Custom Built Gilmour Black Strat® Inspired Complete Pickguard Assembly Package

We're proud to be able to build you a Gilmour Black Strat® inspired complete pickguard assembly that is the most authentic of all replica's being built. Feature for feature you will not find another as authentic as ours.

We realize there is a lot of information provided for this pickguard assembly, but it is necessary in order to accurately describe all the features and options that can go into constructing this unique pickguard assembly for you. So take your time to review our in-depth details, descriptions and specifications we've outlined below and you'll understand the attention to detail we've taken with every aspect of the project to provide you with an authentic replica of the Gilmour Black Strat® pickguard assembly that you will be proud to own.

Complete guitar shown in photographs is for illustration purposes only and depicts our complete Black Strat® pickguard assembly as installed in a complete guitar.

If you have questions give us a call at 209-565-2112, M-F 9am - 4pm, we'd be happy to help with all your questions.

Exclusive To OverDrive Custom Guitar Works - We have the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Hand Scatter-Wound SSL-1C DG pickup and we also have a unique variant of the SSL-1C DG pickup in a Reverse Wind / Reverse Polarity (Rw/Rp) version which will give you two pickup selection positions of hum cancelling. With the SSL-1C DG Rw/Rp there is no difference in tone, output, harmonics or sustain, just a modern hum-cancelling improvement over the original SSL-1C DG pickup. full details below. Either of these SSL-1C DG pickups have a $66.00 up-charge that is selected and paid for additionally below.

Black Strat Electronics Analysis:  Be sure to read our detailed technical comparison we performed with the Relic and NOS Fender Custom Shop Gilmour Black Strat electronics in relation to our custom Black Strat pickguard assembly. Read the full article here.

We have compiled a detailed information page specifically about our two Seymour Duncan Custom Shop SSL-1C DG pickups, read the article here.

Completed Strat® shown with our Gilmour style Black Strat® pickguard assembly installed with the Combination Accessory Color selection.

Depicted above is the Combination Accessory Color set including the "Add On" assembly upgrade option of the Green Lettered and Numbered knob set.  The combination accessory option includes Aged White knob set, Parchment pickup covers, Parchment switch tip and Parchment tremolo arm tip.  This accessory color selection and style that is the same as what is found on the Fender® Custom Shop Relic Black Strat. See descriptive below under heading of Pickguard Assembly Options Described in Detail within the section of Knobs Lettering & Numbering Color to understand how we are customizing these knob sets.

Pickguard Assembly Descriptive

Every component of our Gilmour Black Strat® inspired p1ckguard assembly has been researched in detail to provide you with a truly authentic assembly from the correct pickup selections to the high quality craftsmanship in the unique custom manufactured Black 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic Rounded and Polished Edge Pickguard along with the correct implementation of the recessed mini-toggle switching system.  We build each assembly by hand using high quality parts such as Fender, Seymour Duncan, CTS, CRL and Orange Drop polyester film tone capacitors.  We also offer you with a number of alternate customization options to the original design to further enhance your pickguard assembly without compromising that great Gilmour tone.

With this item purchase you will receive a complete Gilmour Black Strat inspired pickguard assembly with genuine Fender® Custom Shop, Seymour Duncan pickups of your choosing with everything installed, wired and soldered in place, ready to drop in your favorite Strat® by simply connecting the audio and ground wires.  The pickup covers, knobs, switch tip and tremolo arm tip can be selected as White, Parchment, Vintage White, Aged White, Black or even a Combination of Parchment and Aged White (described in detail below), and all are genuine Fender® accessories. We include our own custom manufactured Gilmour style 4-¼" tremolo arm along with a set of GHS Boomers David Gilmour Signature Series Strings, a Switchcraft USA 1/4" output jack along with all the mounting screws.

Some of the unique features of this pickguard assembly is our custom manufactured Black 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic Pickguard with the Rounded and Polished Edge along with the correct implementation of the recessed mini-toggle switching system. The recessed mini-toggle switching system is a unique feature that is synonymous with the Black Strat.  With our pickguard assembly no modifications are required to your Strat® body, it's a "drop-in" unit that only requires you to solder the wires to the output jack and the tremolo claw that on average takes about 30-45 minutes to complete.

