St body parts compatibility

[Infsub]

Hi all.
Can anyone answer a couple of questions for me?
With the Strat body, what tremolo bridge setup will fit? I once tried a m.i.m bridge/trem in a squire and it was too big due to squire bodies being thinner than Fender Strat bodies.

Secondly, will a squire Strat neck fit perfectly in an St style body or is there going to be some play? Will it sit too low in neck pocket?

I obviously have a m.i.m. trem and squire Strat neck (plus other parts) sitting around and am thinking of buying an ST body from Pitbull to build a parts caster as long as I am sure the trem and neck I have will fit.

Thanks in advance

[Dedman]

No idea on the neck , but every aftermarket trem I've used ( Goto, Wilkinson) have fitted fine in the Pitbull bods. ( I'm talking the vintage style trems with screws not posts)

[Infsub]

Thanks Deadman. The body I am looking at says it is American standard specs, so I am guessing most terms will fit. I just can't find anyone that put a M.I.M. in an American standard. (Of course, why would anyone do that unless they are in my situation?)

[Sonic Mountain]

Are you mostly concerned about the trem block hanging out the back? You can grind it down a fair bit before it gets anywhere near the string retainers. Or you could just swap the block with a shorter one... or just leave the back cover off? All the cool kids are doing it.

[king casey]

All the cool kids are doing it.

and Hendrix.

I've fitted various 'strat' style necks to various non-Fender bodies and they seem to all fit O.K.

I fitted a Pitbull TL neck into a Squier Tele body with no probs.

Of course it's no guarantee.

cheers, Mark.

[McCreed]

The body I am looking at says it is American standard specs, so I am guessing most terms will fit.

If the body has the vibrato mounting holes pre-drilled, you should measure the centre to centre distance of the two outer holes.

Mex bridges will be 54mm mounting and 52mm E to E string spacing, American bridges can be a range of sizes from 2-1/16" to 2-3/16" or 2-7/32" mounting screw spacing and have varying string spacing also between those distances (52-56mm). Fender has been all over the shop in the past 60 years with these measurements and it can get pretty confusing. However dowelling and re-drilling is always an option.

If it's not drilled, the only potential problem could be the opening for the vibrato. If it's routed for a USA bridge, a MIM bridge plate may not be wide enough to entirely cover the routing. It would only be a small gap, but it depends on how pedantic you wish to be. I know this from personal experience.

As for neck heel/pocket compatibility, aftermarket, non-fender heels tend to run slightly wider than a standard fender pocket.
You're then faced with either widening the pocket, or narrowing the heel. IME the heel thickness with aftermarket or kit necks also tend to run a bit thicker than a genuine/licensed fender neck.

This has been a contentious issue with some, but I prefer to fit the heel to the pocket so that a genuine/licensed fender neck could be fitted easily in future if desired, but that's just me.

[Simon Barden]

You may find that the end of another neck may be a slightly different shape to the end of the neck pocket. This even happens on the kits themselves. Some necks have a more rounded end, some flatter. No guarantees there at all.

[JimC]

Not just kits. There was a pocket/neck shape mismatch on the lowmid price range Strat I'm rebodying.

[fender3x]

I noticed this on the p-bass body/neck I am working on. I have decided that pickguards can hide a multitude of evils.