Prewired HSS Strat Pickguard
The Ultimate Pickguard for HSS Strat
$465
Transform your HSS Stratocaster into the powerhouse of your dreams with our HSS Prewired Strat Pickguard. Instantly achieve world-class Fralin tone and discover what you’ve been missing. Expertly crafted using the highest-quality materials possible, we guarantee that our HSS Prewired Strat Pickguard will inspire you for years to come.
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Prewired HSS Strat Pickguard Info:
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Features
At Fralin Pickups, we’re always trying to make you sound your best. With our Prewired HSS Pickguard, you can rest assured that you will have the best-sounding pickups available, with the highest-quality parts on the market. And the best part? You get to design it. We guarantee that the unique tone and look will continue to empower you to sound your best.
- Designed by you, expertly crafted by us: the ultimate “Build Your Own” Stratocaster Pickguard
- USA-Made pickups & electronics for superior quality and tone
- Hand-wired with USA-Made vintage cloth lead for a traditional look
- Fully customize your appearance, tone, and wiring for a truly personalized HSS Strat Pickguard
- Hand-assembled signed and dated by our pickguard craftsman
- Backed by our 10-year warranty on materials and craftsmanship
Sound & Look
You get to design your Prewired HSS Pickguard to your liking, from the ground up. Choose your desired pickups, pickguard look, and wiring. Are you confused about any of the options? Contact Us, and we’ll walk you through it. To help you get started, here are some popular combinations that are guaranteed to sound amazing:
- Blues Special Neck & Middle, Pure PAF Bridge
- Vintage Hot Neck & Middle, Pure PAF Bridge
- Vintage Hot Neck & Middle, Big Single 42 Bridge
- Steel Pole 42 Neck & Middle, Pure PAF Bridge
- Steel Pole 43 Neck & Middle, Modern PAF Bridge
HSS Strat Pickguards can sound a bit daunting, as getting Single Coils and Humbuckers to play nicely can be tricky. Rest assured, we’ll help you craft your dream pickguard and work some magic behind the scenes to ensure all positions are inspiring.
CHOOSE YOUR PICKGUARD:
Our USA-Made Pickguards are some of the best in the industry and will fit most Strats*. These are USA-Made standard 11-hole Stratocaster pickguards. We have them available in the following styles and colors for HSS:
*Be sure to check your Stratocaster to make sure how many mounting holes you have
CHOOSE YOUR KNOB AND COVER COLOR:
We have White, Parchment, Mint Green, Yellow, and Black covers and Knobs available. Note: we only have plastic knobs available.
Add Ons
We have a ton of add-ons available for your pickguard. Want to coil-split your bridge pickup? How about our Volume Kit? Need new pickguard screws? Just let us know!
MATCHING BACKPLATES:
Complete your look with a matching backplate for your Strat. We have matching backplates for all of our pickguard colors.
Wiring
Customize your pickguard’s wiring by selecting between two powerful wiring options. Select between Fralin Pickups Wiring and Standard Stratocaster® Wiring.
Fralin Pickups Wiring features an intuitive layout: a Master Volume, Master Tone, and a Blender Pot. The Blender Pot delivers incredible versatility by allowing you to combine the Neck and Bridge, for Telecaster-type tones, and more. Fralin Pickups wiring is Lindy’s favorite way to wire a Stratocaster.
Standard Stratocaster Wiring delivers a classic take on the Strat – a Master Volume, Neck & Middle Tone, and a separate Bridge Tone. This wiring allows you to select multiple cap values for a bit more tone versatility.
Custom Requests can be made using the “notes” field.
FAQs
- How long will my Pickguard take? Since we’re building it from scratch, give us about 7-10 days to put it together. We will always try to get it out beforehand.
- Can you wire it up without the Pickguard? As it turns out, No. You can purchase an inexpensive pickguard, and you can pull out all the wiring once you receive it to put it in your pickguard. It’s just too time-consuming and unsafe to ship without a solid pickguard holding everything together.
- Can I return my Pickguard? No. Since these are so custom and made to order, all pickguard sales are final, and not available for exchange or return.
- What output should I choose? For simplicity, we’re keeping out outputs the stock outputs, but you can always request something different. Let us know in the notes field.
- What Pots should I use? Most of the time, 250K Split Shaft pots will work best for guitars with single-coil pickups and plastic knobs. If you have metal knobs at home, go with Solid Shaft Pots.
- What if I don’t see what I want? Use the “Notes” field on the checkout screen to type in any special requests. Use this field to describe how you want it wired as well if you wish to have anything customized. We’ll make it to your specs.
- What does a Magic Cap do? Our Magic Cap is a very low capacitance tone cap. It doesn’t roll off highs as much as it seems to boost the mids. This works well on the bridge pickup only.
- What does a Blender Pot do? Our Blender Pot takes the place of Tone #2, and it allows you to blend between the Neck and Bridge. You can get all three pickups on with a Blender Pot.
- Why don’t I see Ground Jumper wires between all my parts? Our pickguards have a metal shielding that connects all of the metal parts; thus we don’t need to use jumper wires.
Installation
Check out our installation guide below to put your new pickguard in! With 20 minutes a few easy steps, you can get your pickguard in your guitar and start rocking out with some of the best sounding pickups in the world!
