Strat pickguard differences from different Manufacturers

[wdmusic1]

Pickguards

Hi Everyone - I've been reading all this speculation with great interest so I though I'd set the record straight. I am the owner of WD, and have been for 33 years. Our pickguards are made in our shop here in Florida and have always been made by us. They also fit perfectly and are guaranteed to do so, provided the party ordering gives us the correct year and model of their guitar.

As to pricing, yes, you can buy a Chinese pickguard for peanuts, but the material is not of the same quality, nor is the labor. We pay American workers with families a wage that enables them to participate in an American lifestyle, not the typical $50 per month that most third world workers make.

No, I'm not shilling for business. I just wanted to set the record straight. Thanks for "listening".

Larry Davis

[jrfrond]

Larry, thanks for dropping in and setting the record straight. I've been dealing with you guys since the early 80's when we were ALL in NY!

Two things I'd like to clarify:

1) If you need a duplicate pickguard, you always need a tracing, period. It's the only real way to insure a perfect fit, and you can add all necessary mods to the tracing. I keep an 11' x 17" book of graph paper here for such occasions.

2) I work in the drum industry as well, and the company that makes the cool pearl and sparkle wraps for drums (and some Gretsch guitars) is the same company that makes pickguard plastics, which is Delmar Products in CT. Most of the plastic is made and laminated here, but all of the fancy pearl patterns are made in Italy (as they have been for decades), then sliced into sheets and sent here for lamination. There are some offshore pickguards that are decent, but I've gotten others that are low quality with a distinct petroleum product odor. All of that solvent evaporation means they are somewhat unstable. I maintain that, if you want a good-fitting pickguard that is going to last, have it custom-cut here in the USA. Don't put your faith in cheap materials or ready-made pickguards, because they don't always work.

[wdmusic1]

Hey John - great to hear from you. NY is a long way off for me now. Been down here in FL for 18 years. But I still miss NY in so many ways.Thanks for your fuurther clarification. We've been using Delmar since 1980 and they truly do make the best damn plastic on the planet. Patterns are great, plastic never delaminates or warps, and they really do respond to our needs for accuracy. Great stuff all around.

Stay in touch,
Larry

Larry, thanks for dropping in and setting the record straight. I've been dealing with you guys since the early 80's when we were ALL in NY!

Two things I'd like to clarify:

1) If you need a duplicate pickguard, you always need a tracing, period. It's the only real way to insure a perfect fit, and you can add all necessary mods to the tracing. I keep an 11' x 17" book of graph paper here for such occasions.

2) I work in the drum industry as well, and the company that makes the cool pearl and sparkle wraps for drums (and some Gretsch guitars) is the same company that makes pickguard plastics, which is Delmar Products in CT. Most of the plastic is made and laminated here, but all of the fancy pearl patterns are made in Italy (as they have been for decades), then sliced into sheets and sent here for lamination. There are some offshore pickguards that are decent, but I've gotten others that are low quality with a distinct petroleum product odor. All of that solvent evaporation means they are somewhat unstable. I maintain that, if you want a good-fitting pickguard that is going to last, have it custom-cut here in the USA. Don't put your faith in cheap materials or ready-made pickguards, because they don't always work.

[jrfrond]

Better than that Larry, I'll see you at NAMM!

[vintageguitars]

I can remember back in the late 70's and early 80's dropping in at Chandler (then they were in the Bay Area on the Peninsula, I think San Carlos) and handing them any old Strat pick guard as a pattern and they cut me a new one in the color or pearloid finish I wanted; picked it up in just a couple days. Cost was $8 for a 3-ply WBW or BWB, $10 for a Pearloid, + 4% sales tax (aw the good old days of California before the "Blue" Socialist took over)

Not sure when they moved to Chico (my favorite college town in CA to play at in concert - wild!), probably because building rental costs are obscene in the Frisco "west bay area", but Chandler still makes PG's from scratch in their premises, because you can still custom order one. The prices now are obscene ($35 basic to the high $60's) +$12 shipping (for a $4.50 Priority Mail Flat Rate envelope) + 9% Sales Tax!

Regarding mid - late 90's Korean Squier Strats, from the pictures I've seen, looks like the Mighty Mite PG's had the right hole pattern. Anyone know this to be the case? I'm bidding on one on eBay I need for my '96 MIK Squier with a badly scratched-up and abused PG by the previous owner.

[Jim Shine]

My father worked for delmar. He said they were relatively new at the time (mid 60's). So they are just one of the suppliers used over the years. They bought the celluloid in large blocks from an Italian company called Mazzucelli. Delmar took these blocks, sliced and where desired, laminated them to ordered spec.

[jrfrond]

Mazzuchelli still produces all of these "block-style" pearl finishes in the same manner as they always did. It's basically resins of different hues, shades and transparencies that are poured into a big mold, cured and then sliced to order, anywhere from about .025" and up. Drum wraps and pickguards get the thin film, and thicker cuts are used for decorative purposes like inlays, etc. Delmar receives it here in the USA, laminates it t a backing as needed, polishes it and also adds a UV coating. If you look at guitars and accordians made in Italy for the 60's, many of them were produced completely from this block plastic, as in can also be thermoformed. Believe it or not, the MAIN use back then was eyeglass frames. Actually, their website is quite interesting: Delmar Products

[vintageguitars]

This is very cool info on the who, where and how the vinyl is produced, and especially the history makers on something most of us only see as sheet that in some cases like Stratocaster PG's, has some great lines and complicated cut out's.

One of you mentioned that a "polishing" process the cut sheets go through before use. I have some pick guards that have the usual pick scratches and spider swirls on the surface, even some minor but a little deeper than surface scratches in them.

Is there a good way to sand or polish out these blemishes? What is the best way to do it and with what "tools" (rouge type, buffing pads or wheels, etc.)??

Thanks

[Sweetfinger]

I've restored pickguards by wet sanding with a really fine grit paper and buffing them out on a wheel. You need a mechanical buffer or a LOT of leisure time if you're going to try it by hand. I use the same Menzerna compound we use for guitar finishes.