How are pickguards attached?

[bugeyed]

How are those narrow wood pickguards on guitars like a Benedetto attached. They don't used the side bracket like other archtops. Are they just fastened (very sturdily) at the end at the neck? I am planning to build a replacement pickguard for my Peerless & that's the only issue to work out. BTW It will have a vol & tone thumbwheel controls.

Thanks,
kev

[PTChristopher]

>>> How are those narrow wood pickguards on guitars like a Benedetto attached.

Two different ways usually.

One way is to mount the pickguard (PG) to the neck extension using a small block attached to the back of the PG.

Or, if there is a top-mounted humbucker, you can mound the PG to the HB mounting ring using the two screw holes on the PG side of the ring.

Both of these methods require some pretty careful woodwork to get the PG where you want it.

Chris

[PTChristopher]

Forgot to mention:

It is also common to mount a very small block of felt (or other material), under the PG down at the bottom - farthest from the neck.

This keeps downward pressure on the PG from straining the relatively modest mount up on the neck extension.

The idea is to cut the block too short by about 1mm or less. This way there is a gap between the block and the top. This allows the top to vibrate freely. But the gap is so small that pressure on the PG will easily close the gap and prevent excessive strain on the PG mount.

This all sounds idiotic, but it works just fine.

Chris

[rpguitar]

Very good replies. IMHO, pickguards are the most fiddly and annoying of all guitaristic apparatuses. If it weren't for authenticity and looks, I'd ban them. On the archtops that have been made for me, I have specified them to be absent. I don't use them for anchoring - I used to, but weaned myself away from that habit.

[oldane]

This all sounds idiotic, but it works just fine.

Chris

Oh, it makes perfect sense.

[PTChristopher]

[Chris] >>> [what I wrote] all sounds idiotic

[oldane] >>> it makes perfect sense

Well that tells something about the both of us I guess.

Although I will likely be in better weather at home (Massachusetts), I am still envious of your Islay trip this summer. Maybe I'll need some Laphroaig for consolation.

Maybe I'll start pre-consoling,... it cant hurt, much.

Chris

[oldane]

Although I will likely be in better weather at home (Massachusetts), I am still envious of your Islay trip this summer. Maybe I'll need some Laphroaig for consolation.

Maybe I'll start pre-consoling,... it cant hurt, much.

Chris

I have loved Laphroaig for many years.

I can also recommend Ardbeg Corryvreckan if you can find a bottle. I got one from my son for my 60th birthday recently. It's cask strength, and as opposed to many other cask strength whiskies, I actually find it best without water added, so it not for the faint at heart. But it has a much fuller taste than the normal 10 year Ardbeg - with a lot of peat but also a lot of malt sweetness and a very long finish you can trace in your mouth when you wake the next morning.

Now, Corryvreckan has a story of its own. Besides giving name to a whisky, it's a tidal malstrom in the strait between Jura and Scarba north of Islay. Google it if interested.

[bugeyed]

Forgot to mention:

It is also common to mount a very small block of felt (or other material), under the PG down at the bottom - farthest from the neck.

This keeps downward pressure on the PG from straining the relatively modest mount up on the neck extension.

The idea is to cut the block too short by about 1mm or less. This way there is a gap between the block and the top. This allows the top to vibrate freely. But the gap is so small that pressure on the PG will easily close the gap and prevent excessive strain on the PG mount.

This all sounds idiotic, but it works just fine.

Chris

Thanks, that little block is the thing that made the difference in my mind. I was worried about the mounting at the neck not being strong enough. As far as not having a pickguard, I am using it mainly to mount the vol & tone controls. In this case, discretely placed thumbwheels. It has a floating mini humbucker.

Thanks,
kev

[oldane]

Stop. Stop. Stop.

Cheers! - and I did write it was way OT.

[Hammertone]

....a much fuller taste ...[ ]....- with a lot of peat but also a lot of malt sweetness and a very long finish you can trace in your mouth when you wake the next morning....

You are suggesting that PT would like a more peaty flavour?

I've been a fan of fancy-pants Scotch whisky for years, but have more recently been drinking Canadian whisky.

Not the usual paint thinner, but Wiser's Oldest, which has been through a couple of name changes (re-named Wiser's Very Old, then Wiser's 18 Year Old, which is what I think it's called now). Yum.

I recently found a bottle of Canadian Club 30 Year Old, which I have not yet opened. Oboyoboyoboyo.

[PTChristopher]

Hi Kev,

>>> I am using [the PG] mainly to mount the vol & tone controls. In this case, discretely placed thumbwheels. It has a floating mini humbucker.

One example is on post #93 on this page (in the link below). It is one way to do it, but other methods also work. Man, does that guitar look dusty and lumpy in this harsh flash close-up pic.

https://www.jazzguitar.be/forum/guita...nterest-4.html

Chris

[stevedenver]

being a fan of the big 3 for peat and smoke (lap-rug, talisker and lagavulin)

i highly recommend
Uigeadal (arbeg_ for years)-and abunadh (cask)
and Caol Ila

all rather big peat

and if you havent tried Suntory Yamazaki-(not peaty but very wonderful-like a speyside) you need to

[PTChristopher]

>>> Ardbeg Corryvreckan

I'll definitely read up on the juice and the tidal action. Thanks.

Chris

[Spook410]

I'm in the middle of this right now. I'm using an extra pickguard procured with my Yunzhi (a lot like an Eastman 9xx with lesser hardware) to mount an Armstrong floater. For the non-luthier, it's either harder than it sounds or I'm going about it wrong (or, more likely, both).

