A buddy of mine solved that dilemma by cutting off a screw head and gluing
it in place in the empty screw hole!!

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I've encountered the no-wood-to-drill problem and have used dowel rods and many other wood combos glued in place to take a screw for the pickguard. Each situation is unique on these.

are you saying that one of the screws won't go on?

If your control cavity rout does not have the added "shoulder" at the bottom edge, there'll be no wood for that pickguard screw to anchor to. This shoulder was added circa mid 1959 when the 11-screw pickguard was adopted as standard for all subsequent Strat models (it won't be there for the '50s re-issue instruments).

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

ohh but the models are squiers won't that make a diference considering certain details arent put on squier guitars (like the f sized bridge)?

Tracker,

I just caught up with the thread. Thanks for the description. I have never seen a center drill before but Googled it and learned even more than I needed to know. Will buy a set this week. Thanks for the education.

Roadie, You're welcome. Glad to share information, and , also, glad to get info from this great site.
Thanks to everybody.

tracker - sometimes I wish I were a roadie.

Cambo.

I know this is a problem with Fender MIM 50's style bodies, but can anyone confirm for sure that this problem exists with the Squier CV 50's style? I want an inexpensive strat body in Fiesta Red to mod with a custom 11-hole pickguard and Custom Shop '69 pups and these seem to be the only options. Is gluing a small wood piece to accept the screw a GOOD fix? Warmoth bodies are an alternative, but mucho denero!

lol my plans exactly

Perfectly legitimate solution. Use a hardwood such as poplar or alder and be certain that the top of the block is precisely flush with the surface of the body so the pickguard lays correctly on the guitar.

HTH

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY

Yes, You can definitely use wood sections to provide a substantial screw anchoring point. I've used dowel rods (If the screw hole was only slightly off position. And I would flatten one side of the dowel to get a surface to glue to the body's side in the control cavity). Just double check that the electronics clear the wooden piece and, as mentioned above, that the wooden piece is flush to the top of the body.

That's a tried and true solution. That's what I would do if faced with this 8-into-11 dilemma.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

guys this is a good point but in my case (squier cv 50 and bullet alike) i wont have a problem... i looked into it squier doesn't use "vintage correct bodies" check out the thread and along with it the amazing modded cv 50 of fendermandan (currently being refinished)... if you guys wanna mod an 8 hole squier i believe you will face no problems

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=54751