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!!!

You should be able to find any Am. Std Strat from that era and it will have the swimming pool.

Paris

Hi, thanks for the quick reply.From that era are you meaning late 80's to late 90's???Thanks!

My '97 had a swimming pool. I think the switch to the American "Series" models got rid of the veneer on sunburst models and also did away with the swimming pool route. That would have been right around 2000 I suspect. Why anyone would want a humbucker in the middle position is beyond me, though.

Yeah, I agree I do not understand a humbucker in a middle position either.But I have never tried that either.What I essentially am planning to do is also buy different pickguards and install different pickups.Did your 97 sound any different or was it lighter that some of the wood was carved out.Thanks!

It felt heavy enough to me. The new cases are so light that I thought the one that holds my 2009 was empty when I got it out of the shipping box, so to me the weight difference would be marginal. As for sound, I put a pearl pickguard with Texas Specials on it and it sounded pretty decent. But my opinion is that the newer guitars have more of a classic Strat sound. I don't know if it's the bent steel saddles or new pickups or staggered tuning heads, but it sounds better than the old one did.

My friend has a Tele with single/hum/single, and it's awesome. So didnt that cat from the MC5, but that was a strat.