Les Paul Junior Double Cut Pickguard

[Radar]

Hi Folks
This is my first ever post although I have looked through the forums many times. I have finally plucked up the courage to post and also to build my first ever guitar and favourite LPJ Double Cut. What I am after is a little help in trying to find a good single ply tortoiseshell pickguard or a sheet of the same at a reasonable price. WD do a sheet but its pricey at £55 but if thats what i have to pay then so be it but wondered if any of you guys might know where etc... I might get a reasonably priced guard or sheet from?
Am just about to glue the neck which i profiled yesterday and when i get a chance might post some pics as ive been charting progress....btw this baby will be a TV finish.
Hope someone out there can help
Cheers
Radar

 

[Neffco]

I'm on the hunt for one that's not 80$ myself. I put up a WTB in the classified section but no luck yet. There are some cheap ones but they look just that, cheap. I think it's crazy to pay 80$ for a small chunk of plastic so I might just go black and wait till I find a deal. Looks like your across the pond so shipping from the states would make it WAY overpriced. Good luck, I'll pm you if I run into a deal. I'd be willing to ship one (if I find a couple) if it saves you a few bucks.
http://mojoaxe.com/

65$ and I do think these are quality replicas

 

[lowatter]

Good luck with that. Unless it's a 3 ply, the true thick(.08") celluloid tortise pickguard material is VERY pricey. I'll try to look in my old files to find a source but from what I can remember off-hand LMII offers some. EDIT:...they only have .045 thickness.
Google "Tortis" and you may find what your looking for. I'll be watching this because I need some too.

 

[slapshot]

STEWMAC.COM : Pictures of Tortoise Pickguard Material for Archtop Instruments
for $20 I don't give a shit it's acrylic ...

 

[Neffco]

might end up going that route, for twenty bucks if I don't like the color I can use it on one of my other Jr. projects. I was looking at that retrospect stuff and it was crazy expensive. Thanks again for the 411 slap.

 

[Leroy]

I did what slapshot suggested. Made a template out of pdf. used the screw holes to mount it to the stew mac pickguard material and routed it out.
Heres the end result on my PGK 58 Dc junior kit

[IMG [/IMG]

Leroy

 

[MRJ5]

Here is one more option but again the it is not cheap for the good stuff. Pickguards, Material

One of the issues increasing the cost on the Celluloid Nitrate materials is transporting it. In the U.S. it is subject to hazardous material protocol.

The paragraph below is from the Axiom inc. site. (the link above)

•Shipping Celluloid Nitrate•
The United States Department of Transportation classifies Celluloid Nitrate or “Celluloid” (UN2000 hazard class 4.1) as a hazardous material. By law, hazardous material regulations must be followed when shipping this material. All common carriers and freight forwarders such as UPS, Fed Ex, etc. require that Haz/Mat regulations be followed when shipping any hazardous material. Axiom Inc. will ship this material only in a legal manor, following the regulation. Should there be any incident as a result of your shipment, shipping legally can help absolve you from being named in a potentially catastrophic lawsuit. It also means that the people who handle your shipment will know what they are handling and can use proper, safe procedures. This reduces the risk of injury to themselves and others. Some sellers are pretending that Celluloid is not a hazardous material and are shipping it illegally. The penalties for doing so are severe, and we will not accept the risk and repercussions associated with doing this. UPS attaches a $27.50 per package surcharge for Haz/Mat shipping. Axiom Inc. does not receive any part of the surcharge, 100% of it goes to the shipper. For larger orders, the Haz/Mat surcharge is relatively insignificant. For smaller customers, we recommend that you refrain from making minimum orders and order as much material as is prudently possible. This will help you offset the Haz/ Mat surcharge.

http://skmvr.hzbaj.servertrust.com/Articles.asp?ID=242

 

[LtDave32]

STEWMAC.COM : Pictures of Tortoise Pickguard Material for Archtop Instruments
for $20 I don't give a shit it's acrylic ...

+1 on the Stew Mac product. It has the right look, and it's the right thickness.

..and since it's acrylic (though you'd be hard-put to tell it from the cellulose ones), it ships normal, with non-hazard status. You'll get it soon.

 

[slapshot]

I did what slapshot suggested. Made a template out of pdf. used the screw holes to mount it to the stew mac pickguard material and routed it out.
Heres the end result on my PGK 58 Dc junior kit

[IMG [/IMG]

Leroy

got any left over mate maybe i'm thinking of something else but i think you can position 2 guards on a stew mac sheet?

might be confused with the acoustic stuff i was also looking at.no reason you can't laminate that together too it'll be pretty thin but **** when you're Jr has a black (blergh) pick guard or 3 ply red 'tortoise' one anythings gonna look better than that.

