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Post subject: 1964 Strat Closet Classic mint green pickguard
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 1:12 pm
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Anyone know if the mint guard that comes with the 1964 Closet Classic rosewood neck, sunburst Strat is also available separately?

Thanks.


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Post subject: Re: 1964 Strat Closet Classic mint green pickguard
Posted: Mon Mar 17, 2014 9:15 pm
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Location: Denver, CO, USA
Custom Shop components are not available individually.

Almost all of the CS pickups that are available for sale aren't actually made in the Custom Shop, just CS designed. There were a few special runs of Abigail Ybarra signed pickups that could be called true CS parts, but those are exceptions.

The Custom Shop does use some regular production parts, so in some cases you can buy the same parts the CS uses. But parts made in the CS are only assembled into CS guitars.

I seem to recall that the CS has found a small supply of real cellulose nitrate pickguard material, like the original green guards. If the '64CC uses that, it looks more authentic because it is authentic. The color is a property of the material, not a dye added to vinyl to simulate the look.

If it's not celluloid nitrate, then they've found a way to apply some sort of surface treatment to vinyl to simulate the look more accurately.

(Disclaimer: other than a couple of pics I haven't seen a '64CC, so I don't know if the guard is any different than regular modern green guards. But in pics it does look more authentic, and I assume from your question that you've seen them and they do indeed have the right look.)

Real cellulose nitrate pickguards are available from a few small venders. They cost $100 and up -- but if the authentic look is critical to you, you have to buy the real stuff. Cellulose nitrate is obsolete. In terms of what normal people want it's a very poor plastic -- it shrinks, it discolors, it's very flammable, even explosive in some situations (like nitrocellulose it's a very close relative to nitro smokeless gunpowder). So most of the factories that made it are long closed, and the few that are still open aren't making sheets of it that are appropriate for pickguards. So the right stuff is only available in small quantities -- stashes of forgotten stuff found on the back shelves of dusty warehouses. (It was still being made in the '80s, and the last of the factories closed down in the '90s so the old stuff isn't as old as '60s pickguards.)

Lashing cellulose pickguards: http://www.nosguitar.com/celluloid.html

Groovy-guitars pickguards: http://www.groovy-guitars.com/nitro-pickguards.html

Lashing has a good rep on the web. I haven't read any feedback about Groovy.

Lashing also sells guards that don't have mounting screw holes pre-drilled, for custom applications. If by chance you buy one of those, use a sharp drill bit, drill at slow RPM's, drill part of a hole then stop wait to let everything cool down and drill a little more. Keep a wet cloth and a fire extinguisher nearby.

It's not really all that likely to burst into flames, but it can. And when it ignites it burns like flashpowder -- you don't want to see $100 worth of plastic go up in smoke, or worse yet burn down your house. If you want to see what happens, hold a celluloid pick with a pair of tweezers and light it with a cigarette lighter, or set a ping-pong ball on a concrete surface and light it (they're other close relatives of cellulose nitrate). It's kind of fun -- fast big flames, no dripping liquid like most melted plastics, it just goes up in smoke.


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Post subject: Re: 1964 Strat Closet Classic mint green pickguard
Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2014 12:13 am
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You might take a look here for a repro '64 pickguard in mint green......

http://pickguards.us/pgordinst.htm

Arjay

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"Here's why reliability is job one: A great sounding amp that breaks down goes from being a favorite piece of gear to a useless piece of crap in less time than it takes to read this sentence." -- BRUCE ZINKY


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