Tell me if I'm wrong!. But I believe the sweet sound this guitar produces is down to just the one pickup. No interfering magnetic fields from nearby pickups, and also no capacitor or tone circuit. Great find, lovely old Strat.

Dude leave that guitar alone and just play it. It truely does sound unique and yet familiarly stratty. Be ashame to change it. Small little piece of history

This might just be me but even with all the fucked up wood work, it still looks absolutely gorgeous

It may look rough but it sounds incredible

Now order the pickup cavity fill kit from stew mac 😁

I vote for putting as many pickups in there as possible.

Might need to do what erlewine did with that old telecaster and graft in a piece of wood and refinish over top. Nothing to lose.

She doesnt seem perminantly screwed up to me, a few well shaped bits of alder will regain the missing scratchplate holes and blank off that big gap. Or if your not happy then I'll gladly let you donate that little tainted beauty to me Mr Scott, I'll even pay shipping to the UK, I cant say fairer than that! 😂 Seriously, I'm loving the vids and would love to hear more of this guitar!

I would love to find a guitar like this, I would cherish it and let it be itself, a gorgeous instrument.

Leave it alone man,that sounds amazing

You totally need to build that one into your humbucker loaded Strat, and that pickup needs to stay in it with another Gibson pickup from a similar era. Had I the means, I would beg you to sell that one to me, I absolutely adore it.

I would cut some pieces of alder and glue them in to fix the route hole. You could even get it back to the original S-S-S route with a bit of work. I do love the idea of sticking that PAF in the bridge aswell though. That's what Eddie Van Halen did back in the day. Great video man.

Very cool you mentioned a humbucker/strat project. I have a 2019 Fender Limited Edition Mahogany Blacktop Strat HHH, Olympic White with Gold Hardware in transit as I write. I have a real soft spot for anything with 3 humbuckers. Rite on and rock on brother of the Blues!

Sweet, I've been looking forward to seeing more of this one!

I'm betting Matthew can restore this thing to something quite wonderful.

Cool guitar, definitely has some miles on it. However, nothing famous and it's hacked already,. if it was mine I would probably have wood inlaid to clean up the mess inside (or at least something to allow the guard to be screwed down and cover the damage). I'd use the 'bucker but move it to the bridge with either another h/b or a pair of single coils. I think a distressed refinish as well to match up to the neck. Not going to hurt it now.

Go for a HH Strat on this one !

That's a sweet guitar that sounds great! Just a great purchase, thumbs up on a Strat build with humbuckers, that is wonderful setup for tones. Best to u man!!

"Look how they massacred my boy". Honestly, I don't mind a modified guitar as long as it's a professional job, but that guitar was just chopped.

I think it's just a cool guitar.,I would leave it intact with the history

...send the body to Nik's restoration guy...fill in all the missing wood and re-route it in the shape of a Gibson SG for your humbuckers...the paint job would be tastefully aged to match the neck that you already are leaning toward...save the oversized headstock for another project...I look in on you and "The Riff" everyday to see what you guys are into...You both inspired me to dismantle my "91 MIM strat ,remove the filthy pick-gaurd and covers which looked like urine, beer and drool stained grunge...I'm ditching the Mexican contents and installing the Dimazio "57,"67,"61 loaded pick-gaurd but with a genuine Fender pearly white swap-over cover and black over black tremelo plate...it's already looking healthy again...I'm 70 years old this time around but I remember seeing Jimi live at the Apollo theater in 1967 in downtown Washington ,DC... Me and my friends were never the same after that day....KEEP ON ROCKIN" IN THE FREE WORLD.......PEACE!!!

I love this so much, I'm only 16 and wont be able to purchase one of these older guitars and amps, but one day I will. Your videos inspire and make me excited for when that day comes!!!

My favorite strat has a humbucker in the bridge. Super versatile guitar. Does the cool “wooly” tone with the tone rolled off... I prefer it in the bridge, I don’t want to lose that neck tone when I’m playing a strat

That has to be the most beautiful Tortoise pickguard I have EVER seen... That little brighter spot in the middle is what does it for me. So sad it has been ruined like that.

