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Some tips for moving the J-45/SJ pickguard off of the rosette


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Starting a separate thread for this, so as to not derail another non-G thread currently active elsewhere on the board. EuroAussie had asked about moving the pickguard off of the rosette on his A.L. SJ. The teardrop guards can be much thinner, and can easily be distorted if not removed at a low angle. Aligning them on the install is also not as straightforward as on a batwing guard, which allows butting the guard up against the fretboard extension to get accurate placement, as lowering the guard into place with the 3m adhesive sheet attached to the guard is a one-take affair.

 

Some general tips; feel free to add or make corrections:

 

1) Use "the capo trick" - capo on one of the first frets after tuning down some to keep the strings wound properly on the tuner shafts, but loose enough to allow popping out (from inside) the bridge pins. This gets the strings out of the way.

 

2) Stuff a fair sized towel inside the soundhole, and place a metal jar lid inside with a little naphtha in it. This makes it easy to keep the floss soaked, but prevents errant dripping of naphtha; keeping the dental floss soaked while working it under the pickguard is key. Getting hair dryer anywhere near the top is an optional risk.

 

3) Starting at the "point" of the teardrop guard, dab a little naphtha around the starting point to get the floss working under the guard, always seeking to maintain the lowest angle- don't pry upward more than necessary- this can distort the thin guard, and could predispose it to wanting to lift after installation. Once you see the naphtha is not going to wash away your sunburst, things go more smoothly with it's liberal application.

 

4) No metal anything should be necessary to remove any adhesive that is left after the pickguard is off, although it may cost you some paper towels and surprisingly little naphtha.

 

5) After the pg is off and cleaned up, trial fit the guard for it's new position outside of the rosette. The "point" in the guard will be easy to locate; the lower rounded corners of the guard should be somewhat square with the back edge of the bridge, but some fudging is allowable so that the soundhole radius on the guard tapers off of the rosette smoothly. Some folk even go out of their way to re-contour the soundhole radius on the guard to compensate for the new, slightly greater radius, but this isn't usually that critical.

 

 

6)The 3M Adhesive Sheets are available from StewMac, or online (eBay) sellers; trace the pattern of your guard and cut. Buy two, or even three sheets; if the backing paper is not removed slowly, a tear could occur in the sprayed on film/adhesive, causing a bubble. A pre-existing bubble could also be present in the sheet, and will probably be visible through the guard once it's on the top. Cheap enough. . . buy extra.

 

7) Lay some masking tape in key areas that you want the pickguard to align with when the guard is lowered into place. Place a few rings on the guard for your fingers to slip into, to slowly guide the guard into position; deep breath/exhale slowly as you lower the guard the last 5mm to the top:

 

IMG_1170_zpsdx7y7btl.jpg

 

 

Enjoy your J-45/SJ with it's newly corrected feng shui.

 

 

IMG_1486_zpszv8vvwkn.jpg

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Re final placement (#7), a very easy method is to:

 

-Place the pickguard in it's ideal location.

-Put a piece of tape on the right to create a hinge.

-Flip the pickguard over, exposing the peel off backing.

-Now recheck that placement is maintained by flipping the guard back into position.

-Lastly, flip over again & remove the backing, and then carefully flip the pickguard back into it's final position.

 

This method should eliminate any guesswork from the final placement & worked perfectly on my LG2-AE.

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5) Some folk even go out of their way to re-contour the soundhole radius on the guard to compensate for the new, slightly greater radius, but this isn't usually that critical.

 

 

 

 

Are you talking about me?

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_0663_zpsd7a98908.jpg

 

5A966CD0-BDB7-4A15-BE9A-8D1E2F992194_zpslychqdvq.jpg

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I did this on mine - ymmv but this is how i did it:

 

The rosette on my guitar (J-45preTV) has the same diameter as a compact disk

I stacked 5 or so unused CDr's and wrapped painters tape around the edge to hold them together. This ends up building something similar to what dave has

Add the sandpaper and gently sand until you have the right diameter on the pickguard

You can then rebevel and polish it up if you want too

 

It's a perfect fit, doesn't take long - and if you're going through the trouble of moving it anyway you might as well... :-({|=

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Are you talking about me?

 

 

 

 

 

IMG_0663_zpsd7a98908.jpg

 

5A966CD0-BDB7-4A15-BE9A-8D1E2F992194_zpslychqdvq.jpg

 

Hate to be super critical, and it may just be the angle of the photograph, but shouldn't the bottom edge of the pickguard be at right angles to the strings? The above picture looks like the guard needs a clockwise move.

