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Went into a charity shop the other day and found two very scratched and pretty much unplayable Motown LPs for £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

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

I like it, very nice on the black.

i like that a lot, great idea

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.

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?

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

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:

clever placement of the center hole on that one.

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.