(aka ‘How to change the pickguard on a Strat’)

I first bought Xingxiao in 1996 and that makes her 15 years old now. I’d like to add the label vintage to her but I know what’d come next if I were to do so. I had her looks changed some time back in ’03 with further mods a few years down the line. So I thought being 15 and all, I’d put her old white 8-screw pickguard back on. Besides, it’ll feel like I bought a new guitar (I am so tempted, though, but we’ll go there another day).

I’ve never done this before. Hence, a short lesson on pickguard changing was taken by way of YouTube, where else. Before you start you’ll need:

The first thing to do is remove the strings. With the steel ruler measure the height of the pickups and note them down. Do this step if you’re a tone freak and have had your strat professionally set up. Why a steel ruler? The gradations start with the ruler as opposed to the ones you have in your mathematical pencil box set. Then you take the volume and tone knobs off using the flathead screwdriver. There’s no absolute rule in the order you do things at this stage – I then unscrewed the pickguard using the Phillips. Place the screws in a little container.

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