Making a Pickguard / Scratchplate

[Manton Customs]

I was making a pickguard for one of my basses recently so thought I'd take a few pics along the way in case anyone else might want to have a go at making one. I'll be using a router, but if you don't have access to one it's easy enough to make a guard without one and the steps would be similar. I'm making this one for one of my own builds which is a Walnut bodied 50's Precision style bass, this is the first 50's style one I've done but intend to do more, so I'm going to be using a template for repeatability. 

I first draw my pickguard on the body, I'm using a chalk pen here which cleans off very easily and can also write on a finished bass. You could also use a chinagraph pencil or anything else which fits the bill. Ignore the inner lines here, that's for the chambering which I've yet to cut.

Next I lay a piece of clear Acetate on top of the body and using a DVD/CD pen I trace onto the Acetate from the line beneath. You could skip step one and draw directly onto the Acetate, but I prefer to draw onto the body first so I can see it clearly and don't have to worry about creases or positioning too much. Then I cut the Acetate out and transfer that onto a piece of 1/2" ply wood. This will be my template for the router to follow, if you don't have a router, I'd still advise to use a template but you could use much thinner Ply, or even thick card.

Then the ply is cutout, if you've only got hand tools - a coping saw, file and sanding block would be all you need. You can see I changed my design slightly where that black line is towards the top. I've also drilled all the mounting holes so I can use these to index the template. The neck pocket the area around the control plate are rough at this stage, we'll take care of them next.

Here's the router (with wide base attached for stability) and a bottom bearing guided bit. I attach the template using a couple of the mounting holes, then use the router on the basses neck pocket walls to cut the template flush to the pocket.

Now I rough cut the pickguard, I used a bandsaw with a fine blade, but you could use a jigsaw, scroll saw, or a coping saw if you're using hand tools.

Then the template is attached to the rough cut pickguard using double sided tape (you could also use the mounting screws) and cut using the router and the two bits here. One is a bearing guided flush cutting bit, the other is the bevel cutter which cuts a very neat bevel onto the pickguard. If you were using handtools you would use a file and scraper to get both the correct shape and the bevel. I actually follow up a with scraper if there's any little bits which need taking care of, but usually it's pretty good straight from the router. Then I polish the edge with 0000 steel wool.

Next I countersink the mounting holes. I use the drill press and set a depth stop, so that every countersunk hole is the same depth.

The finished pickguard!

The bass body now finished and with its chambers cut

And the finished article!

Hope this has been of some help, or at least mildly interesting!

 

Edited March 11, 2019 by Manton Customs

[gary mac]

Thanks for posting that, most helpful