Fully hollow and carved Les Paul

paulnb57

ICBM said:

guitargeek62 said:

With that in mind, how about ebony/rosewood to match the bridge? It'll keep the wood theme going and minimise plastics throughout - maybe use the same for the knobs too?

Wooden pickguards and knobs - and pickup surrounds - are an abomination. 1970s furniture guitar accessories.



I think the guard is perfect as it is. It just needs a pair of old bakelite knobs to go with it.




(I still think it needs the triple diamond tailpiece too! )

Agreed!

roberty

I think it looks effing amazing personally! So cool

enjo

WezV said:

Whatever I use will look hand buffed.... I'm not after super shiny.

I meant the guard rather than the guitar - personally I think both look great as they are for the record

WezV

thanks,  i'm not mad at it as is, but happy to try a few bits out to make sure its as good as it can be.

Its the guard i am talking about too. normal black plastic will be too perfect, i don't want that.  Some 50's Gibson plastic with roll marks would be nice, or a bit of Bakelite.  just a bit of texture.  we will see

PhilKing

Hi Wez,  I still have the 50's Gibson guard if you want that for this guitar.

WezV

PhilKing said:

Hi Wez,  I still have the 50's Gibson guard if you want that for this guitar.

thanks Phil, i think the bracket hole will still be in the wrong place.

I'm still trying to decide whether i want to age this or not...  i might actually keep it new looking, or at least NOS

TTony

^^

Wis’d !!

PhilKing

That's fine.  If I get chance I'll take a look around, but I probably won't have any NOS stuff, perhaps some older Gretsch or Silvertone plastic that you could reshape.

WezV

Thanks Phil. speaking of Gretsch, i was considering a clear guard painted on the back,   I also noticed their solution for old style tort guards is to laminate some thin tort onto a clear guard.   thin tort is much easier to find, so it might be one option for me to consider.

although i risk going down a rabbit hole here  

PhilKing

Yes, basically all the older Gretsch guards are clear with etching and paint on the back.  It gives you a lot of choices (hence your rabbit hole, I guess).

WezV

I've also orders some bits to try and make my own tortoiseshell knobs for it.

This may not work. Even if it does they might not get used on this.... But down the rabbit hole I go  

ICBM

WezV said:

I've also orders some bits to try and make my own tortoiseshell knobs for it.

This may not work. Even if it does they might not get used on this.... But down the rabbit hole I go  

Matching tortoiseshell knobs would be fantastic if you can do it. If it doesn't work, you could get a couple of old 'swirl' bakelite radio knobs off Ebay... I have quite a few, but no matching pairs unfortunately.

WezV

Yeah, I was looking at eBay earlier but didn't really spot many pairs I was confident in

GuyBoden

Wow great build, now it's nearly finished, it looks a bit ES125 (ish)

They seemed to have Gold knobs with a Tort pickguard.

WezV

Yeah, I don't think the normal gold or amber Gibson style knob will be bad at all.  I have some as my backup option.

greggreg66

This is looking so beautiful. The pickguard, (I’m looking on a phone not computer) maybe appears on the murky side and lacking the clarity of the Cromwell one. I also like the sharper angles of the Cromwell guard, gives it a deco edge somehow, it contrasts well with all the other curves. 

GuyBoden

IMHO, the best looking Jazz archtop pickguards are the one's with the 5-ply binding, but they are way too expensive for what is basically a piece of plastic.

$200 plus post from USA, the link for ref purposes only: Archtop.com

I have two of these for my 1949 Gibson L4, one with a cutout for a floating pickup, one without for a pure acoustic look:

WezV

I agree, but it's not right for this as everything else is so simple.

I would make one myself if I was doing that. 

WezV

just doing a few drop fills on the finish before i flat it off and do its final coats of clear,

got a pic with the tailpiece whilst i was at it


it will be subtlety aged, jut to take the shine off to match the pickup a bit better

normula1

That's stunning. Does it actually need a pickguard?