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How to build a bass guitar – Routing the pickup opening in the pick guard part 1

This is an old-school style of making a pick guard. Many bass builders would simply opt to have no pick guard at all, or alternatively buy a pre-fabricated, pre-shaped plastic guard blank. In the way the guard is done here, we physically take a plan, apply it to a large sheet of pick guard plastic and manually cut/shape it.

Will you ever need to do this yourself? If your bass build is a custom shape that requires a custom pick guard, then the answer is yes.

Below: The tools that will be used. Drill with forstner bit, double-stick tape, scissors, 1/4″ specialty router bit with 1/4″ bearing and 1/4″ shaft specifically used to cut and fit P-Bass pickup rounded corners (while this bit is not generally available, it is available by searching for it on Amazon.)

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Below: The plan for pick guard. (Actually drawing out the plan is usually the hardest step.)

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Below: Double-stick tape applied to back of the plan.

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Below: Showing the plan with all the necessary tape applied.

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Below: Cutting away excess paper for easier use of the plan later on.

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Below: All excess paper is now cut away, resulting in one large “sticker.”

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Below: Backing is removed so the adhesive is exposed.

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Below: Plan adhered to a large sheet of pick guard plastic. Note: There are large cuts in this plastic because it has been used previously for other build projects.

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Below: Pick guard plastic cut to the shape of the plan. Note: A band saw was used to cut this plastic and not scissors. If you do not have a band saw available, a hand jig saw is an alternative to cut this plastic.

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Below: This is the back side where where just the plastic is shown.

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In the next step we will be cutting the plastic for the pickup to fit into, and performing tests to make sure everything fits correctly.

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