Making your own pickguard

[Grangur]

I'm thinking about routing the body of a P-bass to put the coils the way round I like. That's to say I like the D-G coil nearest to the neck.

The routing is ok, but I'd need a new custom pickguard. If I were to buy a sheet of the material how easy is it to make a guard? Has anyone else done it? I'm pretty good with practical things but is it really easy to mess with these?

Any other tips or suggestions?

[Beer of the Bass]

It's not impossible, but if you're using hand tools it's a pain in the bum to get a neat bevel on the edge and hard not to get any tool marks on the face of the plastic. This is one of those things that I've done once or twice but would cheerfully pay somebody to do next time!

[Grangur]

BotB, many thanks for your input. You have confirmed my expectations. I ask myself "is it worth it?"

The answer is probably, "no".

[bertbass]

Interesting video here of one way of doing it, if you've got the inclination.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28ITCMYO5sA

[allighatt0r]

Have a chat with Tim at Scratch-It, he's a nice bloke, and may be able to get this done for you. http://www.originalscratchplates.com/

When I had a custom plate made for a MIK Squier Jazz, I put the existing plate into a scanner and then sent the scanned image to him, which he converted into a digital template. I imagine at that point he would be able to mirror the pickup orientation.

[Grangur]

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1452253340' post='2948041']
Interesting video here of one way of doing it, if you've got the inclination.

[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28ITCMYO5sA"]https://www.youtube....h?v=28ITCMYO5sA[/url]
[/quote] Interesting video. I guess that's the really good way of doing it. I've got a Dremmel, but if the cost of the material is about £16 for me to buy and if Tim's prce is about what he shows on the site, then I recon if Scratch-it can do one for that it's hardly worth messing about. After all if I take 2 attempts I'll not be far of of being in pocket by asking Tim.

Thanks guys.