Possible to change the stock pickguard on my SG Classic to a batwing?

[deep]

My SG Classic is from 2009. Love everything about it but I'd like to change the stock pickguard to a batwing model to make it look like a SG '67 Special with P-90's.

Is this possible? What would I do to the remaining 4-6 screwholes to make it look aesthetically pleasing?

 

[deep]

ooops.. I meant to say half pickguard as in the 67 specials.

 

[Madmatt]

It is probably possible. If you just take the thing off you should know right away.that is to say, unless the pick guard hiding something, it should be fine

The holes wont be noticeable from a distance, but you could put black or normal screws in them. Im not sure there is another option that doesn't require the finish be touched up.

 

[DrBGood]

What color is it, Cherry red ? If so, the color under the batwing hasn't seen light in 6 years and it could very well be different from what you now see now.
As for screw holes, they could be filled with colored wood putty. Or not colored and touched up with a red felt pen. Yep you heard right. After a few applications, one of those will get your putty pretty close to cherry color.

 

[flatrockmobile]

Probably has a cable route between the pickups like all other batwing SGs that I've seen. I don't think the new pickguard would cover this. You could fill it with a strip of mahogany, leaving a small channel to run the wires under it.
Also the pickups mount on the pickguard kinda like humbuckers do. You would have to change the base plates to mount them to the body.

 

[gball]

^ what FRM said above. It's going to have a channel between the pickups that looks pretty much like this:

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

From your uncovered picture of the routs, gball, I am wondering how a 1/2 guard will hide the upper 2 winged areas where the pup adjusting springs and screws go. Having never seen "rings" around P90's, I can't see how to hide the whole routs.

"65 Special,, I am presuming it has a dogear under the guard.

 

[DrBGood]

A mini humbucker ring would fit, wouldn't it ?

 

[flatrockmobile]

A mini humbucker ring would fit, wouldn't it ?

A mini humbucker ring fits INSIDE a P90 route. A simple factory conversion to replace the pickups on guitars already routed for P90s with mini HBs.

 

[flatrockmobile]

I've never had a classic apart but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't just use a Standard body with HB routes and cover it all up with the pick guard.

I retract that statement after a google image search. The routes are in fact sized for P90s including the place on the ends for the adjusting wings to move up and down. So more wood to replace, blend, finish. Not impossible, but difficult to do without a lot of visible evidence.

 

[DrBGood]

A mini humbucker ring fits INSIDE a P90 route. A simple factory conversion to replace the pickups on guitars already routed for P90s with mini HBs.

Yeah you're right.
I guess we won't know before the OP lift its pickguard.

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

Yeah, here is a 67 redone in white with P90's. If the OP's Classic looks anything like the one Gball posted, there is also that rout right in the middle of the pups that is not there on this white one. Unless the guard is far enough over the center between the pups, I suspect that area will need to be dealt with too.

 

[flatrockmobile]

Here's what you have:
http://www.everythingsg.com/threads/body-routes-p-90-classic-vs-humbucker-special.23010/

 

[DrBGood]

Here's what you have:
http://www.everythingsg.com/threads/body-routes-p-90-classic-vs-humbucker-special.23010/

So what happened with that teaser project ?
AC30 got discouraged or his camera got stolen ?

 

[gball]

Yeah, here is a 67 redone in white with P90's. If the OP's Classic looks anything like the one Gball posted, there is also that rout right in the middle of the pups that is not there on this white one. Unless the guard is far enough over the center between the pups, I suspect that area will need to be dealt with too.

From what I can tell, vintage guitars have the channel routed at the bottom edge of the pickup routs. The right pickguard would be able to cover that up on a 2 pickup conversion, but on a modern guitar the rout is in the middle and even a 2 pickup conversion would be tough unless you had a pickguard made that extended up a lot higher than stock between them.

 

[Col Mustard]

after reading all this, I'll suggest that you quietly scrap this idea.
Because I don't think that your classic (which is an excellent guitar in its own right)
will ever look like a 67 SG special. If you try to make it into something that it's not
you'll end up with a regrettable mess. The screw holes will never look right, and filling
them with ticky tacky is not likely to look right either.

I suggest that you keep that guitar as designed, (because it's a great design)
and appreciate it for what it is, or just sell it to someone who does appreciate it and
use the money to buy a bare body, start from scratch and build what you want.
And THAT, my friends is a very viable alternative. (except that if you sell your great SG classic, you will forever regret that). A better alternative is to keep your
Classic as is, and save some money and buy a bare body and build a 67 replica
and keep them all.

I own a '66 Fender Jazz Bass. Way back in the late '70s (when my bass was just 'an old bass"
and nobody was worshipping them) I decided that the instrument looked out of date compared to
the cool "Groovy Naturals" that Fender was making. *shakes head, smacks face...

My '66 was equipped with full pickguard and two chrome pickup covers, and a plastic 'tug bar,"
which seemed as up to date as a '66 Mustang. So one day, at string change time, I took the
metal parts off. Wow, it looked a lot more radical with all its thingies showing... I put the chrome
pieces and the tug bar carefully in a box. (smart) Later, I liked the bare bass look so much that I
took off the pickguard too, and put that in the box. Now my old bass looked really radical, and
I loved that look and played it that way for a couple decades.

