20 Best Cheap Loaded Strat Pickguard (2023 Updated)

I came into possession of a Fender Partscaster for which I paid $200. I didnt know what parts were OEM or from what models they came. I just knew the sky blue burst was gorgeous and I had to have it.

As it turned out, the body was from Fenders American Elite line making the price an absolute steal. Long story short all of the other parts needed to be swapped out. Once the neck was swapped the truss rod adjuster on the heel wouldnt fit with the non-Elite pickguard.

The pickguard was a proper mint green but wrong model. I dremeled the notch out so I could temporarily use it. I finally invested in the proper pickguard a couple of years later and I cant be happier with the quality.

Quite glad I didnt buy a cheap Chinese knockoff like I had thought of doing. All thats left is to swap out the Fender vintage bridge with the Elite/Deluxe model. And lastly swap out the cheap Tex-Mex pickups for some 60s era handwound models.

Theyll be the only non-Elite part since I wont be getting the appropriate Noiseless Gen 4 type.

I ordered this pick guard to dress up a Squire Telecaster that belonged to my late brother. I expected it to not be a direct fit and it wasn’t. Three of the screw holes lined up with the holes in the guitar’s body.

It was not a big deal for me to plug the other holes and drill new holes. The other fitment problem, which prompted me to write this review, is that the bridge pick up (a Fender Tex Mex set going into a Fender pick guard) did not fit.

The rounded ends of the pick guard’s opening for the bridge pick up had to be filed in order to get the pick up in.

I bought this to swap out the electronics on a guitar with numerous problems and this solved them all. I did have to do a little trimming of the plastic, but this could have been an issue with the guitar rather than the pickguard.

The switch feels solid and klunky. Bridge pickup is wired to have no tone control, but I’ve read this is normal for the majority of strats, and is easily modded. I did need to check over the solder joints and move a couple slightly to stop them touching, but they probably just moved a bit in transit.

All in all, I’m really pleased with it. It’s restored all the full functionality to a crippled guitar and it looks a whole lot better too. The humbucker in it also gives it more tonal range.

I bought this for a Westfield Strat copy that I got given. Whilst the pickups dont come close to boutique pickups, they are a massive improvement on the originals. They are quite harshly bright but easy enough to dial in a good tone if you know what youre doing.

They definitely have a more authentic tone than the horrible standard ones they replaced. The holes didnt match up perfectly and I had to cut it to fit around my trem (more of a larger Gotoh style than traditional Fender) but I still had it installed quickly and easily.

If youre looking to upgrade a cheap guitar on a tight budget this is well worth considering. Im definitely happy with my purchase.

Better sound than I expected for the price. Easy install with only 3 wires to solder. Didn’t use the pickguard, Swapped out the internals on an old Ibanez RX series, using the existing pickguard. These alnico pickup sounds better than the original ceramic and I haven’t experienced any buzz/hum.

Not sure about a review that gives this one star because the cavity needed routing. Thats why you might need a luthier. That said, this fit into my 10yo MIM Strat like butter, two solder points and away you go.

Per typical Fender noiseless: slightly less dynamics than true single coils; on the plus side, that means your dynamics fluctuate less (easier for consistent sound). Humbucker not overpowering, can be dialed down from strings to give nice balance with middle pickup.

Factor in the cost for a lutheir to to put this together (average $100)and its not a bad deal. Plus, if you dont like it, you can swap or sell it as is.

Dropped this loaded pickguard into my Mexican Strat. Quality of the wiring is solid. I LOVE the neck and middle pickups. The neck has that deep, percussive quality that I want from that position. The middle pickup seems noticeably hotter than the other two.

It is not reverse wound, so don’t expect any hum canceling in any position. I am less impressed with the bridge pickup. It feels under wound(or at least under powered) compared to the other two. It’s a bit thin and has none of the snarling qualities I want from that position.

Still, overall, it’s a great upgrade.

Put this in my “starter pack” Squier HSS. Great improvement over what was in it. Sounds great and made it fun to play again. I will say That if you have used copper tape to shield the inside, make sure you lay a piece of electrical tape down as insulation.

The switch in a squier body is close enough that it will ground out. Thus, not producing any sound. After I did that, no problems.

