Pickguard - P90 Conversion -For Fender Telecaster

Main Description

Overview

This pickguard is typically designed to fit a Fender® Telecaster®, but with the added option of a Soap bar sized P90 in the neck slot. This is o ften overlooked as a viable option, because it can require extra routing to the body, but a P90 is the real dream when it comes to that classic Tele® tone!

The warmth and body, which you only get from P90s, is exactly what the Telecaster® is all about – and not too dissimilar from the traditional lipstick pickup you’ll see fitted normally.

Where the P90 outshines the lipstick, is that it’s so much bigger, brasher, dare we say better?! The higher output, the lack of metal covers dulling certain frequencies, the dual magnet design – these factors really help balance out a Tele® and gives something very modern sounding, without compromising on your bridge pickup tone.

Hole configuration

Like most of our plates designed for the Fender® Tele®, we’ve built around the timeless “eight hole” design that’s been in circulation on every Fender® Telecaster® since 1959/60.

Initially, the eight hole setup was released to help combat the warping seen on the early Tele® plates, with the three ply option replacing the old single ply version completely in late 1959. For completeness sake we carry both single and three ply plate, but please be aware that a single ply plate can be prone to this warping, even with modern materials.

Routing

Once you get past the P90 in the neck, this plate is as standard. The bridge section is cut out to accept both Modern and Vintage style Telecaster® bridges, and the control plate is cut out to 32mm, which will take a Fender® control plate or the Axesrus® Control plate.

Fender®, Squier®, Telecaster® and Tele® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Axesrus® has no affiliation with FMIC

"Colours" Explained

Ok, even i'll conceed that this isn't the most thrilling of toics at this point, but there is actually plenty of confusion when it comes to the "off white" pickguard colours, so seeing as we're ticking off pearls and tortoise shell varients, we might as well address the parchments, mints and creams too.

So lets get stuck in

  
  White 

We carry all our white plates in the   above "shade" - its a completely opaque pigment, and is what you expect   really, a very clean, crisp, pristine white.

  Parchment

Occasionally called "aged white" in the   trade - parchment is the next shade in from white, slightly darker with a   very slight creamy/yellow tint - think of it like old news paper.

  Mint A
The Lighter of the two Mint Greens, not as common on production guitars as you'd imagine, but a very subtle shade thats alot closer to what people expect Mint Green to be.

  
  Mint B
Proper Mint Green! Dark, with a slightly grey hint to it. Does NOT photograph well, and suffers from horrendous camera colour correction. Very green, very dark, and a much closer shade to the discoloured nitrate plastics of the 60s, which Mint green was intended to mimic.

  Ivory
Ivory (sometimes called Creme, especially if we're speaking "in Gibson") - buttery and rich, boardering on orange. Not a common colour by any means, especially in Fender style pickguards, but i absolutely love it.

  Black
Black is black.Not sure theres a great deal i can say about it to be honest. Very opaque, very crisp, very classy. I always like the contract on the 3 ply plates with the white middle layer.

Now, to before we get further into colours, i've got a few bones to pick over when it comes to Mint Green, so, if you'll indulge me, i'll try and explain why Mint green is so "hit and miss"

First things first, you've probably spotted that the Mint A and Mint B "real" photos look a bit... false, right? Thats because they are I'm afraid - Cameras really struggle to capture the difference between the colours. Essentially, the camera just corrects the image to something that looks like a fairly washed out Mint A, regardless of the actual colour.

So, before i get lost in this, heres the unedited images of Mint A and Mint B, and i think we can agree that the camera has made a meal of things. They both look identical.

Now, this is useless from my point of view, because it doesn't show the difference, so, you'll have to trust the edited photos above, and, honestly? The swatch image tied to the colour select drop down, gives a very accurate match to what the plates look like in the flesh.

But, i'm showing you this because you must consider, that if I'm having this problem, you can bet everyone else is too, so, a word to the wise? Dont trust photos of guitars with mint pickguards! I can search online now, and i can see 10 subtly different shades of mint pickups fitted to Fender guitars - but i know that Fender always use Mint B (Except Fender Japan) . Its a trick of the camera, and there aren't that many variations of Mint Green - I think, in the 20 years i've worked here, i've seen 4. (B, A, a very bright "snot" green, and a "not unpleasant" green that was close to Mint B, but a shade brighter)

  
  Mint B
Uneditted - Mint B looks nothing like this in real life, and is a much darker green, with an almost "grey" shade to it.

  Mint A
Mint A, is actually quite close to this however, its not quite as "washed out" in the flesh, and is a little more vibrant.

  Comparison
When Mint A and Mint B are photographed side by side, and with a few other colours (in this case, White and Parchment), you see a much better comparison between the colours.

Ivory vs. Ivory/Black/Ivory

We actually carry two different Ivory plates - There is Ivory (available in a 3 ply Ivory/Ivory/Ivory version, and a single ply version) and we also have Ivory/Black/Ivory 3 ply, which is now obsolete, but survives in old stock.

These are not the same colour, and Ivory/Black/Ivory plates will not match Ivory single ply, or Ivory/Ivory/Ivory plates, with the I/B/I plates being closer to a nicotine yellow, where the I/I/I plates are much more orange "cream"

Pearloids Explained

Pearloid plates are similar to the tortoise shells, but theres a little less subtly between them, and they dont really have anything overly interesting in their history - as far as i can tell, they're always been PVC, and the variations in colour and pattern are pretty easy to follow.