 

[Neffco]

I'm sold, looks great. I'm not too stuck on the celluloid, its a kit not a vintage correct Jr. anyway. Sorry if I hijacked your thread Radar.

 

[Radar]

Hi Neffco
Appreciate that my friend....why is celluloid so expensive !? The sheet I have seen on WD Guitars site is 9" x 15.5" enough to make two and is singleply 2mm thick and genuine celluloid but £55.95 plus postage I assume. The mojo one on the link looks cool and the biz and is another option....will keep you posted,

 

[Radar]

Thanks Iowatter
The one I have found on WD Guitars site is 2mm thick singleply celluloid and a sheet is enough to make two if you have a template. The plans I have been using are amazing and go to 43 pages i think and include a pickguard template, downloaded them from the net or from a link of one of the forums....will keep you posted.

 

[Radar]

Thanks Slapshot
How thick is the acrylic one....it looks pretty good from the pic?
Cheers

 

[Radar]

Thanks to all for the input people much appreciated and will defo be using the forums again. Leroy ....the kit looks cool ! Hope mine looks as good...neck just glued up tonight....cant believe it is going so well something is bound to go wrong !!!

 

[Neffco]

Hey what kind of bridge did you use? Looks like the mojoaxe compensated wraptail? Just curious how the intonation is since the PGK has a tad less angle on the bridge. Looks great.

I did what slapshot suggested. Made a template out of pdf. used the screw holes to mount it to the stew mac pickguard material and routed it out.Heres the end result on my PGK 58 Dc junior kit

[IMG [/IMG]

Leroy

 

[Leroy]

got any left over mate maybe i'm thinking of something else but i think you can position 2 guards on a stew mac sheet?

might be confused with the acoustic stuff i was also looking at.no reason you can't laminate that together too it'll be pretty thin but **** when you're Jr has a black (blergh) pick guard or 3 ply red 'tortoise' one anythings gonna look better than that.

Nah. I used it for the Jr control cavity and a control cavity on another kit guitar. The really thin stuff is adhesive backed and not as pretty as this material. It's actually pretty thick for a pickguard.

Hey what kind of bridge did you use? Looks like the mojoaxe compensated wraptail? Just curious how the intonation is since the PGK has a tad less angle on the bridge. Looks great.

The bridge is a non compensated Faber model TPW-ANG. It does have a fulcrum to stop the sitar effect that can happen without one. The intonation is a good as you can get with an angled straight tail piece.
Philadelphia luthier supplies has a cheap one which I've also used. There's no studs but that's a good thing as you can get tone pros locking stud which a lot of people including HEL Shane (a quality luthier and regular poster here) think improves the sustain. read his view in this post http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/custom-shop/100835-wraparound-vs-tom-tailpeice.html
Bridge and Tailpieces - Tailpieces(and Wraparound Tailpieces) - Philadelphia Luthier Tools & Supplies, LLC

Leroy

 

[LtDave32]

got any left over mate maybe i'm thinking of something else but i think you can position 2 guards on a stew mac sheet?

might be confused with the acoustic stuff i was also looking at.no reason you can't laminate that together too it'll be pretty thin but **** when you're Jr has a black (blergh) pick guard or 3 ply red 'tortoise' one anythings gonna look better than that.

I managed to get two guards out of one SM sheet, one was for a single-cut, and one for a DC.

 

[LtDave32]

Hi Neffco
Appreciate that my friend....why is celluloid so expensive !? The sheet I have seen on WD Guitars site is 9" x 15.5" enough to make two and is singleply 2mm thick and genuine celluloid but £55.95 plus postage I assume. The mojo one on the link looks cool and the biz and is another option....will keep you posted,

They don't readily make stuff out of that material anymore. I reckon they charge large due to that fact. And then there's the shipping of haz-mat. That's sky-high as well.

 

[lowatter]

STEWMAC.COM : Pictures of Tortoise Pickguard Material for Archtop Instruments
for $20 I don't give a shit it's acrylic ...

Yep...that's the right stuff and it's .08". I'll be getting some of it too here shortly.

 

[slapshot]

The really thin stuff is adhesive backed and not as pretty as this material. It's actually pretty thick for a pickguard.

some of it isn't too bad.this yellow one is a piece of acoustic guard someone made for it.they left the backing on and didn't countersink the holes or nothing but it's not the worst looking thing in the world.better than a 3 ply one at least.I thought about laminating 2 sheets of it together but then it could make it look too 'busy' or something.still might try it.

real guard on the brown one