Pickguard

[Pluedus]

Has anyone put a holter pickguard on a sunburst taylor guitar? Just wanting suggestions. Looking at adding a nicer pickguard not the cheap 10 dollar ones

[kcnbys]

You bet - LOVE my Holter Pickguard!

[McCawber]

Wow! After googling Holter pickguards and seeing their prices, they wouldn't be for me. I can buy a similar material from StewMac or other vendors and make a pickguard that looks just as good for a fraction of that cost. It's not that difficult.

[kcnbys]

Originally Posted by McCawber

Wow! After googling Holter pickguards and seeing their prices, they wouldn't be for me. I can buy a similar material from StewMac or other vendors and make a pickguard that looks just as good for a fraction of that cost. It's not that difficult.

Cool. I definitely couldn't make one as nice. Taylor Mullins (Holter Pickguards) does exceptional, custom work. It was well worth it to me.

[shockfinder]

I put one on an Eastman E6D. I think they are fantastic.

[PHJim]

I have made a few pick guards from a sheet of imitation tortoise that I bought from a local luthier a few decades ago.

The first was on my son's yard sale tenor guitar:


When I got my octave mandolin, it had no guard, but when scratches started to appear on the top, I added one to cover them:


I used some spare scraps to cover the scratches on my brother's ukulele as well.

[Mking]

Originally Posted by McCawber

Wow! After googling Holter pickguards and seeing their prices, they wouldn't be for me. I can buy a similar material from StewMac or other vendors and make a pickguard that looks just as good for a fraction of that cost. It's not that difficult.

I put pick guards from Taylor Mullins on my J-45TV and Gibson L-00. The thing about his products they are very correct, workman ship is fantastic and his customer service is over the top superior.

They are worth it.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by McCawber

Wow! After googling Holter pickguards and seeing their prices, they wouldn't be for me. I can buy a similar material from StewMac or other vendors and make a pickguard that looks just as good for a fraction of that cost. It's not that difficult.

No, it’s not terribly difficult to do, but the pickguard material available from StewMac and other online luthiery supply vendors is not the same as the genuine celluloid that Mr. Mullins uses. Celluloid is tricky, chemically volatile stuff and has hazardous material status. It’s illegal to ship it through the mail, for example, and I think there are legal protocols that have to be followed in terms of how it’s stored and so forth.

Both Martin and Gibson get their celluloid pickguards from the only import company that brings it into the United States, which is where Taylor Mullins gets his celluloid stock, as well.

So if getting that look precisely correct is important to you, then Mr. Mullins is your best bet. But if getting that exact look is not an issue for you, yes, getting the similar-looking material from StewMac or another online vendor will save you money.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Wade Hampton]

Just to refine what I wrote, it’s illegal to ship celluloid through the mail in bulk, because in large quantities it has the same volatility and combustion potential as old fashioned black powder gunpowder. It can explode.

But finished products like pickguards or guitar picks are not nearly as volatile or hazardous, so those CAN be mailed.

Hope that makes more sense...


whm

[Pura Vida]

+1 for Holter Pickguards. Great looking products, high quality work, and exceptional customer service.

[stringjunky]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Just to refine what I wrote, it’s illegal to ship celluloid through the mail in bulk, because in large quantities it has the same volatility and combustion potential as old fashioned black powder gunpowder. It can explode.

But finished products like pickguards or guitar picks are not nearly as volatile or hazardous, so those CAN be mailed.

Hope that makes more sense...


whm

Yep. My UK luthier could only get ivoroid celluloid strips with longitudinal grain when I said I wanted the Collings-like cross-grain binding, which would have required him to buy large sheets to do it that way, and that can't be shipped to here from the US due to it being a fire hazard

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by stringjunky

Yep. My UK luthier could only get ivoroid celluloid strips with longitudinal grain when I said I wanted the Collings-like cross-grain binding, which would have required him to buy large sheets to do it that way, and that can't be shipped to here from the US due to it being a fire hazard

I'm not sure if you still need one, but could Taylor at Holter Pickguards make one and then mail it internationally?

[stringjunky]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

I'm not sure if you still need one, but could Taylor at Holter Pickguards make one and then mail it internationally?

I wanted cross-grain binding not a pickguard. My luthier couldn't buy cross-grained binding strips at the time. This was in 2007.

[Pura Vida]

Oops, sorry... reading too fast (and at work), LOL.

[stringjunky]

Originally Posted by Pura Vida

Oops, sorry... reading too fast (and at work), LOL.

No problem.