Various Pickguards

[TWANG]

I'm going to take some pics in a bit and post them, of various epi guards.. done in epi and gibson shapes..

 

the thing about swapping these for gib designs is there are several different ones.

 

I've got plain black. b/w/b and b/w/b/w/b to take pics of in three styles of dot or 335 guards, sheri guards, and a couple of others.

 

the shapes vary at the neck position.. some are curved up.. some are flattened out..

and there are three lengths.. as well as different shapes at the end where it goes over the f hole..

 

there's long short and shorter..

 

on top of that, there are spacing differences..

and I thought that I'd post the pics when I get these done up.. so anyone waiting can see what they have and make any corrections they'd like..

 

and others can see what the differences are..

 

Luckily, I can make a longer shape into a shorter shape with no problem.. and various curves and angles and bevels can be changed as well.

 

When I'm done, I may have a guard or two leftover, since I'm going to try at least one change of my own to the shape.

An even smaller dot style.

 

The main things peoples individual tastes show variation is usually in the length.. some like the extra material that goes beyond the bridge pickup toward the bridge.. some don't.

some prefer the f hole part be less .. what shall I call it.. droopy or globular.. (like the sheri guard)..

and some prefer different angles running from the neck screw hole..

 

So far noone has asked for the style without pickup routing.. that one just has a sort of hook at the neck and then runs back flat edged along to the bridge pup.

 

bevelling on the inside, string side, of the guard also varys in peoples tastes. As well as the depth that runs under the strings, some like shallow, some like it a little farther in.

 

there's no real logic to the is beyond taste.. one could say the more guard the more protection.. but even that depends on playing style and in the end, probably more on taste than that.

 

I want to confess to three returns.. one had a neck screw hole that was wrongly positioned. still waiting for that to come back so I can redo it. this time with a trace of his hole placement.. no charge there for fixing it back. his just didn't match mine.

and a I made a tr cover too large. and I made a sheri style tr cover for a coronet that had bell size screw holes..

no charge on this stuff.. we all have to find out what really works, but I'll redo when it's called for, you guys need what you want and like.

 

In the end, I'll have more accurate traces, and pics, so that will be handy.

 

One problem I keep running into is my lousy bookeeping. I forget your real names and even get your handles confused.

Man, why don't I use a ledger like a normal human being?

 

All the stuff I'm showing will be ready to go out tomorrow.

 

I'd like the rest of you to suggest custom designs. maybe you've seen a guard on an epi/gibby like guitar that you'd like to see done up, or even have an idea for a guard shape of your own.

 

Black, in various combinations, seems to be the color almost every time.

 

 

I'll get those pics up in a bit. some guards still in progress and some done.

 

I thought someone was sending me an lp jr trace but it's not come in.

And I quit doing business with WD so I can't do the clear covers a guy requested, All Parts only has the

adhesive backed acoustic style clear.

 

TR covers are my biggest pain! those tiny bell shapes are hard to do compared to a guard.

One thing I do notice is that many guitars vary in the pickup spacing.. dot, dot studio, sheri, etc., they really aren't all quite the same. I suppose that's changing manus, for one thing.

 

I'm just glad this isn't a fender forum.. there must be a zillion strat guards that vary quite a bit, and a heck of a lot more work to those.

 

TWANG

[TWANG]

top left to right.

 

tort. sheri guard original.

cream guard I made with line drawn rough for a change I may make in it.

black sheri guard from trace.

and a trace sent by customer. (notice it's larger.. we think our traces are the same.. but nope!)

 

gibson lp guard, pre made.

 

bottom left to right:

short style 335 guard with larger bottom.

slightly longer 335 guard which will be modified according to the short style with smaller bottom.

(see line. .notice upper portion is different in shape at the neck)

335 longer yet, trace.

casino trace.

casino guard from trace.

 

 

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff83/TWANGthang/pguardgroup.jpg

 

then a close up of the guard I'm switching to the shorter style..with the longer style, but still a shorter model, shown reversed for comparison.

sorry about all the tape but I don't want 'em scratched up. Also, there are works in progress so the lines aren't exact yet.

 

http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff83/TWANGthang/pguardshort1.jpg

 

still to come... gotta work out a late fifties shape.. longer thinner.. different lines.

over the years they had a lot of styles on these things.

TWANG

[ChrisKevin]

I am interested in a replacement pickguard for my Epiphone Dot (1999 Korea). It's in the standard red. I want a pickguard in red to match it. I am looking for a similar look to this Agile.

 

[Fadedepi]

I really like the look of that Agile!! WOW...

 

Faded...

[ChrisKevin]

It looks like a fantastic guitar, and has the vintage vibe nailed. I want my Epiphone Dot to have the same color scheme. I want to get chrome pickup rings and knobs, and a custom made red pickguard like this.

[vomer]

Twang, I saw in another post you had made guards and was going to PM you- I'll ask the question here though as it might be of interest to others: can you do a Sheraton guard in tobacco brown to match the edge of my sunburst? And totally unnecessary over the top addition, a truss rod cover with the word 'custom' like the ones which say 'gibson'.

 

(If this sounds cheesy wait till you see the p90's and the Varitone :-) )

 

PS the smilies don't work for me?

[TWANG]

Chris I've got tortoise on hand.. so yep. BUT.. I'll have to mock one up in paper on my sheraton so we can see how it looks

on an epi.. gotta make sure that lower point doesn't go to far.. looks like an exact one like that would hit the lower knob..

 

 

Vomer, I have some dark brown material, a full sheet in fact.. I can't do the tr cover engraving though.. never tried anyway.. I could build the cover ..

maybe a jeweler would engrave it for you.

it's pretty soft so ought to be cheap to do. I can pm you the material for a color match.. if it doesn't match I'll see what

I can get. As I recall that's pretty dark brown. almost black.. but I think this stuff would still be a good match. Let me try to get a pic.

nobody sells that color anymore.

 

TWANG

[vomer]

Thanks Twang, I'll have a look if you PM me a colour sample.

 

I was wondering about stick-on lettering ('Letraset' or similar?) for the TRC, anyone done this?

[TWANG]

got sick yesterday.. still sick, too.

probably be sleeping most of the day.

but I'll try to check the pms.

 

tWANG

you can get white lettering using those clear plastic decals.. did my amp using white.. gonna switch to some red next.

If you space the thing right. you have enough clear plastic to cover the whole tr cover.. noone can tell it's a decal.

so that would work fine, I think.

 

TWANG