getting rid of the pickguard

[I NEED HELP123]

hello everyone,

I have a guitar that i want to mod. a new neck will be installed to the guitar, and some other things.

I maybe want to refinish the guitar, but if I do, I don't think it will look good with the pickguard. I thought of removing the pickguard and completely stripping the guitar body and then glue a thin piece of plywood on the front of the body to cover the pickguard cavity. Then make holes for the pickups and cut a piece out for the bridge to sit at normal height. Would this be a good solution? or do you guys have any other ideas?

 

[Artie]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

I can't help but wonder if you wouldn't be better off just getting the guitar that meets your needs. On the other hand, if you're just doing it to try your hand at modding, then try it and see how it turns out.

What type of guitar is this?

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

I can't help but wonder if you wouldn't be better off just getting the guitar that meets your needs. On the other hand, if you're just doing it to try your hand at modding, then try it and see how it turns out.

What type of guitar is this?

The guitar is a Yamaha Pacifica 112vcx. Some time ago, I got hit by a car. I had my guitar with me, the guitar has some significant damage in the finish. I'm still waiting on getting the money from the insurence company. i'm planning to upgrade the guitar with the money, and have some left.



This is my first guitar. I have the guitar 1 year since christmas. The guitar is second hand and it's from 2011, but the frets are really worn. I think this is not only because i play so much, but also because the frets have more nikkel in them than silver. That's one of the reasons why i'm getting a new warmoth neck for the guitar.

The body is made of alder, it's really resonant and i really like it. the guitar currently has alnico 5 pickups (i thought) that i'm planning on replacing. I have another guitar made of ash/swamp ash and it sounds really dull. don't like the tone at all. the body isn't very resonant either.

I really want to create a guitar of my own. As i said, I am maybe planning on refinishing it in a 80's kinda finish like this:
https://ibb.co/fu5D1w
https://ibb.co/hp3NuG
https://ibb.co/nb6aEG

But as i said in the first post, i don't think those finishes will look good with a pickguard.

The plan is not to upgrade the guitar but to make another guitar, with the body of the pacifica, good hardware, pickups and a new neck.

EDIT: I know you are going to say: just get rid of the guitar and buy a new one, but I really like 80's guitars. I first thought of buying a charvel, but I won't get much for my money. i will get a 80's charvel spec neck but with other heel dimensions so it will fit the body.

 

[Jacew]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

hello everyone,

I have a guitar that i want to mod. a new neck will be installed to the guitar, and some other things.

I maybe want to refinish the guitar, but if I do, I don't think it will look good with the pickguard. I thought of removing the pickguard and completely stripping the guitar body and then glue a thin piece of plywood on the front of the body to cover the pickguard cavity. Then make holes for the pickups and cut a piece out for the bridge to sit at normal height. Would this be a good solution? or do you guys have any other ideas?

No.

It'll be hell when you need to tweak the electronics etc... unless you cut the back open, which would ruin the guitar.

Better to use screws, paint the plywood and screwheads same color as guitar and it'll be less noticeable.

Best solution: Use router and countersink the entire pickuguard same level as the body. Not as easy, but would be really nice looking.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Chinese replica guitar

They have them in the colors you like
They will upgrade to stainless frets if you ask
Put your name on the headstock
All that
You will still want to upgrade the hardware and pickups yourself

Many of them are less than a warmoth neck

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

No.

It'll be hell when you need to tweak the electronics etc... unless you cut the back open, which would ruin the guitar.

Better to use screws, paint the plywood and screwheads same color as guitar and it'll be less noticeable.

Best solution: Use router and countersink the entire pickuguard same level as the body. Not as easy, but would be really nice looking.

sorry, i forgot to mention that the yamaha pacifica 112vcx has a pickguard and a backroute. only the 5 way switch sits in the pickguard. I wanted to get rid of the 5 way switch and place 3 small switch to switch the pickups on and off seperatly

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Chinese replica guitar

They have them in the colors you like
They will upgrade to stainless frets if you ask
Put your name on the headstock
All that
You will still want to upgrade the hardware and pickups yourself

Many of them are less than a warmoth neck

could you recommend me?

