Cutting pickguards

[wafl]

I am building a p-bass, but I need a pickguard.
Anyways Pictures!


How would I go about cutting these.
I have a dremel but I don't have an attachment that would seem adept at cutting plastic out of a sheet like this.
Help me obi-fuzz kenobi, you're my only hope.

[skullservant]

I know Stew Mac sells a dremel bit for angled cutting. Usually cutting with a wooden template, from what I've seen as well

[Mike]

Heh... what kind of tools do you have...? With the right tools, it is relatively fast and easy.

They most common way to get professional results is to first make a template out of MDF. Your template needs to be perfect, since your end result is only as good as the template.

Then use a router with a flush trim bit to cut the material to match the template. Then, a 45-degree chamfer bit is used for the bevel.

Pickups are done the same way, either incorporated into your main template, or done using a separate template. P-bass pickups are the most difficult, since they have an 1/8" radius, but everything else is easy.

Doing it by hand, all bets are off. I've seen great results that had to take hours to do, and I've seen pickguards that look like they were bitten into shape by a teething child.

Good luck!

Mike

[wafl]

Now when you say by hand do you mean no power tools?
My current plan is to do a rough cut with the dremel then sand it to shape. I don't know what bit would cut plastic best.
I don't have a router, nor money for one. Unless they are around 50 dollars(Canadian ones).

[Moose]

I can't really speak for cutting out a whole pickguard, but I would definitely say a dremel is a better bet than a jigsaw, although it will take a wee bit more care.


Recently I had to re-cut a pickguard to modify it from being a standard three single coil strat to being humbucker-single coil-toaster. I used a dremel and sanded the edges a bit (files are also probably pretty good for it) and I got some pretty decent results.

[AxAxSxS]

they make router bits for dremmels. the official dremmel router attachment is kinda poo, but could work for ya.

[wafl]

I have a dremel router bit but it is kind of massive for a pickguard and didn't work when i tried it. It was the only one I could find at the hardware stores I went to.
I now realize there is a cutting bit for dremels making this thread pointless. I'm sorry.

[Decibill]

If you are going to sand by hand, use a sanding block for the large exterior curves and then find something cylindrical to wrap the sand paper around for doing the interior smaller curves.