Looking for a Gibson pickguard....

[Mike Kolb]

I'll tell the embarrassing story on myself: While doing a neck reset on an older Gibson acoustic, I was pre-heating the neck joint area with a heatgun prior to the hot hide glue application. It seems I was less than 100% careful, and the pickguard ignited like a 4th-of-July sparkler! Drat and double drat.

So now, I'm looking for a black replacement pickguard, in the 'hummingbird' shape, minus the fancy engraving. {pic attached}. So far, I'm running into a brick wall. My local (Portland, OR) Gibson dealer is pretty pessimistic about ordering one, and suggests I make a new one from .025" plastic stock. Hmmm.

I'm not quite ready to give up the search yet. Any suggestions from the troops?

[Frank Ford]

Offhand, it seems easier to make than find one. That said, if you want Gibson parts, the guy to talk to is Greg at Classic Ax in Nashville.

http://www.classicax.com

[Mike Kolb]

Thanks for the tip, Frank. I'll give 'em a call and see what they've got that may fit the bill. The neck reset itself turned-out good, but I'd sure like to see a separate thread to address the fine points of acoustic neck resetting.

One question: does anyone shim the fretboard overhang after resetting? I don't, but it always looks little like a bent ski-jump afterwards. Anyway, I'll be contacting those folks about the pickguard... muchos gracias.

[Frank Ford]

My general policy is to allow a fair amount of "dropoff" with the fingerboard, but if it is likely to be noticeable, I'll talk it over with the owner. Some of us would rather see more dropoff than a board that comes out thicker at the end, but it's a personal thing.

For cutaway instruments, I'm much more likely to shim because that end of the fingerboard may actually get some serious use.

[Len Biglin]

Hi Mike , I cant help with the pickguard , but thanks for the warning ! I also notice the need for a fretboard shim after resetting but have never seen it mentioned .Len

[Tim Mace]

If the gap under the fingerboard is really close why not glue it ?

[Mike Kolb]

Yeah, that's what happens. It's already pretty close and then gets glued-down per usual. It's the small angle difference between the drop-off on the short extension vs. the rest of the fingerboard, up to the nut. Some find it acceptable, some don't like the look. It usually doesn't get a lot of use but Frank makes a good point about the cutaway instruments.

[Mark McLean]

Mike
You can get a good range of Gibson pickguards (and others) from Terrapin guitar supplies
http://www.terrapinguitars.com/
I bought a couple from them recently - not exactly cheap, but good quality and very authentic look.
good luck
Mark

[Mike Kolb]

An excellent tip, Mark. Just got off their website after ordering the replacement pickguard for $15 (+s/h). This is gonna' save my bacon and I can't thank you enough for the info. In the larger scheme of things, the cost of the pickguard is a pretty inexpensive education in handling a heatgun around neck joints! Lesson learned.