Page 1 of 1

Removing Scratches From A White Pickguard?

Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:07 am
by Grey
Hi, i'm reposting this here on the suggestion of another member.

Pickguards get scratched up, that's what they're there for. I get that, but if possible, i'd like to restore the old and make my own scratches now that i'm the new owner. :lol:

The guard on my 480 has scratches in really weird places, like directly under the strings, and around the knobs. Dozens and dozens of small, straight-line surface scratches, and I just don't know how it could have been scratched to that degree in those akward places. It dosen't really bother me because, for one, you can only see it when in a certain angle of light, and two, because none of them are deep, its all surface scratches. However, if theres a method for removing or filling in these light surfaces scratches I might as well look into it.

I want to keep it all origional parts and I seriously doubt I will ever find a replacement 480 pickguard that's in any better condition than mine is in anyway, so if I could restore the one I have that'd be great. I managed to get some images of it. It's about what you'd expect from 30 years of use, I just can't figure out how it got scratched so badly around the knobs and selector switch. The amount of scratches directly underneath the strings between the pickups makes no sense to me either.

Image

Image

Image

Re: Removing Scratches From A White Pickguard?

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:16 pm
by jdogric12
Maybe someone sanded off some crud?

Re: Removing Scratches From A White Pickguard?

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 2:26 pm
by jingle_jangle
Pull the guard. Wet sand it with several grits of wet or dry wrapped around a rubber block. Begin with #400, move on to #600 and thence to #1000, finishing up with #1500 or 2000 if available.

Polish with plastic polish or Rubbing compound on a soft cotton cloth. Use lots of elbow grease. Wax when finished. This takes hours.

A pro would sand as above and then polish on a floor-standing buffing wheel. This only takes a second.

Or, simply replace the guard with a nice new one from Pickguardian.

Re: Removing Scratches From A White Pickguard?

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 2:31 pm
by scotty
jingle_jangle wrote: simply replace the guard with a nice new one from Pickguardian.
That would be my option simply because im a lazy bar steward. :D

Re: Removing Scratches From A White Pickguard?

Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:16 pm
by Grey
jingle_jangle wrote:Pull the guard. Wet sand it with several grits of wet or dry wrapped around a rubber block. Begin with #400, move on to #600 and thence to #1000, finishing up with #1500 or 2000 if available.

Polish with plastic polish or Rubbing compound on a soft cotton cloth. Use lots of elbow grease. Wax when finished. This takes hours.

A pro would sand as above and then polish on a floor-standing buffing wheel. This only takes a second.

Or, simply replace the guard with a nice new one from Pickguardian.
Thanks, Teb replied to my origional thread with a great tutorial that i'm going to use.