Featured Reviews
Reviews We Worked Hard For, and Are Proud Of
Customer Reviews
50 Genuine Reviews for Prewired HSS Strat Pickguard
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Pretty damn good.
I have an American Pro II SSS strat, and while it was already pretty good, I was getting bored with the tones coming out of it. I ordered an HSS from Fralin with an Unbucker and two of the blues specials… It’s completely transformed the guitar from pretty good to damn amazing. I have other guitars that cost more and are fancier, but these pickups are the best sounding amongst all of them.
I have zero hum, and can get everything from a tight metal tone all the way to bluesy SRV. I would buy these again in a heartbeat.
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Communication was great, helped guide me throughout the process and delivered a top notch product. Me and my ’99 Strat thank you very much!
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Bought Fralin prewired HSS pickguard approx 3 months ago. Got the blues specials and a Unbucker to install in my MIM Strat, guitar sounds absolutely fabulous. Fitment was perfect and installation was fairly easy. Been playing for approx 45 years and now my previously little bit boring MIM Strat is converted to my best sounding Strat to this day. All pickups have great tone and clarity and work for all styles of music that I play at bar gigs and rehearsals. Just ordered a prewired SSS pickguard for my other Strat which I have had for the past 40 years.
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Fralin’s HSS pickguard is exactly what I needed! Got the blues specials and a Unbucker and it sounds great. Pickups have great tone and clarity. They work for all styles of music that I play at bar gigs and for worship guitar tones at church. Had them wire it so the two position is always split. Great pickguard and I’m glad I got it! Definitely recommend
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Great Pickups and stuff and great customer support. Fralin rules, everyone who covets TONE knows this fact.
I proudly display a Fralin sticker on every guitar case with a Fralin heart beating, foot stomping, melody making, lead lickin’ kick ass guitar inside.
As a matter of fact, I recently called the Fralin team to ask for some extra stickers because I’m switching some geetar cases around. The gal on the other end was nice enough to send me a bunch of ’em. She did promise a Fralin T shirt as well. That hasn’t arrived yet. But hope springs eternal. Bottom line. Treat yourself and your axe to some really fine Fralin pickups and stuff. You won’t regret it. Get to it. -
My third set of Fralins, after a set of ‘54s and a set of noise-cancelling humbucker-sized P90s. Love them all. This one sounds outstanding. Does exactly what I hoped and imagined. Got vintage hot strat in neck and middle, and pure PAF in bridge. It’s very much the perfect 60s and 70s super strat. I’ve got another SSS strat with the ‘54s, and the vintage hot strat have a different kind of push and definition.
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Thanks for the pickguard. I went with Blues Specials and a Pure PAF in the bridge. Pickguard was well packed. The work looked nice and clean. I couldn’t figure out why the HB was not working. I got a quick reply from someone there, sent pictures, then didn’t hear from anyone for a day or so. Soon thereafter Lindy Fralin calls to see if I have time to troubleshoot the pickguard. I didn’t have experience wiring a guitar but had a multimeter handy. He walked me through troubleshooting the issue. We found the issue while he was on the phone. It says a lot that the man with his name on the pickups calls you to figure out an issue. That being said. The pickups are killer. The blues specials are nice and hot as described The Pure PAF is a great pickup to pair with the Specials. I have since used a similar modified HSS wiring to revive my ’96 HSS. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this product again or any Fralin product.
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The sound is just amazing. The wiring is emaculate. The quality of the pick guard was subpar. There was a significant warping in front of the bridge pickup. In fairness, it might have been difficult to see with the protective film adhered, though very apparent whe. It was removed.
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I replaced the loaded pick guard on my 2018 elite Fender Strat with HSS with Blues special singles and Pure PAF humbucker. The original single coils and shawbucker sounded really harsh in the bridge position and didn’t get much difference in the plethora of switching on the elite with the S1 switch…which didn’t have “the sound” I was looking for.
The loaded pickguard from Fralin also included the Fralin wiring…Wow best set of pups I have heard now. I also had the coil split for bridge, and the blend pot. The 2 cap select switch is a very Subtle tone change when tone pot is turned down…maybe my hearing is not so good? The pickguard is not the best finish which looks a little like it is a smeared finish not mirror smooth.
Have to say I have overlooked the pickguard and just play and listen to AWESOME tone from all switch positions.
Fralin reps were outstanding in advising these particular pups…Running through my amps…I couldn’t be more pleased…Thanks for your help! -
Work well done. Exactly as ordered and breathed new life into my strat. Pure 54s in neck and middle, PAF in the bridge, standard two tone knobs, one master volume. Very clear and sweet sound all around. Tone knob is incredibly usable. Several players/ engineers have noted that my sound ‘speaks’ in context even when mixed low. It’s not a fight to be heard or to blend. Very pleased. A new joy in my experience as a player.
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NOTES ON COLOR:
- Please note that while we strive to provide the most accurate color representation possible, different computer monitors, manufacturer dye lots, and other circumstances may prevent the color from matching perfectly.
- Since we cannot guarantee color matching, we cannot provide a return to you if you are unhappy with the color matching of our Prewired HSS Strat Pickguard.
HARNESSES:
- Our parts and wire lengths are designed to work seamlessly with our Prewired HSS Strat Pickguard. Due to various guitar and instrument designs, we cannot guarantee that our parts will fit properly, and due to this, we do not offer Wiring Harnesses.
