I recently put a black pickguard on my Strat (which I bought new in either '72 or '73) and noticed that I had a screw left over when I removed the old one. You can see from the pic that there are two countersunk holes at the top left of the guard whereas every other one I've seen just has one hole in this area. I actually can't find another 12 hole pickguard photo on the internet but perhaps there's a Strat historian on here who knows the story? I just put the black one on for a change but not too sure that I like it so it's just temporary.
Thanks
https://i.postimg.cc/N04rqJJG/DSC01592.jpghttp://https//i.postimg.cc/cCKK3ss6/DSC01593.jpg
Comments
https://i.postimg.cc/7h4YrYrG/DSC01593.jpg
The correct solution would have been to trim the pickguard a touch but if it had been like that for a while the only solution may have been to screw it down to the body.
Edit - I found the old photo but the resolution, as suspected, was too poor to identify individual screws.
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
It's the 1983-1984 USA Standard (1st version) with the single-ply guard - but the 12th hole is in a completely different place, to strengthen the area near the guard-mounted jack -
"Take these three items, some WD-40, a vise grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone." - Walt Kowalski
"Only two things are infinite - the universe, and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein