In my own opinion I would have to say that I perceive a strat that has it's original body/neck to be a strat. That may include hardware changes such as pickups, strings, pickguard and whatever else you'd like to swap or customize. Even if you mod the wiring I'd consider it a "modded strat" but a strat nonetheless. If you swap the neck or body, that starts getting into a gray area for me and my limited mind to consider a stratocaster

Would anybody disagree that the following pictures are NOT a strat?

This is all a little silly.

So then with this opinion David Gilmour's "Black Strat" is not a strat.
I have to go with this is every bit a strat. This "strat" has undergone several transformations, and there is no way I will accept it is NOT a Strat anymore.

not sure if I commented on this before or not, but I would say if it's still a Fender Strat body and neck then it is still a strat - the other components are fair game.
Once you change the body or neck, even if using a licensed replacement body by someone like Warmoth, I would say it becomes a parts-caster.
The reason I have this opinion is because Fender themselves have so many variations on the design that you can't truly define a strat by one particular setup. The American Standard might be the benchmark - pro quality, but basically middle of the road for the production models.
But since Fender still considers all it's variations strats, how can we deny a strat's right to having the name if it's at least an original Fender neck and body?

The number of versions of the Stratocaster produced by Fender has been cited. In the spirit of the law, if you change any of the stock components of any of those guitars. it is no longer THAT guitar. The case that was cited for me involved the refurbishing of cell phones and because the remanufacture involved installing a component that was different from that in the original phone's manufacture it was no longer entitled to wear the name of THAT phone. So, where Thorn is concerned, if the guitar that is now equipped with '69 pickups started out as an American Standard, cannot be resold/referred to as it's former self...in the spirit of the law. You can describe it as a Stratocaster guitar: American Standard w/'69 pickups but not as a Fender American Standard Stratocaster.

I am also thinking...there's a vintage strat and a modern strat, the modern strat getting modern electronics and hardware and a beefy headstock, but the vintage style strat gets the moniker of "strat" because it's the original strat.
So, I've got a modern strat!

Thanks Toppscore....I think Yes to me it's the lumber...Anything else is fair game, like you said even fender used other parts, syemour duncan p'ups, Kahler trems, Floyd Rose, Lace sensors...So why not, it's really all a personal choice, BUT the lumber has to be "real" Fender to be , Strat, Tele,Mustang...etc.
A burger is a burger right? I may like bacon and cheese, while you may like onion and tomato, but whatever topping you like personally, if it's on a hunk of meat between a bun it's a hamburger!

IMO i would say to be a legit Fender Strat it needs the following.
Neck and Body, neck can be a replacement, but needs to be a Fender product.
all hardware needs to be original, or a Fender replacement, no aftermarket stuff.
pickups, and pick guard are optional mods, as long as you keep the originals.
strings.? really.. nobody uses the same strings... GTFO....lol
strings are changed on a guitar the 1st hour it gets home, along with a setup check.