I love gold lace sensors, have ever since my first strat plus in 93. That said this is not a great pickguard. Low quality wiring and scratch plate. Pickups aren’t exactly white either, more cream. They could learn a lot from 920D, which I would have bought instead but seems they are not making them right now.

Classic Strat sound without the hum, just as promised. The description mentions ‘classy bell’ that is definitely true. Great quality pots and wiring, too. A bit pricey, but I will hopefully use it for decades.

For the best sound make sure to adjust pickup heights according to the instructions on the included leaflet. Interestingly the screw holes on my Strat Plus Deluxe didn’t align perfectly with the holes on the pickguard, I was a bit annoyed that I had to force the screws into the guitar body at an angle, but it’s hardly visible so it’s just a minor annoyance.

These pickups are great. I’ll agree with some of the other reviewers — if you want the traditional, chiming, bright, “spanky” strat sound, you may be disappointed. But if you play any style of music that calls for thick, warm fuzz/overdrive, you’ll love them.

This is the same pickup combination you’ll hear on Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie. The holes for the screws in the pickguard don’t quite line up with the drilled holes in my modern American Standard Strat, but I’d consider that to be a minor issue.

Installation is easy if you’re comfortable with a soldering iron. Highly recommended for indie, alternative, and similar styles! Retain the feel of a strat, but add a chunky, warm fullness to your sound.

I got this Mojotone Quiet Coil 58 loaded pickguard to replace some stock Fender alnico 5 Stratocaster pickups. I had gotten frustrated with the string to string volume imbalance caused by that “vintage stagger” that they do to their single coil pole pieces.

The construction on these pickups eliminates all of that. However, I loved the sound of those pickups otherwise, and I was worried that these Quiet Coils wouldn’t have all the clarity, articulation, and those juicy harmonics my single coils did.

They do have all of that and more, these pickups are luscious and clear, and very balanced from string to string and position to position. I hear no loss whatsoever in the chimey glassy clarity on these.

I was also concerned with the high output bridge, but no worries, it blends perfectly with the other positions and honestly sounds far far better than the true single coil ever did, rich and clear, not harsh.

I like blues and 60’s rock so the low output vintage sound is important to me. This bridge pickup has it, all 3 of them do. All 5 positions sound better than ever and especially the bridge and 2 & 4 ‘in between” positions are significantly better.

2 & 4 have more chime and sparkle, thats right, more. Each position has it’s own distinct voice and each one sounds just like you’d want it to. It already comes with the 2 must have strat wiring mods – an excellent treble bleed and the bridge pickup wired to the second tone knob.

Mojotone recommends setting these pups much closer to the strings than I ever put the single coils, I always had them down very close to the deck. However, they sound terrific at the recommended height.

Actually they sound great at any height, they aren’t fussy that way. I’m extremely happy with this purchase! The assembly of the pickguard and the components used are all really top notch. What an upgrade, and here I was worried that I might lose tone or “strattiness”, Ha, just the opposite!.

This was a very surprising experiment. I decided to try the Mojotone pickups in a new build I’m putting together. This has far exceeded my expectations. The pickups are dead quiet and they sound fantastic.

They sound better than any Fender pickups I’ve ever had. The humbucker is very sweet sounding. Very PAFish and mates well with the single coils. Highly recommended for anyone seeking a quality loaded pickguard that sounds great.

All high end parts.

I will start off by saying that the Mojotone Quiet Coils performed just as advertised. They are authentic 50’s Stratocaster single coil tone that are 99 percent 60 cycle hum free. I say 99 % because there will be just a minimal amount of hiss.

Unless the entire assembly is shielded you can’t eliminate all noise. Besides, I’ve read that too much shielding can rob tone. The sparkly, bell-like tone is there in all positions and they are much much quieter than regular single coils.

This set has the hotter bridge and it sounds great clean or overdriven. I couldn’t be happier with the tone! I play Classic Rock and Blues. The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Clapton to name a few.

As a comparison, I’ve owned Fender Vintage Noiseless and Kinman Blues. The Mojotone Quiet Coils are so much better than the Fender set. The Kinmans are amazing also but much more expensive. I debated whether to go with the ‘67 set or this one.