The function of the recessed mini-toggle switch is to activate the neck pickup, the "on" position is down when the guitar is in the playing position. By activating the mini-toggle switch with the 5-way selector switch in position 1 (bridge pickup) then you will have the bridge and neck pickups selected together in parallel.  By activating the mini-toggle switch when the 5-way selector switch is in position 2 (bridge and middle pickups) then all three pickups are selected together in parallel. This gives you a total of 7 unique pickup selections.

Before we build each pickguard assembly we test every single component to verify they are within specified tolerances and that they operate correctly. After each pickguard assembly is built it is then fully tested as a complete unit to ensure correct operation, that way we know 100% for sure it will work perfectly when you install it in your guitar. Complete component and final assembly testing results are provided with each pickguard assembly.

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Above is a video from one of our customers who has installed our complete Gilmour Black Strat® inspired pickguard assembly in his Strat®. Pickups installed are the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Hand Scatter-Wound SSL-1C DG (Original) in the bridge position, Fender® Custom Shop Custom '69 in the middle position, and a Fender® Custom Shop Fat '50 in the neck position.

Complete pickguard assembly shown with the Combination selection of Accessory Colors with aged white control knobs, parchment pickup covers and parchment switch tip along with the optional pickguard assembly upgrade of the Customized Green Lettered & Numbered knob set.

Back side of the complete pickguard assembly.

Details of components, wiring, standard / included control region copper foil shielding. CTS 450G series 250k audio taper, 10% tolerance, low rotational torque potentiometers, CRL 5-way selector switch, Salecom recessed mini-toggle switch, "Orange Drop" polyester film 0.047 uF tone capacitor and our custom manufactured stainless steel recessed mini-toggle switch mounting bracket.  All interconnect wire is UL1007, 300v, 22 gauge pre-tinned copper, PVC insulated.

Close-up detail of the recessed mini-toggle switch. Notice the implementation of the mini-toggle switch and the very small slot in the pickguard that allows the toggle lever to protrude through.  Also shown are the optional pickguard assembly upgrade of the customization of the installed knob set with the Dark Green Letters and Numbers which is selected and paid for additionally below.  See descriptive below under heading of Pickguard Assembly Options Described in Detail within the section of Knobs Lettering & Numbering Color to understand how we are customizing these knob sets.

The above two photographs show close-up detail of the Rounded and Polished Perimeter Edge of the Black 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic pickguard. A very nice, unique and authentic original feature of the Black Strat.  The rounded and polished edge is only available on our Black or White 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic pickguards.  Also shown are the optional pickguard assembly upgrade of the customization of the installed knob set with the Dark Green Letters and Numbers. See descriptive below under heading of Pickguard Assembly Options Described in Detail within the section of Knobs Lettering & Numbering Color to understand how we are customizing these knob sets.

The Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Hand Scatter-Wound "SSL-1C DG" Bridge Pickup
Shown without the cloth tape wrapped coil which all our current production SSL-1C DG pickups now have.

The above Seymour Duncan Custom Shop SSL-1C DG (original) pickup is hand scatter-wound the same as Gilmour's original SSL-1C using the same winding wire and beveled Alnico 5 pole pieces. This pickup has the high output, sustain and harmonics similar to an SSL-5 with an average rated DC resistance of 13.30k (+/- 10%) To select this pickup for installation in your assembly you will be prompted in the drop down menu selection for the bridge pickup to include "Add On" option #2 which has an up-charge of $66.00.  This is a very special pickup that you will not find anywhere else.

The SSL-1C DG pickup is now available in a Reverse Wind / Reverse Polarity (Rw/Rp) version to give you hum cancelling capabilities when the bridge and middle pickups are selected together and also when the bridge and neck pickups are selected together with the recessed mini-toggle switch. There is an up-charge of $66.00 to have the SSL-1C DG Rw/Rp (Reverse Wind / Reverse Polarity) pickup installed, it requires including "Add On" option #1 below the main pickguard selection options.

Accessories Included With Each Of Our Complete Black Strat® Pickguard Assembly Packages

Each of our complete Black Strat® pickguard assembly packages include a set of GHS Boomers David Gilmour signature series 10-48 strings, a complete set of stainless steel pickguard mounting screws, custom manufactured 4-¼" tremolo arm and a Switchcraft USA ¼" mono output jack.

