Early JM restoration – 1958/1959 Jazzmaster Gold Pickguard questions

[catalyst]

As I work through my restoration, I have two questions regarding the early gold pickguards on the Jazzmasters:

1. Were the 11-hole bodies only fitted with tortoise pickguards, or did they also make the gold pickguard with 11-holes? If they did make an 11-hole, can someone share a photo?

2. Can someone with an original 58/59 aluminum pickguard measure the thickness for me and send photos? I see conflicting numbers listed for thickness online from 1.5mm up to 2.5mm

[OffYourFace]

There were never 11 hole gold guards, just on tort at the beginning of the transition from gold to tort.

I've had two gold guards and I own an extremely rare black anodized guard. All 3 had the same thickness. Since it's an American made part, SAE is a better way to measure them. My black guard is 1/16" thick

[Kyon]

I've never seen one thicker than 1/16'' or 1.5ish mm but I actually don't know if that rules out the thicker ones. I forgot the exact history of the sourcing of the material but I could believe they were sending sheets of varying thickness to Fender.

[catalyst]

Thanks for the responses!

I had a kind gentleman measure their 58 gold guard and it came back 1.72mm... would love to confirm with another measurement.

Also, can someone confirm if the original gold guards were sprayed with nitro? I've seen some that look like there's a layer of nitro over the aluminum.

[OffYourFace]

yes they were all sprayed with nitro.

i'm sure there was a lot of variation with thickness, especially back in the '50s.