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Go to Aliexpress
Look around
They have exactly what you want somewhere
Some of the places are shady
Look how long the store has been up

They don't speak English well show them pictures of what you want

Ask for pictures before they ship ,so you can confirm it's what you want

You still may have to do some work when it gets here . But not like building an entire guitar

Plan on changing the hardware and pickups

The bodies are basswood mostly and very light resonate

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Go to Aliexpress
Look around
They have exactly what you want somewhere
Some of the places are shady
Look how long the store has been up

They don't speak English well show them pictures of what you want

Ask for pictures before they ship ,so you can confirm it's what you want

You still may have to do some work when it gets here . But not like building an entire guitar

Plan on changing the hardware and pickups

The bodies are basswood mostly and very light resonate

I have seen some videos on youtube where people order those guitars. They end up being about the same quality as a squier but with custom spec.
If tou can't prove me otherwise I Think i will just mod the pacifica.

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Do you anticipate ending up with a good looking, good playing/sounding guitar for very little work?

If you do what you are planning, you won't get any of that. So don't put the money into a good quality neck. If you are just looking for a fun project to start getting some guitar building skills, then again, don't put money into a good neck.

Don't use plywood no matter what. Use a thin solid veneer if you plan to do any "building" on this one.

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Do you anticipate ending up with a good looking, good playing/sounding guitar for very little work?

If you do what you are planning, you won't get any of that. So don't put the money into a good quality neck. If you are just looking for a fun project to start getting some guitar building skills, then again, don't put money into a good neck.

Don't use plywood no matter what. Use a thin solid veneer if you plan to do any "building" on this one.

could you explain why I shouldn't use plywood? and why I shouldn't put my money into a good quality guitar neck?

 

[Jacew]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Chinese replica guitar

They have them in the colors you like
They will upgrade to stainless frets if you ask
Put your name on the headstock
All that
You will still want to upgrade the hardware and pickups yourself

Many of them are less than a warmoth neck

I bwt Yamaha is much better quality.

Do you anticipate ending up with a good looking, good playing/sounding guitar for very little work?

If you do what you are planning, you won't get any of that. So don't put the money into a good quality neck. If you are just looking for a fun project to start getting some guitar building skills, then again, don't put money into a good neck.

Don't use plywood no matter what. Use a thin solid veneer if you plan to do any "building" on this one.

Being non english speaker I've probably misunderstood what you call plywood: I thought veneer and plywood meant the same thing?

If you absolutely want a guitar without pickguard and different neck, finding used with specs you like would probably be easier and end up being cheaper.

But if money is issue, I would steer away from those aliexpress guitars. If it's not good, it won't have much resale value. Wprst case, you've just wasted you're money.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

A veneer is a really thin piece of wood cut from a really nice looking piece of wood. That way instead of a solid AAA flamed cap, you can get several more AAA flamed veneers from the same amount of wood.

Plywood is compacting a bunch of veneer of not so nice looking pieces of wood together with glue to make a plank of wood. It's a good way to save scraps from going to waste.

 

[ehdwuld]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

I have seen some videos on youtube where people order those guitars. They end up being about the same quality as a squier but with custom spec.
If tou can't prove me otherwise I Think i will just mod the pacifica.

Dude
What you are talking about is custom spec
Squire guitars are alright as are Epiphone
The custom built one I got was on par with my Epiphone
The hardware was junk
the pickups were junk

But the neck and body were just fine
And it had the custom control layout I wanted
Does that sound familiar

Squires don't have ply wood bodies as the internet would have you think

That Yamaha resonates because it's a less dense wood
Probably basswood

Which is fine. I love my basswood Ibanez and Squires

How would one prove a variable?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

could you explain why I shouldn't use plywood? and why I shouldn't put my money into a good quality guitar neck?

Extremely difficult if not impossible to find plywood only 1/16" - 1/8" thick (minor issue). The edges of plywood look horrible at best (major issue). There is no reasonable way to finish the edges to look good other than doing binding all around the body to hide the edges.

Doing what you are planning is not impossible, but you'll put in a whole lot of time, work and money into a guitar that will essentially be worth nothing and will probably play and sound like crap. That doesn't make any sense.

Putting a neck that costs around $200 on a guitar that may be worth $100 or less when it is finished is financial suicide.

I don't ever want to discourage anyone from having fun working on a project, but it will be more fun if it all makes sense and you can have pride in the accomplishment of creating a player.

