Do S500 MFDs fit in Fender strats

[oldMfds]

I'm seriously considering "converting" a mexican strat to use the S500 MFDs which I vastly prefer the sound of compared to strat pickups. I've had an 83 mahogany S500 for 20+ years but finally figured out that I prefer the narrow string spacing on the mexican strats since I mainly play a gibson and I always feel clumsy when switching to the wider string spacing on the S500. Old dog, new tricks...

Anyhow, now that I have my justification/rationalization out of the way ... before buying the pickups I'd like to be sure they will fit. I've read that they were (re)designed in the later 80s or 90s to fit as after market pickups in strats, but I'd like to verify that they are not too deep to leave room for height adjustment. And I figure if anyone knows for sure it's probably someone here!

Thanks in advance.

[Elwood]

sorta...
They are deeper, so the guard is under a little stress when screwed down.
It does work , but not ideal. I'll see if I can find the pics with my MFD equipped mexican strat.
...or take new pics for ya.

[Elwood]

Not the greatest pic , and it doesn't show how the guard balloons up in
the middle a tad.
The bridge pup is from a 2006 tribute S-500, the middle is an '87 SC-3 pup,
and a fender at the neck. Not much room adjusting the MFD's higher,
and no room below to lower them, but it is the ballpark and sounds pretty good.



I have better pics from the side(somewhere), let me know if they would help.

[Craig]

I'm seriously considering "converting" a mexican strat to use the S500 MFDs which I vastly prefer the sound of compared to strat pickups. I've had an 83 mahogany S500 for 20+ years but finally figured out that I prefer the narrow string spacing on the mexican strats since I mainly play a gibson and I always feel clumsy when switching to the wider string spacing on the S500. Old dog, new tricks...

Anyhow, now that I have my justification/rationalization out of the way ... before buying the pickups I'd like to be sure they will fit. I've read that they were (re)designed in the later 80s or 90s to fit as after market pickups in strats, but I'd like to verify that they are not too deep to leave room for height adjustment. And I figure if anyone knows for sure it's probably someone here!

Thanks in advance.

If you decide to add MFD pickups, will you be updating the wiring and controls, too? See this in our Gallery: Album: S-500 Diagrams.

[oldMfds]

Not the greatest pic , and it doesn't show how the guard balloons up in
the middle a tad.
The bridge pup is from a 2006 tribute S-500, the middle is an '87 SC-3 pup,
and a fender at the neck. Not much room adjusting the MFD's higher,
and no room below to lower them, but it is the ballpark and sounds pretty good.



I have better pics from the side(somewhere), let me know if they would help.

Thanks! Seems like it might make sense to shave out the bottom of the routes a little it comes to that.
Good to know!

[oldMfds]

I'm seriously considering "converting" a mexican strat to use the S500 MFDs which I vastly prefer the sound of compared to strat pickups. I've had an 83 mahogany S500 for 20+ years but finally figured out that I prefer the narrow string spacing on the mexican strats since I mainly play a gibson and I always feel clumsy when switching to the wider string spacing on the S500. Old dog, new tricks...

Anyhow, now that I have my justification/rationalization out of the way ... before buying the pickups I'd like to be sure they will fit. I've read that they were (re)designed in the later 80s or 90s to fit as after market pickups in strats, but I'd like to verify that they are not too deep to leave room for height adjustment. And I figure if anyone knows for sure it's probably someone here!

Thanks in advance.

If you decide to add MFD pickups, will you be updating the wiring and controls, too? See this in our Gallery: Album: S-500 Diagrams.

Thank you for the diagram!
I had been warned to: "Keep in mind G&L uses a .0022uf cap to ground on that circuit as the MFDs have a lot of high end content. If you use them without that cap, they will be extremely bright."

I think the Treble and Bass rolloff pots are a great idea so I'd like to have that if possible.
I'm not sure how the MFDs might work with the S1 system that's on the mexican strat I got for this conversion. I figured I'd leave all the nitty gritty to someone who might have a clue, since I don't! So thanks again for the diagram, that will no doubt come in handy.

[WitSok]

Thanks! Seems like it might make sense to shave out the bottom of the routes a little it comes to that.
Good to know!

Yeah, a little shaving probably isn't a bad idea if that's what it takes to swap to MFDs!