Modified Starfire pickguard?

[ryguy]

I just got my recently acquired '64 Starfire V back from my tech (needed a setup, and the bridge pup had to be rewound), and took it out for a show last night...sounded killer! I have owned a dozen or so vintage Guilds, but this is only my second semi-hollow (the other was a 65 SF-IV). I took it out with the "stair-step" pickguard last night, and had forgotten what a PITA those things are. Aside from not having much room for finger-picking, it makes a horrible (and audible) clicking noise whenever I hit it with the pick on downstrokes.

I like having a pickguard though for various reasons, and was wondering if anybody here has had any luck modifying one of these by cutting out bigger slots for the pickup surrounds, so that sits lower to the guitar and doesn't rest on the pups like it does now.
Seems like it would be feasible, although I might have to adjust the bracket as well.

???

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[ryguy]

This is what I need, was this stock or did this guy have it modded?

 

[Default]

Get a pick guard from dasbootman (on ebay) or Pickguardian and put the stock guard off to the side. If you chop up the original, it'll knock value off the resale price.

Besides that, the tortoiseshell guard is spiffy. :wink:

 

[CajunBlues]

I play my x-170 without a pickguard.. I am not sure what those mysterious pieces of plastic are for anyway...

 

[ryguy]

Get a pick guard from dasbootman (on ebay) or Pickguardian and put the stock guard off to the side. If you chop up the original, it'll knock value off the resale price.

Besides that, the tortoiseshell guard is spiffy. :wink:

Those pickguardians are nice pg's,but a little rich for me...besides there is no resale value for this guitar; it is not being resold. :mrgreen:

Sorry for the crappy pics. She is a keeper.

 

[ryguy]

I play my x-170 without a pickguard.. I am not sure what those mysterious pieces of plastic are for anyway...

I just like the way my fingers rest on the PG when I use my thumb for comping, octaves and such, but don't like the radio transmission of the pickguard resting on super sensitive/microphonic pickups!

Speaking of which I had never fully cracked open one of these pickups before. Its really funny how they have no inner core, just the coil wire and some heat shrunk plastic holding it all together. I wonder how that impacts the sound.

This one (actually a '66) had a bum bridge pup, so we had to fool around and see what the problem was with my tech. I gave up and he finally figured out that one of the two coils was shot. He wound up winding another coil with a few more winds on it than the remaining coil and it sounds fantastic.

 

[hansmoust]

This is what I need, was this stock or did this guy have it modded?

Hello ryguy,

That configuration became standard towards the very end of Westerly production.

Sincerely,

Hans Moust
http://www.guitarsgalore.nl