Configure Your Stratocaster with a Big Bang Tone Vintage Loaded Pickguard

Everything you need to take your sound to another level - pre-wired and ready to drop in. Customize our Stratocaster Loaded Pickguards and shape your sound with our tone-defining wiring and pickups.
 
Give your Strat a vintage tone infusion with the Big Bang Tone 58 Prewired Stratocaster Pickguard. Reverse engineered from a 1958 Strat, these pickups deliver the sound, feel, and vibe of a ‘50s-era Stratocaster. These Seymour Duncan Calibrated Vintage staggered Pole Pickups,  along with vintage-correct cloth wiring and a Luxe .1uF Phone Book Capacitor (1952-1958). Staggered pole pieces guarantee a balanced output, while the white pickup covers, with Mint Green Pickguard ensure a true vintage appearance. Chock-full of bright, glassy tone with glistening highs and warm lows, the tone connoisseurs here at Big Bang Tone dig the vintage-tinged sound of Vintage seymour pickups — they deliver the classic Strat sound you’ve always coveted.

Seymour Duncan SSL-1 Vintage calibrated Pickup Set

We build this pickup exactly as they did in the old days for all the chime and bell tone enjoyed by Stratocaster players in the 50s.

Our Vintage Staggered for Stratocaster uses hand ground alnico 5 rod magnets and heavy Formvar magnet wire with a special wind pattern to produce that bright, glassy, bell tone with all of the bounce and sparkle youd expect from the best 50s Strat pickups. The treble attack is crisp and immediate, while the low end remains articulate and focused. Chords ring out with clear note to note separation. Use a full set for a truly vintage vibe, or use in the neck & middle with a Custom Staggered in the bridge for a more rocking setup.Since 1978, weve been building all of our vintage Fender style single coil pickups just as it was done in Fenders Golden age. We start with the right color and thickness of Forbon flatwork, with the traditional keyed bottom plate. Then we hand file the flatwork, assemble with hand ground magnets, and lacquer the bobbin. After winding, each pickup is wax potted to reduce unwanted squeal, and comes with waxed and tinned cloth pushback hook-up wires and traditional keyed bottom plate.

Luxe .1uF Phone Book Capacitor (1952-1958)

Brand new, made in the U.S.A. in the Luxe Radio workshop, to exact Vintage Specs. Identical in Appearance and Performance to the Original brown chiclet cap used in the 1952 to 1958 Stratocaster and Precision Bass.

Each cap is hand wound on a 1932 Sprague Specialties Co. Winding Machine replica using exact vintage spec foil and paper film. They're hand soldered, triple hot vacuum impregnated with pure castor oil and pure beeswax and hand-wrapped. 

250k CTS Precision 'Short' Audio Taper Pot 

Custom CTS 'USA spec' 250K Precision Audio Taper Pot.

The CTS precision audio taper gives you smoother and more accurate response than you'll get with economy pots. Features longer life brass shaft and tighter resistance tolerance.

These 'short shaft' pots are specifically suited to direct mounting onto pickguards and control plates.

Specs:

- USA spec thread: 3/8" x 32.
- 3/8" (9.5mm) diameter brass threaded collar.
- 24 spline (fine) brass split shaft.
- Includes 1 x nut, 1 x dress washer and 1 x lock washer.

Dimensions:

- The brass threaded collar is 6.4mm long.
- Total length of the shaft to the top of the spline is 16mm.
- Split shaft diameter : 6mm.
- Pot casing diameter : 24mm.
. A 250K gives a slightly warmer tone than a 500K, and bleeds off some of the high frequencies to ground.

Setting the Switch Standard

When Building a Pickguard, all parts used by Big Bang Tone, are the finest quailty and  CRL Original USA Spec 5-way Blade Selector Switch by CRL is a rock-solid choice that’s built to last! This switch sports the original-spec dual contact design that reduces noise and clicking commonly found in some switch designs. Plus, while the 5-way blade switch is most commonly found in the standard Stratocaster, there are plenty of guitarists at Here with Nashville telecasters and other modded-out guitars that utilize a 5-way — they're a great choice to increase your guitar's tonal options with custom wiring setups.

Big Bang Tone Strat Loaded Vintage Pickguard Features:

• Detailed re-creations of the electronics in a 1958 Strat
• Period-accurate cloth wiring.
• Alnico V rod magnets produce that bright, glassy, bell tone
• Luxe .1uF Phone Book capacitor and high-quality 250k CTS potentiometers
• No Tone wired into Bridge Pickup, as in Original 50's Bridge
• Hand Built in Australia