0:15 the Metallica bass player tested the guitar hahahaha

I really love that thing. Perhaps adding a vintage Telecaster pickup in the bridge ( plus 3 way switch and tone control). Crossover between strat and custom tele!

Nice, again with the rosewood board and no skunk stripe. My favorite.

I Really like watching your videos! 🎸

Fenders with Gibson style Humbuckers are my favorite Dude!

I would have the body repaired so that the scratchplate covers the routing, refining the body then re-assemble.Sounds great as it is

Love the guitar but the body finish is just not great, I know the guitar has its history but it does not mean it ends there. I would fill minimal gaps to hide the rout and add wood for the pickguard to screw properly and finish the body in the original color with a relic job.

I like this strat ! Now you have to do a homemade pickguard to put a second humbucker and keep the first one in the same position. The two neck stamp dating systems existed during this period, my '71 is still "old style" stamped: 22AUG71B.

If that Humbucker is a TeeTop, no wonder it souns very good. The T-Top is one of the best PU Gibson ever made

picked up a 79 maple strat neck it's got so much character and checking the old strat parts have all the mojo puts a smile on my face seeing these old fenders

Keep it that way! Please! It sounds amazing

In my opinion (not taking away at all from how you see this guitar) I love this guitar. Someone cared about the guitar. The “damage” was someone’s idea and own art. It’s great. It has character. What a great guitar. There isn’t any other like it. Great video!

Just that 1972 Gibson Humbucker is worth at least $400. Nice find, Matthew!

Rebuild missing pieces from the rout job. Paint it black or stain it with India Ink? True Oil or couple quick Coats of Nitro? That pick guard is toast! Get a Black 5ply, or Black 3ply, pre cut for Humbuckers. Hard to get everything to line up? If you want humbuckers, go with three-Strat Black Beauty? Maybe two three way switches to get all the pickup combos?

I’m doing a build because of this guitar! Humbucker same spot, as well as a single coil sized humbucker in the bridge. Should be digging into it this weekend!

Put that humbucker in the bridge and get a matching humbucker on the neck my guy.

If a vintage guitar is playable, I think it has potential. If you can't do it yourself, I'm sure someone could fit a smal piece of wood where the rout was cut too big. They could probably match the color close so that it wouldn't be that noticeable. I saw a video (maybe Stew Mac) where the luthier fit a piece of wood where a hole was cut in a vintage Tele and it looked great when he was done. With the large rout, you could put any combination of pickups in there. It would be badass! I personally love a humbucker in the bridge position. It really gives a great tone. Good luck with whatever you do with it!👍😎🎸🎶

Matthew, get a fresh unrouted pickguard, and route it for three humbuckers. Of course, you'd have to complete the "swimming pool route", at the bridge pickup route, on the body, and I don't know if you'd want to do that.

Great Barn find, Matthew.. Thanks for the vid....

Man leave that thing alone. The tone is monsterous.

I vote for HH strat, especially if you can find another T-top

hmmm...that's a tough one, make this a two 'bucker strat or start fresh with a build...if it were me, I'd save what's left of the original pick guard and get a new one and build her out as a two humbucker, but that's me...

Celebrate the birth of your son with an Electric Guitar! Brilliant, why didn't I think of that. If I had I would now be the proud owner of a 1993 Fender Stratocaster. :-)

Stew Mac shows how to patch repair . It's the patching a big hole in a '53 telecaster video

Pure Awesomeness in Every Way. No matter what you do with it? Sound's like a Masterpiece. A True Sound of History. We all Love our Fender's New & Vintage. Thank's 4 showing us your Proud Historical Collection.

Mike Landau plays a strat with humbuckers and his tone the best ever!! Of course it's in the hands too

Thanks for another great video. Love when you pull your guitars apart since I would be afraid I would mess it up.

Love Fender scale, but Gibson tone...hmmm, so did/does Eddie!!!

Cut a custom guard for it, with an added bridge pickup hole

Personally I'd put a single coil back in the bridge position and call it a day. A super smooth Humbucker with a Strat bridge pick up for sparks would give all the variety you'd need.

If it were me, the way that thing sounds, I'd clean up the routing mess. add a couple of strips along the outer edges to align mounting holes, and get a new pickguard made with that bucker right where it is now, with just vol and tone pots. So much of it's tone is that combination. Possibly play with wiring options after that. Single pup Esquireish kinda thing.

