The American Ultra Stratocaster is Fender's most feature-packed modern Strat, a Modern D neck, compound-radius fingerboard, tapered neck heel and deep body contours for genuinely easier upper-fret access, not just marketing language.
12 mods reviewed: 8 drop-in, 3 need verification, 1 needs modification.
The American Ultra Stratocaster is Fender's most feature-packed modern Strat, a Modern D neck, compound-radius fingerboard, tapered neck heel and deep body contours for genuinely easier upper-fret access, not just marketing language. Its Ultra Noiseless pickups use a stacked-coil design, physically different from a traditional single coil internally, but built to the same Strat-standard footprint. The patented S-1 switch adds extra pickup combinations beyond a standard 5-way selector.
Tailpiece
None (bridge-integrated)
Neck mounting
4-bolt
String spacing
52.4mm (2-1/16")
Scale length
25.5" (648mm)
Nut width
42.8mm (1.685")
Not published by Fender: tuner hole size and bridge mounting spacing. Measure these before buying tuners or a bridge.
We may earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It doesn't change the price you pay. How we make money
Built to match the modern American-series tremolo mount already on this guitar.
Callaham builds the American Standard bridge specifically to match current American-series 2-point mounting and 52.4mm spacing.
Built for exactly this tier of Fender Stratocaster, matching the modern 2-point spacing closely.
This bridge is built specifically for modern American Standard/Professional-tier 2-point Strats at 52.5mm, essentially the same modern spacing as this guitar's 52.4mm bridge.
See current price at Reverb
View at ReverbThis bridge mounts on the same posts as your stock bridge, but its string spacing is wider than stock. Gotoh's narrower NS510 model matches your stock spacing more closely, but this wider version should still physically fit if you don't mind the difference.
This is Gotoh's standard 510 tremolo, built to 54mm string spacing, wider than this guitar's modern 52.4mm spacing. Gotoh's standard and NS510 (Narrow Spacing) tremolos share the same post mounting spacing, so this should physically bolt onto this guitar's existing studs, but the wider string spread means strings will sit further from the neck edge than stock. Revised from an earlier Not compatible verdict, this bridge likely does mount, it just changes string spacing from stock rather than failing to fit at all. Gotoh's NS510 narrow-spacing model is the closer match to stock spacing.
Help confirm this fit
See current price at Amazon
This bridge mounts on the same posts as your stock bridge, but its string spacing is wider than stock. Your strings will sit a bit further out than you're used to, worth trying before committing if that matters to your playing feel.
This bridge's real spec is 54mm string spread (confirmed via Gotoh's own product page), wider than this guitar's modern 52.4mm spacing. Gotoh/Wilkinson's narrow and wide 2-point tremolos share the same post mounting spacing, so this should physically bolt onto this guitar's existing studs, but the wider string spread means strings will sit further from the neck edge than stock, worth confirming feel and fretboard-edge clearance before buying rather than assuming an exact match.
Help confirm this fit
See current price at Amazon
View at AmazonThis is a bigger job than a normal saddle swap, it needs internal routing for the preamp and a new output jack.
Saddle-level retrofit into an existing tremolo, but genuinely needs internal routing for the preamp and a stereo output jack, real electronics work regardless of the specific guitar.
Help confirm this fit
Fits the standard Strat pickup route. Noise-cancelling but still single-coil-sized, no routing needed, just soldering.
Standard-size stacked-coil Strat single-coil replacement, direct fit for the stock single-coil route.
A real humbucker that still fits the existing single-coil-sized route, no routing needed.
A humbucker built into a single-coil-sized housing so it drops into a standard Strat single-coil route with no routing.
£119.99 at Andertons
View at Andertons
More output than a vintage-style single-coil while keeping true single-coil character. Fits the standard route, needs soldering.
A hotter modern-voiced staggered single-coil, standard Strat route and mounting.
See current price at Reverb
View at ReverbA popular budget-friendly pickup upgrade. Fits the standard Strat route, needs soldering.
One of the most widely bought Strat pickup sets on the market, standard single-coil route and mounting.
Comes with different-sized bushings in the box, built to handle small bore variations without needing an exact match.
Ships with interchangeable bushings sized for the range of bore diameters used across current Fender tuner holes, sidestepping exact hole-size questions.
See current price at Amazon
View at AmazonMatches the tuner holes already on this guitar. A well established alternative to Fender and Gotoh locking lines.
Sperzel's standard locking line uses the modern 10mm bore matching this guitar's tuner holes.
This guitar already has factory locking tuners, so a straight swap should work, though the exact hole size has not been independently pinned down for this model.
This guitar ships with factory locking tuners already. One general source cites current Fender locking tuner bores at roughly 10.5mm, though that figure is not confirmed specifically for this model.
Help confirm this fit
See current price at Amazon
View at AmazonIf you have fitted any of these to this Fender American Ultra Stratocaster, tell us what you found and we'll update the data.
