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Something odd happened.....

Treebeard1989

Treebeard1989

Sep 22, 2007
50
0
Salina, KS.
#1
So I got my new parts in for my squier upgrade, and proceeded to take my bass apart to do the install. When I got to putting my new Fender official pick guard on, it wasn't lined up right. Infact the whole guard is off by about a 16th of an inch. I line up one part, and the rest of the guard is off. and the cutout for the pickups is too small. What the heck? Did Fender change the measurements on the p bass pickguards between now and '98, or between the squier and actual fender models? What is going on here? :confused:
 
#5
Squiers are different animals. The may look like a Fender, but I've found that I have to cobble up some parts to make them interchange.

The p'ups may be replacements or a shipment that came from a totally different supplier. Or Uncle Po had a cousin in Seoul who could make p'ups that looked pretty close to the same and almost fit and then another relative in Wang Poo could make PGs to fit the odd-sized p'ups - and so it goes.

I've never found a Fender-sized PG to fit a Squier at all, and unless I wanted to craft one of my own from raw material I just left mine alone.
 
#9
Treebeard1989 said:
Well, to get the look I'm going for, the white guard isn't gonna work. Guess I'll be ordering fro squier. :atoz:
Click to expand...

I cannot speak for ALL Squiers, but my 1998 Squier P will not take any PG - and I tried one from Squier too.
100_6462.png
100_6156.jpg


Not too sure what they did, but maybe a machining change-out happened and they found they could save .2 Won* by making the router'd out trench a little smaller now and my vintage (is it vintage by now?) Squier has a Grand Canyon on both sides of the jack that is too big to cover with what's available currently.

Everywhere else it fits great!

Ya got a PG stretcher I can borrow?

* 1 South Korean Won = 0.0008 US dollars
 
#10
Tree... One thing you might want to try... it's really inexpensive... if you want a solid color guard.
Get a bottle of RIT Fabric dye, pour it into a flat pan and bring it up to just boiling.

Submerge your pickguard in it, turn off the heat and let it stay in there for ten minutes or so. Take it out, rinse it off, check to see if it's dark enough, and you're done.

Many plastics absorb the dye perfectly. We do this with model car components all the time.
 
#15
M.R. Ogle said:
Tree... One thing you might want to try... it's really inexpensive... if you want a solid color guard.
Get a bottle of RIT Fabric dye, pour it into a flat pan and bring it up to just boiling.

Submerge your pickguard in it, turn off the heat and let it stay in there for ten minutes or so. Take it out, rinse it off, check to see if it's dark enough, and you're done.

Many plastics absorb the dye perfectly. We do this with model car components all the time.
Click to expand...


Did that with some strat pickup covers/knobs once, they didn't take as well as I hoped and I ended up with sort of salmon pink plastic instead of red.
 
#17
Its not just this. And If it really is a common occurrence for this type of thing to happen, it just goes to show how bad business sense is with the big companies these days. If I was going to produce a lower level brand (I.E., cheaper electronics and such) why in the world would I pay for another pickguard machine to produce a guard that is just a little bit bigger? "Lets spend more money to make a cheaper brand!" :eyebrow: That makes sense.
 
#18
Treebeard1989 said:
Its not just this. And If it really is a common occurrence for this type of thing to happen, it just goes to show how bad business sense is with the big companies these days. If I was going to produce a lower level brand (I.E., cheaper electronics and such) why in the world would I pay for another pickguard machine to produce a guard that is just a little bit bigger? "Lets spend more money to make a cheaper brand!" :eyebrow: That makes sense.
Click to expand...

Sure it makes sense to us, but they're just trying to make money. If they can charge more (by putting their brand name on it) for different parts and make them slightly different, they will. It certainly would make sense if all P or J style basses had the same specs, but unfortunately they don't. Then you've got to throw in all the aftermarket pickguards, which are different yet. Only real way to know a pickguard will fit (on a Squier or some Fenders) is to send in a tracing to someone and have them make one for you. Or do it yourself, of course.
 

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