Reproduction Pickguard and Control Plate

[Sarah93003]

I kinda think of myself as a handy girl. I have tools and know how to use them. Since working so hard on my Celebrity website and watching people dismantle Mosrites for profit I thought that perhaps what's needed is a place to get reproduction parts to restore guitars rather than tear them apart. There seems to be very few places other than eBay and the places I've seen are very expensive.

So, I've decided to see if I can fill this void in some way. To start with I'm going to make exact copies of Mosrite pickguards, control plates, and truss rod covers. Since I have two Celebrities to use as templates I will start here. If it proves successful then I will ask (or beg) others for templates of their items so that I may offer them. For example, you may not know this but I've identified seven different pickguard shapes used on the Celebrity models alone. I've seen two different truss rod cover shapes, two different control panel shapes, and jack plate.

I recently picked up a Dremel scroll saw and a two wheel grinder (with a light!). I already had a small drill press that I use for wood crafts. Tomorrow I'll pickup a nice bench belt sander.

To begin this project I did not want to experiment with expensive tri layer pickguard material. So, I went to Staples and bout a couple of clip boards made of masonite and one of clear plastic. They are about the right thickness and only a couple of dollars each. My plan is to make a couple of masonite first, then with the clear plastic, and then the W/B/W pickguard material. So, here is step one and step two!

Step one



Step two


These are in the raw state as I also realized that I should pick up a few nice files as well as the belt sander. I did not put the beveled edge on the masonite, but I will on the plastic ones. This is my first attempt so I do expect to get better results as I gain skill.

[dubtrub]

Good luck, Sarah.

I'm sure you probably already know it, but the bevel is accomplished at the time the plate is cut out using the router.
http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Pickguards/ ... ns#details

[oigun]

Hi Sarah, when I'm doing the pickguard for the lefty I make some pics and give some pointers how you can make the pickguards on an accurate and economical way. But you gonna need a router mounted in a table...

[Sarah93003]

Hi Sarah, when I'm doing the pickguard for the lefty I make some pics and give some pointers how you can make the pickguards on an accurate and economical way. But you gonna need a router mounted in a table...

Thank you! I will appreciate that. I have a router, so I will need to get a table.

[Mr. Bill]

I'd hold off on the table until you get the router bit. If you are going to be doing these one at a time free handing with a template should be just fine.

What will make the biggest difference is what you use as a template and how you make the template. In the shop that I worked in, we had one small trim router set-up for cutting/beveling the basic shapes. Once it was set-up, it never got used for anything else so the bevel and cut was always the same. We had a second trim router set-up to do the straight cuts for pickup holes, etc.