Random Question: What plastic material is the pickguard and the nut made of???

[MassEducation22]

Hey all!

I'm just wondering what type of plastic material they use on the pickguard and compensated nut of the guitar? Are they both made of ABS or Melamine or something else?

Thanks!

 

[DrKev]

The pickguards are celluloid (and believe me, you can really smell the camphor when you sand them!) and the nuts are melamine or corian.

 

[tbonesullivan]

Are you sure on that? I'm pretty sure celluloid hasn't been used by most for years, with it being very environmentally unfriendly, as well as toxic and flammable. It literally explodes if exposed to excessive heat.

Most pickguards these days are Acrylic, PVC or a similar material.

 

[DrKev]

\It literally explodes if exposed to excessive heat.

Ummm, nope. Don't set it on fire (it burns very easily, spontaneously when hot (which was a problem with thin celluloid film in old movie projectors, and the smoke is horrible!) but it's not an explosion hazard.

I had a spare tort pickguard for my silhouette special and I decided to see if I could polish out the scratches with micromesh pads (the answer was yes but could never get a finish I liked). The minty smell of the camphor was unmistakable, just like when you stick your nose in a bag a celluloid guitar picks. Many pickguards are made from something else or even combined layers of different stuff, but celluloid is still in use.

 

[tbonesullivan]

I'm not saying I doubt you, but celluloid is a HAZMAT ORM-D commodity, and highly flammable. LMI does sell some celluloid materials, but assess a heavy surcharge due to the hazmat considerations.

However, pretty much all the celluloid you can get is tortoise shell, so if it was a tort guard, then it's possible.

For almost all other colors I can find, it's only "plastic" with no hazmat warnings.

Pickguard sheet, red tortoise, celluloid, no adhesive, 5" x 8" x .030"

 

[DrKev]

yeah, good point. Thanks!

 

[Cenobyte]

As far as I know MM uses Pickguard Planet for it's guards... look it up, it's a thing

I've ordered custom guards from them for various MM guitars... I prefer single ply and I believe they've all been PVC. I know this because i have added a rounded bevel on a couple of them and got into it a bit with them to understand what that might look like on a PVC guard (looks guuuddd).

They may sell celluloid tortoise guards at Pickguard Planet, they have a ton of materials and colours... but I bet vinyl/pvc are mostly standard materials. Reach out to them and ask, they can tell you!

 

[banjoplayer]

the minty smell of the camphor was unmistakable, just like when you stick your nose in a bag a celluloid guitar picks.

I LOVE that smell !!

 

[MassEducation22]

As far as I know MM uses Pickguard Planet for it's guards... look it up, it's a thing

I've ordered custom guards from them for various MM guitars... I prefer single ply and I believe they've all been PVC. I know this because i have added a rounded bevel on a couple of them and got into it a bit with them to understand what that might look like on a PVC guard (looks guuuddd).

They may sell celluloid tortoise guards at Pickguard Planet, they have a ton of materials and colours... but I bet vinyl/pvc are mostly standard materials. Reach out to them and ask, they can tell you!

Oh awesome! Thanks! This topic is very interesting to talk about hahah!

 

[DrKev]

 

[MassEducation22]

As far as I know MM uses Pickguard Planet for it's guards... look it up, it's a thing

I've ordered custom guards from them for various MM guitars... I prefer single ply and I believe they've all been PVC. I know this because i have added a rounded bevel on a couple of them and got into it a bit with them to understand what that might look like on a PVC guard (looks guuuddd).

They may sell celluloid tortoise guards at Pickguard Planet, they have a ton of materials and colours... but I bet vinyl/pvc are mostly standard materials. Reach out to them and ask, they can tell you!

I've just reached out to them just like what you said, and it turns out that the pickguard is actually made from ABS plastic but the nut is made from melamine.
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