The American Vintage II '57 Stratocaster is Fender's most faithful modern recreation of a late 50s Strat, right down to the V-shaped neck and single-ply pickguard.
8 mods reviewed: 8 drop-in.
Places we know sell the Fender American Vintage II '57 Stratocaster.
Andertons
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The American Vintage II '57 Stratocaster is Fender's most faithful modern recreation of a late 50s Strat, right down to the V-shaped neck and single-ply pickguard. It uses vintage-spec 2-7/32 inch (about 56.4mm) string spacing at the bridge, wider than the narrower spacing used on many modern Strats, so pickguards, bridges and pickups built for narrow-spacing modern Strats will not line up correctly. It also uses vintage-style slotted, non-locking tuners rather than the locking tuners found on modern American Strats.
Tailpiece
None (bridge-integrated)
String spacing
56.4mm (2-7/32")
Scale length
25.5" (648mm)
Nut width
41.9mm (1.650")
Not published by Fender: tuner hole size and bridge mounting spacing. Measure these before buying tuners or a bridge.
A premium vintage-spec bridge upgrade that matches the mounting and spacing already on this guitar.
Callaham's Vintage S Model is built to the true vintage 6-screw spec, matching this guitar's confirmed 56.4mm factory bridge directly.
See current price at Reverb
View at ReverbBuilt to the same vintage-style mounting and spacing as the bridge already on this guitar. Should drop straight in.
Wilkinson's VSVG reproduces the vintage 6-screw Strat bridge and mounting pattern, matching this guitar's confirmed 56.4mm vintage-style bridge.
See current price at Amazon
View at AmazonA real humbucker that still fits the existing single-coil-sized bridge route, no routing needed.
A humbucker built into a single-coil-sized housing so it drops into the bridge route with no routing.
£119.99 at Andertons
View at Andertons
Fits the standard Strat pickup route. You will need to solder it in, this is not a solderless swap.
Standard staggered-pole Strat single-coil, drops into the same route and mounting as this guitar's stock Pure Vintage single-coils.
£104.99 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.
Vintage-style six-in-line tuners with press-in bushings, built for the smaller vintage tuner holes this guitar already has. Should swap straight in.
Kluson Deluxe 6-in-line tuners are made for Fender-style 6-in-line headstocks with vintage press-fit bushing holes of about 8.7mm. This guitar has a 6-in-line headstock and vintage-style tuners in vintage-size holes, so both the layout and the hole size match.
See current price at Amazon
View at AmazonBuilt for this guitar's true vintage-spec tuner posts, and adds string locking that this guitar's stock non-locking tuners don't have.
Manufacturer-specified for 8.5mm vintage press-in bushing holes, matching this guitar's genuinely non-locking vintage-spec tuners, while adding a locking mechanism the stock tuners don't have.
See current price at Reverb
View at ReverbNothing is flagged as an open question here right now. If you have fitted something to this Fender American Vintage II '57 Stratocaster that we haven't covered, send it in.