Limited Time Offer - Reverse Angle Bridge Pickup Black Acrylic Pickguard

For a limited time we are offering a reverse angle bridge pickup in our Black 1 Ply 0.120’' Acrylic pickguard's with the standard 11 hole mounting pattern.  Typically the bridge pickup on a Strat is rotated at a 10 degree angle in reference to the other two pickups where the treble E string pole piece is closer to the bridge than the bass E string pole piece.  This unique pickguard's reverse angle bridge pickup is rotated the opposite 10 degree angle where the bass E string pole piece is now closer to the bridge and the treble E string pole piece is further away from the bridge.  This would create a bridge pickup tonality the same as what Jimi Hendrix would of have experienced since he played a right handed guitar strung up and played left handed.  This results in a reverse-angled bridge pickup with more high-end bite on the bass strings and a warmer sound on the treble strings. The tone of the middle two strings (D & G) will essentially go unchanged since there is very little change in their position relative to the bridge.  

NOTE: A very important aspect to consider if selecting this reverse angle bridge pickup pickguard is that you need to have a Humbucker bridge pickup routing in your body or the large “swimming pool” pickup routing to accommodate the reverse angle of the bridge pickup as it sits down into your body cavity.  A typical SSS (3 single coil) routed Strat® body will not accept this reverse angle bridge pickup without customization to your body with a router in the bridge pickup region.  The production run of these reverse angle bridge pickguard's is limited to a quantity of 42 and once they’re gone there won’t be any more.

• Neck Pickup:  We offer two pickup selection options for the neck pickup. The most popular selection for the neck position is the Fender® Custom Shop Fat '50.  Gilmour has talked about his choice for this neck pickup that is installed in his Fender® Custom Shop signature series Black Strat in this interview video beginning at the 4:00 mark.
  • An alternate neck pickup selection would be the Fender® Custom Shop Custom '69 which is more like the neck pickup in Gilmour's original Black Strat® which came from a 1971 Strat® when he changed the entire pickguard assembly in 1973.

• Middle Pickup:  The authentic pickup for the middle position is the Fender® Custom Shop Custom '69. There are no alternate options for this pickup.

  • The Fender® Custom Shop Custom '69 pickup offers you a unique construction and vibe.  These are the pickups that can deliver the coveted clear, transparent highs, thumping lows, and bleeding midrange response and feel that define electric guitar tone as we know it.  These Fender® pickups are built using height staggered Alnico V magnets and a special gray bobbin. The Custom '69 is not Rw/Rp so there is no hum cancelling in positions 2 and 4 like a modern Strat, this is normal for a Gilmour style Black Strat.

• Bridge Pickup:  The authentic selection for the bridge position is one of the following 4 pickups (listed in order of popularity):
  1. Seymour Duncan Custom Hand Scatter-Wound SSL-1C DG Rw/Rp (Reverse Wind / Reverse Polarity) ($66.00 up-charge applies, selected & paid for additionally below)
  2. Seymour Duncan Custom Hand Scatter-Wound SSL-1C DG (Original) ($66.00 up-charge applies, selected & paid for additionally below)
  3. Seymour Duncan SSL-5 (Post late 1979 to current date economy selection)
  4. Fender Custom Shop Custom '69 (Pre early 1976 era)
  5. DiMarzio FS-1 (No Longer Available)

• Gilmour installed the Seymour Duncan custom hand scatter wound SSL-1C pickup in the bridge position of his Black Strat® in Late 1979 and it has remained there ever since. We offer the SSL-1C DG pickup in two versions, both have the same tonality, output, harmonics and sustain.  The SSL-1C DG is the same as Gilmour's original custom wound bridge pickup and the SSL-1C DG Rw/Rp is the same as the original SSL-1C DG pickup but in a Reverse Wound / Reverse Polarity (Rw/RP) version which will give you hum cancelling when the bridge and middle pickups are selected together or when the bridge and neck pickups are selected together using the recessed mini-toggle switch.  You will find these pickups offered in the Bridge Pickup Selection option below as SSL-1C DG (Original) or SSL-1C DG Rw/Rp.  Normally the Gilmour Black Strat® does not offer any hum cancelling capabilities in any of the pickup selection positions, this is an unique enhancement only we have incorporated into our design and components. For those Black Strat® purists you will probably want to stick with the original SSL-1C DG pickup, but for those that want a modern improvement over the original with a couple pickup selection positions of hum cancelling, then the SSL-1C DG Rw/Rp pickup would be perfect for you without sacrificing tone, output, harmonics or sustain.  The SSL-1C DG Rw/Rp is an OverDrive Custom Guitar Works exclusive pickup, it is not available anywhere else.  We have compiled a detailed information page specifically about our two Seymour Duncan Custom Shop SSL-1C DG pickups, read the full article here.

