V8
Thanks! Picked it up the day I posted and took it straight to my local shop, they did a fantastic job setting it up. I looked at what the bleed did and wow yeah that's a necessity, and I'll look into the pots, super informative thanks alot!

Looked at that link it didn't really explain how to post a picture just how to resize one? Maybe I missed something, I'm on mobile.. but I have a Dropbox link
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ed10muhppllf3tr6ti3d2/IMG_20231221_091759.jpg?rlkey=fkdq4ez9cx6i59v58dvyusf5e&dl=0

I currently play a tenor saxophone and am getting into guitars.

My buddies got a Squier paranormal custom Nashville stratocaster in Aztec gold for sale ( donno how to share pics, found them on Google easily though this one says squire stratocaster on the head stock and the ones online didn't... ) he'll let it go to me for $200 cad, seems like a good deal to me, though I know it's a Squier guitar so it's a budget fender. But that doesn't bother me, I'll customize it.

With that in mind I was wondering what I should replace in it first? To upgrade the hardwear or if I should buy one of them complete pickguards. And with what would people suggest I replace them with? I don't know much about guitar part manufacturers. I like to play any kind of music and plan on just having one guitar for a long time, and figure I'll upgrade this squire to demi god status for the fun of it as I learn.

Thanks!
I'll update with picks once I get it and learn how to