Pickguard Planet

INSTALLATION GUIDE FOR GIBSON "FLOATING" PICKGUARDS

Most of Gibson's Archtop guitars use a "floating" pickguard that is mounted to hover above the top of the guitar, originally to keep from interfering with the top's vibration, maximizing volume & tone. These are some of the most complex pickguards to install; if you are not handy with tools on the workbench, this job is best performed by a qualified guitar repair tech.

On this demonstration, we used a 1960 Gibson ES-175. The guitar was a beater, many original parts removed, repaired headstock crack, etc. The guitar played wonderfully; and the replacement pickups (1970s Gibson Humbuckers) sounded great thru our bench amp, 1968 Fender Vibro Champ.  We want to thank Chuck, Tim, & Brian at Mahar's Vintage Guitars in Chico, CA for loaning us the guitar for this project.

Here's How its done:

 

 

 

Here is how the guitar came in, with no pickguard.

 

This version of floating pickguard uses a small pin mounted into the side of the neck under the fingerboard binding. Sometimes you will find the old, rusty pin still in place, or sometimes it has been removed like on this guitar, & you will see a small hole for the pin to fit into.

(Some Gibsons use a screw that goes through the top of the pickguard & tightens into a hole in the top of the guitar. These are much easier to install.)

On the side of the body is a hole for mounting the lower body bracket. The location of this hole is determined by the angle of the block glued to the back of the pickguard. Once again this hole location varies on Gibsons, so you will want to match its location. We will show you how to do this a little later.

 

Here is the pickguard we fabricated from color 124, a Black/Cream 5-ply material that we gave the wide bevel like Gibson used to use, & our 3D printed body mounting block with the original Gibson lower body mounting bracket.

On these rod-type brackets, the diameter of the rod has changed several times over the years, & most replacements available today are imported, with a rod that is usually a little smaller than the vintage Gibson ones. Our block is drilled for the modern imports; if you are using a vintage Gibson rod, you can drill out the hole in the block to match your rod.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once you have drilled out the block (if necessary), dip the tip of the rod in paste wax or soap for lubrication, & thread the block on to the rod. If it is too tight, drill a slightly larger hole, but not too big or the rod will just slip through. I use a drill vice for drilling the block & for threading the little assembley together.

 

 

Now for the hard part: I found an old drill bit that fit snugly into the hole in the side of the neck. The brads we had on hand were too loose fitting. (I was in a hurry to get this done so I just used what was around.) Next, I took a small scrap of material (plastic or wood is fine), & fitted it between the drill bit & the top of the body; it was about 1/4" thick & had a nice snug fit. Then I marked the block with a silver Sharpie where the drill bit fit the little scrap and where the fingerboard ends so you would not see it when the job is finished.

 

 

 

I cut away the area I will not use with the bandsaw.

 

 

Here is the drill bit inserted into the neck with the block. I filed a little relief for the drill bit in the scrap & then sanded the top of the drill bit a little so the little assembley is flat on top. I used the belt sander for this.

 

 

 

 

With the drill bit & scrap block in place, I applied some gap-filling super glue, keeping away from the neck so the little assembley would not be permanently mounted. Then I located the pickguard on the body, making sure the pickup cutouts fit just right. The glue formed a permanent bond between the neck assembley & the pickguard, but the guard can still be removed from the guitar just in case. Also, the drill bit I used for the pin was a little too long so I cut it off so it would not show on the finished project.

 

 

 

 

Next I mounted the lower body bracket to the side of the guitar. I put the plastic block to a location with room to adjust in either direction, just in case. I folded newspaper to put between the top of the body & the bracket to avoid any possible damage to the top of the guitar.  Then I applied a small amount of gap-filling super glue to the top of the plastic block, located the pickguard so it fit nicely around the pickups, & glued the guard to the block.

 

 

 

 

I removed the guard once more to spray some NCF catalyst on the glue joint & to show you how it looks on the back.

Here is the pickguard installed on the guitar. Later, I touched up the edges with some brown Sharpie to funk it up a little to match the body binding better. With the large block by the neck & precise fit of the pin into the neck, the guard is super solid with no rattle or bounce to it.

 

 

 

 

When the guitar came in, there was no Truss Rod Cover on the headstock, so we used one of our PG 30 -154 covers. We make these on the CNC machine from black over parchment plastic material. You may notice how round the areas where the screws go through are; this is an exact repro of the one on my 1960 ES-330T. The shape is a little different from what Gibson uses today. Also, the edges are "stepped" down, not bevelled; just like the Gibson ones from the 1950's & early 1960s.