• If you opt to have the SSL-5 pickup installed in the bridge position keep in mind that its hookup leads will have to be reversed in order to keep it in phase electrically with both of the Fender Custom Shop pickups in the middle and neck positions.  This reversal of the bridge pickups hookup leads is the same as what is being done on Gilmour's original Black Strat and both of the Fender Custom Shop Black Strat's. What this means is that the SSL-5's black (ground) wire will now have to be connected to the 5-way selector switch and its white (hot) wire will now have to be connected to ground. This reversal of its hookup leads corrects the phasing issue created by installing pickups that don't have compatible or matching coil winding direction. By reversing a pickups hookup leads to correct for electrical phasing miss-match it can cause other issues such as an increase in hum and also the bridge pickups pole pieces may become energized and if the guitar strings are pressed down to touch the pole pieces it will act as a kill switch and shut down the guitars output.  This can be considered normal when a compromise is made by reversing a pickups hookup leads, but it is not desired, that is why we had both of the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop SSL-1C DG pickups created to be 100% compatible electrically and polarity wise to the two Fender Custom Shop pickups in the neck and middle position, neither of our SSL-1C DG pickups require any compromise of wiring by reversing their hookup leads.

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• Accessories Color:  We offer 6 different accessory colors to choose from:  White, Parchment, Vintage White, Aged White, Black and Combination. The Accessories are the pickup covers, volume and tone knobs, selector switch tip and the tremolo arm tip.  White, Aged White and Black are simply alternate options we offer, but for closer authenticity, the following three choices apply for a specific "correct" style you may desire. Click here for a side-by-side comparison of accessory colors.

  • Parchment is the correct selection for a NOS style Black Strat®.

    • There are two possibilities for a RELIC style Black Strat® as follows:

      1. The first "RELIC" style option is like how the Fender Custom Shop Relic Gilmour Black Strat® was produced and representative of the Black Strat® in 2008 at the time the Fender Custom Shop released the Black Strat® replica. For this style select Combination as the Accessory Color option which includes Parchment pickup covers, switch tip and tremolo arm tip and the knobs will be Aged White. Also select Green Lettering for the Knobs Lettering & Numbering Color option.

      2. The second "RELIC" style option is like how Gilmour's original Black Strat® appeared when it went up for sale at auction on June 20, 2019. For this style select Vintage White for the Accessory Color option along with the selection of Green Lettering for the Knobs Lettering & Numbering Color option.  For reference here is a photograph taken in 2019 of Gilmour's original Black Strat.

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• Knobs Lettering & Numbering Color:  We offer two styles for the appearance of the volume and tone knobs in your pickguard assembly; ORIGINAL and GREEN LETTERING, both are described below.

  1. With the ORIGINAL selection the volume and tone knob set will appear brand new, exactly as they come from Fender® with their original color lettering and numbering, no alterations or customizations. White, Parchment and Aged White Accessory Color knobs have gold lettering and numbering, Black knobs have white lettering and numbering.

