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This is a little photo essay of my first attempt at making my own poured pickguard. With a little practice I may never have to buy another Greven...



In the next post, you get to see how the magic happens.... Justin

I'm using Z-poxy on this one because I was doing it in my living room and Zpoxy has almost no odor. The person who explained this process to me recommended System 3 sb112.



Hope you all try this! - Justin

That is too cool! I don't often put pickguards on my instruments, but I'm certainly trying this the next time I need one. When you get there, post up some pics of the pickguard on the instrument. Nice work

The tricky part is cutting them out. I tried cutting this one with scissors, but it is a bit brittle (not as bad as a Greven, but close). Next time I think I'll try the scroll saw.

Cool, how thick is it? I guess you can sand it and buff it out too ya?

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I know the system 3 sands and buffs nicely (haven't tried it with the zpoxy yet). It will buff nicely, but be careful not to let it get too warm or it will get soft and smudge.
Scott Conley taught me this trick. He uses this for pickguards as well as overlays for his rib rests and arm bevels. Check him out www.conleyguitars.com -Justin

Rod, it is 1/16". Similiar to a Greven.

Nice, thanks for the little tutorial. I've been hoping Howard would someday show how he does it.

Is there any other material that could be used instead of epoxy?

Hutch

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I'm not sure what other materials would work. I think most guys who do this are using whatever epoxy they use for pore filling... Seems most guys use system3, but zpoxy seems to work well and has no fumes.

Thanks. What do you use to stick the pickguard on the guitar?

This is the coolest thing I've seen here in months!!
Thanks -o- million
Mikey

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Love it!!!!!
How about cutting it out with a pattern and a 1-1 top bearing router bit?
Best method I found for cutting plexiglass.

that's a good idea Alan. Scott just mentioned that when the epoxy is still wet, you can stick pearl inlay into it.... guess I'll have to try that now. - Justin

Justin,

This certainly adds to the "I built this guitar from scratch" satisfaction factor.

Can you give a little more information about the tobacco brown dye you used?

Thanks,

Mark

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Colortone liquid stains from stewmac. mixed in alcohol per the instructions on the bottle...

That really is very coooool.

Thanks for showing us that.

All us little boys are going to try that one

Neil

Nice work, Justin
Some time back I tried making some pickguards out of west system epoxy and scraps of delaminated mammoth dentine. As you mentioned the epoxy is somewhat brittle. I bought a small can of polyester resin which I believe is more flexible and will try my next experiments with that. Another product that might have a little more flexibility is epoxy used for decoupage.
Here is a picture of one of my first attempts;

That is way cool indeed! It looks great finished, but those blobs of tobacco brown have my mind racing. Hmm... I know I have some West Systems around here somewhere.

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Very cool. Anyone know how these hold up over time on the guitar? Shrinkage stressing top, etc.?

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I also think this is cool, and thanks for the visual!

Once it has hardened, you can cut it with scissors if you warm it up. Then let it harden again and bevel or feather the edges, and it will buff or hand finish smooth as glass.

This is one of those things where I want to balance my need to "do everything myself" or let someone else do it and pay them $25.
Since I don't care that much for playing with epoxy, it is easy to let an expert do it.

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That is way cool.
If you want the epoxy to be less brittle you can add a bit more hardener. If you weigh out your mixture you can experiment to see how much more hardener to add. You can also use a hair dryer to pop the bubbles. I would imagine you have to have a perfectly level surface to pull this off.

L.

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Unless I am mixing things up with another resin, there are some special steps with polyester. If you bought the kind from a hobby shop used to cast your own paperweights, then it has a liquid wax additive and you do not need to do anything special. However, if it is pure plastic, you need to get a liquid spray wax and spray the surface after you finish your work, but before it sets. The reason is, the resin does not set properly if in contact with oxygen. As I mentioned, I might have this resin confused with another, so research it yourself.

I think you are right, some polyester resins do need a wax coating. The resin I bought was from a Marine supply store. I think it has the wax added, but I will check before I use it. Thanks for reminding me of that.

Do you think this process would work for a purfle? Say, in place of herringbone or abalone?