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I am in the early stages of my first guitar build and I'm considering adding a flush mounted small ebony pick guard into the top. I haven't seen this done. I've looked a bit on the inter webs. Has anyone done this successfully? It would be smallish, perhaps 3" long and would relate to the rosette. I'm a non-slashing strummer, so it would really be more of a resting place for my pinky when I'm fingerpicking. (I notice that over time there is a bit of grimy residue that shows up on that spot).

I've seen some faux tortise pickguards inlaid into the top of mandolins... they look good to me,.. I'd say go for it !

whatever you finish the guitar with, will still chip and get scratched/marred over the ebony and look bad eventually. you could opt not to finish over the ebony, but that complicates things a lot. also depending on how thick the ebony is, it might add weight to the soundboard, damping sound to some extent...

Thanks, jackwilliams and nyazzip.

I was thinking the thickness would be something like the rosette and perhaps after finishing the entire body as one would normally, then maybe scrap off the finish on the ebony pick guard.

My cousin builds guitars, and he also plays with his pinky resting on the top. Last time I saw his guitar, it had a spot where his finger had worn through the finish, so probably a good idea to put some protection there for that!

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

Here's a pic of my old mandolin with such a guard. This one even has pearl inlaid into the tortise. Very slick!



PS: Hey, Jack, does this one look familiar? I believe this is the one you worked on for my cousin many years ago. One of these days when I get caught up I'd love to get with you and see if you can give me some pointers to get it fixed up again. From what I gathered, my cousin accused his "soon to be ex" of stomping on it while he was on a business trip. Ouch!

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

I've thought about doing this before too, inlaying a wood pickguard. But it is a logistical dilemma getting it to cooperate with a normal shiny finish. I suppose you could finish the guitar, wait a long time for the finish to fully shrink, and then inlay the pickguard and level it. So it would be flush with the finished surface.

But I'd probably inlay before finishing, do my ultra-thin shellac finish on the soundboard, and just let it wear through over the pickguard. Not quite glossy, but a lot smoother than satin. Just wipe on a few coats, and then take square of muslin or other cloth and fold it until it makes a small and firm pad, put a couple drops of alcohol on it, and rub small, fast circles to burnish the surface smooth. Quick and easy, looks nice, feels nice, and thin enough that it shouldn't be very noticeable when worn through over ebony.

A thin oil finish that soaks into the wood rather than building a film on the surface would probably work too. But I think that can affect the tone more than surface finishes. Might be what's on that mandolin, though.

That guard is actually a tortoise material, it just showed up black in this photo. Weird light I suppose. It is dark, but definitely not wood.

So what did Gibson use in 1905? Real tortoise, or fake?

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

I said pinky, you said thumb. So how would one play with thumb on soundboard? Still trying to get my head around that...

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Phil

http://www.oleninstruments.com

"Those who tilt at windmills are only considered insane by those who can't see the dragon."

I do remember that mandolin Phil...! It's been a long time.... Would love to get together sometime , meet you, and see the ole' Gibson again....

Celluloid.
If I were doing it, I would install it after thicknessing the top, and tape it off before doing the finish.
It may be a good idea to glue it in with epoxy, just to avoid the warping that can occur when using wood glue that contains water.

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John

One of Wes Montgomery's guitars came on the market several years ago. His fingers had worn through a spot in the top and were gradually eroding the spruce. Someone--maybe even Gibson's custom shop--had inlaid a MOP heart in the depression. Of course, that was an archtop so a bit different than your situation. The MOP looked fine, though. Maybe a dark shell or plastic would be an option for you.
Patrick

If you want the ebony to not have finish on top of it, why not use a thin piece of ebony veneer on top of the sound board (rather than inlayed), spray on the finish, buff it out , then scrape the finish off the ebony veneer. This may give the appearance of a flush mounted pick guard rather than one that looks like it is mounted below the finish.

Being that this is my first build, I've decided to forego an inlaid ebony pick guard. Perhaps if I make another one. I think I'll do a test run on some scraps of spruce and ebony first.