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Hate to be super critical, and it may just be the angle of the photograph, but shouldn't the bottom edge of the pickguard be at right angles to the strings? The above picture looks like the guard needs a clockwise move.

 

Mick- there was some head-scratching going on after re-locating the first few pick guards, here. Just doing an internet search of J-45 pickguard images provided some reassurance that the rounded back edge corners of the J-45 teardrop guard have been "roughly" square with the bridge for a very long time. Just being able to see all of the rosette was a relief.

 

Dave- that is one of the nicest tort-style guards I've seen on a contemporary J-45. Is that stock? Also- did you polish the low-luster True Vintage finish, or was that before Gibson toned down the gloss on the TV's?

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Hate to be super critical, and it may just be the angle of the photograph, but shouldn't the bottom edge of the pickguard be at right angles to the strings? The above picture looks like the guard needs a clockwise move.

Actually, many of the Gibson teardrops I've seen have the lower left corner positioned just slightly lower than the lower right side. So much so in fact, that this now looks correct to my eyes & I've developed a preference for it!

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Starting a separate thread for this, so as to not derail another non-G thread currently active elsewhere on the board. EuroAussie had asked about moving the pickguard off of the rosette on his A.L. SJ. The teardrop guards can be much thinner, and can easily be distorted if not removed at a low angle. Aligning them on the install is also not as straightforward as on a batwing guard, which allows butting the guard up against the fretboard extension to get accurate placement, as lowering the guard into place with the 3m adhesive sheet attached to the guard is a one-take affair.

 

Some general tips; feel free to add or make corrections:

 

1) Use "the capo trick" - capo on one of the first frets after tuning down some to keep the strings wound properly on the tuner shafts, but loose enough to allow popping out (from inside) the bridge pins. This gets the strings out of the way.

 

2) Stuff a fair sized towel inside the soundhole, and place a metal jar lid inside with a little naphtha in it. This makes it easy to keep the floss soaked, but prevents errant dripping of naphtha; keeping the dental floss soaked while working it under the pickguard is key. Getting hair dryer anywhere near the top is an optional risk.

 

3) Starting at the "point" of the teardrop guard, dab a little naphtha around the starting point to get the floss working under the guard, always seeking to maintain the lowest angle- don't pry upward more than necessary- this can distort the thin guard, and could predispose it to wanting to lift after installation. Once you see the naphtha is not going to wash away your sunburst, things go more smoothly with it's liberal application.

 

4) No metal anything should be necessary to remove any adhesive that is left after the pickguard is off, although it may cost you some paper towels and surprisingly little naphtha.

 

5) After the pg is off and cleaned up, trial fit the guard for it's new position outside of the rosette. The "point" in the guard will be easy to locate; the lower rounded corners of the guard should be somewhat square with the back edge of the bridge, but some fudging is allowable so that the soundhole radius on the guard tapers off of the rosette smoothly. Some folk even go out of their way to re-contour the soundhole radius on the guard to compensate for the new, slightly greater radius, but this isn't usually that critical.

 

 

6)The 3M Adhesive Sheets are available from StewMac, or online (eBay) sellers; trace the pattern of your guard and cut. Buy two, or even three sheets; if the backing paper is not removed slowly, a tear could occur in the sprayed on film/adhesive, causing a bubble. A pre-existing bubble could also be present in the sheet, and will probably be visible through the guard once it's on the top. Cheap enough. . . buy extra.

 

7) Lay some masking tape in key areas that you want the pickguard to align with when the guard is lowered into place. Place a few rings on the guard for your fingers to slip into, to slowly guide the guard into position; deep breath/exhale slowly as you lower the guard the last 5mm to the top:

 

IMG_1170_zpsdx7y7btl.jpg

 

 

Enjoy your J-45/SJ with it's newly corrected feng shui.

 

 

IMG_1486_zpszv8vvwkn.jpg

 

 

 

Ya, you could do it this way or you could just get your wife's cheese slicer and scrape the offending thing off. Scrape the old glue off with the same slicer and slap a new one on.

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Ya, you could do it this way or you could just get your wife's cheese slicer and scrape the offending thing off. Scrape the old glue off with the same slicer and slap a new one on.

Ah yes, now there's a stellar contribution.

 

You made your point in typical fashion weeks ago.

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