very careful running the drill out every so often to keep the chips out of the way and I don't know what I did but It must have locked in the hole and it broke off flush with the top surface so there is no way to get a hold of it to remove it.

Does anyone know if there is a steel block available for a Squier trem, even if I have to buy the whole trem?

What do you guys suggest on the amount of springs on a trem? I had three and it seemed okay but I would not mind experimenting.

I put the Squier Strat together to try it out with the '51 neck and it works great!! I can get the action down real low and it intonates perfectly.

I will take a pic and put it up. It still has some swirls in the paint though and it has only dried for about a month so I am going to let it dry up some more before I put the final polish on it.

Here is a pic of the block. This is before I broke the drill bit in it.

I hope this helps.

M29

 

[Tone2TheBone]

Wow thats pretty cool...but isn't there anyway to salvage that block? Anyway to take the bit out and do it again till its done? That would be awesome if you made your own. You can get Bill Callaham to custom machine you one if you send him your Squier block I'll bet you.

As far as springs I started out with 3 on mine and then added another one. I almost have the trem flush to the body on mine even though you can barely lift up in pitch on the trem. You can barely see daylight under the trem plate on either side. I screwed the trem claw back into the body a ways to try a different feel and tone.

 

[M29]

Hello tone2thebone,

At this point I do not have any idea as to how to get it out. The thing is so darn small. I am trying to keep costs to a minimum on this Squier and see what it comes out like but I would spring 30/40 dollars for a steel block trem as the guitar is coming out just like I hoped so far.

M29

 

[Tone2TheBone]

I forgot to ask you which hole was the culprit? Was it an important one? Is that why you asked about the number of springs?

Email or call Callaham. I'm pretty sure he'd be able to custom make you one. I ordered one this past week for my Strat. Keep the pictures coming on your guitar project thats neat!

 

[M29]

Here are a couple pics. She is not finished yet so don't look too hard. I still have to replace the electrics and pickups. I did not want to invest in pickups until I knew it was going to play well enough. I will probably go with Fender U.S.A. stuff on ebay. Also I have to polish the neck out between the frets and also polish the frets.

Here are the pics, I don't have my Rat Fink decal on yet though, not until it gets the final polish.

Do you think the Rat Fink will look okay? It is kind of from my good time era during the 60's and that is why I want to put it on. I will trim the shape down close to the Rat before I put it on so there is no extra vynal, ( I know I spelt that rong) film showing

I hope ya like it.

M29

 

[tremoloman]

Sweet guitar man! I love the Tele headstock. I thought I was the only guy here who mixed a Tele and Strat together.

Your block looks sweet dude. Don't give up on it just yet. My father worked in precision metal for over 30 years, so let me ask him about your dilemma to see if he knows of any possible way to salvage all the hard work you put into it.

As for getting a Callaham block for your guitar, what are your string spacing specs? On my 25.5" JagMaster, I discovered a MIM bridge fit my Squier perfectly. I took a Fender MIM bridge plate and applied a Callaham MIM upgrade kit to it. I now have a kick a$$ Jag that sounds and plays as nice as my American Deluxe Strats.

If you are interested in having Bill Callaham build you a block, I'm sure he would do it for you. I shipped him a stock AmDlx block to use as a guide. He built me 2 custom blocks to fit my AmDlx Strats and I've been jamming happily ever after!

I've said this numerous times, but I'll never own a Strat that doesn't have a steel block ever again. They make that big of difference to me.

 

[Tone2TheBone]

M29 - That is a GORGEOUS color I really like that! Wow. And the tele neck on it is great!

 

[warren0728]

sweet...i love the color...if you like the rat fink go for it....maybe burn the edges which was popular for awhile instead of just trimming them...

ww

 

[SuperSwede]

Very nice! Is that surf green?

 

[M29]

Hello All,

Thank you for the kind words.

tremoloman, I will look into the Callaham block do you remember how much he charged for one block? Also please ask your father what I might be able to do with a broken 1/16th high speed drill bit. Maybe I can chase it with a cabide drill. Ya know I can't say what to expect changing to a steel block but I can just imagine how it would tighten up some of the sound and give more sustain. At least that is what I hope it will do. I am new to this stuff again after many years so I will have to try it out.
Thanks again for your kind words and help.

tone2thebone, warren0728, SuperSwede, Thank you for the compliments! The color is surf green rattle can from Reranch and is nitro lacquer applied over the original black poly. The black poly was in very good condition so I sanded it down with the intentions of using it as a base and taking as much off as I could before putting the surf green on. The nitro is taking a while to fully set up and my polishing still has some very fine swirls in it so I backed off to let it dry longer before I put a final polish on it. I put Duplicolor clear gloss on this Squier '51 neck for something different then the satin which I really like on my '51. I always wanted a gloss maple neck so I thought I would do that here.

warren0728, I am curious as to what you mean by burn the edges on the decal? Can you explain how that works? I am trying to decide if I want to use the black and white decal or the colored one. The black and white looks more 60's so I will probably go with that.

