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How to fix your lifting flubber pick guard, the procedure


ALD323

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I have noticed that people are still having trouble with lifting flubber guards and so have decided to post this procedure. It is a simple procedure and quite easy to do. Those who have used this procedure in the past, please let us know how it worked so that others can benefit from it. There is no need to buy a new pick guard. Follow this simple procedure and your lifting flubber guard will be fixed...permanently!
....Best wishes....Alan (ALD323)
I fixed my badly lifting 2013 Hummingbird flubber guard  years ago by developing the following exact procedure....and it worked. I could not stand the peeling corners, so I removed it, cleaned both it and the guitar top with naptha to remove all traces the old glue. Then I followed this procedure...
#1 lay the pickguard flat on a clean dry counter top.....
#2 use a hair dryer and blow it directly  onto the hummingbird guard till it "softens just enough to relax. "
#3 Flip the pickguard over from time to time as you heat it with the hair dryer. It wil need to get just hot enough to cause the curl to drop and begin to lay flat.
#4 Do not heat it to melting...It may need to be heated a few times and a little patience. Move the hair dryer evenly all around the entire pick guard heating it evenly, particularly on the curled up areas, the whole pick guard needs to relax and delflex from the even moving swirling heat of the dryer. .....and after the curl is FLAT, you apply the  3M sticker, it will say on and never peel off. Take special note that you do not melt it in any area. It will get very warm, if you need to stop to let it cool down do so...then reheat it again. I held the top of the hair dryer about an inch to two inches away, ...use plenty of light as you do this so you can monitor that it does not melt. As I said, when it begins to get hot enough to deflex....it will actually flatten before your eyes. Keep the hair dryer moving and not focused in a beam of heat, this will avoid all melting and make it just hot enough to flatten.
 #5 Immediately after heating it flat, (you will actually be able to see it deflex under the heat, and before it cools, place a heavy book on top of it. It will cool slowly and remain permanently flat. It will then be ready to re-install on your guitar.
...it will then STAY on the guitar permanently without curling or pulling off.   
****Please note that If you decide to re-apply  the pickguard without DEFLEXING it with the hair dryer first, it will pull up again from the guitar.  The hair dryer WILL cause it to deflex flat the instant it reaches the temperature to do so.  Immediately after heating it flat, and before it cools entirely, and do let it cool a bit, then place a heavy book on top of it for a while till it completely cools. It will cool slowly and remain permanently flat. It will then be ready to re-install on your guitar. Done correctly it will never curl again or pull up. Good luck..if u wish to reinstall your hummingbird pick guard..this is a guarenteed way to do so. I ordered a new one and it came with the same curls  so....I returned that one as it was a curled as the old one I took off and yet it was beand new.  and then  reinstalled the old one after de-flexing it...very easy to do...and it lasted for years and never pulled up again. Good luck. Let us know how it went!
Edited by ALD323
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42 minutes ago, BigKahune said:

@ALD323  Thank you. Seems like a sound and logical procedure.  Did you read about it, or come up with it on your own?

.

So, here's how it happened. I came up with it on my own after I had sent for a new Gibson Flubber pickguard from a well known and approved supplier...only to find that when it arrived it was more flexed and uneven than the one I took off the 2013 hummingbird. I sent it back for refund. Now the old HB flubber pick guard began to lift and fail at about 6 months. Dissappointed, I removed it, but soon found that I could not appreciate the Hummingbird without the guard, nor could I tolerate all the continuous lifting corners which kept popping up when I pushed them down.  I began to look at and ..."study my pick guard lying on a countertop." I quickly realized why it was lifting even tho it had been put on with strong 3M glue, or similar type adhesive. I noticed the entire flubber guard was slightly bowed from the deep middle and rose up higher at the tips of the guard pointed up as it lay on the counter top. It layed very uneven, and refused to lie flat at all bouncing back to the curl every time I pressed it to the counter top.... I concluded that the curled and flexed flubber guard represented a "constant stress point" which eventually caused it to pull away from the top even with the 3M glue holding it. I realized that if the pick guard were FLAT..like most celluloid guards are..that it would not stress the 3M glue because there would be no constant subtle pull up pressure..and then it should stay put. So I decided to experiment by applying the heat as indicated in the process, knowing at the time it could possibly ruin the soft flubber pick guard..but by now I was willing to take the risk..as there simply was no other solution. It did not destroy or disfigure the guard or its bird motif in any way..the only thing it did was soften it and relax it to lay fat on the counter top. It is my belief that when these guards are made and still in the hot molds, they cool too quickly and unevenly, causing the guard to curl up at the tips since the heat would be dissapated from those thinner areas faster than the thicker body of the flubber guard itself. As it cools, and while the atoms are still in liquid form, they "re-arrange themselves to the cooler temp ..and the atoms then remain in that position permanently. Stubborn little buggers they are lol! What I needed was a way to "re-arrange the atoms," warm them up to a relaxed state, and then allow them to cool slowly in the flat position with a heavy book on top the guard, forcing it to remain flat as it slowly cooled under the heavy books pressure. I knew that once the atoms had cooled in a flat position, it would be impossible for them to ever rearrange them selves to the curled position again.  Long story short...Having worked and retired in a Bell Labs research and development center where  both molecules atoms were a common daily subject in the process of developing electronic products and computer chips, I was aware of how "atoms" react in various circumstances, particularly the effects of heat on atoms while in the heated or molten state, and then simply applied the basic physics to create a simple process to correct the flex or curl. This would allow the flubber gard to be re-installed FLAT instead of with flex or curl, and then the 3M glue would do the rest for the next 30 years hopefully!  Sorry to be so long winded but since you seemed interested in how this came to be, I thought I would share it with you. Thank you for asking. And so it was no big deal for me, just simple logic in developing the simple procedure. 