The original set up had a milled out ebony block glued to the pickgard and screwed into the neck for support. It's more solid than it sounds with 2 woodscrews going into the neck and about a square inch of glued surface to the pickguard. Appears it had some final adjustments on a belt sander before being polished up to look nice.

In doing a new one, there is some geometry to consider. You're using the pickguard to get your pickup right where you want it. The right height, flat under the strings, and centered on the strings. I'm not trying to do this with a wooden block. Instead I'm using aluminum crown bolt (L shaped aluminum stock). I started with the 1/16" and in the end that was too flexible so now I'm using 1/8". It's easy to cut, file, and drill. It will also bend a bit. I'm attaching the pickup and pickguard mount by drilling and tapping then using countersunk 4/40 black screws. Makes it easy to unscrew and rework.

None of this is absolutely aesthetic of course. I'm pretty sure you won't find it on your next Scharpach. However, this has made it a lot easier to rework and adjust as I muddle through it. Getting the pickup just right and solid isn't going to happen without some adjustments. Besides, I'm the only one that will know I've got a piece of aluminum stock instead of an exotic chunk of hardwood under there.

The thing I'm still kind of torn about is using the Schatten thumbwheels versus some mini pots. Nothing wrong with the thumbwheels. I just prefer knobs. There is clearance underneath for mini-pots. However, having both a volume and tone on that skinny pickguard is simply too much and I do want a tone control. I'll probably just use the thumbwheels.

[oldane]

You are suggesting that PT would like a more peaty flavour?

I've been a fan of fancy-pants Scotch whisky for years, but have more recently been drinking Canadian whisky.

Not the usual paint thinner, but Wiser's Oldest, which has been through a couple of name changes (re-named Wiser's Very Old, then Wiser's 18 Year Old, which is what I think it's called now). Yum.

I recently found a bottle of Canadian Club 30 Year Old, which I have not yet opened. Oboyoboyoboyo.

Well, PT mentioned Laphroaig, so ....

But I also like very much the old fashioned "fat" highland whiskies matured in second hand sherry casks like MacAllan (like it was when it was still easy to get sherry casks) and Glenfarclas (their 15 year is superb). Even my wife, who hates the smell of the Islay whiskies, like the "nose" of Glenfarclas.

[rpguitar]

I recently found a bottle of Canadian Club 30 Year Old, which I have not yet opened. Oboyoboyoboyo.

I opened a bottle of 40 year old CC this past New Year's Eve. It was from 1972. Amazingly, not only did it taste great, but it was virtually indistinguishable from a new bottle. That was kind of disappointing in a way. I Googled this phenomenon and read that whiskey supposedly does not change with age, which is counter to my prior expectations.

[oldane]

I opened a bottle of 40 year old CC this past New Year's Eve. It was from 1972. Amazingly, not only did it taste great, but it was virtually indistinguishable from a new bottle. That was kind of disappointing in a way. I Googled this phenomenon and read that whiskey supposedly does not change with age, which is counter to my prior expectations.

Whisky does change a lot - as long as it is in the cask. When it's bottled it doesn't change anymore.

The maturation in the casks is an interesting and not fully understood process. To make a short story long:

One reason for the change in the cask is the fact that the cask is not completely air tight. Some of the content will evaporate with time. The longer the whisky is kept in the cask, the more evaporates. What is lost through evaporation is romatically called "the angels share". Luckily, it's the more harsh components which evaporates the most, so the wihsky becomes mellower with time. Some whiskies can become so mellow that they loose their character if they are matured for too long. Also the air around the cask plays a roll. I once had a bottle of Ardbeg from Gordon & McPhail in Elgin (not on Islay but in the northern part of Scotland) who had bought the cask when the whisky was young and let it mature in Elgin. It tasted rather different from Ardbegs own bottlings.

Another reason is that the oak the cask is made of reacts reacts with the whisky. This is obivious when used sherry casks are used - some of the sherry taste is tranferred to the whisky. These days, destilleries also use port wine casks, madeira casks, red wine casks etc for "special editions". A more subtle effect is the slight vanilla taste some whiskies can have (the original Glenmorangie 10y's is a good example). That comes from the oak wood. Since the whisky is destilled in copper stills, the raw whisky contains copper ions which acts as a catalysator facilitating a chemical reaction which transforms a substance in the oak to vanillin.

[stevedenver]

wow thats interesting-so thats why someimtes with the fancy woods, there is the toffee

and yorue right on the glenfarclas 15, got that for xmas and it is excellent
did you find yours in the US?

[Hammertone]

I opened a bottle of 40 year old CC this past New Year's Eve. It was from 1972. Amazingly, not only did it taste great, but it was virtually indistinguishable from a new bottle. That was kind of disappointing in a way. I Googled this phenomenon and read that whiskey supposedly does not change with age, which is counter to my prior expectations.

As per the other posts - the 30 year-old CC was 30 years in the CASK, not the bottle. They did it to celebrate their 150th anniversary. I believe they did a mere 15,000 bottles.

[oldane]

and yorue right on the glenfarclas 15, got that for xmas and it is excellent
did you find yours in the US?

No. I live in Denmark, but here those malt whiskies are quite easy to find and there's quite a selection in the wine shops.

[stevedenver]

we get the 17 but not the 15 over here
yet the 15 is touted as equal or better to the 17