Official Luthiers Forum!

I promise, next time I take on a left hand guitar, I'm adding a 20% surcharge. It's a cutaway, so it's not that simple. One of these days I will post all that went wrong. But for now, I need to solve one final problem.

Stew Mac sells right hand clear, precut pick guards. And they are very nice, but won't work for left hand models. LMI sells appropriate thickness sheet material (why not Stew Mac?), but I clearly do not know how to cut it so edges lay flat. This matters for clear guards. What I want is a left hand version of the stew Mac precut. Any help out there????

Mike, I've always cut my own clear pick guards using a template and a scalpel. If you get a burr on the edge you can sand it off and polish with fine sandpaper.
Also StewMac used to sell material to cut you own, you might double check.

_________________
Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

I feel ya. Working on one lefty cutaway and a lefty 12 string right now...

I would just soon buy one precut. I've found a couple of potential vendors. I recall a discussion here recently on how to do it. Guessing scalpel is best. But I've stressed over so many things on this lefty, I just want someone to provide a working pick guard.

Yes Ed, lefties are a serious PITA. And, when u finish one, if you're a righty, you can't even play it!!

I had good luck cutting plexi glass with a template and a top bearing router bit.


Ooops!
I thought it was a thick pick guard.
I used really good scissors,
and took my time,
a knife would work too.

The Stew Mac mylar pick guard material is actually pretty nice and quite easy to cut out and apply. They can simply be cut out with sharp scissors. You can sprits a little water peel the backing off and move the material to get it in right place. The other nice thing about it is that you can bearly see it.

_________________
Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

A very good client comes into our shop with a brand new $7K Luthier built acoustic that, by the way, is superbly built and sounds fantastic too! One of the best small Luthier guitars that I have ever seen!

It's got a Tony Ferguson Cat Poly very nice finish on it and the client wants a clear pick guard. Mind you this client we do tons of work for since he is a collector and when this guitar showed up we already had two others of his from the 30's that we are working on.

The first clear pick guard was made for the guitar but the material was so very thin that the client complained of seeing orange peel in the guard's texture....

So the client goes on evilBay and purchases a shelf stick clear guard and asks us to remove the first one and replace it with the new, thicker, clear guard. And so we do.....

Client does not like the slightly blue tint of the evilBay guard and I didn't like it either. So a day later the guitar comes back with the client... and we are requested to remove the second clear guard, the one from evilBay. Client is very clear that none of this is our fault his beef is with the materials that are out there/here for clear guards.

I write client a refund check even though he didn't ask and of course we now have some time into this endeavor. We value our clients and offer a 100% money back guarantee on our work so what the heck, out with the checkbook. Client does not want to accept the check. It's the end of the fiscal year and we are an LLC so I am trying to jettison money for the books to be where we want them on the last day of the year coming up. Client and I argue because he loves our work and does not want a refund... I want him to help us jettison money.....

Anyway the moron of the story besides being me is be very careful what materials you use for clear guards in so much as nothing is hidden including how the things are applied, bubbles, defects in adhesive application by the maker, etc.

To more directly answer your question get some clear material from Stew-Mac and make your own lefty guard. The edges are beveled a bit so it lays flat. Learn about making a masking tape hinge too for proper final positioning and also learn about using water to help carry air bubbles away from under the guard. They are easy to make and easy to install.

The hard part is having the client like how it looks.....

I've got some lefty pick guards. They are laser cut from the tap plate blanks Ron Fernandez sells. Cut more than I'll ever use, when I realized I had them upside down on the laser bed. PM me your address and I'll send you a couple.

Here is one installed
http://mcgillivrayguitars.com/currently ... eadnought/

Thank you. Address sent. Hesh, problem is, we live in a right hand world. I have no issue with that except it leaves south paws at a disadvantage. I don't blame Stew Mac et al for not supplying common parts for all handedness. Laser cut or press cut is the way to go. Stew Mac righty guards work great. I know about the tape and the water. But thanks!

Beautiful guitar! Jason