Prewired Strat Pickguard

These Steel Pole 42’s I have in a swamp ash strat body. I did dismantle the pickguard setup and reinstall the harness and pickups in a rear-routed body. They look sharp. Most importantly, they sound fantastic to my ears. I love the Neck, and Middle each by themselves. The 2 and 4 positions still sound “quacky” or stratty but I don’t use them as much as the Neck and Middle where I love to hang out. Also, I noticed that I they sound best to me wide open. Something happens to them when they open up (“bloom”) at 9-10 on the knob. That’s where I love to play them. So, you can adjust your amp accordingly. For overdrive, I run them through an OD pedal and EQ and they respond beautifully. So, that’s what I would say, run ’em wide open and shape your tones from there. One day I hope to try the 43’s but for now I am more than happy with this set. They are beautiful clean and handle all the gain I can throw at them.

I’m not a Strat guy. I favor Gibsons, mainly SGs, but spending a lot of time with a Gibson fitted with P90s made by Mr Fralin. I also have a SG, a Thunderbird and a Tele (bridge) with Fralin pickups. Needless to say. I’m a fan of Lindy.

So, I thought: why not try the Fralin mojo in a Strat, since that (rather, Hendrix playing one) is what inspired Lindy to pick up the soldering iron. There’s some Strat players I love – David Gilmour, Rory Gallagher, etc. I love that sound between the bridge and middle frets.

So I ordered a prewired pick guard with Blues Special in the bridge/middle, and the steel pole 53 in the neck (for the P90 tone, my favorite). These were the recommendations of the folks at Fralin. I picked up a strat at the pawnshop. The pick guard arrived and I dropped it in.

All I can say is . . . wow. This is what a Strat should sound like. It’s absolutely pristine/magical. And damn near enough to turn me into a Strat dude (but won’t be easy, given the FralinP90s on my SG, hahaha).

Anyway, I think that Lindy, like a great violin builder, has magic ears. He knows how things were meant to sound – the sort of Platonic ideal, as it were. His stuff is the best in the world, and it’s made in the South. Do yourself a favor and get a set!

5-star experience all the way around. In my Mod Shop Strat I now have the the prewired pickguard with Fralin’s Woodstock pickups, Fralin wiring, push-pull bright switch, treble bleed circuit and bridge base plate. It’s a major upgrade from the stock Texas Specials I had in there before. The pickups sound beautiful and are exactly what I was looking for (clear, full, chimey, etc – hard to describe but the perfect tone in my Strat). I love how the wiring mods work. During the selection process, I interacted with some other pickup makers, and Fralin by far had the best, most responsive and collaborative interaction to my questions. And post-sales questions were quickly answered. You can just tell there are many signs that this is a high quality company that really cares about the work they do. Without any reservations I would do business with Fralin again, and they come with my highest recommendation.

Amazing pickups! The clarity is amazing there isn’t any dullness whatsoever..I coupled these pickups with a Warmoth body/neck and literally plays and sounds alot better than production strat at a fraction of the price..will definitely be ordering again

Wow, your pickups sound AMAZING! I had an old mexican strat (my guitar from way back in high school) and I didn’t love the sound I was getting from it anymore. There was also some noise from turning the knobs. So I got a prewired pickguard with vintage hots and it completely revived the guitar! It sounds _so good_ now, with that perfect strat tone 🙂 Couldn’t be happier and it was very easy!

I am very happy with the pickups purchased from you guys. Delivered as promised, excellent workmanship, and sound is fantastic. Playing it through a Princeton reverb and enjoying the improvement in sound all around from the stock pickups included with the standard American strat. Thx.

I was dissatisfied with the stock Vintage Noiseless pickups in my American Deluxe Strat.

I went with a mix of a few pickups. Woodstock in the neck, Steel Pole 42 in the middle, and Steel Pole 43 in the bridge.

The pickguard was easy to wire in, and the factory wiring was beautiful.

I would highly recommend any of these pickups.

Received my Strat Prewired pickguard. Easy install, but the best part is how good it sounds. I play through a Carr mercury v amp. Really have no reason for anymore electric guitars, this does everything. Completely perfect as far as I’m concerned. Thanks for being in business!

Fralin pickups never disappoint. The loaded pick guard was a snap to install. Vintage Hots are nothing short of amazing. Best sounding strat pickups that I have tried.

Thank you to the folks at Fralin pickups for a beautiful sounding and quality product.
I waited a long time to purchase my Strat loaded pickguard and afterwards was not disappointed.
I had what was a minor installation issue and called for some tech guidance and Lindy answers and helps me .
He was an absolutely nice person and talked me through everything and we spoke for a while.
So glad I pulled the trigger on that pickguard and will be buying again for my Tele.
Thanks again
Rocco Vigliante

Thank you Lindy and team!
I purchased a pre-wired strat pickguard with Real 54 pickups. My partscaster plays well, has a great dark rosewood neck, and white strat body – totally classic look. The issue was, it came with a loaded pickguard with American Standard pickups from 2013. I liked the guitar, but it sounded dark and a bit muddy. There was little quack and chime in the 2 and 4 positions (which is where I play 80% of the time).