Here are a couple decal options, what do you think?

Also I am thinking about using mint colored pickup covers to go with the knobs. What do you all think about this will it be too much mint color?

Thanks again for your compliments and help.

M29

 

[tremoloman]

tremoloman, I will look into the Callaham block do you remember how much he charged for one block? Also please ask your father what I might be able to do with a broken 1/16th high speed drill bit. Maybe I can chase it with a cabide drill. Ya know I can't say what to expect changing to a steel block but I can just imagine how it would tighten up some of the sound and give more sustain. At least that is what I hope it will do. I am new to this stuff again after many years so I will have to try it out.

Thanks again for your kind words and help.

No problem! That's what we're here for!

Bill charged me the regular price for an American replacement block. I think it was $60 if I'm not mistaken. These things are super high quality and are well worth the price tag they command.

I emailed my father about the block you've been working on. I'll reply back with his response as soon as I hear back from him. I'm guessing he's got a plan that will let you keep the nice block you have built for your Squier.

This is pure specualtion on my part, but have you considered drilling out the broken bit using a smaller drill bit? If you can reduce the amount of mass inside the bit, it may become weak and collapse enough to make removal easier. I could eb completely wrong also, so don't take my idea as gospel.

 

[tremoloman]

Ok, here's the official reply from my father:

• Drill a hole from the opposite side if possible. Just as the drill breaks through to the "broken drill", stop!

• Knock the broken drill out with a drift punch or a small nail.

If it doesn't matter, he could use a larger drill that would give him a larger diameter to work with.

You've heard it from the horse's mouth!

 

[warren0728]

I am curious as to what you mean by burn the edges on the decal? Can you explain how that works?

a popular technique in the 70's was to burn the edges of photographs and such for decoupage or other applications. They would use a candle, lighter whatever and set fire to the edges (small areas at a time) and then blow the fire out. The effect was that of a photograph that had been in a fire but only the edges got burned....i'll try and find some examples on the web....

ww

 

[SuperSwede]

I think that Photoshop has a built in effect that can do this...

 

[warren0728]

true, i thought that if he actually used the burning method it would effectivly reduce the thickness of the emblem on the edges and make for sa smoother transition from guitar to emblem...

ww

 

[M29]

Hello warren0728,

I see what you mean now. This decal is some sort of vinyl or something, I wish it was a water slide like the old days like on our cars and such. I may be able to cut it like that and then use my airbrush around the edge to make it look burnt with some dark brown and black paint. I won't be able to bury this into the paint with clear or anything it is too thick. They aren't very expensive so I should maybe pickup another in case the edges start curling up or something.

Thanks for the tip.

Ya know I just thought of something SuperSwede that may work in Photoshop. I could scan the sticker and print it out on some of the new pritable decal sheets for ink jet printers. This would make it much thinner and I could do the edges in Photoshop. That may work.

Thanks again guys.

M29

 

[SuperSwede]

Thats what I thought you were planning to do.. there are a quite a few different decal plastics available for inkjets.

 

[Tinky-Winky]

I'd definitely try to drill it out. However, I've read that cobalt drill bits can drill out broken normal bits, in which case all you'd need to do it drill it out from the top.

 

[M29]

Finished tremblock with broken drill bit.

Hello All,

Well...I got ambitious and finished up my trem block for my Squier Strat... I picked up a cobalt drill bit and thought I would try that first. It would not cut into the broken high speed steel bit and ended up getting dull pretty fast. I then heated the area including the broken bit with my cutting torch to a cherry red state hoping it would take out the temper in the broken bit but it did not. I tried drilling again with no luck. I let the block cool slowly to not create any stress in the steel block. I thought well it is time to get drastic
and decided to cut a thin slot in from the side deep enough to reach the broken bit and get it out. Once I got in far enough, I then welded the slot up, heated the block again to release any stress the welding might have caused and redrilled the hole and ground the weld on the ouside flush.
I hope to disassemble the guitar again to change strings and do a few other things and install the block and see what it sounds like. This block is a bit thicker and heavier, (I planned it this way) and I hope it has enough room to move.

Here are some images.

The one hole next to the weld has a little weld in the opening but the string end goes through okay. I may end up filing this to make it look better but it does function okay, the problem is my small round file is wore out

I painted this with Krylon Camo spray rattle can and it is the tan color, ( I have tested black but it was not as good as the tan color, don't know why...). I have found this to be an very good primer for bare metal. I may finish up with black but it does not get seen anyway so I may leave it as is.

I hope this helps some. Sometimes things need drastic measures to get fixed. At lease now I have a steel block to try out in my Chicom Strat.

M29