Doing Things Wrong

Today's Lootherization

I'm making the clear pickguard for the guitar. It is a near copy of the bass, so this is easy. I traced the old one onto the masking tape and roughed it out on the scroll saw with a very coarse blade and a light touch. You don't want to melt the blade into the plastic - that is a do-over!

Then I did the rest of the rough shaping on both benchtop sanders. Tight corners and stuff were done with files. Just to see what happens, I broke out my wheel-polishing rig, and now both pickguards really shine.

After thinking about it, I could probably have done the whole piece on just my handheld belt sander, using the flat for the straights and the roller for the curves. I built a whole bass with nothing but the handheld belt sander.

Notice that the one tool I did not use is the one every noob gets told to use - the router. Especially with brittle clear plastic, a high-speed router is just going to shoot shards of plastic all over the workshop, and then you can start over. I make all my pickguards by hand like this. Even a 45-degree bevel is remarkably easy to do with a file.

I noticed that the logo layer on the bass had become a little cloudy, or maybe it always was but it really shows with the new body finish. So I decided not to use it. I could print a decal instead, and apply it to the now-slick body under the clear plastic. I think I'll just leave it this way, it's not needed - the burst adds some visual appeal that was lacking before.

The pickguard is installed with Danelectro-style truss-head screws - no countersinking, doesn't get any easier. This entire guitar ( and the bass ) is entirely Home Depot wood - Radiata body, maple neck, oak fretboard. The pickguard is an old windowpane, and the finish is oil-based poly, so pretty much the entire build is from the hardware store.

All it needs now is strings.


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The Ribbed Mussel is a cousin to the edible Blue Mussel. The main difference is that Blue Mussels are found out in the clean ocean, while Ribbed Mussels are found in smelly marshy places. And the ribs. So you wouldn't want to eat a Ribbed Mussel. Actually, I don't care for Blue Mussels either, but back in my diving days I used to collect them because back at the dock you could trade them with the fishing boats for tuna steaks and all kinds of good stuff. Like trading gravel for gold. Blue Mussels form a thick layer over almost anything solid, and the ones I got were much bigger and better than anything I ever saw in the store, where they are also very expensive.

Printed from luthierylabs.com