I’m glad I went with the ‘58s. Overall I have no complaints with this set and assembly except the volume and tone knobs feel cheap when you turn them. I prefer slight resistance turning up or down. Like I said, I couldn’t be happier with the reduction of 60 cycle hum and the excellent Strat tone and that’s what matters here.

Love this scent. I originally got it because the mens version smells amazing so I figured this one would too. And it was no surprise that it smells equally as great but for a women. It’s fresh and floral it last a long time and I get enough compliments to say others agree that it smells great too.

Luxury perfume with a luxury price tag but certainly worth it. Nice find to add to the collection.

I recently got this scent and I’ve been loving it! It’s very fresh and sweet, kind of a mix between cucumber and citrus. It’s very different from many other basic scents. It’s their signature perfume, and definitely is so for a reason! Love this perfume, definitely recommend it.

Gorgeous packaging, too!.

Weekend for Men by Burberry is a Citrus fragrance for men. Weekend for Men was launched in 1997. The nose behind this fragrance is Michel Almairac. Top notes are Lemon, Grapefruit, Bergamot, Pineapple, Mandarin Orange and Melon; middle notes are Ivy, Oakmoss and Sandalwood; base notes are Honey, Musk and Amber.

Everything lined up well. The quality is just as good as factory fender pickguards, but cheaper. Actually, the back had even more shielding than the actual fender one that came off of my guitar. Great product.

I’m building a partscaster and it’s going to look great. It is also fully shielded with aluminum across the pickup and switch areas

fits Strat beutifully and looks good it is a good red colour rathere than a pinkinsh rose colour that I have had from other suppliers.

Installed these in a 90s Strat Plus replacing original white lace sensors. I’m hearing a nice dynamic and tonal range and loving the new quiet pots and switching. Depending on the amp setup, switching between the true single coil and the noise cancelling dual can make a pronounced difference in noise with only a minimal difference in tonal quality.

The fit of the pick guard was a little tight on my Strat and I had to shave about a 16th” at both the bridge and the neck to fit cleanly. (a few strokes with a utility knife did the trick). Other then that, installation was pretty quick and easy.

The wires from the jack were easily secured with the tiny screws on the “Liberator”. I did need to solder the ground wire to one of the grounding pads. Not yet decided whether I’m happy with the lower tone control or wan’t to mod it control the bridge pickup like other reviewers have done.

The bridge pickup is a screamer with no tone control of its own, but I rarely use the bridge by itself and the bridge/middle position sounds good.

I will admit. at first when I smelled the opening it smelled like a citronella candle (the ones to keep mosquitoes away) and the drydown smelled a bit like it as well. So I kept it out of my rotation for a bit.

Today I visited it again and looked at the notes. That citronella vibe I was getting was from the ivy. As I smelled it more and more it began to grow on me. I actually began to like it. I don’t think it will ever be a love, but it is something I would wear when I need some light and casual.

It opens with a harsh lemon, grapefruit, and ivy smell. That is going to be off-putting to some, myself included. Just give it a bit of time to settle into a lemon and ivy drydown with slight nuances of honey and wood.

It is actually a pleasant and carefree scent. I see why they called it “Weekend”. As I said earlier, it is a very light scent that isn’t going to be offensive to anyone. Yes, it’s synthetic, but that’s not a bad thing.

This is a T-shirt, shorts, and sneakers scent.

I recently received a sample bottle of this scent. I must say That I was pleasantly surprised with this wonderful scent. It’s a little strong but a great womanly scent. I plan on purchasing a bottle that’s how much that I am enjoying this scent.

I remember seeing a pop singer named Bobby Rydel on the Red Skelton show in the early 60s. This was in the pre-Beatles era. He had on a Silver Glitter jump suit on. Perhaps this pickguard is a throwback to those glitter days of show business.

With all these ugly relic guitars being made, it seemed a good time to enhance the lackluster world with a little sparkle. Bowie and Bolan are not here any more, so this pickguard might be the last hope for glitter.

Fit on my Squire with additional holes drilled and extra stainless steel screws installed. Needed dremel work to enlarge 5 switch opening. Well worth the effort. Added a fender black cover set for knobs, pick ups, switch cover, bar cover.

It doesn’t even look like the same guitar, very striking blue pearl design sets it apart.

