It was in the summer of '74 that Gilmour got rid of the standard white pickguard and installed a custom 1/8" thick, rounded edged black acrylic pickguard. Over the years, that same pickguard has gone through many changes and the Fender Custom Shop Black Strat Relic honors those changes on their guitar. Unfortunately, no one besides Fender has made a pickguard similar to the Black Strat, until now.
I began looking around the Internet to see what other people have done for the pickguard, not knowing that there has been someone who has done all the work for me.
Craig Wells, Owner of Overdrive Custom Guitar Works, specializes in the reproduction of the famous Black Strat,
www.stratcat.biz. His products come close to the original and is definitely well worth buying his products if you're looking to get that Black Strat project close to the real deal!
Overdrive Custom Guitar Works offers the 1/8" Black acrylic pickguard, as well as the "magic switch" used on the Black Strat (more on that on a later post). Just like Gilmour's Strat, Craig has paid special attention to the rounded edges of the pickguard, going as far as sanding above the rounded edge to give you a completely smooth transaction of the radius. This pickguard has 11 mounting holes, same found on the Black Strat
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| Countersunk Bridge & one Middle Mount Screws |
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| Charvel Square Neck Cutout |
Unlike the original Black Strat, the pickguard from Overdrive does not have the Charvel neck cutout, as well as the countersunk Bridge Pickup mounting holes and the one countersunk Middle Pickup mounting hole on the right side of the Pickup. Last, this pickguard does not have countersunk holes for the Selector Switch mounting screws. However, they do give you the route hole for the "Magic Switch" along with the mount that matches to it's location (more on a later post). All these additional pieces of detail will be taken care of when it gets to Dan of Top Gear.
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| Rounded Edges |
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| Holes to be Countersunk |
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| Selector Switch holes to be Countersunk |
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| "Magic Switch" Routed Hole |
The pickguard comes pre-shielded with adhesive-backed aluminum tape. The Fender Custom Shop Black Strat shields theirs with a one-piece copper foil similar to the original Black Strat.
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| Overdrive Custom Guitar Works Black Strat Pickguard Set |
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| Fender Custom Shop Black Strat Relic Shielding |
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| Original Black Strat Shielding around 1980's |
I opted to remove the aluminum shielding and make a cutout very close to the one found in the original Black Strat. Shielding to the guitar won't be much of an issue, since I address this further down along the build. Here's my process of cutting it out and installing it on the pickguard.
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| Aluminum Tape Shield Removed |
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| Location for the Copper Shielding |
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| Copper Cutout Installed |
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| Final Copper Shielding |
Remember that all custom pickguards are not the same. Keep in mind that the body and pickguard holes are made during its production, therefore a mounting hole or a few might not align correctly. Seems like I have that problem already, which I'll have addressed when it goes to the shop for final assembly/repair.
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| Misaligned mounting hole |
Looks like I got this part of the build covered. But there's got to be something really important to make this guitar sings? Oh yes! The pickups! Sounds like I need to get back to reading Phil's Black Strat book and find out what The Black Strat has for pickups!
David Sarmiento