  2. With the GREEN LETTERING selection the volume and tone knob set plastic's will appear brand new, exactly as they come from Fender® along with the ADDITION of the knobs being customized with the dark green lettering and numbering. You CAN NOT select Black as your accessory color and select the GREEN LETTERING option, it won't work. The knob sets are customized in our shop with the dark green letters and numbers. This dark green coloring is a simulation of the natural patina or oxidation of the gold letters and numbers that would naturally occur over time with the old Strat® knob sets. When we customize these knob sets with the dark green color it interacts with the original gold coloring in the letters and numbers and turns the green a bit darker for a very close approximation of how the gold would normally turn over many years of oxidation to the dark green almost black color and some portions of the letters and numbers may still show some of the original gold which is exactly what would happen when the letters and numbers would have naturally turned dark green over time, so it is a rather cool and natural effect that we feel very good about how they turn out.  For your Black Strat project with a similar representation of a Relic Black Strat, select the COMBINATION or VINTAGE WHITE for the Accessory Color option along with GREEN LETTERING for the Knobs Lettering & Numbering Color option.  The GREEN LETTERING option has a $30.00 up-charge, selected and paid for additionally below.

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• Tone Control Arrangements:  Gilmour's original Black Strat® and both the NOS and RELIC Fender Custom Shop Gilmour Black Strat's have the "Original Strat Wiring" which is option selection #1 (below) where the bridge pickup does not have a tone control, only the middle and neck pickups have their own separate tone controls. We offer 5 different alternate pickup tone control selections to choose from to enhance your tonal shaping. The selection options are as follows:

1. Original Strat® wiring: Separate tone control for the middle pickup. Separate tone control for the neck pickup. No tone control for the bridge pickup.
2. Separate tone control for the bridge pickup. Middle and neck pickups share a tone control.
3. Separate tone control for the neck pickup. Bridge and middle pickups share a tone control.
4. Separate tone control for the bridge pickup. Separate tone control for the neck pickup. No tone control for the middle pickup.
5. Separate tone control for the bridge pickup. Separate tone control for the middle pickup. No tone control for the neck pickup.

• Tone Capacitor Value Selection:  We offer 4 different tone control capacitors to choose from; 0.022 uF, 0.033 uF, 0.047 uF and 0.1 uF.  Specific to the Gilmour Strat® would be the 0.047 uF tone capacitor. The typical tone capacitor found in most modern Strat's is the 0.022 uF which rolls off less treble as you lower the tone control where the 0.047 uF rolls off more treble as you lower the tone control.  If you increase the value of the capacitor you effectively lower the frequency cut off point.  As the tone control is lowered, the tone becomes deeper or bassier, because the cut off point has been lowered.  This of course results in lower frequency signals being bled off to ground.  Here is a link to a very informative video that explains How Tone Capacitors Work and is well worth watching to fully understand how tone capacitors effect your tone and to help you make an informed decision for the tone capacitor selection in your pickguard assembly.

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• Body Ground Connection:  Most of the modern American Strat® bodies (not vintage re-issue Strat's) have a ground wire connection inside the conductive paint shielded control cavity in the body that is fastened down with a small wood screw.  Click here for an illustration of this body ground connection.  Most Mexican Strat® bodies we have encountered do not have this body ground connection, but it has come to our attention that 2006 and newer Standard Strat's® made in Mexico may have this feature to connect the ground of the electronics to the conductive paint shielded control cavity, check yours to be sure.  Unless your bodies control cavity is shielded and you plan on connecting a ground wire from the electronics to the shielded control cavity then select "No" for this option.  If you select YES for the "Body Ground" option and do not have the solder lug (ring eyelet) and mounting screw to attach this wire to your body, then you can add it to your order here for $4.00  

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• Pickguard:  All pickguard options are right hand versions only.  For the authentic Gilmour style Black Strat® pickguard we custom manufacture a Black 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic Pickguard with the Rounded and Polished Edge in both the Standard 11 Hole and the Vintage 8 Hole mounting patterns.  Both Acrylic Pickguards are copper foil shielded in the control region which is the same as Gilmour's original.  IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT OUR ACRYLIC PICKGUARD THICKNESS: Our Acrylic pickguards are 0.120" thick (+/- a few thousands of an inch) so keep this pickguard thickness in mind when installing a 0.120" thick Acrylic pickguard on a Strat® with a 22 fret neck, make sure you measure the total amount of clearance you have underneath your 22'nd fret overhang and the surface of your body to ensure that there is enough room to accommodate the 0.120" thick Acrylic pickguard with at least a few thousands of an inch of extra clearance for breathing room between the top surface of the Acrylic pickguard and the underside of the 22'nd fret overhang. The vast majority of 22 fret necks and body combinations will work fine with our 0.120" thick Acrylic pickguards but we have seen a rare few that won't and will need some sort of adjustment for correct fitment. You DO NOT want to tighten down any neck where its 22'nd fret overhang makes contact with the surface of the pickguard, you could very well lift the fingerboard away from the neck by the leveraging forces of tightening down the neck.

