Recessed Pickguards

[selowitch]

This idea doesn't originate with me, but I was thinking it would be cool to design a bass with a recessed pickguard that is flush with the face of the body and is supported by a ledge inside the body cavity (with the same depth as the guard, naturally) with magnets in it. The reverse side of the pickguard would have magnets on it and there would be some kind of level to push the pickguard free when you wanted to open it up.

I would think this would look especially good on a rounded slab body sporting a solid-color finish.

Essentially, this would be doing what Warmoth does for its rear routed cavities except that it doesn't use screws and this would be on the front face of the instrument.

[ehque]

Great idea, and probably not that hard to do with a pattern following router.

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by ehque

Great idea, and probably not that hard to do with a pattern following router.

Imagine no screws and no screwholes!

[ehque]

Uh, but the electronics cover of a warmoth is also held down by screws.

You could have a non-recessed cover held down by magnets, or a recessed cover held down by screws, or both.

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by ehque

Uh, but the electronics cover of a warmoth is also held down by screws.

You could have a non-recessed cover held down by magnets, or a recessed cover held down by screws, or both.

There's a third possibility: The pickguard could be made non-removable by attaching it to the body from underneath (with screws). Access to the control cavity would still be possible via the rear rout.

[ehque]

You could just glue the pickguard down into its recess if you have a rear-routed electronics cavity.

[sloasdaylight]

The control panels on front route warmoth bodies could still be recessed. The control cavity isn't the exact same shame as the cover, so you could get away with it. If you wanted to have it out of metal you'd probably have to look at getting a machine shop to knock you up a replica minus the screw holes, or you could do it out of a pickguard material as well.

[selowitch]

Originally Posted by sloasdaylight

The control panels on front route warmoth bodies could still be recessed. The control cavity isn't the exact same shame as the cover, so you could get away with it. If you wanted to have it out of metal you'd probably have to look at getting a machine shop to knock you up a replica minus the screw holes, or you could do it out of a pickguard material as well.

Interesting. Nice idea. I like the way this is looking in my mind's eye.