After listening to endless videos and sound clips, I decided to take a risk on the Real 54’s hoping to brighten up the guitar and add some life to it. I am exceedingly pleased with these pickups! The guitar sounds like a classic strat. My wife commented while I was playing, “You sound like that guy you like”. She meant Mark Knofler.

These pickups are clear, articulate, with rich in overtones coming through. I am sold on these pickups and will highly recommend them to friends. Finally, the mint green pickguard is perfect, not too mint colored. It looks great on the white body with the rosewood neck.

It was easy to install and sounds fantastic as all of the Fralin pickups sound. Thank you.

I ordered a lefty prewired pickguard and couldn’t be more happy with it! I went with the vintage hot in the neck and middle with a blues special in the bridge. I had a treble bleed and blender pot installed on my prewired ‘guard as well. Amazing combination, and exactly what I was looking for. Very easy to install and sounded great right out of the gate! Excellent communication from Lindy and the team sorting out a couple of detailed requests I made. I am a very happy customer!

I am building a White Strat and originally was going to make it a Hendrix left handed copy and play it upside down. Ended up with a right handed White Fender Player series and the prewired pickguard was tops on my list of ways to improve the guitar. I ordered a white 3 ply with the Woodstock set (wound right handed after being called and asked about it) Fralin wiring with the blend pot so I could do the best Strat sound ever B&N pickups together. Plus the magic cap option with the treble bleed circuit. Could not be happier with how quickly the pickguard was custom built and arrived in 12 days. Pickups sound wonderful across the board in every combo of pickups , really pleased with the middle pickup by itself. I did not and most like will not desecrate Jimi by attempting to imitate him but he is one of the main reasons that I have played guitar for 50 years after hearing Are You Experienced when I was 7 or 8. Great sounds , great customer support and great pickups means I must have been dealing with Fralin ! Thank you very much !

Nothing sounds like a Fralin. In a boutique market saturated by new builders sticking their name on connect the dot schematics, Lindy is an original and the quality and tone prove it. I have a couple other guitars I bought with Fralin’s, but this time I had a vintage G&L that was missing it’s original pickups. Not trusting anyone but Leo or Lindy, and Leo being sadly unavailable, I sent my pickguard in for Fralin Steel 43’s and a split steel, as the design looks the closest to Leo’s original MFD’s. I also added a push pull with treble bleed circuit, another push pull with cap options, and of course Lindy’s own blender knob. The craftsmanship almost made me not want to solder the thing in but just hang it on a wall. But sweet mercy, I’m glad I didn’t just display it. The sound is everything you would hope in your tonal quest, and everything you would expect if you have played Lindy Fralin’s before. Also that blender knob is indispensable. Thank you Lindy Fralin and company!!

I ordered a Prewired Strat Pickguard (Woodstock pickups, Hybrid Stagger, Fralin wiring with the blender pot, 0.022mfd Film & Oil Cap, baseplate on the bridge pickup and volume kit) and I put this in my 2019 Fender American Ultra Strat. It took maybe 15 minutes to install…. I could never get into the nosieless pickups, just never sounded like I wanted it to, but the guitar played great. If you are on the fence about ordering an upgrade from Fralin (like I was for a long time), do yourself a favor and order today! Night and day for my strat, I absolutely love the way it sounds now. My only problem is that I’m going to need to replace the pickups in all my other guitars! A+, 100%, 5 stars, whatever the highest rating I can give… get some Fralins in your guitar!!

Put mustang blues specials in mim fender mustang – ?!

It has taken me a while to be in a position to review the prewired Strat pickguard I’d previously purchased because it was for a guitar I was assembling from parts, but having now put it all together, I’m pleased to say I’m absolutely delighted with my purchase! All of the pickups & wiring was really well put together and the pickups sound great and very powerful! I’m using them on a ‘strat-style’ electric 12-string and they work really well. The ‘blender’ option I selected, giving the option of either neck & bridge pickup together, or all 3 at once seems to work particularly well with the 12-string, with the latter being my favourite. The bridge-pickup with its optional metal baseplate sounds really good when playing through my amp’s distortion channel too – instant ‘Jimmy Page Stairway to Heaven Live’ sound! I was also very pleased with the ordering process via the Fralin website, with the ability to completely customise one’s order, including pickguard & pickup cover colours, adding a ‘treble-bleed’ to the volume, the aforementioned ‘blender’ control, etc. I can highly recommend Fralin without hesitation!

I’m predominantly a blues player playing 40+ years now. I got the Vintage Hot for the neck, Real ’54 for the middle, and Blues Special for the bridge for my 2012 American Standard Fender Strat. Each has their own unique characteristics, yet really balanced between all three. I find they compliment each other very well. I couldn’t be happier with the tone. I also have the Fralin Big T telecaster pickups I discovered on the Analogman site and a pre-wired telecaster control panel in my Fender telecaster. Truly amazing, as well. If and when I start gigging again these two guitars will be my go-to without question. Thank you, Fralin for all you do.

Thrilled with the results of my Strat build, mostly thanks to the ease, quality and tonal bliss of the Fralin pickups! I ordered a Real 54 neck, Blues Special middle and bridge. I emailed about compatibility and got a quick response. My order shipped very fast. Install was a breeze with the instructions. I’ll be using Fralin to overhaul my other guitar as well. Awesome products, awesome customer service!!!