  Details About How We Create Our Acrylic Pickguards: Each of our 1 ply 0.120” Acrylic pickguards with the rounded and polished edge are custom hand manufactured in our shop specifically for each customer. They start off being cut out of a sheet of Acrylic with a CNC laser which creates the basic pickguard shape with all holes and cutouts. We then create the pickguards round-over edge feature by hand with a table router where the pickguard is affixed to a routing template and we trim the pickguard to it’s final size and create the rounded perimeter edge. From there the pickguards rounded edge is hand sanded with a fine sandpaper to remove any tooling marks left behind by the router bit.  The smoothly sanded rounded edge can then be polished with a special buffing wheel and a polishing compound used exclusively for Acrylic which creates the highly polished and glossy rounded edge.  The pickguards mounting holes are then countersunk, copper foil shielding tape is applied to the control region and a final polishing of the entire pickguard is completed.  It’s a fairly long process to create one of these unique pickguards, typically about 1 hour, but we feel that our final product is one that stands above the usual Strat® pickguard that has been produced the same way for over 50 years.  This unique rounded and polished pickguard edge is available with our Black or White 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic pickguards. Pickup and 5-way switch mounting holes are not countersunk and accept round head mounting screws.

  We also custom manufacture a White 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic Pickguard with the Rounded and Polished Edge, it's just like the original Gilmour style Black 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic Pickguard but this one is White. It comes standard with copper foil shielding in the control region. Click here for a photograph of a complete Strat with this White 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic Pickguard installed.

  Illustrated to the left is a photograph of our Black 1 Ply 0.120" Acrylic Pickguard with the Rounded and Polished Edge depicting how the copper foil shielding is applied to both the Black or White Acrylic pickguards.

  Click here for a larger view of the control region copper foil shielding.

  For those of you that may want more shielding than the standard control region only copper foil on our Acrylic pickguards you might consider having the full coverage '62 aluminum pickguard shielding plate installed, you can include this type of pickguard shielding with "Add On" option #4 below. This full coverage aluminum shielding plate option has a $30.00 up-charge that is selected and paid for additionally below.  This pickguard shield is customized (modified) to accommodate the recessed mini-toggle switch and the modern 11 hole pickguard mounting pattern.  By including this full coverage aluminum pickguard shielding plate on our Acrylic pickguards they will not have any copper foil shielding underneath.  Keep in mind that this full coverage '62 aluminum pickguard shielding plate is 0.012" thick, so remember to factor this too into your 22'nd fret overhang/pickguard clearance calculations if you are using a 22 fret neck along with our 0.120" thick Acrylic pickguards.

  Alternate Pickguard Choices:  If you want your pickguard assembly built with a different pickguard other than our Black or White Acrylic pickguards we can use any of the genuine Fender pickguards we have in stock except the anodized aluminum or chrome pickguards, let us know what you want by sending us an email before ordering and we'll discuss your needs.

The following are items that are included with each one of our complete Gilmour inspired black Strat® pickguard assemblies where there are no options to chose from for each of these items, they are either part of the pickguard assembly construction or included accessories.

• Custom Stainless Steel Recessed Mini-Toggle Switch Mounting Bracket  For mounting the recessed mini-toggle switch that is used for turning on and off the neck pickup. We serial number each of these pickguard assemblies and it is stamped permanently into this bracket. The serial number is sequentially incremental and represents the total number of these Black Strat® pickguard assemblies that have been built to date.

• Mini-Toggle Switch Recessed In Pickguard:  This is what could be considered "The Gilmour Mod". It activates the neck pickup and is intended to be used when the 5-way switch is in positions 1 or 2.  This expands the standard 5 pickup selections to 7.

• Volume and Tone Control Potentiometers:  We use CTS 450G series (450GT25K254A2L), 250k, 10% tolerance, 10% audio taper, low rotational torque potentiometers for our volume and tone controls. These high quality CTS potentiometers have brass shafts and brass mounting bushings.

