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Upgrade Plastics Comparision Thread

DANELECTRO

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 24, 2003
Messages
6,318
Can't wait to cut a pickguard from it.

Does anyone have a full drawing (either cad or pdf or something) of a historic or other accurate pickguard? I just need the outline. I will have to adjust the pickup spacing to my own guitar.

The best tracing template is the pickguard that came with the guitar. That's a Classic right? Any Gibson USA guard should be the correct size.
 

AlexVDL

Member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
267
Hey Dano... The classic guard is not even near a historic or 50's pickguard, aswell as the USA guards. The bottom rounding near the bracket is much thinner on the vintage guards. The USA and my original classic is rounder and fatter. The shape near the cutaway is also different on the vintage ones.

Anyways I already drew one up from scratch and it looks ok. Maybe I'll try to trace a historic or VC guard later.

I found the vintage clone measurements though.

clone_cream_pg.jpg
 

PixelBurst

Active member
Joined
Apr 11, 2002
Messages
4,094
Here are some more comparisons. The Historic and Vintage clone look close in the picture. In person the Historics are much more Barbie flesh color in person, while the Vintage Clones are more yellow-ish cream. The DiMarzio is a very cool white color, which doesn't look right to me. The Voodoos are the perfect color, but the bridge ring is slightly shorter than vintage spec. I dropped the Voodoos in because the neck ring split and was touching the strings when I played hard.

pickup_rings_sm.jpg


Does anyone know if the current Vintage Clone rings still have that ugly puckering (dimples) in the plastic? If so, what other decent rings are there that don't cost as much as the DMC's?

vc_ring_dimples_02.jpg
 

Red Baron

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
6,774
I just bought some VC parts a few weeks ago (rings, pick guard, poker chip and jackplate) the rings are very nice and they don't have that dimple.

R0_29.jpg
 

Slim Taper

Member
Joined
Jul 19, 2001
Messages
815
I also got some VC rings about a month ago, and they have the very faintest dimpling that you have to look hard for; I wouldn't even have noticed except that PixelBurst pointed it out.

Interestingly enough, I always felt that the stock pickguard on my 08 R8 looked pretty darn good colourwise - much better than my 03 R9 - but I bought a nice Montreux pickguard from VC because it compared very favourably to a couple of original 50's ones (I saw these all at a guitar show). To my surprise when I got it home, the Montreux one was so freakin' close to the stock Historic pickguard, I really had to use my imagination to see a difference! I never installed it. Does anyone else feel there's been an improvement in colour for 08? (rings are still a little on the pink side, but not like in years past).
 

Steve Craw

Formerly Lefty Elmo
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
5,294
I also got some VC rings about a month ago, and they have the very faintest dimpling that you have to look hard for; I wouldn't even have noticed except that PixelBurst pointed it out.

Interestingly enough, I always felt that the stock pickguard on my 08 R8 looked pretty darn good colourwise - much better than my 03 R9 - but I bought a nice Montreux pickguard from VC because it compared very favourably to a couple of original 50's ones (I saw these all at a guitar show). To my surprise when I got it home, the Montreux one was so freakin' close to the stock Historic pickguard, I really had to use my imagination to see a difference! I never installed it. Does anyone else feel there's been an improvement in colour for 08? (rings are still a little on the pink side, but not like in years past).
The dimples are accurate to original 50s pickup rings, as they have them too.
 

Steve Craw

Formerly Lefty Elmo
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
5,294
I just installed a new Vintage Clone pickguard and poker chip on my Rossington. Here's a comparison with the Historic guard, and also three different sets of rings. Pickguard first: Top is a 70s Norlin era guard. It's very beige next to the others, moreso in fact, than the photo appears. Middle is the Vintage Clone guard, and bottom is the Historic guard, which has been on this guitar since I got it four years ago. I didn't think it was too bad, until I got the Vintage Clone to compare it against.
010.jpg
 

Steve Craw

Formerly Lefty Elmo
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
5,294
012.jpg

The top rings are Historic, with their typical pinkish color. On the guitar are a set of "Accross The Pond" rings, which I've had for about 18 months. I really like these better than anything else I've seen, including DMC. The only beef I have is how they turn black around the edge. Bottom rings are from RS. I liked these a whole lot, until I saw the English rings, as they are a little beige by comparison. I'm interested in seeing the latest offering from Montreax, which are supposed to be even better than the "Across The Pond" rings. A friend has some coming from Gord Miller, and they should be in hand by next week. The poker chip is from Gord Miller, (as is the pickguard) it's the style from the mid 50s, although you do see it on some 58 bursts as well. I wanted one like this because it's my favorite style of font that Gibson used. All the other parts are original 50s, including PAFs.
 