 

1 hour ago, BigKahune said:

@ALD323  Thank you. Seems like a sound and logical procedure.  Did you read about it, or come up with it on your own?

.

 

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  • 3 months later...
26 minutes ago, misterbruce said:

So Gibson will NOT pay for a Warranty Claim by paying someone to re glue the pickguard?? That is pretty sad considering the amount of money I am paying for their instruments and inferior glue/pickguard.

yep,,,,,,,  mine is lifting a slight amount too,  I love my j200 but this is all rather  annoying,, isn't it?

if it's reglued, it's just going to do it again,, the problem is the materials in the pick guard, not the adhesive they use.

you would think they'd address the root cause and not have the problem passed on to customers...  but  I guess we're asking too much.......

 

Edited by kidblast
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  • 1 month later...

Clive calling from Windsor , UK

I was gutted when i realised the Pickguard on my J200 was starting to lift , complained to the store , that said yeah , they seem to do that , on a $4000 guitar not the answer I was hoping for .

What I did discover is that the root cause for this problem is not  a poor quality Gibson  pickguard material,but most commonly the use of silcone based polishes .

Whilst the silicone polish makes the guitar sparkle , it actually starts to seep underneath the edges of the pickguard and eats away at the adhesive . allowing the pickguard to curl .

Big lesson , NO silicone based polish , just use a slightly damp cloth to clear of sticky finger marks in future

I adopted a very similar method to yours repair the problem with success , my only difference is that I used heated  cloth  folded cloth  pads to soften the Pickguard , by laying the pickguard  in warm cloths in between 2 heavy books ,to flatten .

Any residue sticky  adhesive can be gently  rolled off the surfaces  with the pad of your fingers, then  I used Zippo lighter fuel ( NAPTHA)  on pads  to clean off any trace of silicone on  the  back surface of the  old pickguard ,and the surface of the soundboard ( WARNING carry out test patch with cotton bud on back of headstock prior to to applying to guitar surface to check for adverse reaction .  

I have used this method several times , and so far by not using Silcone polishes the pickguards are flat and secure .

Good Luck , keep strummimg guys and gals .

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 By chance ,The method I used was the same as ALD 323 ,of 18 September  2020 ,but as he made such a fantastic and comprehensive instruction sheet I didnt write out my own method sheet for you guys , but well done you ALD323!

Basically it aint the pickgurd , its using crazy silicone polishes, just use a very  slightly moist cloth to clear off sticky donuts  , beer or greasy finger marks .

Rock on Chaps ..

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34 minutes ago, CLIVE ALLUM said:

 By chance ,The method I used was the same as ALD 323 ,of 18 September  2020 ,but as he made such a fantastic and comprehensive instruction sheet I didnt write out my own method sheet for you guys , but well done you ALD323!

Basically it aint the pickgurd , its using crazy silicone polishes, just use a very  slightly moist cloth to clear off sticky donuts  , beer or greasy finger marks .

Rock on Chaps ..

Curious to know which polishes use silicone? Would Gibson polish fall into this category?

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HI , I,m not a chemist and dont always check the content of domestic polishes , nor the branded Guitar polishes , but since i have refrained from using  any polish near the pickguard area the pickguard sits there firm and flat and looking great .

The first time in 2015, I replaced a  Gibson pickguard that had been stuck back down by  apreviuos owner with EVO STICK BONDED GLUE , it lifted again not long after,and  I had been  using   a domestic spray polish to clean  .Mr.Sheen I think I used , sparkled , and smelt great but after a while the guard started to curl up again  at the pointed decorative areas . I followed up on  a comment from a Gibson Forum member  that mentioned the silicone dissolving the 3m adhesive  effect , Anyway it seems to work , and I have carried out the replacement pickguard on  a few  more of my collection,and so so far with success .

Every time I took them out of their  cases and saw those babies with curly  pickguard bits I fell out of love with them ,and needed to do something ....

Just got to be patient , carefull , and resist polish around the pick guard areas .

I think the reason Gibson utilises the soft pickguard material , is to avoid the the classic problem that  occours  with likes of  Martins , is the harder non flexible pickguard material actually shrinks and can cause a split in the sounboard  area a  round the B string area of the bridge  to the soundhole  as the guitar ages.

 

ii

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