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This question isn’t directly related to pedals, but there are a lot of smart guitar people here so I thought I’d ask…
I’m making personalized guitar pickguards and back covers (for the elec/elex cavity) for a friend where I design the parts in Fusion 360 and 3D print the parts from plastic filament material. The design of the parts have his band logo.
Are there any issues around stray electrical behaviors with plastic pickguards or back covers that would make noise on the guitar or affect its tone? My friend claims that he had an aftermarket pickguard on his Gibson Les Paul that it seemed to cause noise on the guitar and sucked the tone. He re-installed the original pickguard and the problem went away.
Why are pickguards laminated and backcovers are not laminated. If there is an electrical issue, it seems like a laminated part would tend to act as a capacitor in the same way that a film capacitor works and make the problem even worse. Is the lamination on the pickguard just for aesthetic purposes?
If anybody has any guidance on electrical behavior of pickguards and backcovers, please share your thoughts.
Thanks.
I passed this question on to Troy Benns at WILDWOOD GUITARS. He is a professional musician and noted expert on Gibson products sold at WILDWOOD.
<div class=”bbp-reply-content”>There are only 2 issues that a pickguard can cause. One being that a metal pickguard on a strat or tele like the anodized ones they have used since the 50s, can make the guitar sound brighter, I would not think this would do anything on a Les Paul but I have never tried it.
I think certain plastics can hold more static than others but I am not sure if it is bakelite, styrene plastic or PVC that can make a pickguard noise when playing, you can also hear a popping sound as well from the static. I have never had this issue, I think the dryness and thick new carpet can cause the static issue.
Spraying water from a spray bottle on the carpet and rubbing your feet in it is one way of helping, Anti static dryer sheets across the strings will help as well. There is something on the market you can buy that people use for stages on carpet so there are no static or popping issues. I hope this helps
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