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Steve Craw

Formerly Lefty Elmo
Joined
Sep 9, 2004
Messages
5,294
Same topic, hopefully better lighting to show color difference more accurately. Pickup rings are: (L) Historic, (M) RS, (R) Historic , (Center)RS, (Mounted) Across The pond. Pickguards: (Mounted) Vintage Clone, (Center) Gibson Historic, (Bottom) 70s guard. BTW, the "Across The Pond" rings have the dimples or puckering as it was refered too, likewise for the RS rings, while the Historic rings do not.
003-1.jpg
 
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radioscooter

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2006
Messages
698
Nice comparison shots. I've been off the board for a while. Can it be revealed yet how and/or who to get the "across the pond" stuff from yet? (you can email me if it's still hush hush) I'd like to try a couple of those out myself.


Also, what or who is "Montreax"?

Thanks.

-s
 

PixelBurst

Active member
Joined
Apr 11, 2002
Messages
4,094
I was told by Gord Miller of gmvintagerestorations.com that the dimples are from low pressure when injecting the mold. He has VC and Montreux parts without them. From looking at BOTB and high res pictures posted here, dimples aren't vintage correct.
 

Mark Kane

All Access/Backstage Pass
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Jul 18, 2001
Messages
5,742

Brian H

Member
Joined
Dec 19, 2002
Messages
726
Got my Buzzy guard today and it's totally professional and impressive! Almost half the price of a Vintage Clone guard, too.

Buzzy guard, Historic guard, Dimarzio rings:
http://kurtsequipment.com/lp/lprecent3.jpg

Buzzy guard, Dimarzio rings, Vintage Clone ring and nut:
http://kurtsequipment.com/lp/lprecent5.jpg

Vintage Clone ring and nut:
http://kurtsequipment.com/lp/vcringnut.jpg
http://kurtsequipment.com/lp/vcringnut2.jpg

Allparts knobs and Stewmac pointers:
http://kurtsequipment.com/lp/knobspointers.jpg
 

AlexVDL

Member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
267
Not a very good pic, but these are aged dimarzio rings, home made pickguard, stewmac pokerchip, home made reflector knobs on my '94 classic.

alexlpcl4.jpg
 
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AlexVDL

Member
Joined
May 29, 2003
Messages
267
How to make 60's gold reflector knobs with polished inserts

While I'm at it I'll show you guys how you can get the non spun type gold reflector knobs without having to pay $120 for a vintage clone set.

Just buy a set of original black gibson reflector knobs for $16 on ebay or something, as they do have the nice polished mirror inserts instead of the cheap looking spun inserts like on the allparts and other replacement knobs. The black knobs from WDmusic also have the polished inserts.

Carefully use some acetone to remove the black paint from the back. I used a cue tip, but some others use a piece of soft tissue paper. Be careful not to get the acetone in the embossed numbers, otherwise you lose the white paint. I also used a tooth pick cut in half lengthwise (to get a flat edge) with a paper towel wrapped around it to get in the little corners of the knob.

After you removed all the black paint, clean it off with some alcohol and apply some metallic gold paint. I used some bronze powder mixed with nitro and I brushed it on. When it all was still wet I dipped the knob in the bronze powder. You can also use goldmarkers or model kit paint etc. But I prefer real metallic powder.

Here's some pics I also posted in the other forum:

Two of the knobs already cleaned. You can see that I lost some of the white numbers on the knob on the right. I wasn't careful enough. But once the gold is applied you won't notice it very much though.

ref2.jpg


Bronze powder and nitro applied at the back.

rfl2.jpg


From the front it looks pretty nice! Notice the difference between the insert on the new knob and the black replacement knob. The gold knob on the right was a spun type knob which I tried to polish out, but from certain angles it looks grey, plus you'll lose the font.

rfl1.jpg


Here you can see them fitted on my guitar. It's hard to capture the chrome insert and the metallic gold.

rfl3.jpg

rfl9.jpg
 
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