Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Just a little tip:

For a new pickguard I needed to transfer screw holes, not from the original pickguard, but from the bass body onto the new guard. I’ve ruined a few guards from pickguardian cause I’ve not been satisfied with the accuracy of transferring those holes, and ended up getting a little stack of acrylic sheets to make pickguards myself as I couldn’t keep on ordering more guards from Tony ( ).
Tried quite a few methods, until I finally found a simple and accurate procedure. As I struggled with this for quite some time myself, I thought I’d put it up here in case anyone else should ever need to do this.


Cut up some small pieces from a suitable material (I used leftover acrylic sheet), and drill a hole in each piece with the same drill size as the screw holes in the pickguard. Should be drilled as straight as possible. A drop or two of ordinary white wood glue (not the water resistant type) under each piece, and screw them in on the bass. No need to smear a lot of glue under the pieces, that won’t dry for a long time anway. Just a drop on one or two edges of each piece is enough. Any residues of glue on the bass will peel of easily if the glue is allowed to dry hard. It’s a good idea to polish the finish first in order for the glue not to stick too hard.

Let it rest for a few hours, as long as it take for the glue to set to hold the pieces firmly in position. Remove the screws, apply some glue on each of the pieces, lay the pickguard in position on top of those pieces, and let it dry at least over night. Then brake the pieces lose from the bass, lift it off, and every screw hole is accurately transferred. Just drill holes in the pickguard through the holes in the small pieces. And finally, of course brake off those pieces from the guard.

I use a similar method, with bits of file card stock and double-faced tape. Place a 1" square of file card stock over each screw hole, and "punch through" the card with a pencil, into each screw hole.

This will push a bit of card stock into the hole, holding the square in place temporarily.

Next, put a small piece of double-faced tape onto the approximate location of each screw in the pickguard. Put the guard into place and press down. Lift off and drill a hole into each marked location.

Remove the squares and tape from the guard and complete drilling, countersinking and fitting.


Takes a couple of minutes and leaves no mess on the guard or instrument's body.

Incidentally, single and double-flute countersinks work best to countersink holes in acrylic. The countersink should be sharp and running at slow speed, otherwise it will burn or melt the acrylic.

Using a drill bit for a countersink is ghetto--the tip angle is wrong and there's danger of cracking.

jingle_jangle wrote:I use a similar method, with bits of file card stock and double-faced tape. Place a 1" square of file card stock over each screw hole, and "punch through" the card with a pencil, into each screw hole.

That’s a good technique.
I tried something similar. Also transparent plastic sheets and some other methods. The challenged always was to pinpoint the (almost) exact centre of the screw hole, and then also to drill at that exact spot. With the predrilled pieces glued onto the pickguar they will steer the drill so it won’t slide off. If the finish is polished and wax, and the glue allowed to fully dry, it peels off nicely and won’t leave any mess on the bass.

I know, I know, too meticulous and perfectionistic. I had that “traditional” crack on top of the guard above the neck pickup. On this bass it was not caused by over tightening the pickup, but that the holes on the guard and the bass where not aligned properly for the two top pickguard screws. They where about half a mm off. Tightening those two screws forced the guard apart.
That’s what set me of to find a more accurate way to do it.

jingle_jangle wrote:Using a drill bit for a countersink is ghetto--the tip angle is wrong and there's danger of cracking.

I know, I've tried