With that being said, if you want to get rid of the pickguard and want to have a learning experience and some fun, go ahead and strip the guitar and plane 1/8" off the front then glue on an 1/8" veneer of maple or another nice hardwood. This will keep the original thickness of the guitar and allow the trem and pups to be mounted in their optimal positions. Rout it for the pups and trem then sand and finish.

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Dude
What you are talking about is custom spec
Squire guitars are alright as are Epiphone
The custom built one I got was on par with my Epiphone
The hardware was junk
the pickups were junk

But the neck and body were just fine
And it had the custom control layout I wanted
Does that sound familiar

Squires don't have ply wood bodies as the internet would have you think

That Yamaha resonates because it's a less dense wood
Probably basswood

Which is fine. I love my basswood Ibanez and Squires

How would one prove a variable?

I know 100% sure the body is alder. under the humbucker there is no paint. There is only a layer of clear sealer. there you can see the woodgrain, and I can clearly see it's alder.


Why would I buy a custom guitar only for the body and neck, when i have a perfectly good body and i can buy a good neck for a decent price?

I now get your point about the custom alixpress guitar, but I already have a perfectly good body.

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

Extremely difficult if not impossible to find plywood only 1/16" - 1/8" thick (minor issue). The edges of plywood look horrible at best (major issue). There is no reasonable way to finish the edges to look good other than doing binding all around the body to hide the edges.

Doing what you are planning is not impossible, but you'll put in a whole lot of time, work and money into a guitar that will essentially be worth nothing and will probably play and sound like crap. That doesn't make any sense.

Putting a neck that costs around $200 on a guitar that may be worth $100 or less when it is finished is financial suicide.

I don't ever want to discourage anyone from having fun working on a project, but it will be more fun if it all makes sense and you can have pride in the accomplishment of creating a player.

With that being said, if you want to get rid of the pickguard and want to have a learning experience and some fun, go ahead and strip the guitar and plane 1/8" off the front then glue on an 1/8" veneer of maple or another nice hardwood. This will keep the original thickness of the guitar and allow the trem and pups to be mounted in their optimal positions. Rout it for the pups and trem then sand and finish.

If you make a partscaster, you will never get more money out of it than you put in it. im aware of that.

I don't have a planer or router, so i could rent them maybe?

got to think some more of this, if somebody has any tips or sugesstions they are much apreciated.

 

[Jacew]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

A veneer is a really thin piece of wood cut from a really nice looking piece of wood. That way instead of a solid AAA flamed cap, you can get several more AAA flamed veneers from the same amount of wood.

Plywood is compacting a bunch of veneer of not so nice looking pieces of wood together with glue to make a plank of wood. It's a good way to save scraps from going to waste.

That sounds very non-descriptive really. I mean the most similar products are neither what you describe. What I understand as veneer/plywood is made from large thin plates of solid wood glued together. Qualites varies a lot, but they're all called the same in here.

Sure you do want that thin and solid type, rather than that thicker "construction material" type. I think whether it's AAA grade or etc is irrelevant if you're going to paint it over.

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

That sounds very non-descriptive really. I mean the most similar products are neither what you describe. What I understand as veneer/plywood is made from large thin plates of solid wood glued together. Qualites varies a lot, but they're all called the same in here.

Sure you do want that thin and solid type, rather than that thicker "construction material" type. I think whether it's AAA grade or etc is irrelevant if you're going to paint it over.

plywood is multiple thin pieces of wood glued together like this:


veneer is a thin slice of wood(it can also be thick, but not thicker than 3mm or so). It doesn't have to be pretty. it's used on guitars because it's A LOT cheaper. that's why for example lower end chapman guitars have flame maple veneers instead of maple caps. Sometimes they just stick the veneer on the body, sometimes they take the body and glue a piece of maple on it and then the veneer to get the flame maple cap tone and looks, but cheaper.

a "cap" is a thicker piece of wood to give the body another tone. For instance, chapman has mahogony body guitars with maple caps (mahogany has a darker tone, and maple bright) to make the tone brighter.

sometimes you also see it on furniture for the same reason, it's cheaper.

veneer:


here you can see the body (the dark piece of wood, mahogany) and a maple cap (the light wood):

 

[I NEED HELP123]

Re: getting rid of the pickguard

I hope i explained it clearly, can we go back to pickguards now please?