Pickguards - how are they cut

[Grahambythesea]

I presume professionally produced ones are laser cut but how do you cut your own?

[Geek99]

A dremel

[BreadBin]

28 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

A dremel

...set at a very low speed to avoid melting.

[jebroad]

I've seen people route them but freeze the blank plastic first to keep it cool. I have routed acrylic at a decent speed before and its not too hard. You just have to move quite quickly.

[Grahambythesea]

Thanks guys, I’d never heard of a Drexel, which is probably not a good start! 

[lownote]

er, do you mean a Dremel?

 

[Paul S]

I'm sure that's what he xeant.

[lownote]

A drexel is a university, according to woggle: bit big and awkward to finish pickguards off with.

 A dremel is a handheld drilly type thingy into the chuck of which you can place various tools, including wirebrushes, sanding bits n similar.  It's an ideal way of reducing your project to a useless wobbly edged piece of [insert material], plus a pile of probably semi-burnt stringy sawdust which will get into everything for the next week.  

Edited April 18, 2019 by lownote12

[kodiakblair]

Last scratchplate I did the only tools were a hacksaw and rasp for the shape,drill + various bits/countersink for the pickups etc.

 

Drew the shape out then cut straight lines as near to the outline as possible. Curves and bevel were done with rasp. Was undecided on pickup at this stage so hid a Warman jazzbar below the scratchplate.

About 90 minutes work.

 

[T-Bay]

I sandwich them between off cuts of ply with the lower being cut to shape to act as the master. Then rout with a bevel bit. You need to be careful to set the depth of the bit obviously but otherwise it’s pretty much foolproof.

[AndyTravis]

Which tool/end for the dremmel? @Geek99

i have a hole to cut in a pickguard tomorrow 

[Geek99]

There is a angled disk I believe - I just use the fat disk and hold a steady angle 

[Geek99]

Proxxon 28987 Sanding Drum with 10 Sanding Caps https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0017O4DEW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_H7mUCb4VF56QM

[AndyTravis]

10 minutes ago, Geek99 said:

There is a angled disk I believe - I just use the fat disk and hold a steady angle 

Cool, that was my plan.

[Manton Customs]

This might help.

https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/338662-making-a-pickguard-scratchplate/

[Bassalarky]

I use an old electric scroll saw that I got from a mate. Works a treat. I finish the edges with sandpaper on a cork block.

[Grahambythesea]

As I live in a flat and have no where to do much work I think some of this is beyond my capabilities. I was thinking as an alternative how about spray painting the one i’ve got, maybe gold to look like an anodised guard. Very Duck Dunn?

[BigRedX]

4 hours ago, Grahambythesea said:

As I live in a flat and have no where to do much work I think some of this is beyond my capabilities. I was thinking as an alternative how about spray painting the one i’ve got, maybe gold to look like an anodised guard. Very Duck Dunn?

If you haven't got the space to do some simple cutting of plastic with a Dremel then you certainly haven't got the space to be doing any spray painting. 

Also IME even if you clear coat over the top, the new paint wears off pretty quickly in any areas where your fingers and pick come in contact.

[Maude]

 

I've just cut one today for a fretless P. Air reciprocating saw a couple of mm bigger than the outline, then a flat and a curved rubbing down block with 80 grit paper, then 120, 180, 320 & 500. I'll scrape the bevel with a single sided razor blade tomorrow and polish the scraped edge with 500 grit. Maybe not conventional but it's the tools I use every day so I'm happiest with. 

[RobF]

This weekend , In preparation for making a pearl one for my telecaster guitar, I used an offcut to replicate my EB0 scratchplate. 

No problems using a £12 blank from eBay . Scroll saw, files and sanding block.  It cut nicely and looked good on the bench.

the problem came when I fitted it to the red EB0. 

Aged white pearl on an EB0 ? Looked horrendous. 

 

[Paul S]

2 hours ago, RobF said:

This weekend , In preparation for making a pearl one for my telecaster guitar,

Shouldn't you knit one pearl one?