Firestripe replica pickguard, anyone?

[Lars68]

I got this replacement pickguard for my 2007 AJ from www.firestripepickguards.com.

 

http://www.firestripepickguards.com/wp-content/uploads/larsaj1.jpg

 

Has anyone else tried these and have pictures to share?

 

Lars

[duluthdan]

That's classy. Was there an issue with the existing one, or did you just want to dress it up a bit? I have a Martin CSN that has an awful purple looking photocopy heavily pixalated PG that just drives me insane, but there's no issue with it, so I'm reluctant to put it to the scalpel.

[onewilyfool]

Thats a nice one.....I really like the rounded edges, so much more classy than the el cheap-o stock ones...

[PickitPaul]

Yes i recently replaced two pickguards, one is clear backed, the other is solid color on underside, reason being that sometimes the color can be a greenish hue over the dark part of burst. I thought that I'd try both. One is on my J60, the other is on SJ45.

 

[tpbiii]

On the old guitars, the finish went over the pickguards

.

 

 

I always find it sort of jarring when new installations and the re-issues don't do that -- I mean my first impression of a new AJ is that it doesn't look like an AJ. Which is pretty odd, because I am not very visual.

 

Best,

 

-Tom

[Yorick]

There's a reason that the major players stopped applying finish over plastic pickguards. Alas, wood expands and contracts differently from plastic. Sometimes the old guards peeled up--and not always in a clean, pleasant fashion.

 

So it was a design flaw that finally got fixed.

 

But, yeah, it looks different. I've gotten used to it. I'm also cool with the thinner guards we get now.

[j45nick]

On the old guitars, the finish went over the pickguards.

 

 

I always find it sort of jarring when new installations and the re-issues don't do that -- I mean my first impression of a new AJ is that it doesn't look like an AJ. Which is pretty odd, because I am not very visual.

 

Best,

 

-Tom

 

 

I'm with Tom on this one. When Ross Teigen re-did the top burst and pickguard on my old J-45, the final clear coat went right over the new celluloid pickguard, and the look is completely different from what comes out of the factory today. The pickguard looks like part of the top rather than an add-on:

 

[dchristo]

here's one on my D-18

 

[Lars68]

Thanks for the great pictures, guys. Yes I realize that the guards in the old days were applied to bare wood before the finish went on. I think it i fair to say that the old way is potentially dangerous to the guitar. So, although great looking, it is not a feature I would like on my modern guitars. I got the firestripe replica guard simply because I like the look. To come as close as possible to the look of a semi-transparent guard applied on bare wood and then finished over, I actually painted my guard on the back before putting it on. I painted sort of a crude burst pattern with acrylic paint, but used somewhat brighter colors to get it to look right when seen from the front of the guard. I tried to paint it so that the see-through areas of the guard would match up with the color of the top. It was a very fun and rewarding project.

 

Lars

 

By the way, PickitPaul, which one of yours do you prefer? My guard can also be a little green looking in very bright light, but it is only in the areas where I painted the darkest burst pattern. Not a big deal.