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Does anyone know of a source for clear pickguard sheet material that will look as good as the finish on the instrument? I have tried StewMac's .005" sheet material. When you place it on the instrument it has a "bumpy" light reflection (kind of like orange peel). I have spent too many hours on the last 15 ukuleles sanding and polishing these things. Just not worth it.

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Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

If you watch this video concert for long enough, not only will you hear some great playing, but eventually you will see the pick guards on the three of my guitars that Miroslav plays. That's the LMII 0.005" material, but I suspect it is not a whole lot different (or maybe even the same) as the Stewmac stuff. At about 19.00 minutes you see a classical guitar (not one of mine) also with a pick guard, that may be illustrating the problem you have. If this is what you're facing, just respond to this post and I will tell you how I put mine on.

BTW, my favourite piece from this concert starts at ~24.00 minutes, but there's some great playing of both guitar and violin throughout.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I’m using the .003” version of this stuff. At least I think it’s this exact product, I’ve lost the original packaging. I use a drag knife on my cnc to cut them to shape.

Trevor, I’d love to see your approach if you are up for sharing that with us -

Cheers, Michael

Trevor, I’d love to see the video that you offered, but it says it cannot locate the server.
I’m very interested in your technique. Please show me how you do it.

Here is a photo of the problem I’m referring to:




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

Here's a different link to the video. You'll see a video pane with three dots underneath it. Hit the middle dot and that's the same video as linked before.

A quick question: Does the material sit "flat" before you use it? (i.e. still attached to it's backing paper). If it is already looking "bubbly" it's not going to get any flatter when you put it on an instrument. Assuming the material starts flat, this is what I do:


1) Cut the material to shape without leaving any sort of burr on the edge. This is actually the hardest part. I sandwich the material between a double template held together in register with magnets, then cut with a very sharp blade always held perpendicular to the plane of the material. Disposable cut-throat razor blades are one of the few things sharp enough. The typical single-edge razor blade isn't sharp enough

2) Add a couple of drops of dish washing liquid to a cup of pure water

3) Clean the surface of dust etc.. Any scratches on an older instrument will have to be removed somehow, as they will show as silver lines under the pick guard otherwise

4) Tape the straightest edge of the pickguard to the guitar using masking tape to form a hinge, so the pickguard can be lifted but drops back down into its precise location

5) Liberally wet the area under the pickguard with the soapy water. Check that no bits of extraneous "stuff" have got onto the surface or into the water

6) From the hinge edge, start peeling the backing off the pickguard material without leaving any fingermarks in the adhesive or buckling an edge and without stretching the plastic. This is the second hardest part

7) With a soft cloth (so as not to mark the pickguard) squeegee from the hinge edge as you peel back the backing and lay the pickguard down. A meniscus of water should precede the contact line. Entrap no bubbles. At this point the pickguard is pretty well floating on a film of water

8) Using the soft cloth, gently squeegee out the remaining water working from the centre outwards. When you have some adhesion you can remove the tape

9) If everything has gone to plan, the pickguard should be sitting flat and be almost invisible

10) As the residual water under the pickguard dries out there will be a milky appearance (on a French polished or nitro'd surface - which are all the finishes I use). This will disappear in ~ 24 hours.

You can just see the outline of the pickguard in the pic below, but I think this might have been a thicker one. Most of the pics I have of other guitars you can't see the pickguard at all. Good luck!

https://goreguitars.com.au/gallery/small-body-steel-string/#lb-1153

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Trevor, this is pretty much how I do it. Have you tried it with the StewMac .005” clear pickguard material or are you using something else?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

Trevor, you may have hit up on something with the pickguard material already being bumpy on its backing sheet before it’s even placed on the instrument.

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Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

The stuff on the guitars in the video is from LMII, and is their 0.005" clear. The stuff in the pic above is from LMII, but may well be thicker. I don't think I've used the StewMac material.


Yes, that won't make life any easier. The thin material buckles and stretches really easily, so if the backing shrinks, or the pack it is in is not kept flat or whatever, that will get it out of flat pretty quickly. I happen to keep mine in my humidity controlled room, which might have been advantageous. If you don't have any luck with the 0.005" material, the thicker stuff will likely stay flatter.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Wow Trevor, three beautiful looking and sounding instruments!
And what musicianship!
Beautiful job on the clear scratchguards.
That 4th guitar looked like it had a baggy laid on it's surface.
If you got your scratchguards looking like that with minimal or no sanding/polishing, that's what I'm after.
Thanks

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Formerly know as Mandodiddle.

Thanks, Bill!

Miroslav is probably best known as a classical guitarist, but clearly no slouch on steel strings.

The finish on all three guitars is "off-the-rag" French polish, with no pore-fill on the backs and sides. No finish sanding and just a very mild buffing to even up the semi-gloss on the tops.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au