I am elated!!
Just got back from my Guitar Guy (John from Central Jersey Music..Edison, N.J.) and finally got back my new American Special Stratocaster HSS!!
I had it gutted and re-done to my specs. (as I have done to my 8 other Highway One HSS's)
In this lovely...I have :
(N) DiMarzio Injector
(M)DiMarzio Area 67
(Br.) DiMarzio 36th Anniv P.A.F.
Along with Fender/Schaller locking tuners and Graph Tech String Saver saddles.

The difference from the 'off the shelf' performance to what it is now is astounding.
The stock pickups (IMHO) were so bland and weak.

It was so worth sinking another coupla' hundred into this baby. Now she's done up MY way!

The only difference in the picture is that there's a center screw on the right side of the humbucker and the Graph Tech saddles were'nt added yet.

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

Very Cool! Looks Great!

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Hey, Boy Blue is back!

Sheer beauty

Robin

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http://www.youtube.com/robinstrower
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Congrats on the "improvements."

How keen are you on the black plastics?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Thanks!
Well....I'm not really a fan of BLACK anything...cars...guitars...ect...
It's total SCRATCH CITY! Every little nick and scratch shows up!

But in this case...it's only the pickguard........THAT can be changed!

I just love the simplicity of the look of the guitar.........it's a timeless look.

I'll deal with it....and change the pickguard in 2 years...

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

I asked because I had the feeling that you were a white pickguard man.
The scratches in black pickguards can be polished out every couple of years, but replacing with white is the way to go (with pickguards that have the right number of mounting holes for the humbuckers).

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Putting a WHITE pickguard on this guitar would mess up the whole color scheme.
It would just be a complete whiteout....no contrast at all.
I like the Tuxedo/Penguin like look of the B/W mix.
In fact.....I've even named her "TUX"!

I have a walk in closet where I store all my guitars....they all have the same Fender Molded Hardshell Case. In order to tell them apart...I've given them all names....which I've written in black ink on little strips of white duct tape on each case.

I proudly mounted the strip of white duct tape with "TUX" written on it to her case!

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I refuse to have a battle of the wits with an unarmed man!

Well then, you shouldn't have to replace the pickguard in a couple years because of scratches ... just try some scratch and swirl remover on it and it'll be as good as new.

I've done it on scratched up white pickguards (I don't have any black ones), it works.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.