But what about the screw holes? At first, in the early 80s, I thought that the screw holes were fine
just gaping there... and it gave my bass an edgy look, almost punk if I wasn't in my thirties...
Later I didn't like that so well, and I filled them with some plastic wood junk... and stained that stuff
dark so it didn't look like toothpaste. That look was never cool, but I ignored that for a while. Then one
day I was staring at a picture someone took of me and my bare bass, and I hated the screw holes.
So I went and bought some black nails, and drove one into each screw hole, covering the ticky tacky filling.

That looked cool. My bass had nails in it. I played it like that for another period of time. Then one day I
was staring at a Fender Catalog, and I saw that they were re-issuing basses with all the chrome parts and the
pickguard and even the tugbar and charging lots of money for them. And I thought: "My bass looked cool when
it was new, with the sunburst and the chrome parts and all. And after that became obsolete, it looked cool stripped.
And after that became obsolete, my bass looked cool with nails in it... but now... I think it would look cooler
with the original parts back on." *laughs

so here I am... full circle. And it does look cooler with all the original parts back on,
just the way it was designed. I'll never get the sunburst back, but this old warhorse
is not for sale. So I don't care. I've learned a lot from this cycle. One thing I learned
right away is that cosmetic changes have no effect on tone. And tone is all that matters.
Your tone is what people hear when they are making up their minds about whether your
band sucks or not. (also and more important: The Mix is what they hear, so that's even
more vital than individual tone). The mix is really all that matters.

Small cosmetic changes are fine for your own satisfaction, but they are truly unimportant
when it comes to crucial issues like: Will your band get the gig, and if you get it, will you
get invited back.... So don't make a mess trying to turn one instrument into another.
Recognize that the one will never be the other, or even resemble the other... and play as
well as you can with the equipment you can afford.

 

[chilipeppermaniac]

VOTES for Putting the Original Parts back on the Jazz Bass, Col. I have always liked those metal covers and pickguard, etc.

 

[DrBGood]

Nice story Colonel, thanks for sharing.

 

[donshin27]

after reading all this, I'll suggest that you quietly scrap this idea.
Because I don't think that your classic (which is an excellent guitar in its own right)
will ever look like a 67 SG special. If you try to make it into something that it's not
you'll end up with a regrettable mess. The screw holes will never look right, and filling
them with ticky tacky is not likely to look right either.

I suggest that you keep that guitar as designed, (because it's a great design)
and appreciate it for what it is, or just sell it to someone who does appreciate it and
use the money to buy a bare body, start from scratch and build what you want.
And THAT, my friends is a very viable alternative. (except that if you sell your great SG classic, you will forever regret that). A better alternative is to keep your
Classic as is, and save some money and buy a bare body and build a 67 replica
and keep them all.

I own a '66 Fender Jazz Bass. Way back in the late '70s (when my bass was just 'an old bass"
and nobody was worshipping them) I decided that the instrument looked out of date compared to
the cool "Groovy Naturals" that Fender was making. *shakes head, smacks face...
View attachment 16717
My '66 was equipped with full pickguard and two chrome pickup covers, and a plastic 'tug bar,"
which seemed as up to date as a '66 Mustang. So one day, at string change time, I took the
metal parts off. Wow, it looked a lot more radical with all its thingies showing... I put the chrome
pieces and the tug bar carefully in a box. (smart) Later, I liked the bare bass look so much that I
took off the pickguard too, and put that in the box. Now my old bass looked really radical, and
I loved that look and played it that way for a couple decades.
View attachment 16718
But what about the screw holes? At first, in the early 80s, I thought that the screw holes were fine
just gaping there... and it gave my bass an edgy look, almost punk if I wasn't in my thirties...
Later I didn't like that so well, and I filled them with some plastic wood junk... and stained that stuff
dark so it didn't look like toothpaste. That look was never cool, but I ignored that for a while. Then one
day I was staring at a picture someone took of me and my bare bass, and I hated the screw holes.
So I went and bought some black nails, and drove one into each screw hole, covering the ticky tacky filling.
View attachment 16719
That looked cool. My bass had nails in it. I played it like that for another period of time. Then one day I
was staring at a Fender Catalog, and I saw that they were re-issuing basses with all the chrome parts and the
pickguard and even the tugbar and charging lots of money for them. And I thought: "My bass looked cool when
it was new, with the sunburst and the chrome parts and all. And after that became obsolete, it looked cool stripped.
And after that became obsolete, my bass looked cool with nails in it... but now... I think it would look cooler
with the original parts back on." *laughs
View attachment 16720 View attachment 16721
so here I am... full circle. And it does look cooler with all the original parts back on,
just the way it was designed. I'll never get the sunburst back, but this old warhorse
is not for sale. So I don't care. I've learned a lot from this cycle. One thing I learned
right away is that cosmetic changes have no effect on tone. And tone is all that matters.
Your tone is what people hear when they are making up their minds about whether your
band sucks or not. (also and more important: The Mix is what they hear, so that's even
more vital than individual tone). The mix is really all that matters.

Small cosmetic changes are fine for your own satisfaction, but they are truly unimportant
when it comes to crucial issues like: Will your band get the gig, and if you get it, will you
get invited back.... So don't make a mess trying to turn one instrument into another.
Recognize that the one will never be the other, or even resemble the other... and play as
well as you can with the equipment you can afford.

Good morale of the day, focus on tone, not on looks of a musical instrument.

 

[donshin27]

ooops.. I meant to say half pickguard as in the 67 specials.

Pictures of your current SG and desired SG will be highly appreciated.