jpwannabe Posted July 3, 2004 Report Share Posted July 3, 2004 I've been watning to make a new pickguard for my rg550 for a while now, but never had the time, anyone know where I can find tutorials on making a Rg pickguard, I want the PG to be H/H PU placement, and a 3 way toggle switch simular to the ones found on the JPMs. THANKS:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GuitarMaestro Posted July 3, 2004 Report Share Posted July 3, 2004 There is no tutorial I know of, as there is not much to tell here. You can buy pickguard material at stewmac and other guitar suppliers. Then you cut the raw shape with a bandsaw or jigsaw. In the end you need a template for the pickguard made from plywood or plexi and do the final shape with a bevel cutter bit like this. A straight router bit with bearing maybe a good idea for cutting the pickup routes.... HTH, MK! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litchfield Posted July 4, 2004 Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 Derek just did one in the tutorials section Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpwannabe Posted July 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 I read that a while ago, it dosen't actually teach u how to make one. just how to decrate it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpwannabe Posted July 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 can I use wood for pickguard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted July 4, 2004 Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 can I use wood for pickguard? certainly. I have made a few. There are some areas where it'll crack easily, like the little area between the neck pickup hole and neck cavity. No big deal if you're willing to take the time to carefully fix/glue any problems like this down the road. I didn't bevel the edges, so a tutorial by me would be half-assed, plus I don't have my own camera. But maybe sometime down the road in the future. Maybe there could be a pinned thread where all can add a bit of how they made their pickguard. But, I think anyone who makes a tutorial on this site deserves to be called a "featured member" as much as someone who has a 'Guitar of the month'. Heck, maybe they built that guitar with the help from someone elses tutorial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpwannabe Posted July 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 I was wondering if I could just mod an existing pickguard? like fill the middle PU routing with a layer plastic or something then repaint the whole thing? anyone think this is possiable? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted July 4, 2004 Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 If you want a custom one making check out... www.preciousmetalproducts.co.uk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meegs666 Posted July 4, 2004 Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 if you already have the pickguard on your rg, you could just put it over the material and trace it with a grease pen or something and cut it out with a razor blade. i plan on making some cavity covers and stuff so this is what ill do, but im not really sure of any way to get the edges bevelled other than having to buy a bevel cutter that youre probably only going to use once or twice, and im sure they sell the same one at home depot for less than stewmac. i find some of their tools and router bits to be a bit pricey because they claim that they are specific to guitar making when most wood workers have many other uses for the tools and they sell them cheaper at home depot for general use and in more sizes and usually better quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowser Posted July 5, 2004 Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 if you don't mind buying one you could check out http://www.jeanniepickguards.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpwannabe Posted July 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 if you already have the pickguard on your rg, you could just put it over the material and trace it with a grease pen or something and cut it out with a razor blade. i plan on making some cavity covers and stuff so this is what ill do, but im not really sure of any way to get the edges bevelled other than having to buy a bevel cutter that youre probably only going to use once or twice, and im sure they sell the same one at home depot for less than stewmac. i find some of their tools and router bits to be a bit pricey because they claim that they are specific to guitar making when most wood workers have many other uses for the tools and they sell them cheaper at home depot for general use and in more sizes and usually better quality. but how would I cut it so fine on the curves????? would i have to sand buff it? just wiz a razor blade will do this? or is a bevell cutter a must? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpwannabe Posted July 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 can I use wood for pickguard? certainly. I have made a few. There are some areas where it'll crack easily, like the little area between the neck pickup hole and neck cavity. No big deal if you're willing to take the time to carefully fix/glue any problems like this down the road. I didn't bevel the edges, so a tutorial by me would be half-assed, plus I don't have my own camera. But maybe sometime down the road in the future. Maybe there could be a pinned thread where all can add a bit of how they made their pickguard. But, I think anyone who makes a tutorial on this site deserves to be called a "featured member" as much as someone who has a 'Guitar of the month'. Heck, maybe they built that guitar with the help from someone elses tutorial. i think using wood is easier cuz its eaiser to cut the bits then maybe sending it down to make it perfect. What kind of wood meterials are you using? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapbarstrat Posted July 5, 2004 Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 I think I've made 3. one was out of thin plywood consisting of pine and oak veneer. That was the practice one. Then I made a couple out of oak flooring scraps. That was a little tricky because oak is harder in some areas. So when I was sanding the edges on the drum sander, I had to vary the pressure , because it would be real hard to sand some places, and too easy to sand others. Funny thing is the first one sounds the best, maybe because I put an oil finish on the other ones, and that oil finsh goes too far into the wood. I used my router planer to get the wood thin enough (there's a thread about router planer type set-ups in the tools section and Setch shows a pic of his in the finished projects section. What I'd like to do is make a pickguard template from something like masonite and then have a ball-bearing router bit cut out the pick-guard by riding the template. Something like that is the best way to do it, otherwise you just have to take it real slow with hand sawing and filing/sanding. I drilled holes all around to make cutting out the pickguard from the wood easier. I'd probably do something like that even if I used the router/template method. I don't like router bits being totally surounded by material that it has to remove. I want some of the material removed another way first, by roughly cutting away as much as possible. There's alway thin plastic scrap around, to experiment with making ones from plastic. I often see old junk TVs that you could cut a big sheet of plastic off of. I've been planning to make a pickguard out of thin maple scraps all glued together to look like the floor of a high school gym . I think that'd be cool on a bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted July 5, 2004 Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 I made some CAD drawings of my last guitar after I built it. I found the current pickguard was a little bit "off" dimension-wise and, it being the first one I made out of stainless, had a few imperfections (scratches and dings). So I opened up the drawing and copied/pasted just the pickguard onto a new drawing. After making some changes I printed it out to a 1:1 ratio, cut the outline out of the paper and then will trace onto new stainless. If you have access to any kind of drawing program where you can establish proper units and print to scale then you can make your own templates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotrock Posted July 5, 2004 Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 After making some changes I printed it out to a 1:1 ratio, cut the outline out of the paper and then will trace onto new stainless. I just print things out and glue it to the bit of wood (or stainless in this case). Saves on an extra stage where inperfections could occur. As long as you put glue right up to the edges, I haven't had any problems with tools pulling the paper off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpwannabe Posted July 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 you guys are so helpful here, thanks alot! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket Posted July 5, 2004 Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 If you already have the standard RG pickguard you could just leave the middle single hole empty, or if you don't like the hole just leave the single in there but don't wire it up. Then you'd just need to drill a hole for the 3-way JP toggle switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpwannabe Posted July 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 If you already have the standard RG pickguard you could just leave the middle single hole empty, or if you don't like the hole just leave the single in there but don't wire it up. Then you'd just need to drill a hole for the 3-way JP toggle switch. well, I don't really like the middle pickup in the way when I'm picking sometimes, its kind of annoying. aAso I realy don't like the purplish mirror pickguard, instead I want one thats the same colour as the body which is also purple but not so shiny. My rg is the 550ex, neon purple finish, it changes colour under different lighting, its kinda cool. I also ordered new pickups in violet/pink and blue/violet combo, which matchs the body. I'm not really sure which colour I should use for the pickguard? Any suggestions here? I'll take some photos of the guitar, and show you guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.