• Pickup Selector Switch:  CRL 5-Way. The best 5-way selector switch available, made in the USA.

• Pickguard Mounting Screws:  We include enough screws for an entire Strat® to mount the pickguard, output jack plate and tremolo cover plate. 19 screws if you order an 11 hole pickguard assembly or 16 screws if you order an 8 hole pickguard.

• Switchcraft USA ¼" Mono Output Jack:  An industry standard when it comes to the best output jack available, that is why we include one with our pickguard assembly package to ensure you have a solid link between your guitar and cable to your amp.

• Set of GHS Boomers David Gilmour Signature Series Strings (Blue Set):  Since you're building an authentic Black Strat you've got to have a set of these strings as well, we include a set with each pickguard assembly.

Acrylic pickguards are more fragile than the typical vinyl ones most people are familiar with. Always use the utmost of care when installing components into an Acrylic pickguard, never tighten any fastener too tight and never tighten any perimeter mounting screw any tighter than just to the point where the screw barely snugs the pickguard or back plate down to the surface of the body.  Never flex or put undue pressure on any part of the Acrylic pickguard or you risk the very real possibility of it breaking.

Occasionally we find very small cosmetic imperfections in the surface of our Acrylic pickguards, typically they are small bubbles, spots and thin lines, but is not limited to these types of imperfections. These minor imperfections are not something we consider as defective since they are an effect of the Acrylic casting / handling process.  Unfortunately we cannot determine if any Acrylic pickguard is going to have any of these imperfections until the entire 1 hour long pickguard fabrication procedures are complete, so there is no way to pick and choose an absolute "perfect" pickguard for a project beforehand. For the most part it's a non-issue and inconsequential and we will never let any pickguard go out that we feel has any characteristic that is obviously unacceptable.  We've made well over two thousand of these Acrylic pickguards and some occasionally have these characteristics and no one has yet felt the need to complain.  With that being said, we felt it was best to make sure you were aware of these possibilities to avoid any surprises.

All custom built pickguard assemblies are not eligible for return, refund or exchange due to the unique nature of the customized options you select for your particular assembly.  Each pickguard assembly is custom built on an “As Ordered” basis for each individual customer with their specific and unique assembly options selected at the time of purchase.

Turn-around time from order placement to shipment can be up to 31 days.  Holiday work-loads may increase turn-around time, but won't exceed31 days.

Some import Strat's (MIM, MIJ), Squier's or "Look-Alike" Strat® bodies may not be 100% compatible with the pickguard perimeter mounting holes and some adjustment may be needed on your body. Our custom manufactured Acrylic pickguards have the same perimeter mounting hole pattern as genuine American Fender® Strat® pickguards, so as long your body mounting holes line up with those, then you should not experience any problem.  Each of our complete Strat pickguard assemblies are built using components to fit genuine Fender® Strat's®, this does not include some Squier® by Fender® Strat's®, some Squier® Strat's® may have incompatibility issues in the mounting hole patterns and control cavity routing depths and styles as well as overall body thickness incompatibilities. So if you have a Squier® by Fender® Strat® do your research before purchasing any of our complete pickguard assemblies to ensure that our assemblies will be compatible with your particular model of Strat®.

IMPORTANT ACRYLIC CLEANING NOTE: When cleaning any Acrylic pickguard or back plate ONLY USE the following approved cleaners. Use of any other cleaning product may damage the Acrylic.

1. Novus #1, Plastic Clean and Shine
2. Kleenmaster Brillianize.

Both of the above two Acrylic cleaning products can be purchased from a company called Tap Plastics. Here is a direct link to the item page for the Kleenmaster Brillianize and here is a link for the Novus #1.

This pickguard assembly is not endorsed by David Gilmour or Fender Musical Instrument Corporation.  It is offered here as a high quality replica based on our research.

All names used in this webpage are trademarked by their respective owners that do not endorse and are not associated with OverDrive Custom Guitar Works. Those trademarked names, manufacturers or individuals are used solely to identify the products of those manufacturers or individuals whose tones, sounds and visual similarities were studied during research, design and product creation.