How to make an EASY DIY PICKGUARD for your guitar - Part 1! 

One minute in I realized there's absolutely no way I can make a pickguard, but you got me watching the whole thing because of the singing. And I love the tuxedo look. Nice!

Only about 2-4k in equipment for this easy job🤣. Man, I need to invent a pickguard easy bake oven🤔

Summary: there is no “Easy” way to make a pickguard.

Went out, bought a router, some router bits and some MDF, made a template and a pickguard. Surprisingly easier than expected. I had no proper sanding tools so I used a pair of existing pickguards taped together to make a template to then build and finish the template, the trimming router bit has the guide at the top so this worked very well and I didn't need to do any sanding at all. Obviously this is a luxury and only an option if you're working from an existing guard.

I've had an old Guild solid body given to be years ago, with a very homemade metal Pickguard that wasn't doing the body justice, plus the pickup was garbage! With your help from your excellent video, I'm going to make the journey and build my own new PickGuard. Your awesome!!

I love this guy's personality!!

Nicely done.

Excellent tutorial,...thank you Bro, very helpful to my project!!

Super easy

What if you want to put different pickups on the new pickguard

Nice work man! I just picked up a sheet of this stuff. Traced out a strat pickguard, then used the sander to get my bevel. Love how it looks!

That double curve that goes past the toggle switch- that area (The guitar body) could be cut to match and have what looks like a nice handle in the body. Would be a cool look that would go with the nice curvy pick guard! I won't do that on the Tele style guitar I'm building, but maybe in the future I'll take your shape and do that. Paint one neon green maybe! The one I'm building now has some artwork I painted. It's a very lightly stained eggplant color with dark eggplant for the artwork and sides. Had to do that to the sides because it was crazy, all the end grain in places I didn't expect. Thanks for the video, I was just getting ready to do one myself, and you reminded me that I need a bevel! Thx.

Do you still have the lefty Pickgaurd and will you part with it? Collin. Roanoke, VA

I'm all about the singing bits.

Impressive work!

Great Stuff

Thanks for this! I'm a very visual learner. I've already made the paper template for mine. It's just a tiny pickguard for a ukulele that I just completed (Buck Owens AMERICAN Harmony guitar replica ukulele). It's not necessary but just to complete the look. I'll cut the wood template with a jigsaw and I have two small routers. I'll use the dremel one. Thanks again!

Nice… someone just gave me a 1961 Kay with the same guard…. Any chance you can remake another one for me? …Minus the pickup cut, screw & control holes?

I have to make a pickguard for a guitar that I'm building (Mosrite slab body knockoff) - they didn't have bevels so I'm just going to trace the other pickguard that I have and carefully use a dremel. Hopefully it works out. Getting the pickup mounting holes is going to be interesting. Good video!

You gotta make a template to make the template! And yeah, I've fallen for the measure once, measure twice, but don't check it's the right way up trap before.

Great work bud

Perfecto

Thank you for replying, VHG! Well, I'll go for a long shot and ask if I could send you a template of the pickguard, would that be something you'd consider?

Can you sand down a pickguard for small shaping?

Dig your vibe bro!

Just wondering, what size of router bit did you use in the little Ryobi router to clean up the edge of the pickguard?

Love the video! I’m currently tempting this myself, quick question on the MDF board. I’m looking at some on Amazon rn that are a 1/4” thick, do you recommend a thicker size or will this suffice? Thanks!

So I just finished this entire process in which I made a custom pick guard for one of my Charvels. This was my first time making a pick guard however I will say I am quite experienced and handy with tools and wood working. Here are my thoughts..if I do it again I will purchase and use a band saw for any cutting. I used a jig saw and although I used brand new laminate cutting blades...it still managed to grab the material and in one instance it actually cracked the guard and I had to start over. In my opinion, it is always better to work the material around the stationary cutting blade, then manually moving the cutting blade around the material. So I would use a band saw and router for any cutting/trimming. The rest can be accomplished as I did with hand tools.Cheers!

Great vid. I have one question: Why is it necessary to use the MDF board? Wouldn't it work as well with just cutting and routing the pick guard material without it?

Thanks for making this really informative and fun video. Making pickguards is fun but also very time consuming. When you figure how many years you'll spend with your guitar and the enjoyment factor, you forget about the time spent. It's a labor of love as everything should be. What was the music you had going on in the background? Very cool. Thanks again.

from stewmac, tells me just a little too much. I think i'll just buy one, reshape and tell amazon or timu ... thanks! ... And thanks for the video. Very entertaining!!!

Wow, what a fun project. That pickup looks cool. What kind of Gemini pickup is that?

So did you have to buy another sheet of material? Thanks for the video. I’m going to have a second attempt for mine!

Very cool, and thinking I need a bandsaw. I got a kick how you screwed up, that would be me. Great job!

Oh wow... just noticed this is Part 1 .... lol ... thanks. Pick gurard?

Where did you learn how to do all this, man? Terrific job.

Need a link to the pick guard material

...what song did you use for this project ?

Awesome series of videos! I found you because I'm looking to buy a couple of pickguards for two Limited Edition ES 335 Pro's that I have and cannot find on the market. Do you happen to be in the busines of also making and SELLING pickguards?

I was trying with just sandpaper, but it is not possible to do a good job, sanding exactly 45 degrees is almost impossible for me. I'll buy a router to finish the job. Thanks you.

Love it! I like how you are and interested i what you do. Keep it up!

Love this channel. Not sure about the off key singing. Yet I love it lol

Do you really need to make a thick template just to trace it on to pickguard blank? Probably not

Well and now by hands... most people dont have these machines...

I have a Kay Vanguard in green with the ugliest yellow barf/70s pattern. The green (olive) can work but the pg had GOTTA GO

The easy way? Great if you have a fully kitted out workshop at your disposal

Hey you look a little like Ben Wyatt from parks and recreation.

Omg, the singing and facial expressions and the content. Love it all!

You still have that mistake pickguard? I could use it. Lol

Ugh. There’s no way I can do this. I don’t have the tools and I might hurt myself as usual.

Why not just cut the plastic with the paper template instead of the wood

I’m turning my Jackson into a rick no matter what it take lmao

Irritating presentation but great work

If it is easy, what would be hard? 😢

Vocal fry alert

Lol. he says easy, then proceeds to spend hours on it with lots of tools that not everyone has. End result looks very nice though. Making one for my headless guitar and came here for ideas.

The constantly moving camera makes this unwatchable.

Easy? 😂

Not easy at all, tks

Easy DIY. Uses tools worth $10k.

Man, you camera work sucks big time. Interesting video but hard to watch as your camera is all over the place!!