Loaded pickguard not fitting correctly

Alun

Hi folks, just wondering if I can get some opinions on solutions for a situation I've found myself in. 

I ordered a loaded pickguard from a pickup manufacturer and it's come back not fitting correctly to my Player Strat. Essentially, the humbucker is 0.5cm further back than the one on my stock Fender guard (1cm of clearance between the end the pickguard and the edge of the pickup, as opposed to 1.5cm on the Fender guard). As a result, the humbucker is squeezing up against the wall of the cavity, buckling the pickguard up the middle and causing the pickup to tilt backwards, making adjustment and proper setup impossible. 

The manufacturer says that their pickguards are created to modern specs and they don't have any with other routing measurements so I'm not able to get them to adjust the pickguard or try a different one, it seems. Also checked with Alegree for the measurements of their HSS guards and they seem to measure the same as the one I've been supplied so seems to be a common thing.

So I'm wondering what the best fix might be for me. If it was possible I'd just move the pickups to the old guard that fits, but it's been designed for a 3-screw, uncovered humbucker rather than the 2-screw covered one I'm replacing it with. So presumably I'd have to make the routing larger and poke a new hole in it, which sounds a bit messy. 

I've tried shaving a few millimeters of material from the neck side of the new pickguard, but it's messy and the fit is still very tight and really I get the sense that the humbucker just really needs to be that half centimetre forwards, otherwise the neck pickup is going to be pushing against it's cavity as well.  

Just wondered what others might do in this situation. I'm wondering whether I should send the thing back and switch to an SSS config instead. I don't have the tools to make the cavity inside the guitar bigger and that seems a bit of a daft expense to go through. 

ICBM

Send it back and ask for one with the hole in the right place. If it was advertised as fitting the Player Strat and doesn’t, it’s made wrong.

Kittyfrisk

ICBM said:

Send it back and ask for one with the hole in the right place. If it was advertised as fitting the Player Strat and doesn’t, it’s made wrong.

I agree with you, but... "I've tried shaving a few millimeters of material from the neck side of the new pickguard, but it's messy and the fit is still very tight "
I can't see a return being acceptable under the circumstances?

Funkfingers

Alun said:

the humbucker is 0.5cm further back than the one on my stock Fender guard. 

Get the screwdrivers and spanners out. Swap the new pickups and controls assembly over to the stock pickguard.

Use the third party pickguard to store the stock pickups, should the need ever arise to reinstate them. (Obviously, that would involve another round of screwdriver and spanner work.)

Alun

Kittyfrisk said:

ICBM said:

Send it back and ask for one with the hole in the right place. If it was advertised as fitting the Player Strat and doesn’t, it’s made wrong.

I agree with you, but... "I've tried shaving a few millimeters of material from the neck side of the new pickguard, but it's messy and the fit is still very tight "
I can't see a return being acceptable under the circumstances?

That was at the suggestion of the manufacturer. Regardless, I don’t intend to return for a refund, which is why I’m not mentioning the name of the company as this is not a “name and shame”, just trying to find the best way to make it work and figured there might be ideas out there I haven’t considered. 

Alun

Funkfingers said:

Alun said:

the humbucker is 0.5cm further back than the one on my stock Fender guard. 

Get the screwdrivers and spanners out. Swap the new pickups and controls assembly over to the stock pickguard.

Use the third party pickguard to store the stock pickups, should the need ever arise to reinstate them. (Obviously, that would involve another round of screwdriver and spanner work.)

That would be the simplest way, but the stock pickguard is made for the Fender 3-screw humbucker fitting and an uncovered pickup, rather than the 2-screw covered one I’m replacing it with. So would need to make an extra hole and also make the routing larger, which I’m not really equipped to do.

At the moment thinking I’ll order a new custom pickguard (around £40 or so it seems) and transfer everything over. I’ve also been offered a new SSS config where all I’d pay is for the pickup itself - the new guard, postage and wiring etc would all be included. 

ICBM

Don’t use a pickup configuration you didn’t want just to sort out the pickguard problem. If you don’t want to return the wrong guard, just buy the correct one - it will be about the same price as a new pickup.

Funkfingers

This is how Fender gets away with charging over forty Quid for a piece of machine-cut plastic.

If you think that's bad, Ibanez charges a tenner for an RG truss rod cover. 

Alun

ICBM said:

Don’t use a pickup configuration you didn’t want just to sort out the pickguard problem. If you don’t want to return the wrong guard, just buy the correct one - it will be about the same price as a new pickup.

I proposed it as an option myself as I’ve just taken delivery of another humbucker equipped guitar, so I was thinking maybe it’d be cool to have a more traditional Strat anyways. So not to worry, not being pressured into anything, just deciding what I’d enjoy more and thinking out loud.