Repair And Restoration
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The Pick Guard Dilemma
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The Pick Guard Dilemma
New to the Looth Group forum so I hope I’m posting in the right place. I am also relatively new to the trade although I’ve been a woodworker for a long while. I have a general question for luthiers regarding the repair of a typical pick guard issue. I have 2 early 1970’s Martin D35’s in my shop with the usual pick guard curling and cracks associated with shrinkage. I’ve watched luthiers flatten and re-glue these back on the bare wood as they were done back in the day, and I’ve watched others “seal” the wood where the original guard was with super glue and/or lacquer and apply a newly made guard.
My question is how are most people approaching this. Is re-gluing on bare wood really the best way for the guitar in the long run given the fact that most builders would not consider doing such a thing currently, (I think?). I understand that with these two guitars gluing to bare wood would be the more original way to restore the instruments but for the health and tone of the instrument wouldn’t it be better to apply a pick guard that allows for more wood movement and flexibility? Would it matter if these instruments were more of a players guitar rather than a collectable one?
On a slightly different tack I also have a 90’s Gibson J-180 Everly Brothers model which is a whole lotta pick guard. It’s lifting in some places but not all over and I’d like to ask which glue folks would choose to seat it down.
Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.
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4 Replies
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Well, the way I do it is the pain in the ass way. I like getting some celluloid from axiom . The .020 black in the link there. Cut out the shape, usually do an etching to get the shape. Then I make an inside caul for the underside of the top (total fucken pain). And then glue the celluloid on with a a caul on the top.
I like to cut my outside caul just a micro fudge larger and then cap it with insulation sheet foam from home depot. This winds up picking up any of the slack in the deformation of the top while still giving firm pressure. Titebond is your friend with this. It works really well with celluloid.
Then lacquer over the guard and salt to taste with sheen reduction to make it look like it belongs on the guitar.
Edit: I think it’s totally appropriate to lacquer over the bare wood. I still would use celluloid cuz the other plastic looks like shit to my eye, no matter how you mess with the sheen. I would probably use contact cement rather than sticky tape. Never didn’t have no luck with that 3m self stick stuff.
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Ian thanks for the reply. So to be clear you would glue the celluloid to the bare wood area with Titebond? Or are you saying to seal the old area, maybe with lacquer, and contact adhere the new guard to that?
Many thanks!
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I think a case could be made for either. Titebond looks pretty legit though. The only thing I wouldn’t do is lacquer and then Titebond. You want bare wood for that.
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I’ve come here to ask this exact same question.
Got this thing (see photo). I don’t like the idea of gluing to the bare wood again. But then, I don’t really like the idea of lacquering just the bare spot. There needs to be a BIG LOOTH BOOK which says: this is the way you do this, we’ve all agreed, do it like this.
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