replacement/custom wooden pickguards

[JohnCovach]

I've been in contact with some experienced woodworkers in my area, looking into the possibility of having new pickguards made for a few of my Heritage guitars.  I'm thinking of having black ones made, with white or cream binding, using the stock heritage shape, for my two 575's, my 535, and my 576.  It occurred to me that it might be just as easy to have a few of each of these made as to have one, and that some of you might be interested in a new guard for your guitar.  I'm also thinking about wooden knobs, pickups rings, switch tips, truss rod covers, and switch rings (all of this inspired by Gibson's The Les Paul of the late 1970s).

 

Any interest here?

[Thundersteel]

Wooden knob, switch tips, and truss rod covers, yes!

 

I'm not a fan of pickguards or switch rings--they cover up too much wood IMHO.

[JohnCovach]

Great--here's a little more of what I have in mind.  My idea for these parts is that they should not be ostentatiously wooden (exotic woods, etc): they should look pretty much like the plastic parts, and so black (ebony with white or cream binding) seems good to me.  Knobs could be either of the bell or speed knob style.

[Thundersteel]

If "they should look pretty much like the plastic parts," then what's the point?

 

Why not have flamed/quilted maple wooden parts if the top is of the same variety? Now THAT would be sweet!

[DrFrankStein]

I think i like the flamey idea. The only reason I did not pull the pickguard off my 535 is because it is a beautiful flamed affiar. Here are a couple of websites that got my attention.

 

http://www.thgknobs.com/

 

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/guitarknobs_wood.htm

[AnH555]

I'd like to have an unfinished ebony pickguard, in Heritage's traditional shape. I've been also pondering the idea of a pickguard in smoked tempered glass. With either of these pick marks could be easily removed at string changes.

 

John, congrats on scoring that black Millennium. Hope you'll tell us about it. That seems to me like a guitar that's uniquely Heritage. Can you see the woodgrain through that finish on the top, or is it opaque?

[Cryoman]

Hi John, That's great. I've been thinking about doing this myself.  I really like the flamed maple pickguards with the semi-translucent black dye that Heritage has sold with some of their guitars (some bound, others not)  Ebony is pretty hard to get / expensive in thin sheets required for a thin, wide pickguard. I've found it mostly in block, sticks and strips. I suggest you'll find those pretty pricey pickguards even for your local guy to make them at cost.  I'd be interested in what the prices for these are, John.  I might be interested in doing a batch at cost for fellow Heritage owners since it's all just labor of love for me.  I could probably do pickguards and TR-covers and not the others since I don't turn wood on a lathe.

 

Cheers, Thanks, Cryoman

[JohnCovach]

Could you stain rosewood black, allowing some grain to show through?  I have two black pickguards that were made by Heritage--one on a 157 and another on my Milly DC--and I'm not sure what the wood is.  I wonder what kind of wood Jay's pickguards are.

 

BTW, Ren is willing to do these for customers, but those guys are so swamped right now, I'd just as soon not bother them with this kind of thing.

[Cryoman]

Hi John,

 

Believe it or not, OAK, is a wonderful wood for dying dark black while allowing the woods grain to show through.  I've done some painting frames this way using black aniline dye and then multiple coats of polyurethane. Oak takes the dye very well and you can get the blackest black. I think this might look guitar for the jazz boxes.  Certainly rosewood could/would be similarly stained and then lacquered... I just haven't done that before.

 

I'm just now learning the nuances of steam bending wood binding for a set of 4 Telecasters clones I'm building for friends. Rosewood, Koa and Maple are all very easy to bend.  Ebony much, much more difficult.  I think black wood pickguards with either a white holly or maple binding would look very nice. I'm probably going to "prototype" one up the next couple of weeks...  I'm not a big fan of the plastic/acrylic binding and so I've started right in with the thin wood equivalents.

 

I'll keep you posted on my trials.... Cheers,

 

Cryoman

[squawken]

I always wanted one in Chestnut Burst to match my 150.  Then it looks kind of like a Gary Moore and it saves me thousands of dollars!

[skydog]

Heritage charges a fortune ($250) for a replacement wood pickguard.

[Gitfiddler]

Heritage charges a fortune ($250) for a replacement wood pickguard.

 

For a little perspective, keep in mind that Gibson charges upwards of $260 for a replacement pickguard on their Johnny A. Signature guitar.  It is one of the smallest pickguards they make.  And yes, it it 100% plastic.

 

Heritage charges $50 for a plastic truss rod cover with your name on it.

 

$250 for an all wood, and bound guard is a relative bargain.

[Cryoman]

Wow.... I guess it's all relative.  I've been offering pickguards for the H-137 for FREE and nobody's taken me up on the offer. Gave 2 of them FREE to Heritage and 1 to Wolfe's FREE just to show the design in case they were interested in it...

 

My opinion (opinion only), is $250 for a replacement pickguard is an absolute rip-off. Knowing this is what they charge, I'll be going into small run production much sooner than I expected. 

 

Cheers, Cryoman

 

UPDATE: I just pulled off the bound maple pickguard from my H535.  It's a 1/8" slice of maple (finished with nitrocellulose) to about .132".  It's spray dyed black (and binding then scraped).  The back side is raw, unsanded, stained maple. The binding is a single thin strand of acrylic creme binding, mitered in the corners, no binding along the pickup cut-outs.  I figure it's about $6 in materials (it's really about $3, I'm being generous) and maybe $25 to $35 in labor if done in batches (ie, supergluing / taping the binding, spray stain, multiple coats lacquer spraying & buffing).  The scraping job on the binding is sloppy with a couple spots "missed."  I don't know if other guitars have multilayer binding. This ups the cost by only pennies as the plastic binding is all pre-made.

[golferwave]

Pickguards for free?!  Thanks cryoman!!  You have just made me look forward to the New Year with a sense of optimism! This is what this forum is all about! You've  just earned another positive karma from me and I hope others will follow.  Happy New Year to all!

[Cryoman]

Hey Golferwave,

 

Thanks!  You must not have seen my offer to make free H-137 pickguards in the classified section? I made the template which was the bulk of the effort... One other forum member paid me for cost of materials for one and I had leftover material...  Can't give the darn things away.... was even gonna throw in a $1 bill just because people can't ever believe they are getting something for free....  Please see the classified section for my original post.  I still have material for 2 or 3 pickguards (this is for the 2 dog-eared P-90 edition H-137).

 

Cheers, Cryoman

[golferwave]

  Thanks cryoman!  I did talk to you via this forum when you first started to make these and told you that I hadn't bought an H-137 yet and would contact you when I did.  I still don't have one yet because I seem to keep getting more H-150s. I think it's awesome that you're doing this for the HOC members! Thanks and Happy New Year!

[Cryoman]

Well.... getting more H-150s is as good of an excuse as I could ever think of... (for delaying the acquisition of your H-137).  I'll be ready to make you a pickguard when you are ready. Perhaps by then I'll be well into the wooden/bound low production run.... Cheers,  Cryoman