Acoustic Pickguard Blanks

As long as you know how to properly cut and shape it's without messing up the adhesive it works great. I've cut a ton of pickguards and have had little issues.

Made 2 pickguards with enough material left for a medium sized 3rd at some point. Pliable enough to scissors cut without heating which could damage the adhesive. Lighter part of the pattern is translucent which shows the top grain of the guitar. Looks great on natural finish but shows bubbles on dark finish. Totally satisfied.

I use the tortoise and black PVC pickguard material to make pickguards for small travel guitars and they do a great job. For a more expensive guitar I might use another StewMac product, but for my price point these are fine and my customers like them. I use the StewMac 45 degree bevel router bit to cut a nice chamfered edge and it finished up quite nicely with a bit of wet or dry sandpaper. Very happy with this item-peel and stick adhesive backing is very easy to use.

The brown tortoise pickguard material would have made the worst looking tortoise I have ever seen on a guitar. My customer rejected it immediately when he saw it, and rightly so. Now it just sits around in my shop as a desk mat.

Easy to cut, has a nice pattern. Looks better once installed.

Customers and I don't like this as well as what you used to sell.

The pickguard sheet is large enough for three large sized pickguard (as in for a Guild) and possibly 4 Martin style pickguards. The problem is the plastic is very sensitive to heat, as in that when I had to heat a bridge off the residual heat caused the pickguard to wrinkle near the bridge, so I had to remove it and re-do them. The adhesive is the cheap stationary store type, that leaves a fibrous residue that defies any attempt of removal. I had to flood the area with naphtha and that only did a fair job of removing the adhesive. It took several applications and I wouldn't dare use anything stronger because I did not want to ruin the finish. I wish the adhesive on this pickguard were anything like the double sided tape sold here, perhaps Stewmac should sell acoustic pickguards that does not come with any adhesive backing, because I did not like the adhesive that was on it at all.

Furthermore, if you have to remove the pickguard in order to perform repair operations, you must replace the pickguard, due to the thin pickguard it will not lie flat once you remove it due to stretching. It may seem like a small deal but when a customer pay a good amount of money for you to fix his guitar, even pickguard blemish is enough justification for a complaint.

I recently decided to add some custom touches to my wife's Yamaha FG-435A. The original pickguard was pretty plain, so I ordered a sheet of pickguard material from Stewart-MacDonald.

It arrived in good time and in excellent condition. It had been packed in a stiff mailer that protected it well. I found the material easy to use. I was able to cut out the newly designed pickguard with a pair of sharp scissors. After removing the original pickguard by applying gentle heat from a hair dryer and a little naptha to remove any adhesive residue, the new pickguard adhered easily to the guitar. I then removed the protective plastic coating and voila, a great looking new custom pickguard. I added a couple great looking inlay decals and my wife has a guitar that more adequately reflects her personality. Thanks Stew-Mac.

Purchased this brown tortoise blank to replace the ugly pickguard on my Epi-Dove. Used the original pickguard as a template. Scribed with an awl followed with a utility knife. A little sanding and voila! Easy as cake! This is high quality material that is easy to work with. Thick enough to do it's job yet thin enough to easily shape.

The pre-glued back also adds to ease of use. The result is a much more attractive Epi-Dove. (it is however, STILL an Epi-Dove.) I would recommend this product to anyone wishing to replace a pickguard. You don't have to be a luthier to get a great result. A little patience and the looks of any acoustic can be improved.

Large enough for several pickguards and easily cut to any shape. Shipped super fast ordered on Friday morning had it on Saturday.