Musiclily 11-Hole SSS Prewired Loaded Pickguard with Dual Hot Rail High Output Pickups Set for Fender Squier Strat Electric Guitar, 4Ply White Pearl

Bang for the Buck… 110%. I don’t do reviews but after giving bad ratings & writing how the pickups are noisy, potted/ not potted, the fit etc etc. This is for upgrading (or downgrading for modifications) an SSS style Strat Guitar. You should have some basic understanding of electronics (related to pickups and gtrs) and basics of soldering. I bought this for an old school New York Pro strat (black originally). (Btw I’m a studio owner, gear collector and player for 30years with over 60 guitars in inventory). I got the newYork Pro Gtr for $25 and I knew the wood was good and that enough was good for me (70s/ 80s/90s gtrs of any value were made w real maple/ rosewood/ bass/ ash/ mahogany etc etc). I was able to set it up to a great playability but, the stock configuration lacked power and single coils notoriously buzz so, With only $25 into the Gtr, I decided on this loaded pickguard was going to originally get the Wilkinson Vintage Alnicos and put a Seymour Duncan Hot Rail I have laying around but, went for this. I chose mother of Pearl white (cream was the original pickguard color), I decided to paint the guitar “Hunt Club” Green to offset the white, also changed the 5 way knob to a stub and painted it to match.Now, to the reason for my review… I didn’t even take the strings off to replace this - I cut the ground, and two Input Wires. Knowing that this was designed for Squire Strats I may run into size issues (I did). But first because of all the reviews of RF and noise I copper shielded the entire cavities, and Re-Aluminum Foiled the back of the guard, I also re-Potted the pickups (a whopping 20 mins total out of my day and $12’s in tape (I already had). Then when I started soldering the input Jack and grounding I decided to drop so extra “melted Lead” on some of the terminals to reinforce them because the wiring is a small gauge with weak connections upon looking… (another whopping 15mins total). Now installing I realized right away it was too big and I needed to make more insertable length for the neck…. 3mins of using a Dremel with a hard sand disk attachment ($19 for a 48pce dremel set at Walmart). When done… blew off the excess plastic (I did all of this with the plate sitting in its place on the guitar & strings on lol)…. & WHALLAH, fits perfectly. I knew I had to now drill holes for the piece (kept the Dremel out and used the mini drill bit to hit the holes with the pick guard in place, then screwed it in and put everything back on this newly greened out guitar. *The 5-way selector had a slight bend like other people here that complained about (Needle Nose Pliers and 3 seconds rectifies that)I wasn’t sure what to expect when I plugged it Into a Two Rock Bloomfield Ave Tube Amp, once the standby was kick off it was deathly quiet & I went to turn the volume knob up on the guitar and… IT WAS!!! No hum, no buzz, no static it was absolutely perfect! I tuned her up and put it thru the paces of all Five configurations on the pick gaurd. FLAWLESS! Then I changed up some volume on the Gtr and I had no Volt jumps in volume- swelled beautifully. The Tone knobs however did go from Zero treble to normal treble from the 0 to the 3/4 Position. I rectified this with an Orange Drop u.22f capacitor and the tones roll better than most high end gtrs.So, in all, it’s an amazing loaded p-Gaurd (especially for the money). That being said, if you aren’t experienced then pay to have it done or else you won’t get your $20-$30 worth you spent on the pick gaurd. When done right, including any modifications (if you’re not using a a Fender Squire strat you aren’t using the intended guitar that this item was designed & purposed for). So, from a SUHR custom strat, a Mario Martin s-style to 7 US Fender Strats including 2 Custom Shops this $25 beater can hang with any of the aforementioned gtrs to whooping on them! All due to the tones on this item! Note: I also put Fender Vintage Inline Tuners & a Fender USA Bolt-On plate ($67 for both).Just my review and my unsolicited two cents. Just wanted to share my experience as I’m sure many that know what their doing have had. This is for project gtrs and for those that have knowledge in that department.Thanks!

I installed this on my Strat, I wanted something brighter with that humbucker punch and didnt want to break the bank. It brought the old girl to life. I had to manipulate it a bit but got it in.. For the money I paid, I was impressed !!

Good sounding pickups but pickguard will require modification to fit a stratocaster with a 6 post tremolo. Pots are good and not scratchy

Excellent product! I just installed it and I was a little skeptical, but wow! The pickups sound great and I'm pleasantly surprised. The guitar is a 2011 FSR Fender strat and the bridge single coil was getting ridiculously noisy. This is my first experience with hot rails and I love them! Great buy!

Juice up your strat gives it a lot of back bone

The media could not be loaded. I would not recommend buying this item... the pickups are microphonic. This means they make a lot of loud noises if the pick barley touches it. I tired to resolve this with the seller and their response was to accept it! I've built many guitars and none of them have this issue with pickups.

I change the volume and tone knob,and the guitar has copper noise insulation. So what to expect.. The pick up behave like a hotrail pickup. no hum noise ,switch noise. it's well balance . it not to bright it provide a crispy low mid with a well high sound . A++

So, is this better than what came with your cheap Chinese Strat copy project guitar? Probably. Is it a LOT better? Maybe, maybe not. The pickups are definitely hotter than the cheap weak single coils that came with your cheap Chinese Strat but the rest of the hardware really seems cheap. the wiring is incredibly small guage and one of the wires broke where it is soldered to the 5 way. There are excess wire bundles that are quite thick. They are trussed up with zip ties, but where they are trussed up does not match the cavity on a strat, so you just have to cut the zip ties to fit everything in. Also, cheap Chinese strat copies don't use standard strat holes (but I knew this) so you might have to transfer everything to your old pickguard or drill new holes (and probably a little Dremel action). I ended up reusing my old pickguard. I think the pickups are potted, but badly. Sounds good clean but even a little distortion starts feeding back pretty quickly. The 5 way, volume and tone pots all seem to work fine, but you get loud crunchy clicks when moving the 5 way. My plan - re-pot the pickups and replace the 5 way with a rotary. I guess it's still a decent deal at $35 or so since cheap humbucker hotrails are about $12-15 each.