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Pickguard Material For Les Paul (5-ply)?

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  • Pickguard Material For Les Paul (5-ply)?

    I want to make my own Les Paul pickguard and have been trying to find 5 ply pearloid sheets without any success. Most of the stuff I've found is 2, 3 and in some cases 4 ply, but since Les Pauls come with 5 ply pickguards I'd like to do it correctly.

    I am specifically looking for gold colored pearloid (golden/yellowish) but it seems hard to even find any color in 5 ply and definitely nothing gold. Does anyone here know where I can get what I need?
    Last edited by DarthTangYang; 01-18-2021, 04:58 AM.

  • #2
    I've never seen 5-ply with aged white pearl. I don't think it exists. The 4-ply aged white pearl / white / black / white is the closest I've ever seen. What guitar was ever made with an actual 5-ply white pearl pickguard?

    If it's an absolute requirement, I'd ask WD Music if they could make it, but I bet it would be more expensive than it's worth.

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    • #3
      Other than you
      would anyone else notice if it were 4 ply not 5?
      EHD
      Just here surfing Guitar Pron
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      • #4
        As someone who customizes pretty much everything I have this to offer: there is no "correct."
        You are creating a one-of-a-kind pickguard unlike any stock Les Paul ever had, right? You might want 5-ply for aesthetic reasons but do not let what that guitar came with from the factory dictate what you will make for it. Once you go custom there are no limits or rules.

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        • #5
          That has never been the standard multi-ply pearloid material. I've never even seen it.

          What you need to do is Get 4-ply W/B/W/B (or 5-ply B/W/B/W/B), and single ply pearloid, then laminate the custom material yourself.

          Alternately, you can get the existing 4-ply (P/W/B/W), and add a single black ply to the bottom.

          If that's too much monkey business for you, then talk to Precision Guitars in Mesa, AZ, U.S.A. He has a laminating press, and puts together his own custom materials. He might be willing to do a custom lamination for you.

          Spitfire can do it as well (most of his materials are laminated in house), but he is very, very spendy.
          Last edited by ItsaBass; 01-18-2021, 09:03 PM.
          Originally posted by LesStrat
          Yogi Berra was correct.
          Originally posted by JOLLY
          I do a few chord things, some crappy lead stuff, and then some rhythm stuff.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by beaubrummels View Post
            I've never seen 5-ply with aged white pearl. I don't think it exists. The 4-ply aged white pearl / white / black / white is the closest I've ever seen. What guitar was ever made with an actual 5-ply white pearl pickguard?

            If it's an absolute requirement, I'd ask WD Music if they could make it, but I bet it would be more expensive than it's worth.
            I never said that I wanted 5 ply of aged white pearl, I never even said I wanted pearl. I said "pearloid" which is plastic. Usually it's a laminate so the pearloid is glued on top of sheets of 'regular' plastic. Like you say, often alternating between black and white in several layers.

            Now, what I am after is really the thickness of a regular Epiphone Les Paul pickguard with a golden pearloid front, not the b/w/b ply. When looking it up I found information that said the factory pickguards are made with 5 ply. What this means in terms of actual thickness I didn't manage to find out. I did however find an old pickguard laying around which I meassured and it was 3mm thick. So if I can find a thin gold pearloid sheet (1 ply) and a piece of plastic with the "correct" thickness to compensate and glue the two together it would also work. But it would obviously be easier if I could find golden pearloid with a 3mm thickness and skip the laminating.

            I looked further and found this.

            Click image for larger version  Name:	s-l1600.jpg Views:	0 Size:	50.7 KB ID:	6049489
            It's not 5 ply but 4 and that's probably as close as I will get.










            Or I could get a thin sheet of golden abalone (like the one below) and glue that one to the original pickguard I found. It's only a 0.3mm thick vaneer so it wouldn't make it that much thicker.

            Click image for larger version  Name:	hm028_.jpg Views:	0 Size:	102.8 KB ID:	6049490

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