What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

[jazcasterbuttblaster]

Hey folks. I'm doing a Jeff Buckley style Telemaster, and choosing a metal for a custom chrome plated pickguard has me stumped.

His guitar had a non-Fender chrome-plated pickguard because it had 5 holes, so it's not necessarily brass like Fender's guards. There's a lot of bad mojo floating around forums about aluminum affecting the tone, but I would've thought it was the most ideal metal because it could be lighter than a plastic guard.

I don't mind the metal affecting my tone, because Buckley's tone is godly, regardless of whether the metal scratch plate affected it positively, negatively, or not at all. I just want the same metal, so I'm not left wondering.

The three obvious options are stainless steel, brass and aluminum. What do you guys reckon?

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

I know nothing about Jeff Buckley, but I bet his choice of amp, pickups, and pedals affected the tone considerably more than the pickguard.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

If it is actually chrome plated then it is likely brass, but it looks more like polished stainless steel to me in that photo.
For what it is worth, I have two guitars with aluminum pickguards and they sound fine. Fender put anodized aluminum guards on some models back in the "vintage" years and no one complained then. Just saying.

 

[dystrust]

Re: What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

If it is actually chrome plated then it is likely brass, but it looks more like polished stainless steel to me in that photo.
For what it is worth, I have two guitars with aluminum pickguards and they sound fine. Fender put anodized aluminum guards on some models back in the "vintage" years and no one complained then. Just saying.

I'd be worried that any sort of ferrous material would mess with the pickups' magnetic field. I don't know if it's true or not but for that reason and the one you mentioned, I'd go with aluminum over stainless.

 

[jazcasterbuttblaster]

Re: What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

If it is actually chrome plated then it is likely brass, but it looks more like polished stainless steel to me in that photo.
For what it is worth, I have two guitars with aluminum pickguards and they sound fine. Fender put anodized aluminum guards on some models back in the "vintage" years and no one complained then. Just saying.

It was a mirror finish initially, but you're right, if it's been beaten up this much and there's no yellow underneath, then it's probably not brass.

I'd be worried that any sort of ferrous material would mess with the pickups' magnetic field. I don't know if it's true or not but for that reason and the one you mentioned, I'd go with aluminum over stainless.

See, my dopey musician brain doesn't have a firm grasp on the science behind it, on top of the ALREADY shaky guitarist maxims on what impacts tone. Since aluminum and stainless are both non-ferrous, then neither should make a difference to the pickups, and since they're good conductors, they should both offer good shielding––the only practical difference should be weight. But my knowledge on electricity, materials and magnetism isn't strong enough to make any definitive statements.

I should call a physicist.

 

[PS412]

Re: What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

Just in case:
Martenistic stainless is magnetic
Austinitic stainless is not magnetic but can become magnetized through the work process.
Best of going Aluminium. Sand oxide off finished piece, acid wash, rinse then anodize it.

 

[PS412]

Re: What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

This is one of many videos on youtube.
I take no responsibility.

 

[mxaniac]

Re: What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

Aluminum has very little inherent damping compared to steel. That means any energy that does get transferred to the pickguard would take longer to dissipate. Brass has much more than steel. To chrome plate aluminum you have to copper plate it first if I recall correctly.

Austenitic stainless steel is magnetic when cold worked. SS is a ferrous alloy. I'm fairly certain some grades of stainless are poor "shields" I just don't recall which.

Your question is very open ended, what's the criteria for "ideal"? Although you do provide a reference to Jeff Buckley, one could interpret that as the visuals, the ruggedness, or the audio implications of the pickguard material but I assume you mean audio. I don't know the answer to that. Plucked strings have energy. Any energy that transmits into the guitar or pickguard is lost to the pickups. Since the frequencies transmit differently this can be good or bad (it can be like a form of EQ). On top of that energy in the body of the guitar provides the player with a level of feedback that while negative from a electromagnetic standpoint can provide inspiration. And then again a good tone is completely subjective.

My best guess is that if you want to affect the tone aluminum would make the biggest difference. The internal damping ratio is much lower than steel which is much lower than brass which is most likely much lower than plastic. Brass is going to have the lowest natural frequencies out of the metals (and thus more like plastic). So based on damping and natural frequency I think aluminum varies the most from plastic, with my assumption being those are the properties that would have the biggest affect on tone.

 

[Hellmark]

Re: What's the ideal material for a metal pickguard? Jeff Buckley worship thread

I have a chrome plated brass Fender pickguard, and I made an aluminum one. Really don't notice a huge difference in either in regard to impacting tone. As long as you have the pickguard fastened securely to the body, it won't cause buzzing from vibration. Awesome shielding, so I don't have to worry about fluorescent lighting and such causing issues. I'm considering stainless steel in the future, which that should have the same impact, as stainless steel is non magnetic so won't interfere with the pickups.