Installing Humbuckers in a Fender Strat

[goodtone]

My goal is to get a decent Fender Strat maybe an American Standard and convert it to just two humbuckers. Can this be done without chunking out to much of the front cavity and affecting the tone of the Strat ? Or should I go the Parts Supplier route and get a Strat body allready pre-routed for the humbuckers ? What would you do ? Please help. Thanks

[Chrome Dinette]

I have heard that some newer Strats are routed H-S-H, regardless of what pickguard is on them, can anyone confirm or deny?

Years ago, I wanted a humbucker in the bridge position of my Strat. I bought a pickguard, used it to mark where the hole should go and my father routed it out. He is pretty good with woodworking, and I would think anyone with some competence and a sharp bit could handle this task.

[TheGuildedAge]

All my American strats are mounted HSH. I believe most modern ones are. I just had to trim the pickup screws to fit in teh cavity.

Bryan

[blueguitar]

All the newer American Standard Strats are what is call "bathtub" routed. You can probably mount 3-4 humbuckers in these without any routing.

[GTRWill]

Originally Posted by goodtone

My goal is to get a decent Fender Strat maybe an American Standard and convert it to just two humbuckers. Can this be done without chunking out to much of the front cavity and affecting the tone of the Strat ? Or should I go the Parts Supplier route and get a Strat body allready pre-routed for the humbuckers ? What would you do ? Please help. Thanks

Fender has some great American Strats with Hums like the American Deluxe.. It has a hum/single/single but you could put a full size hum at the neck.. No prob just get a new pickgaurd. Great guitars.

[goodtone]

Thanks all. Sounds easy enough. Now to get that Strat.

I put in a SD Hotrail in the bridge position, no mods necessary. I believe they have one for the neck as well.

[UMT]

I built a Strat hard tail HH and it is a great guitar. Series/Parallel is the way to fly if you are going to coil tap, and I would recommend that you do. Very versatile guitars.

[benjammin420]

there would be a difference in tone (slightly, maybe not noticibly) and it would be a little lighter (slightly, maybe not noticibly)