On really bad hack jobs Ive had a luthier just replace the missing wood with the same type of wood. Basically making it look factory again. Its all glued in properly and routed. Looks like it grew there. Then the crap paint is removed and repainted in nitro. Had a 66 strat that had a horrible hack job. Came out beautiful. Sounded the same. Used it to upgrade to the next guitar. You could leave it of course. Which I have done many times.

Leave it be and just play it. It sounds great and you sound great on it. It's got a unique sound.

The only repair I would do would be to fill the small area of the routing which is visible past the pick guard. I wold put single coil pickups in the three slots just to fill the holes, and leave the humbucker in there as well.

I still vote to keep it the way it is. Its a very unique guitar

I think that with this guitar, I'd clean it up a bit an leave it as is. If the plate wasn't original I would put a new plate on it as the present one is gross beyond belief. This guitar has a great sound and with so much originality. What a find!

Beautiful guitar 👌🏽👌🏽

Painful but I love it! Repair the pick guard gap as it's a dark colour and will be easy to hide. So HSH vintage strat would be awesome ( switchable humbuckers for strat tones) do it man you know you want to ✌

Hi, just put the other 3 single coil pickups, say Fender CS69s and live that great humbacker in place. Add a push pull pot to turn It on, a 3 or 5 way switch and your're good to go. She sounds awesome.

A Telecaster Custom setup with a neck humbucker and a bold bridge single coil would be my choice to try on this. A custom pickguard with an upbow like Tele or Mustang will hide the routing massacre until you decide to glue some wood back in. :)

Very unique and I love Fender cool find

Loved this guitar! Suhr have models like that but the price range is a bit steep, I would rather get a custom shop maby. Have to try more Suhr. Peace

Time can cloud ones memory. Looks like the original finish is under that paint job. Maybe have a crack at returning it to its original finish. Be cool if you can find an after market pick board/scratch plate with no pic-up cut outs and no knob holes in it so you could make a hole just for the humbucker and for the volume knob.

If you like the idea of putting a pair of Gibson humbuckers in a vintage strat... then this seems like the perfect guitar to do it to. You will obviously have to take it down to bare wood to add a filler block and re-route for humbuckers, then finish it however you want. I think it will turn out better than you imagine. Love your videos.

You could get a custom shaped guard made to be a tad wider to cover that router hole.

I like the tone of that humbucker in that spot, it wouldn't hurt the value to put some of that wood back for the pickguard screw areas especially , but I would personally make a new pickguard with that same position as a single hum, it's like a ""sweet spot" and is a kinda inbetween still fenderish tone

It's absolutely perfect !

This thing is old enough to be precious and it sounds damn good. What would I do with it? I like the tone and would shy away from any woodwork. I would make a custom pickguard, covering those holes in the body. I would place the humbucker at exactly the same place. It sounded great there. There are some great humfree 'single' coils around nowadays and I would put in the full strat compliment. Then there is a ten position fender-style switch around, where you switch the pickups in two layers. That way you could use all four pickups.

I would love to own that. It still sounds like a Strat (for obvious reasons). That humbucker just adds extra compression. It sounds lovely.

Keep the videos coming they are enjoyable and very entertaining.

Since I have many modified guitars which I love, I would encourage you to keep the existing pickup and try to find another for the bridge location, then, since I love the single-coil neck tones, I'd put a single there and cut a new pick guard with a slight oversize to cover the bad routing, and finish it up with the controls you want. This way you get something improved to play and all the original 'trashing' that people are calling "historic" can be restored to it's current condition. It has so much potential and you can explore that without losing the option of putting it right back to it's present state.

Add pickups. Hot rail bridge. Singles in the middle and neck. Use the guard holes for push buttons including "all on" for crazy feedback/sustain and Killswitch. But that's me. Might as well make it as unique and usable as possible.

I vote for placing single coils in the neck and middle and a mini humbucker for the bridge. The rest might stay untouched :)

That thing sounds so sweet, here's what I'd do: new tortoise pickguard with a cutout for the T top exactly where it is now and one volume knob hole. Maybe fill that little exposed area with a block of wood glued in and stained as close to body color as possible. Step 2, play that thang! Peace, man.

