strat shaped guitars with no pick guard
While I'm happy with my Yamaha Pacifica PAC112VM and it absolutely works for me, it does have a pick guard. Granted, it only covers the middle and neck pickups along with the selector switch, but still, that disqualifies it from the "super easy to maintain" category.
Truly super-easy Strat shape guitars have no pick guard at all because you can access the electronics for maintenance from the rear via small panels, so let's look at those.
Two things out of the way first:
First, if you gotta have a Fender Strat but want one with no pick guard, only two exist that I've mentioned before. Fender Aerodyne Special Stratocaster and Fender Aerodyne Special Stratocaster HSS. That's it. So if you just have to have Fender, there you go.
Second, I'm specifically going to concentrate on mid-tier guitars, but if "I want a Strat shape with no pick guard, I want it new, and want it cheap" sounds like you, see Jackson JS11 and JS12 Dinky models. To the best of my knowledge, that's the absolute rock bottom lowest cost no-pick-guard Strat shape you can get for a fully assembled guitar.
In my research for mid-tier Strat shape guitars with no pick guard, Ibanez and Schecter rule the roost here.
...is the guitar you see above, and I am seriously impressed by what you get for the money. The carve in the back is insanely good to get access to higher frets, which Ibanez calls the "Super All Access neck Joint". The neck itself is roasted maple. Can you say stainless steel frets? The AZ24S1F has them, and they're of the wide/tall flavor. Body is alder, pickups are alnico 5's, and yes, that little switch changes from humbucker to single-coil.
Ibanez claims you can get 10 different tone types out of this guitar because of the dyna-MIX10 system with "power tap" mode.
Can you?
Incredibly, yes:
Holy crap.
Even before mentioning the other guitars, the AZ24S1F is the best of the lot. No question.
...doesn't have as many features as the AZ24S1F does. But it does have 3 pickups instead of just 2, and the output jack is top-mounted instead of side-mounted, which is more convenient.
Also, the guitar is just straight up gorgeous. Natural finish with tastefully done flame and gold hardware. Even the tuners are gold. Yep. Also, something I personally like better about it is that it's a hardtail. No vibrato system whatsoever.
Simple, solid, easy-player, gorgeous guitar.
Schecter Traditional Van Nuys...
...is the old school Schecter design. Instead of the 3x3 tuners they use on basically everything, it has the 6 inline tuners like a Strat does. This is an HSS, and the humbucker has a nice chrome cover on it. Push-pull exists, so yes, you can get single-coil goodness out of the humbucker.
The only finish offered is Gloss Natural Ash, so it has that coffee table look going on. Ordinarily I don't like this, but this has a darker hue and it carries all the way to the headstock, so it works.
Schecter C-1 Exotic Spalted Maple...
...proved to me spalted maple can actually look good, because otherwise I can't stand the spalted maple look. This C-1 model somehow pulls it off and it looks right.
Again, this is one of those coffee table looking things, but Schecter just seems to get the right combination of colors while other guitar makers can't. Schecter just knows how to do natural.
In this one is a pair of zebra humbuckers, the body has binding (and looks good), the knobs have a mysterious red/brown look to them (which you'd think wouldn't work, but again, Schecter knows good color), and yes, I think this earns "Exotic" in its name.
As for the sound, it's the Schecter Diamond '78 humbuckers, and yes there is a toggle for single-coil sounds.
Straight up gorgeous guitar, just like the Ibanez offering.
Is the no-pick-guard Strat shape the way to go?
For a lot of guys, yes.
With all electric guitars, there's maintenance. Maintaining your guitar should be easy, because if it's complicated, you get annoyed with that real fast.
Also, one of the best parts about the double cutaway Strat shape is no neck dive. Not only is a no-pick-guard Strat style guitar easy to maintain, but also is an easy player sitting or standing.
I covered the mid-tier stuff because there are guys who want something nice that's not insanely priced and easy to maintain. Yes, you can get it, and do so without going to the poorhouse in the process.
Published 2025 Sep 5
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