OffsetGuitars.com

I'm a big fan of the Hallmark Man... or Astro-Man? signature, which uses a PCB cut to shape for a pickguard.



I would like to do something similar on my new Paranormal Super-Sonic, but finding a suitable PCB is turning out to be trickier than I thought.
To be usable as a pickguard, a PCB would need to be:
- Large (I think about 18x21cm for a Super-Sonic, larger for other models)
- Bare, i.e. free of any component or solder blobs. As much easier, cheaper and more satisfying as recycling a used PCB would be, the feel would amount to using a particularly sharp cheese grater for a pickguard
- Green, for the sake of aesthetics; with green solder mask a definite plus, and white silkscreen a nice touch, as in the picture above.

There are countless companies online who will make custom PCB prototypes on demand, but apparently it can get very pricey in larger sizes. Besides, you need to provide a CAD file for the PCB to be made from, and that's not something I have any experience with; not to mention that it would probably take quite a bit of effort for something that would be electronically nonfunctional and decorative only. So I suppose my best bet would be to try and find a big PCB from some kind of kit... But so far I haven't found anything large enough; I only have experience with DIY effects kits, which typically use much smaller boards.

If anyone has a lead to large, affordable PCBs that could be suitable for this purpose, please let me know!

Wouldn’t a photo of a board be a more useable solution?

sal paradise wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 4:13 am

Wouldn’t a photo of a board be a more useable solution?

But... But... That would be CHEATING!!!!

Seriously, this is my backup plan — clear acrylic guard with a printout of a PCB underneath. But a real board would look so much better, and be so much cooler

I was looking at various PCB boards you can buy for amp and effects kits but can't find anything large enough

That's a really cool idea!
It piqued my interest so I gave it a go online - no dice.

The two things I can think of are:

-1: Give those custom PCB companies a call. Ask them if they happen to have some defective/surplus PCBs somewhere in the warehouse. They probably do, unless they never f**k-up an order (which would be surprising).
-2: Find multiple small ones, find a way to arrange them together and epoxy them onto an underlayer of acrylic or whatever material you'd want to use.

The board in the photo is a computer motherboard, for what it’s worth. Can’t generally buy them unsoldered though.

What a fun idea!

I had a little dig around & the biggest I could see was a scrap piece sold in Israel, about 10cm x 21cm.

I also saw several "Telecom Boards" which could be a useful keyword, although they all looked quite boring - rows of rectangles to hold identically sized PCBs - instead of the more complex & cool looking smaller ones.

Try searching for "Server Boards" too, along with the word "Scrap".

Thanks a lot for the pointers!

A quick search for "Bare motherboard" on eBay is bringing up interesting results — some very cheap, some upwards of $150. I haven't seen anything big enough yet, but this is going in a promising direction. I'll have a more thorough search when I get home.

LVC wrote: ↑

Mon Jun 07, 2021 6:55 am

Thanks a lot for the pointers!

A quick search for "Bare motherboard" on eBay is bringing up interesting results — some very cheap, some upwards of $150. I haven't seen anything big enough yet, but this is going in a promising direction. I'll have a more thorough search when I get home.

Well done! I guess you've seen this one already?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154417376235 ... SwXMNdRzVi

What are the minimum blank dimensions for the Super-Sonic? I'll have a look in the fab lab at Grrrnd Zero (Lyon), I know they keep all sorts of electronic-related junk there and I organize a weekly 'gonzo-lutherie-from-reclaimed-things' workshop there...

Off topic - Anyone ever try formica? I was looking at a 50s table and thought it would make a cool pick guard.

What if you bought a cheap used one, pulled off the components, flipped it upside down, put it in a mold, then poured a thin layer of acrylic resin until you reached the tallest solder blob? More labour, but you'd have your pick of any old garbage board you could find, and would have a perfectly smooth guard. It'd be thick for a pickguard, but super cool.

You could buy some motherboards and glue them together, or find some junk TVs and open them up. PCBs will glue together really well with gorilla glue I reckon.

Rackmount servers will have large motherboards, but you'll need to desolder components if you want them unpopulated (not difficult but time consuming).

PABX-es will have some pretty large but comparatively sparsely populated circuit boards if you can find one that's been decommissioned that hasn't yet been taken to the dump.


Both of the above may be achievable if you have any friends or contacts in the IT infrastructure space.

You may want to look into prototyping boards or breadboards:

https://www.newark.com/c/tools-producti ... -too-bre_0

I'd go with an old motherboard with all the components desoldered... At least locally I can (probably) easily find non-functional ATX-sized computers for free or pocket change, not that I've bothered to look since they're functionally recycleable waste.