That strat refinished in charcoal frost metallic with a tortoise or mint guard and 3 humbuckers with covers would look amazing

Nice one thanks Matthew 😀 you didn't keep us waiting long for this one. Very interesting indeed and i loved the detail in the wood on the back. A lovely looking body on that guitar. The neck looks quit shiny, perhaps a rub down with some fine sandpaper would be cool. Thanks for sharing PEACE

Oh hell I add a comment. First: that sounds tremendous as it is. Secondly: you have a number of factory specification Strats, so it’s not like you’re hurting in that department. Finally: this is a (for better or worse) a time piece. What is really important is that you do further harm. I know you won’t. Here’s my advice- get a pick guard blank and set it up just as this one is. I wouldn’t move that pickup a fraction of an inch. I’d want a tone pot myself but some wouldn’t. In the end it would not look butchered and you’ll have no more money in it. Some can always “fix” it later.

If you must do anything to this, I and suggest you leave it as it is, then go full bizarre and add a P-90 to the bridge with a three way switch and a master tone. P-90s in Strats sound awesome.

you should put three single coils in and use all the holes in the guard to do some crazy controls

A thing of beauty

That guitar sounded really good in your demo. There’s not anything wrong with it that couldn’t be fixed to bring it back to original spec, (or any other for that matter), but it just sounds great as it is.

Please keep this one as it is

I'd try to plug the botched route. Then just do a nice swimming pool rout and throw like two or three humbuckers in there.

I am to old to really play good anymore, but I do like to work on guitars, I do a few p90 in telecasters and making the route in the guitar and pickguard perfect takes pride in your work, I make all my jigs, I hate to see a guitar butchered up

What I think that you should do is a custom pickguard, plastic or metal(an anodized patina will be stunned) this guitar has a unique tone that need to be preserved! I think the pickguard need 3 specifications: one Humbucker location, a milimetrical(i’m from Brasil) larger size just to cover the hole that appears with the original and a a hole just for one volume! No other thing i change in this guitar! This paf in that position have unpredictable TWANG! I can’t believe when i heard in first time! You need to keep and take care the sieve pickguard, just for the value of the originality! But think with me: plastic is just plastic don’t influence in the tone!

I think I’d make a new pick guard and put the t-top humbucker in the neck with a broadcaster in the bridge. It’d be great for a Albert Collins sound.

Please leave it as is. It has such a unique sound and it looks rad. You should get a second strat to make HH

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica,helv][SIZE=-1] F-Series (late 1965 to mid-1976) Big script "F" on neckplate below serial number. Known as the CBS era. [/SIZE][/FONT]

dude that pick guard looks like its from a stratocaster elite only made in 83 -84 the three holes were for push buttons instead of the 5 position knife switch

Hi Matt, Cool one!

I love the guitar find a additional t top cost to make get the Alderwood repair that you need and make the guitar exactly what you and only you want, I love what you doing young man keep it real do it your way only your way be concerned with no one else enjoy the music and rock on.

If you can’t leave it be (it does sound sweet) the other bucker in the bridge, two strat pups, three 3 way toggles, one being Fender/ Both/Gibson, two vol (F&G use appropriate knobs) master tone.

OK, seriously, this is what you do: Put 3 singlecoils in there, but leave the humbucker. Add a classic 5-way for the single coils. THEN, put a 3-way toggle in there that toggles between Single coils, Humbucker, OR the humbucker in parallel with the singles. To round it off you would have either 2 volume pots, or a dual pot to give the humbucker the 500k it deserves. This is not as difficult as it might seem and it keeps the integrity of the instrument (imo).

I think you should keep the humbucker in that position, but fill the route hole that is sticking out.

I guess it would be cool if you put the single coils back in while maintaining that humbucker as well. 🤔

I entirely know I'm sacrilege but, i'd put a couple moderately period correct singles in it, probably knowing my non traditional self...a humbucker in the bridge spot..maybe get me some SS 6105s and play the frets off it. I don't require straight up vintage. I'd take those beautiful bones and make it into an amazing gig machine