Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

That last one Akio put together looks very professional.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

akio said:
Oh, i just mashed that together in GIMP from Halo Guitars online custom builder page. Built a Strat and Tele with the same config, then pieced things together. Obviously you're going have to do some custom cutting.

Just had another thought, why not plane 1/4" off the top and do a custom laminate? Then you could do pretty much anything without worrying about the old routes.
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Akio! I didn't notice your name the first time. That is your former neck in the photo of my guitar!
I considered the laminated top, but I really want this guitar to be simple and that means top-loading.

While you're making me awesome renderings, could you make the body black and the pickguard silver or off-white? That's the color scheme I'm planning to use.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

About like that?

5sfPDtV.jpg
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

I do like the lower horn curve on that one. That's a cool guitar. Is it real? Looks like a rendering?
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

akio said:
This is kind of a combo of your A and B drawings, but maybe something like this:

xQyYeAw.jpg
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That's not bad.

The problem with improving the Tele pickguard, is that it's dang near perfect, as it is. Then again, maybe that's because it's so ingrained in our psyche.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

ArtieToo said:
The problem with improving the Tele pickguard, is that it's dang near perfect, as it is. Then again, maybe that's because it's so ingrained in our psyche.
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I'm pretty sure it's just that we're used to it. If you look at a stock tele objectively the pickguard is pretty odd. But I'm not trying to improve it, anyay, I'm trying to come up with something that looks "right" but also covers the routes in my body and allows me to have all the electronics front-loaded.

On a related note, I cannot imagine why Leo Fender designed such an inexpensive-to-manufacture guitar but then ran the wiring through holes rather than just routing a channel to the control plate?? I'm going to just open mine up since the pickguard will meet the control plate anyway.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

ArtieToo said:
That's not bad.

The problem with improving the Tele pickguard, is that it's dang near perfect, as it is. Then again, maybe that's because it's so ingrained in our psyche.
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I used to have a red Telecaster with a maple fretboard & a white pickguard- very ordinary. That was the one guitar of which non-musicians would come to my place & say, "That guitar is so beautiful!" "What kind of guitar is that?! I can't stop staring at it."
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

baritone said:
I used to have a red Telecaster with a maple fretboard & a white pickguard- very ordinary. That was the one guitar of which non-musicians would come to my place & say, "That guitar is so beautiful!" "What kind of guitar is that?! I can't stop staring at it."
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I guess you are right - last night I showed my daughter, who knows nothing at all about guitars but has a great artist's eye, photos of about a dozen different flat-top guitars with pickguards and the one that she liked the best was the one that most closely resembled a stock Telecaster pickguard! So I'm doing something similar to Akio's rendering but with more of a tele arch on top.

Thanks to all for your suggestions and input. Once I get a good pattern made I can post a photo, and eventually a shot of the finished guitar. (That may be a while - I get to work on this thing about 20 minutes at a time once or twice a week!)
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

I think the stock guard looks best. Telecasters are very ugly guitars, though. Somehow they are compelling to the general public.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

I must be the general public because I think Teles are one of the best looking guitars. I like the feel of others better but for looks alone, I'll take a Tele over most.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

I clearly remember, as a 9-year old in the U.K., watching UB40 and thinking Ali Campbell's guitar was really cool looking - it was a blonde Tele. Though I had started playing acoustic, I had yet to touch an electric and had no idea about tone or guitar history - I just knew that I preferred the Tele over the Strats and Les Paul's that everyone else was playing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

I can understand it; my natural inclination for what a 'good' looking guitar is has always been the Mustang/Jazzmaster shape, ever since I can remember (Or Prodigy/Performer.) And most people find those quite ugly.

Les Pauls/Telecasters though... Just not my style (but they can sound good, of course... I am quite a Telecaster fan, sometimes you need to embrace the ugly ;) )
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

I always thought they were ugly, too, but sometime in the past several years they started catching my eye and now I'm putting one together for myself. Kind of like I used to hate cheddar cheese as a kid and now I love the stuff.
rgand, the tele in your avatar is one of the things that pushed me over the line into actually wanting one. I love the combo of the dark body, dark pickguard, black L500.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

Dave Locher said:
I always thought they were ugly, too, but sometime in the past several years they started catching my eye and now I'm putting one together for myself. Kind of like I used to hate cheddar cheese as a kid and now I love the stuff.
rgand, the tele in your avatar is one of the things that pushed me over the line into actually wanting one. I love the combo of the dark body, dark pickguard, black L500.
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Thanks. I'm glad to hear it inspired you. It sure did me. There were a handful of them in the store and only one that color. It simply had to come home with me. It'll be fun to see what yours is like when finished. Please post pics of it.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

Dave Locher said:
On a related note, I cannot imagine why Leo Fender designed such an inexpensive-to-manufacture guitar but then ran the wiring through holes rather than just routing a channel to the control plate??
Click to expand...

I've always wondered about that too. The only part of a Tele that I'm not crazy about, is the skinny headstock. I much prefer the Strat CBS fat stock.
 
Re: Show me some creative pickguard SHAPES for a tele-ish guitar

ArtieToo said:
I've always wondered about that too. The only part of a Tele that I'm not crazy about, is the skinny headstock. I much prefer the Strat CBS fat stock.
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I put a CBS-style Strat neck on one of my Telecasters, it is my bit of lipstick on a pig :)
 
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