Project "Mystic Blue Strat": Step 4 - The Pickups Installed - Sort Of...

So as I mentioned in Step 2 of this build I ended up going with the 'Dimarzio High Power Strat Pickguard' (Part # FG2108A7) in black. It finally got delivered so I was off to install.
The basic premise is simple - you cut your existing pickguard, leaving only the wires to the output jack (and whatever other ground wires there are), and screw those into a special connector on the pickguard.

The kit came nicely packaged from Music123 and included a small Dimarzio screwdriver to use on the solder-less connector. The pickguard itself is a traditional 3-ply of Black/White/Black with beveled edges. The thing I noticed was that compared your basic Fender pickguards, the wiring coming from the pickups looks on the thin side. But as long as it sounds good right?

Now, from what I heard most people have either 1 or at most 2 ground (black) wires once they take out their pickguard. As I was taking mine off I noticed I had 3 : 1x to the output jack, 1x to the back cavity/tremelo and 1x to a tab that was screwed into the body. A quick search shows this is supposedly for the 'shielding paint' in the cavity so I figured I best rewire all 3 just to be safe.

Pickguard Removed - Notice 3x Black Wires

Stock Pickguard with Fat 50s

 The Dimarzio pickguard has the 'instructions' conveniently located on the back of pickguard so any one with half a brain, including yours truly, can wire this thing up.

New Pickguard ready to wire up

And all wired up - Took a whole minute or so

 Next it's a simple matter of dropping it into place and putting the screws back in the pickguard.
As I started lining things up I noticed some screw holes were not lining up properly. Shifted things a bit, and now others dont' line up... hmmmm Looks like either Dimarzio needs to pay 'Bob' or whoever mans the drill press a bit more to stay awake, or their template is just wrong (at least for an American Strat). That SUCKS Dimarzio! So now it's drilling new holes into the body, or going with a different pickguard. Being that I don't feel like order a new custom pickguard etc. I'll probably just drill the holes, but really for the money this kind of  problem should not even exist.

Once I take care of that it'll be all ready for the neck. I did order one.. I'm keeping it under wraps till I get it though (which may take a while). Meanwhile this is what the Mystic Blue body with the black pickguard looks like - Pretty sharp if you ask me!

Mystic Blue with Black Pickguard

Dont mind the finger prints or flash ;)