Help me draw a pick guard for my bass!

[Dood]

Hey all! I am drawing (pun intended) upon the artist talents - and maybe those who can create diagrams that CNC cutters can use to help me create a pickguard for my ‘kinda P bass’ body. But, you just know that where I’m involved it’s not going to be an easy task, is it?! Fussy pants Dood. Doody Pants.

 

The bass, or what could end up being basses in question are my lovely Fender Power Jazz Bass Specials. The ones with the carbon fibre headstocks 

 

 

I’ve realised that I really like having a certain amount of height between the body and the strings for certain playing styles which I can improve by having a thick pickguard on these basses.

 

We have issues though - firstly, the controls on the body are not in a good position for a standard P bass plate - even though the body isn’t too removed from a P shape! Which leads me to the next issue. As the body has extra scooped out cutaways on the upper and lower horns, extending a normal P plate down the lower horn just doesn’t look right at all. I’ve included someone else’s design that really isn’t for me at all.

 

 

So, I have a few ideas to try out. 

 

The first is a design that would be similar to the one that I made and submitted to Sheldon Dingwall for Dingwall AB1 basses and, I had it on my flip paint model, a one of a kind. I love how there’s a curve that circles around the controls and want the same. Also look at the way this Dingwall bass does the same.

 

 

My AB1, I really like this half-guard design, inspired by thunderbirds and Les Pauls (incidentally before the D-Roc came out).

 

As for the lower horn, I can only find a few scratch plates that do the sort of thing I would like, but none of them look quite right, but hopefully you get the idea. I need to find a way to round off the lower horns part!

 

 

 

I’m pretty sure carbon fibre will be the plate of choice to match the headstock, what do you think? 

 

 

[PaulThePlug]

Like the bottom one, but take the cut after the mounting screw, unless tapeing on, I'd keep the full neck pocket if the plate.

 

Why not just a small square between neck and pup? 

[Dood]

15 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Like the bottom one, but take the cut after the mounting screw, unless tapeing on, I'd keep the full neck pocket if the plate.

 

Why not just a small square between neck and pup? 

 

 

I do have some small squares of material that would kind of work; I suppose I’m already not that enamoured with pickups being little black rectangles, so I was thinking of something that would be a bit more in keeping with the curves of the instrument. It wouldn’t be the end of the world from a utility standpoint .. especially given my skills with a saw ha ha!!

[Dood]

18 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

Like the bottom one, but take the cut after the mounting screw, unless tapeing on, I'd keep the full neck pocket if the plate.

 

Why not just a small square between neck and pup? 

 

Incidentally, the bottom image was an hour battling with ChatGPT and an image of my bass!!