💾 Archived View for blitter.com › OLGA › MUSIC › RESOURCES › CONSTRUCTION_DOCS › FAQ › FAQ.WD_PICKGU… captured on 2022-06-12 at 08:09:52.
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=========================================================================== Tim Stanley's Custom Pickguard FAQ =========================================================================== W.D. Music Products (formerly of Deer Park, NY) will do custom pickguards from a tracing, or in-stock for nearly any guitar you have ever heard of. Lots of other build-your-own stuff too, though a bit pricey IMHO. According to netter Richard Couch <rcouch@symantec.com>: WD is now at 4070 Mayflower Rd, Fort Myers FL 33916 ph# 813 337-7575. Expect to pay as little as $25.00 for plain stock pickguards, and as much as $50+ for fancy custom pickguards. A Squire pickguard is regarded as a custom item since there are so many versions of the Squire. The intersting thing about W.D. is that they can make any pickguard for any guitar from patterns they already have in stock from about 40 colors (pearloids, solid, tortise, mirror, flags, leapord, tiger). If you send them a custom tracing, they will do it for a bit extra. This is what I did for two projects. The price is a little high, the quality is decent, the color selection is awesome. Raw stock also available for route-it-yourselfers. Neither pickguard was *exactly* to the tracing - both were fine though. For custom pickgards, consider that they tape your tracing to the pickguard raw stock and route it by hand. They have to move the router very smoothly and very rapidly. Neck slots and bridge slots are so smooth that they seem to be done with a real solid template. As many netters have pointed out, it is hard to make a custom pickguard and I have always had to do at least a bit of trimming/filing/routing around the edges here and there to get the right alignment/fit. Tip #1) In one instance, I also routed a slanted bridge humbucker slot myself. The most important thing to know about this stuff is *IT IS FLAMMABLE*. It wants to burst into flames when you are working it with a router - keep that router moving. I am not kidding, this is not like your Dad telling you not to play with matches or you will hurt yourself. Perhaps a ChemEng out there can tell us if the black smoke will cause cancer instantly, or if takes several years. Tip #2) On my custom second pickguard, I asked them *not* to route the screw-holes. Because I had learned that a bit of trimming is always necessary to get the right alignment/fit, I also learned that the screwholes they make from your tracing might not be in exactly the right position w.r.t. the guitar body once everything if finished. So, I made my own screw-holes after I got the pickguard to fit just right. For in-stock non-custom pickguards, your milage may vary, and/or you may not care about new screwholes. They have a very nice white pearloid, and gun-metal-blue pearloid color. These are the two colors I used. Very sharp and distinctive looking. G'luck, T P.S. Stewart MacDonald's has in-stock replacement pickguards for many common guitars/basses as well as blank material. =========================================================================== Digest of related posts =========================================================================== Date: Fri, 4 Nov 94 11:12:34 EST From: Tom Ruscitti <truscitt@stat.psu.edu> Message-Id: <9411041612.AA29954@student.stat.psu.edu> To: tjs@eecs.umich.edu Subject: L-7 pickguard Here's a bit of info for your "pickguard FAQ." I called W.D. regarding my Gibson L-7's missing pickguard. They said they probably had a template but would still need a tracing to get it right. A few phone calls in search of a tracing led me to National Guitar Repair in Tennessee (phone 615-662-1574). They just said yep we make 'em and we include hardware, too, and by the way, your L-7 had a black laminate guard and not tortoise-shell like W.D. said. For $75, which was within the range W.D. quoted. They seem to be knowledgeable, no-bullshit folks, so we'll see how it looks when I get it. Have you had any dealings with them? Tom -- Tom Ruscitti Phone: 814-863-1276 Statistical Consulting Center FAX: 814-863-7114 Penn State University email: truscitt@stat.psu.edu