What material is it ? Pickguard related question

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raphaël
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What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by raphaël » Sat May 28, 2022 9:18 am

Hey everyone,
I'd like to source some black material for a tele pickguard and for plates too, à la Marauder.
The same used on Bigsby guitar, or TKSmith and Harvester. You know, those thick 1 ply pickguards with lovely rounded edges. They look fantastic to me but I don't know what this is exactly. It sure look different from chinese material or even from what we found on high end guitars.
Does anyone have the "what and where" answer?
Thanks 8)

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LVC
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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by LVC » Sat May 28, 2022 9:46 am

I don't know about Harvester, but TKSmith uses Bakelite.

Several online shops have pre-cut guards made out of it, not sure about blank sheets though.
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Gordon
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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by Gordon » Sat May 28, 2022 8:38 pm

raphaël wrote:
Sat May 28, 2022 9:18 am
Hey everyone,
I'd like to source some black material for a tele pickguard and for plates too, à la Marauder.
The same used on Bigsby guitar, or TKSmith and Harvester. You know, those thick 1 ply pickguards with lovely rounded edges. They look fantastic to me but I don't know what this is exactly. It sure look different from chinese material or even from what we found on high end guitars.
Does anyone have the "what and where" answer?
Thanks 8)
C'est pour tant la même chose, plus ou moins. Mais avec un chanfrein rond et poli, 0.90" d'épaisseur (comme les 3-ply). Certains luthier utilisent du bakélite, mais c'est pas toujours simple à trouver. Certains utilisent (utilisaient?) de l'ébène, aussi. Mais le plastique "chinois" fait tout aussi bien l'affaire, c'est le chanfrein qui fait tout.
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AcrylicSuperman
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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by AcrylicSuperman » Sun May 29, 2022 12:15 am

You're looking for bakelite.

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kifla
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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by kifla » Sun May 29, 2022 1:28 pm

...these days disguised under the name Garolite ;) :)

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repoman
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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by repoman » Mon May 30, 2022 6:07 am

Easiest way of finding this material is look up "paper micarta."

I have trouble finding sheets thinner than 1/8th though. I think you would want something around 0.100" for a tele pickguard. It planes okay-ish. It would probably be easy to dimension the thickness with a thickness sander if you have access to one as it sands very well, scrapes very well too. A phenolic that planes and routs better is Richlite (Richlite is a little bit softer than Paper Micarta/G10), but IIRC the thinnest you can buy that is .250 and that would be a lot of expensive material to plane away (its like $100 a 24x24" sheet of .250).

I'm not sure if "genuine" bakelite is made anymore, it's a catchphrase for phenolic resin sheets. I think the "genuine" stuff had asbestos in it.

Another material you can use for getting thicc guards is acrylic sheet. Looks very cool in some applications, although it can be a massive PITA to route/drill (it is very brittle and will crack/shatter). It doesn't look very retro/vintage though.

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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by Sweetfinger » Wed Jun 01, 2022 6:06 pm

I think Marauders were molded. Typically I would use WD or Allparts .090" single ply black for stuff like that. If I wanted slightly thicker I'd probably use 1/8" acrylic, because that's what I have on hand. There are other plastics. You'd just have to see what's available in a 1/8" thick or 3mm sheet that has a polished, protected surface. There's PVC, ABS, Polycarbonate, PMMA, others.

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raphaël
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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by raphaël » Thu Jun 02, 2022 5:07 am

Thank you very much 8)
Lot to learn on plastics it seems !!

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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by Jaguar018 » Thu Jun 02, 2022 6:49 am

Image

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Re: What material is it ? Pickguard related question

Post by kifla » Thu Jun 02, 2022 12:02 pm

Image

Those guards were cut out of 12x24 Garolite sheet

Image

It is rigid enough to even make control plates

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