Large size pickguard material

Found a good place to get larger pieces of pickguard material on e-bay... Papa D's Music Store

Pickguard....grrrrr....

It seems like I have now been working on this blinking pickguard for what seems like months!

I've really been trying to do this without any special tools to speak of and without a router or any specail bits. So this has been a bit of a learning experiece.

First of all, I used the JB-10 kit's pickguard as a template to draw an outline on my new pickguard material. This included marking the screw positions and neck pickup position, however I also had to make use of my new pickup's covers to ensure this was the correct size and shape.

In order to create screw holes that allow the screws to sit flush with the surface of the pickguard, I first drilled with a bit a little too small for the screw itself. Then I took a drill bit approx equal in diameter to the head of the screw, resting it on the hole as a guide and without applying pressure I let it slowly drill into the top ply of the pickguard only. Next, I redrilled the hole the correct size for the screws. This approach worked well, but you definitely need a variable speed drill to do this.

Next I used a coping saw to cutout the basic shape and I cut 2 or 3mm outside the shape I had prevsiouly drawn, to take into account the fact I'm not too handy with the saw and that I'd be bevelling the edge later on. I also cut out a hole on the inside of where I had marked out the pickup to be (starting out with drilling into the middle to allow me to get the coping saw in there)

Getting the bevel on the edge of the pickguard and ensuring the shape around the neck and controls was exactly right was time consuming. I used needle files for this, so time and patience required. The result looks OK, but it is easy to file at too obtuse an angle so not perfect all the way around.

Finishing off the pickup hole, I finally discovered my lack of coping saw skills - I'd actually created a not very straight hole and cut it too large. I suspect I may be able to correct this mistake and it may well not be noticable to anyone but me. However, I think its just going to irritate me like crazy.

So, this one I'm going to chalk up to experience and get a new pickguard blank and start over. Fortunately they only cost between about 10 and 12 quid, so not too costly a mistake!

Anyway, I'm on holiday for a few weeks now so the project will be temporarily on hold for a while.

Cavities Sorted

No, I haven't been to the dentist!

I successfully sanded and then filled the bridge pickup cavity to fit my new Wizard pickup. I used Ronseal Wood Filler (natural) and some wood glue. I put wood glue in first, a relatively large blob of the filler, then sanded down once dry - it reckons to leave the filler for 2 hours before sanding or painting, but I left it a whole day to be on the safe side. If you only put very small pieces of filler in, as soon as you start sanding they will come away from the body; the glue helps, but only so much.

Once filled, the first trick I applied to help sanding, was to create a paper cutout of the pickup and lay it over the cavity and then use a pencil to mark where I had to sand. Once the pencil mark dissappears, then you know you've sanded enough and not gone too far. I used 80 grit sandpaper on the inside of the cavity and on the top, where I will eventually paint, I went from 150, though 320 to 800. Sanding inside the cavity mounting positions to get a nice arch, I placed some sandpaper round the non-thread end of a drill bit with the appropriate radius.

Now to tackle the pikcguard...