Pickguard Dimensions - 60's Thunderbird vs. "T-Bird" Reissue

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Hi everyone,

New to the Guild community here. I recently picked up my first electric guitar in 10 years being recent reissue known as the "T-Bird". It's the Antique Burst shown here: http://guildguitars.com/g/s-200-t-bird-in-antique-burst/

I'm trying to find a custom pickguard to replace the black on the reissue...

Chandler Music (http://pickguards.us/priceguild.html) makes customs for the original Thunderbird.

Can sometime tell me if the T-Bird reissue has the same pickguard dimensions of the original Thunderbird?

Thanks!
 

matsickma

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I believe The Guilds of Grot sunburst '63 or '64 Thunderbird was used for the template. That said conversion from English dimensions, inches, do not always translate to metric dimensions due to standard drawing tolerances and tooling.
M
 

matsickma

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What type of pickguard are you looking for? I can tell you that the replacement pickguard I purchased years ago was close but was off by one key dimension. On a vintage Thunderbird the 3-switch control plate sits flush with the pickguard. This is done by a machined counter sink step machined into the pickguard. The replacement cutout is actually smaller because it doesn't have the counter sink so the 3-switch plate has to be installed on top of the pickguard instead of flush.

If I recall correctly a Fender Jaguar 3-switch control plate is mounted "inside" the pickguard cutout hole abd doesn't sit in a counter sink like the Guild. I always saw that detail as an example of attention to detail by Guild. On the other hand Leo Fender was not just a creative genius but also practice to keep costs down.

I don't know what technique was used in the NS Thunderbird yet.

M
 
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