Was on back order but worth the wait. I honestly have not seen anyone with this color/style. Looks great on black strat. Is it purely cosmetic, yes. I put it on when was doing upgrades , although decent shielding when arrived, I copper taped entire Electronic chambers of guitar and entire underside of pick guard.

Well made. Fit was near perfect. Only two predrilled holes did not line up. That was expected. Arrived in good shape and was just what I ordered.

Very good quality pickguard. Looks very nice. Perfect fit for my project, a Squier Affinity Strat. It probably fits MIA and MIM Fenders as well.

The screw holes didn’t line up perfectly in my squier strat, maybe they would’ve in a full fender

I purchased this loaded pickguard because I wanted a set of lace sensor gold pups and I wanted a white pickguard so instead of installing them myself this was just a one shot deal! I never gave much thought to trying lace sensors, yet I’ve tried just about every custom boutique single coil Strat set out there as well as many many pickups from Duncan, dimarzio, etc.

The price was really fair so I gave them a shot in my fender American vintage reissue 70s ash Strat. They sound fantastic! Great classic Strat tone, nearly noise free and great when driven! All in all these will most likely stay in this guitar for a very long time.

I’m actually thinking about trying some of the other lace offerings. Definitely give these a try!.

I wanted to get a real strat, but already had a squire bullet strat that I added some improved hardware to, and doodle around with. The pick up set costed more than the guitar. LOL!! I bought this pick up set as an open-box return at a great deal, and I couldn’t get over how great the cheapie guitar sounds now, the output is double and the clarity and tone are fantastic.

EMG pick up systems have always been my favorite over the years, this is the first strat set I ever used from them. I didn’t expect perfection from an open-box deal, the jack was bent, and the green wire disconnected from it, but those of course were simple fixes.

Like some of the other reviewers, I had a problem fitting the battery where they recommended. I needed all my springs for the whammy, so I didn’t put it in the spring area. I removed the lower nuts from the pots and used thin washers in their place, this raised them up enough for the battery to easily fit.

It raised the knobs up slightly, so I drilled them a bit deeper, now everything looks normal. Good quality batteries last a long time with EMG’s, I change strings often, so having the battery under the pickguard isn’t an issue for me to change out.

I play a lot of stuff similar to Robin Trower or Mahogany Rush, psychedelic blues rock sort of thing, these pick ups are awesome, I’m planning to use my cheapie guitar at gigs and recordings now, what an improvement!.

The EMG-GC21 has brought my ’85 Strat back to life! It had always been noisy with unwanted feedback plus the tone was more than a bit harsh. Install of the EMG-GC21 was easy. There was one hole in the EMG pickguard that was in a different spot that the original – 2 minute fix.

I was a bit concerned about installing active pickups as to where to put the battery. Turned out to be a non-issue – battery easily fit beneath the tone pots in the body. The difference in sound quality is striking.

All the noise/feedback issues are gone, plus great sound without loosing any of the “Stratocaster” tone. I am very satisfied with the quality, fit, finish and sound of the EMG-GC21 on my Strat. As a bonus, the all black components look fantastic with a sunburst finish body!.

I have a ’99 Deluxe Series Strat with additional PB switch for that Tele sound on pickguard. Had EMG’s active presence control for a few years. Tried putting a split-humbucker rail in bridge. Still not happy with sound.

OK, EMG active presence back in, but looking for more. EMG’s GC-21 assembly comes along at the right time and price. Excellent tones throughout entire range of guitar- soft, silky neck P/U sound, mid P/U is unusually bright, combination very sweet! Bridge P/U beyond brightness to unerving.

Mid and bridge P/U just slightly raspy together. All in all P/U’s are wonderful. Crisp lower tones and Brilliant highs. BIG PRO- YOU CAN HAVE THESE P/U’S SOOO CLOSE TO THE STRINGS W/O ANY NOISE FOR MAX OUTPUT W/O NOISE!!!! Only issue I have is I could not get the pickguard switch to operate for the Tele sounds.

Called EMG, they could not get it to work, BUT THEY ARE LOOKING INTO IT. I got a response the same day I called them. Amazing! For your own dinstinct sound check this product out. It just may be what you’re looking for.