Hi everyone,for those who do not know me I am a guitar hobbyist only.So I am always learning about guitars so please bear with me.I have been doing research and the next guitar I plan on buying is one with a swimming pool route meaning it would have the compacity to use any pickup combination becasue it doesnt have cut slots for pickup size.Now my question tonight is, all I have found to have this setup are the discontinued fender plus guitars from the 90's.Which are rare and hard to find(at least on ebay).Knowing that, does anybody else know about any other type of fender guitar that has this.I am desperate for answers and where to look thanks in advance.If anyone can find for sale an all black non rosewood neck guitar with the swimming pool route that would be great thanks!!!

Almost all USA Strats feature an universal H/S/H rout since 1998. Fender stopped making "swimming pool" bodies as of 2000.

The universal rout is better than the bathtub cavity because it allows players to modify their pickups to the most often seen after-market configurations without re-routing or cutting into their guitar's body while maintaining more wood.

The swimming pool route was used on all the "modernized" (or "non-reissue" if you prefer) USA models until 1998 or so; therefore the American Standards made from their introduction in late 1986 up until 1998 or so will have the swimming pool route like the Strat Plus, Strat Plus Deluxe, and Strat Ultras.

Where it gets tricky is 1998 - during that year Fender transitioned from the swimming pool route to the current HSH route on the American Standards following the introduction of the American Deluxe line. Evidently they did this based on the already finished bodies they had in their factory "work in progress" so they didn't all change at the same time. You could find an American Standard in a popular color like black or sunburst with the HSH routes made earlier in the year while those with less popular colors would still have the swimming pool route until fairly late in the year. By mid-1999 I would think that all American Standards would have the HSH route.

I would say that as long as you stay with an American Standard of 1997 or older you should be okay. On the plus side you should be able to find one of these in players condition for a reasonable price.

Of course, all Strat Plus, Plus Deluxe, and Ultras always had the swimming pool route.

Thanks for the info.It's too bad they had to change this.But I guess it sells more guitars at the end of the day.Thanks too for the history.I have found many american strats now in that time frame and hoping I get lucky with one!

Apparently you're a BB novice too, or you wouldn't have started the same thread twice.

Or am I being nasty this a.m.?