Pickguards In Progress and Replicated

 Oops My Bad. Maybe I didn't mentions that Cellulose Nitrate is incredibly Flammable... had I not turned at just the right time I would have lost the whole pickguard.

I placed this old warped Silvertone pickguard near a light to warm it up enough so I could flatten it a bit. after less than a minute passed I heard this hissing sound and looked to find this pickguard literally bursting into flames. Oops. Now I have to replace it with a comparable one so the guitar can look pretty again.

The Owner was very understanding and OK with me replacing it.

In photo #1 you can see how I started with blank Acrylic Tortoise material approximately .125" thick. I shaped it to match the original. Then came the challenge. I located some checker patterned PVC binding material. Not an easy thing to do mind you, this stuff is hard to find and expensive. I then proceeded to glue the binding to the tortoise material (photo #2). Letting it cure for one week I finish sanded and polished the final pickguard. In the lower right corner you can see the new and old side-by-side. It looks even prettier in person.

Here in pic #3 you can see some 6061 Aluminum blanks that I had water jet cut for some upcoming Freestyle guitars.
This was a fun project. I designed the pickguard and cut a prototype. I drove the blank to Charisma Design Studio, Inc. in Sun Valley CA. (Really Great, Talented People, you should visit this shop to see the art that they create from metal, I can say nothing but good things about them) They scanned my prototype, created a digital file and cut 4 blanks for me. All that's left is to countersink and polish the aluminum. And now I have a digital file so I can make changes and bring the file back to Charisma for more cutting.

I have a lot of exciting projects in the shop now.
More posts coming.