Pickguard Material Used For Peghead Veneer

[Captain Sociable]

I have been working on what I have dubbed the squidocaster. I am tricking it out as much as possible and I was wondering would it be hard to cut a piece of matching pickguard material and connecting it to the headstock with 4 screws. I think I would have to heat gun the nut side to get it to conform to the shape but would it be bulky or cause any tone problems?

[brewu22]

I have been working on what I have dubbed the squidocaster. I am tricking it out as much as possible and I was wondering would it be hard to cut a piece of matching pickguard material and connecting it to the headstock with 4 screws. I think I would have to heat gun the nut side to get it to conform to the shape but would it be bulky or cause any tone problems?

Depends on how thick it is, your tuners might not sit at the right height with the added thickness. The string posts will be short. What material are you using?

[hooglebug]

iv done it twice - tho glueing it on as opposed to screws. its a bit of a pain to bend it to shape but not so bad. it makes no difference to tone as far as i can tell. if the posts are too short you can always just inset them so the bushings are the same height as the plastic

[Telesque]

In my experience with heating lucite/plexi I've always lost that 'glass' smooth look as it begins to become bendable, it becomes rippled or wavy. That's not to say it's going to look bad though, especially if you're not doing really extreme bends.

Also, if you drilled the holes tight around the posts, and if you have string trees that need to be screwed in, you could always just fit the plex and fasten it on with the tuners and such, so that you can get the look of it before you decide how to 'permanently' attach it.

I really like hooglebug's reflective headstock with the logo cutout.

[Captain Sociable]

that looks like what I want to do right there! I am using laminated "black abalone"

Edited January 8, 2008 by Captain Sociable

[hooglebug]

the only problem i can see if you dont glue it down is the bend not fitting properly. if you can get it right tho go for it. only one way to find out

[SwedishLuthier]

I remember a Gibson Explorer I had in for a tuner upgrade (among other things). The black on the head was from a thin sheet of plastic. So it is done on high priced production guitars too. Thou I think it is a bit cheep to do it that way (plain black over lay in plastic that is, not something like black abalone as that cannot be painted on...)