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Today I was playing around with a junky old Harmony six string. I want it to take and leave at the cabin.

It's a ladder-braced plywood jobbie, and ugly as sin. The belly is torqued, neck needs a reset, and it had this awful thick black plastic pickguard on it, held on with five black screws.

I needed a pickguard somewhat smaller than the Martin style I stock, but still large enough to cover all five screw holes. You guessed it, this guitar got a cut down pickguard.

After determining the arc needed inside the guard, I set up my Fly cutter. You can get 'em at most hardware stores. I pre-drilled a hole in 3/4 plywood and skimmed the surface with the cutter. That told me where to align the pickguard for surgery.

I then used blue masking tape and taped down the major edges, including the slim inside piece that got trimmed off. It was tedious but took only twenty seconds to sever a perfect-cut curve off the D size guard. Looks great. (for a junker)

Tomorrow it gets a quick saddle and set of strings before we leave for the cabin. Yahoo, music on the mountain. You can find it by looking on Spring Lake Road after finding Mt. Magazine, Arkansas. About six miles or so ENE. Twang!

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Another easy way to cut an accurate (& clean) ark in pick guard material is to set up a (sharp pointed) pair of dividers to the correct radius... Then tape down the blank on a piece of scrap MDF or whatever. Fumble around with the pivot point of the dividers to get the arc where you want it & then use the other point to scribe your way through the pick guard. Works a treat!

I use and exacto knife and a 4 inch can bottom edge. The can also acts as the clamp when you lean on it. Takes all of 6 seconds to do ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

There you go, three ways to do a simple job.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com