 | MARTIN GUITAR PICKGUARD REPLACEMENT
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by:© Steve Carmody
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This Martin OOO-18 pickguard has curled up and away from the body. Older Martin guitars (and other makes as well)
had pickguards which were glued directly to the bare wood of the top.
Nitrocellulose finish was applied over the pickguard after it was installed .
This gives a classic look but over time the inevitable shrinking of the
plastic , hastened I believe by the reaction to the solvents in the finish which overlayed them
, causes the pickguards to shrink and pull away from their original
location. In some cases the topwood is drawn away with the pickguard
causing the " pickguard crack" that you often see at the edges of the
guard . If you are lucky the pickguard shrinks away without taking the
wood with it, but cracks are often caused by this creeping action .
In these cases the cracks must be repaired and the pickguard eventually
becomes so distorted that it needs to be replaced. Additionally, it is not
unusual that , as the pickguard shrinks , it pulls wood away so that a
stock replacement guard ( available for Martin guitars) will not cover
the exposed area. In these cases ( and all others where a factory part
is not available i.e. most other cases) a pickguard must be handmade.

First , the old pickguard must be carefully peeled off. I like to use
a thin painters palette knife. The exposed area of top wood must be cleaned
and lightly sanded smooth
With the pick guard removed , any cracks are glued and clamped.
In some cases the cracks will not close up with clamping pressure .
If the guitar has been in this state for a long time a thin spline of
wood may have to be fitted into the crack but sometimes the guitar is
all dried out and just needs to be humidified for a few days .
A quick way to restore moisture to a guitar is to put a wet sponge ,
contained in a plastic box, inside the guitar. Cover the instrument
with a plastic bag and put it back in its case for a few days. Sometimes,
clamping the crack into place (no glue) while the humidifying goes on
helps to keep it aligned while it closes. I have heard of taking the
instrument into the bathroom while taking a shower (!), but I'm not
comfortable trying this out on a customer owned instrument so I can't
recommend it.
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