Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?

Subject: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 04 May 10 - 07:46 PM

On one of my old guitars a pickguard has become detached and it has taken some pockmarks of the lacquer with it.

The lacquer is the old fashioned stuff for which methylated spirits is solvent.

First I need to re-seal the finish - how? If it was a modern guitar, a runny cyanoacrylate would do fine, but it isn't a modern guitar.

Second I need to re-attach the pickguard which I am sure is mock tortoiseshell not real tortoiseshell. If I could refinish first, I would use an animal glue and clamps, but Seccotine appears no longer to be available.

Ideas?

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: GUEST,Ray
Date: 05 May 10 - 04:18 AM

If its not here - http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/pagelist.html#Luthier - its probably not worth knowing!
Ray

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: s&r
Date: 05 May 10 - 04:27 PM

could be shellac (french polish) This is available in various tones of brown through to white. It can be applied with a brush or rubber.

Stu

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 05 May 10 - 04:34 PM

best way to reattach the pickguard is with a thin double sided tape (not carpet tape !).

Stick onto pickguard, cut off surplus neatly with a craft knife to fit the contour of the pickguard, peel off backing and apply to guitar.

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 05 May 10 - 06:23 PM

Hi Murray - the pickguard is no longer that flat!

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 May 10 - 12:47 AM

Can you figure out enough about what the pickguard is made of to consider the possibility of re-flattening it?

As long as you're not doing anything with it while you're looking for an adhesive, putting it between a couple of big books and piling on a stack of books for a few days might give surprising results - if it's an artificial (plastic) material.

Even if it is a natural product like real tortoise shell, careful compression on a slightly compliant surface (i.e. between a couple of books or smooth boards) shouldn't be harmful. Since I've never seen a turtle with a big truly-flat shell, if it's made of real shell (or unrolled cow horn etc) it was probably mechanically "formed" to begin with. The original process for an animal material may have used heat and/or solvents for softening to allow fairly extreme bending; but for minor corrections those shouldn't be necessary.

John

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 May 10 - 04:09 AM

The guitar is a Hagstrom from 1964, so I'd bet the pickguard is plastic. Hagstrom were great users of plastics in their electric guitars and accordions, and the "mother of pearl" inlays on the acoustics are mostly plastic perloid too.

Stacking books on them does nothing for vinyl records that have warped (I've tried it) not even with cautious warming, so I would not be optimistic. I thing the only way is going to be a pretty determined glue and clamps, and to make matters more tricky the glue needs to dampen the soundboard as little as possible.

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 06 May 10 - 04:20 AM

PS - much to my surprise a well known Scandinavian luthier recommends not filling the nitrocellulose with more lacquer (neither by spraying nor by melted lacquer sticks) but with cyanoacrylate. That worries me even if it is under a pickguard, but would imply that one could use cyanoacrylate to attach the pickguard too.

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: mattkeen
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 05:53 AM

Richard - the double sided tape stuff is what I was sent with my new pick guard for my Brook

Regarding filling or not, I am sure Simon or Andy at Brook would give some advice if you phoned them

They are incredibly helpful even if they are not getting a job out of it

Subject: RE: Old guitars - pickguard adhesives?
From: bigchuck
Date: 13 Jun 10 - 08:06 AM

Carefully applied cyanoacrilate is a commonly used filler for this use. Stewart Macdonald (www.stewmac.com) has sheets of pickguard material with adhesive film. They also have sheets of adhesive film tha one can cut to fit a pickguard.

Sandy