ES-335 Leather Pick guard on Nitro finish question

[ScaryLarry]

I am thinking of replacing the black plastic pick guard on my 2015 Figured ES-335 with a leather one.

It attaches under the pickups and therefore will touch the guitar's finish there which is nitro so I was

wondering if the leather will ruin the finish where it touches. The rest of the pick guard seems to be elevated

off the finish.

 

Thanks,

SLarry

[IanHenry]

Larry, I'm pretty sure that the leather will over time cause some damage to the finish. Seriously bad idea in my opinion, if it ain't broke don't try to fix it.

 

 

 

Ian

[badbluesplayer]

Yeah - The leather will ruin the finish.

[L5Larry]

Laminate (glue) the leather to the existing plastic pickguard. You'll probably need some sort of backer to stiffen the leather anyway. You may even like the fact that it's a little high with the layer of leather, and more useful as a "finger rest". Being mostly an archtop player, I raised and "floated" the pickguard on the p/u side of my 345 to give it more of a familiar feel.

 

If you don't want to adulterate the original pickguard, buy an aftermarket and use that. I've made archtop pickguards for traditional (full floating) installation that had to be laminated with an aluminum plate to keep them from flopping around.

 

IF..., your leather is indeed stiff enough, you could install a piece of thick felt across the touching edge. I generally use a Velcro "loop" strip for something like this.