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....
![[headinwall]](./images/smilies/headbangwalluf8.gif "Mad")
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.....
