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Post subject: Pick Guard coming away from body - advice please
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:24 am
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Had my MIM std strat for 6 months and pick guard is coming away from body adjacent to middle pick-up at the top i.e. between the two screws. How do I fix? Is it glued on or what,

Thanks


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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:34 am
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It's not glued but a quick variation in temperature may expand it and afterward it wont come back to its flat form
You can ironize it at medium temperature to flatten it but the result is somewhat erratic.


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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:35 am
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From what I heard its normal for MIM Strats to do that. Mine did it too and I didn`t like it either but I left it alone.


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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 9:44 am
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What is the difference between pickguard on MIM and MIA?


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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:20 am
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atolleter wrote:
What is the difference between pickguard on MIM and MIA?


There isn't much difference except the number of layers. Using a 3 ply or 4 ply will help eliminate warping. I've actually taken a two ply pickguard off and pressed it for about three days. That seemed to help.

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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 10:29 am
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I've had 1 ply on mine for years and it has not moved but it's not exposed to direct sunlight. Still, it is true that 3 ply lays flatter than a 1 ply.


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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 1:05 pm
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My MIM Strat Deluxe has a Pearloid 3-ply. It looks sharp with the black middle layer between the pearl and base white all on a black body. 8) Made in '05 and still flat.

I guess the advice would be to replace it with a 3 or 4-ply.

Edit: On closer examination, the pearloid on my Deluxe is a 4-ply. Pearl, White, Black, and White again.


Last edited by VT BlackStrat on Tue Jan 19, 2010 2:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: Pick Guard coming away from body - advice please
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 3:11 pm
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rmcgill wrote:
Had my MIM std strat for 6 months and pick guard is coming away from body adjacent to middle pick-up at the top i.e. between the two screws. How do I fix? Is it glued on or what,

Thanks

My '09 MIM Standard Strat which I bought new 8 months ago has a 3 ply pickguard and lays flat against the body. Was your MIM Standard Strat purchased new and is your pickguard a 3 ply like mine is? :D


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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 5:35 pm
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It might be a thin vintage pickup. I have one of these on my JV strat and it rather sucks IMO. I think it is a result of the wood shrinking, over a period of years, while the plastic does not! The gap is showing up because there is some additional stress on the pickguard at some point... either one (or more) of the screws or the neck. Mine was at the neck so it pulled it off and sanded and filed and all is well.


Last edited by Strataholic on Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Pick Guard coming away from body - advice please
Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 11:48 pm
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Thanks for the comments and advice, took it back to dealer yesterday, their attempt at fixing the problem lasted about 3 hours but they claim that this is "perfectly normal" ! Not affecting playing, but does bug me a bit. I guess I'll have to replace the pick guard and will see what's available, obviously no point in replacing with like again.


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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:42 am
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Perfectly normal warping, but..

have you ever had the pickguard off for any reason and maybe trapped a wire from the harness between the top and the pickguard? Just a thought..

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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:02 am
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I have 2 MIM Strats, a 1996 and a 2001 and both exhibit the same problem with the pickguard as you described. For some reason, the stock pickguard warps up at the top between the neck and mid pups. The 1996 has a very subtle warp, but the 2001 is worse, and you can slide a pick under it.
The problem is that if you replace the guard with a new one, it may not line up perfectly, and drilling new holes may be necessary. Not all pickguards fit exactly in the 11 hole pattern, even if it SAYS that it will fit from the manufacturer.
I just live with it, and when it comes time to replace it, I will go with a genuine Fender accessory part, and hope for the best as far as fit.


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Posted: Fri Jan 15, 2010 11:56 am
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That's 1 reason I don't like the 8 hole single ply pickguard. I had a 50's road worn strat and a clapton strat and the pickguards on both of them were warped a little.


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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 10:07 pm
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I would say that more than likely it has been exposed to some heat I had a squier bullet do that it's, not good for em'

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Post subject: Re: Pick Guard coming away from body - advice please
Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 7:37 am
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rmcgill wrote:
Had my MIM std strat for 6 months and pick guard is coming away from body adjacent to middle pick-up at the top i.e. between the two screws. How do I fix? Is it glued on or what,

Thanks


Well the guard on my '96 MIM never warped...the only reason I changed mine was for aesthetic reasons (I replaced the white with black). That said the original (as well as the replacement) was a 3 ply and in fact right now it's on my '08 Squire Standard (I just had to ditch that horrible "mint green"! LOL!). Actually now that I think about it, I've only had 1 pickguard ever warp on me and that was on an old, -cheap- tele clone...and yea, that one was a single ply.

Now I do feel the need to reiterate what adey asked there...have you had the pickguard off for any reason lately? I know I've done this once or twice over the years...took the pickguard off for one reason or another then after I put everything back together I realized that something was poking up a bit...it's not hard to miss that channel with a wire and have the wire laying on the surface of the body under the pickguard instead of tucked neatly in the channel. Now a days I just use a small piece of tape to keep everything in place while I'm reassembling everything.

I would also like to add that if the guard did in fact warp you may wish to pay some attention to how and where you store your instrument. I wanted to mention this because if the guard warped due to a heat related issue (the most likely case) this -CAN- affect the rest of the instrument too!!! In other words, if you have a tendency to leave the guitar sitting in direct sunlight (or near a window) or you keep it in a closet near a furnace or vent...remember that wood and plastic don't take well to extreme changes in temperature! If a pickguard warped due to a reason such as this, it's possible the neck could warp later too! Yes...sometimes pickguards will just warp but more often than not, there's usually a reason why it happened.

Anyways, assuming it's not a wire issue or something similar and that the pickguard is in fact warped, you can try some of the quick fixes others have mentioned here but my guess is you probably won't be able to get it perfectly flat again and that you're simply going to need to replace the pickguard. In this specific case I would recommend getting a genuine Fender replacement because as paisley said, quiet often aftermarket pickguards don't really line up well and you end up drilling extra holes. A genuine Fender pickguard is usually around $20 - $30 or so (depending on style, color, etc) so it's worth the extra couple of bucks to go with "OEM" :-)

Just my $.02 worth!
Jim


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