Motown Pickguard/Scratchplate

sollophonic · Post by **sollophonic** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 12:11 pm

Went into a charity shop the other day and found two very scratched and pretty much unplayable Motown LPs for Â£1 each, and figured that they would make a good pickguard or two for my two gigging Teles, that I use in a soul covers band.

Decided to try them first on my black Tele, so I set too with that scroll saw and files, and produced this, using Motown Chartbusters 3, Side 2

A close up....

Going to keep a look out for more iconic labels, but I have to stress I only buy 'em if they are badly scratched. The idea of hacking into a playable album doesn't appeal.

The beauty of the Telecaster is that you can change its look with 5 minutes with a screwdriver. This black Tele wears any one of about 5 or 6 different pickguards.

Heck, I could change them between sets

Shame though because the size of an LP is not quite big enough for some guitars like Strats and Squier '51s, though I think you could make one for a Jaguar/Jazzmaster, and certainly for a Mustang of a Bronco.

Don't have to stick with soul labels either, would look good with other iconic labels IMO

theshadowofseattle · Post by **theshadowofseattle** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 12:39 pm

I dig it. Mono black teles are my jam, but that gives it an interesting twist.

Thom · Post by **Thom** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 12:50 pm

I like it, very nice on the black.

lorez · Post by **lorez** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 1:29 pm

i like that a lot, great idea

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 5:07 pm

I've wanted to do this desperately to my mustang and jags tang. Just don't have the know how to cut one, plenty of scratched up vinyl though.

Addam · Post by **Addam** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 6:12 pm

Looking good!
I saved some 12" records from going to the tip from my parents loft.
I planned to do a similar thing with them.
There's one with a red label with CBS on, Would be cool on a stained '70s looking tele.
There's another, 'Tijuana Nursery Rhymes', not sure what that's about?

Mages · Post by **Mages** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:06 pm

wow, that looks very cool. what are the pickups?

DanHeron · Post by **DanHeron** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:25 pm

Nice job. I've seen quite a few of these across the internet and the ones that have black labels on the vinyls always look best... Here's another nice tele:

endsjustifymeans · Post by **endsjustifymeans** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 8:47 pm

clever placement of the center hole on that one.

sollophonic · Post by **sollophonic** » Wed Oct 17, 2012 9:04 pm

Mages wrote:wow, that looks very cool. what are the pickups?

Bill Lawrence Micro-Coils.

Great pickups at a great price for us in the UK.

I have a set of Keystones in my other MIM Tele.

I make a lot of my own pickguards from either blanks or even other materials.

I've just done a nice red torty one for my Cyclone.