DIY pickguard edges

[dangayle]

My wife has a Glowforge laser cutter thing, I'm sure I can cut my own custom pickguards. How do people do the edges? I was thinking of getting a router attachment for my Dremel, something like the Precision Router Base StewMac sells, but how do other people do the edges?

[ludobag1]

just for one and if you don't have a template ,a razor blade ,following by little sanding ,i do a jazzmaster one this way ,pretty time consuming but doable

[timtam]

There's a good reason most of the pickguard pros use a router table, wooden pickguard-shaped template, and a special bevel bit that both follows the template edge and cuts the pickguard bevel above it. CNC may also be able to do beveled edges, with the right bit. I don't know enough about laser cutters to know if they can cut at an angle. Chris from Texas Toast Guitars is a member here and has done several youtube videos on pickguards ... and he's got the good stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/@TexasToastGuit ... =pickguard

But there are few good options for the amateur wanting to make a beveled pickguard. People think "it can't be that hard" and try to do it manually with files/scraper blades/sandpaper. Most people only ever do a whole pickguard that way once (assuming you don't give up along the way) ! Plastic is pretty horrible to work with that way.

I've been looking out for better alternatives for years. The only mildly encouraging alternative options I've seen recently are these two examples, but they still require significant outlay and work. I've never seen a dremel router used for beveled pickguard edges (I have seen a dremel used for rough cutting). But maybe you could be the first to make it work.
https://youtu.be/nomfzzTCBHA
https://youtu.be/8OJ38XlQ0bs

If anyone's seen better options for amateurs, I would be very glad to hear them too.

[ludobag1]

it is not that hard ,but pretty long to catch the good way to works with the razor blade to have the good bevel and good regularity ,i have done one for my sg special this way too ,all you need is a good razor blade and have the gesture,for one guard that i will not redo is the same time as making a good template and cut with a router after ,but it need only time i think for a jazzmater i need 2 hours to make the whole bevel

[dangayle]

There's a good reason most of the pickguard pros use a router table, wooden pickguard-shaped template, and a special bevel bit that both follows the template edge and cuts the pickguard bevel above it. CNC may also be able to do beveled edges, with the right bit. I don't know enough about laser cutters to know if they can cut at an angle. Chris from Texas Toast Guitars is a member here and has done several youtube videos on pickguards ... and he's got the good stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/@TexasToastGuit ... =pickguard

Thank you, I'll follow up on that. They do sell little mini router tables for the Dremel as well, as well as all the beveling router bits. It should be almost the ideal size work material for that, the more I look at it.

[Steadyriot.]

I bet you could adapt [Will’s way] of re-beveling pickguards; especially for a one-off.

[JSett]

I've used engineers files in the past. If you go steady enough you can do a pretty decent job. Or buy a cheap 45° chamfer plane and use that

[tammyw]

My wife has a Glowforge laser cutter thing, I'm sure I can cut my own custom pickguards.

I'm not a laser cutting expert (in fact not a fan at all) but I think you might want to check the manual or do some reading before puting regular PVC pickguard material in a laser cutter. Unless you meant cast acrylic or some other other laserable material...

[dangayle]

My wife has a Glowforge laser cutter thing, I'm sure I can cut my own custom pickguards.

I'm not a laser cutting expert (in fact not a fan at all) but I think you might want to check the manual or do some reading before puting regular PVC pickguard material in a laser cutter. Unless you meant cast acrylic or some other other laserable material...

Oh yeah, cutting the wrong stuff would make a nasty chlorine gas, so regular PVC is totally out. That's a good call.