How to Design a Pickguard: Artwork, Templates and Files

Two ways to design a pickguard

• New artwork, standard shape. You keep the Tele or Strat outline, so it fits any standard guitar and all the holes line up. You only design the image. This is what most people mean by a custom design.
• New shape. You draw your own outline, for a guitar you are making or to change the look of the body. It needs a template, accurate hole positions and some cutting.

Design the artwork for a standard pickguard

1. Start from the real size. A Tele pickguard is about 21.5 x 19 cm, a Strat pickguard about 22.55 x 28.9 cm. We print on a 27.5 x 33 cm sheet with the pickguard centred, so make your image that size and keep the important part in the middle.
2. Think about the holes. The pickups, the control plate area and the screw holes are cut out of the design. Keep faces, text and logos away from them.
3. Leave the edges simple. The design wraps around the edge of the pickguard, so a few millimetres at the border fold over and are not seen from the front.
4. Check it on the guitar. Look at the whole guitar, not just the pickguard: the body colour, the hardware and the headstock all change how a design reads.

File settings for a printed pickguard

Pickguard design ideas that work

• One big image across the whole pickguard: a photo, a painting, a pattern. Simple and striking.
• A texture that looks like a material: wood, marble, carbon, metal, worn paint.
• Match or contrast the body: a dark design on a light body, or the same colours as the finish.
• A design that continues: the same artwork on the pickguard and the tremolo cover on the back.
• Your own drawing: scan it at 600 dpi and send the file. Our library of guitar skins has hundreds of ready designs if you need a starting point.

Draw a new pickguard shape from a template

Start from a template that has the pickup and screw positions: trace an existing pickguard, or use the pickguard drawing in our T-style guitar plans or S-style guitar plans. Then:

• Keep what must not move: the pickup openings, the control holes and the screw positions that match the body routing.
• Change the outline freely around them, keeping at least 5 to 6 mm of material outside every screw hole and opening.
• Cover the cavities: the new outline must still hide the routing underneath.
• Print it 1:1 and test it on the body in paper or card before you cut anything.

How to make a pickguard yourself

Most pickguards are cut from 2.3 to 3 mm plastic sheet, usually 1 to 4 ply. Our guide to pickguard materials compares the options. The basic steps:

1. Stick the paper template on the sheet and cut the outline 1 mm outside the line with a fret saw, a coping saw or a bandsaw with a fine blade.
2. File and sand to the line, then bevel the edge at about 45 degrees with a file or a router bevel bit: on a multi-ply sheet the bevel shows the white layer.
3. Drill the pickup and control openings, then finish them with a file.
4. Drill and countersink the screw holes, ideally with the pickguard taped on the body so they line up.
5. Add copper tape shielding on the back if your guitar has single coils.

Or have it made with your design

If you would rather not cut and print, send us the file. The custom Tele pickguard (from £33) and the custom Strat pickguard (from £39) come printed with your image, wrapped at the edges, trimmed around every hole and shielded with copper on the back. Want it ready to play? The loaded pickguard and the loaded Tele pickguard come with the pickups and controls wired. Building a whole guitar? Get the TL-style kit with a custom pickguard or the ST-style kit with a custom pickguard. All our custom pickguards are in one collection.

FAQ