  
  White Pearl

The most common pearloid you're going to see - "white pearl" - i think its safe to say we all know the look. Interesingly, Pearl pickguards are actually made from a material intially intended to be a faux "mother of pearl" (which is the inside of an oyster shell)

  Aged White Pearl

 More common then you'd think strangely - fairly safe to think of it as the Parchment version of white pearl. For whatever reason, the pearling is a little tighter, with fewer blank spots between the reflective sections.

  Grey Pearl
Grey pearl isn't my favourite. Its appeared a few years ago, being missold as "black pearl", with doctored photos and wild promises, but was no where near.

  
  Avalon
This is a fairly new pattern as far as we can well - actually a much closer representation of that "mother of pearl" look that the original pearloids were going for. Rather then being broken up into reflective "squares", its more bothches and swirls, gives it a nice crisp finish.

  Abalone
If Avalon is getting closer to mother of pearl, then its probably only right that we've got one thats getting close to its opposite number, abalone (which is the inside of the shell of a few species of marine snail) - its certainly a very "unique" pattern, and again, is more swirls then squares.

  Black Pearl
Black pearl is always a bone of contention for us - its not "really" black - its more a dark grey colour - there is a blacker version out there (not that we can find it!) called "Moto Pearl" - but yeah, they've both got their place.

Pearloid plates do have a few of their own little quirks, so, i'll do a little more detail here too.

  
  Shade differences
Viewing plates in isolation, its quite difficult to see how they differ, so i really like this photo. It shows the difference between the black pearloid and Grey, and the Aged and White plates.

  Knobs
Pearls suffer from a weird problem, not being a flat colour, its somethings confusing trying to match up knobs/tips/cover - so, heres what i think works.
Aged White pearl matches with Parchment plastics.
White and Avalone matches up with White plastics
Black pearl, doesn't really match up all that well with black knobs, and, honestly? It highlights that black pearl isn't, really, black - but, its as close as your going to get i'm afraid.

  3 and 4 Ply
Pearloid plates can be a little confusing when it comes to their ply count, because they dont always conform to the dark/light/dark pattern we've come to think of as normal. 

   Essentially, the pearloid layer on the front of the plate, is a ply, so, 3 ply pearloid plates look like 2 plys (especially on lighter pearls, where the pearloid layer is semi transparent and appears white)
 and 4 plys look like 3. 

 You can, just, see the individual plys on this photo.

Tortoise Shells

You’ve probably noticed with the pickguards, we do A LOT of different variations in tortoise shells – and even then, we barely scratch the surface when it comes to completing the line-up.

Basically, Tortoise shell, originally, way back when, when it first started (long before the electric guitar was a thing) was just that – pieces of a tortoises shell, fixed together into a shape, and polished until semi-transparent (some of the early acoustic pickguards were actually made this way)

Now, obviously, none of us want to see a return to those practises, but seemingly, everyone liked “the look” – so with the advent of plastic in the early part of the 20th century, science found a cheaper way (it wasn’t until the seventies when trade in hawksbill turtle (the main source of Tortoise shell) shells became illegal!)

The first “plastic” Tortoise Shells were made from Nitrate plastics, usually Celluloid – and, frankly, it’s pretty gorgeous! Its semi-transparent, it’s got a sort of leopard skin look to it, and it soon worked its way onto guitars (again, most acoustics)

The problem is – Celluloid plastics are astonishingly flammable – they have a low point of combustion, and once they’re burning, they don’t go out until the fuels gone, or they flame is deprived of oxygen. As you can imagine, no one really liked working with Celluloid. It was risky to use (cutting = friction = heat) it was dangerous to store, and it wasn’t really suitable for the job at hand ( it changed colour when exposed to sunlight, it warped, it shrank, it was generally, pretty badly behaved!)
Never the less, it did eventually find its way onto electric guitars by the late 50s and early 60s, but was soon replaced for something more suitable and much safer.

Nowadays, you see Tortoise shells in either Polyoxymethylene (more stable as a material, but still very flammable) or PVC (which is fairly bomb proof, but does give off toxic fumes if burnt)

Now, getting to the modern day – Tortoise shell comes in 5 “variants” for us (ignoring the Celluloid offerings, they’re still out there, and great for historical accuracy, but just be VERY careful with them – not only in buying them/storing your guitar once its fitted, but also in actually sourcing the stuff, we’ve yet to find a factory who will even consider making a plate with it (too big a fire risk) and even when we do, its very cost prohibitive (more expensive to buy the things then we could ever dream of selling them for!) – there are guys out there making them though – but as a rough guide, expect to pay upwards of £150+)

  
  Classic

Now this is a funny one. For the longest  time, it was the only Tortoise shell we had access to, and honestly – its OK –  turns up pretty often on mid-priced guitars, such as the Squier® Classic vibe  and vintage modified lines – personally, I think of it was a cheats Tortoise  shell, because it seems to be a screen print sandwiched between the layers of  PVC, and as such, it looks a little flat. It is, however pretty uniform, so if  you want all your tortoise shells to look the same, classics the way to go.

  3 Ply Brown

 Now we’re talking – rather then a “flat layer” brown  tortoise is the real deal – layers of semi-transparent PVC (one yellow, one  brown) over laid to give that characteristic look. For whatever reason, the 3  ply version shows a little more yellow in the mix then the 4 ply. It shows a great  depth of colour as a result, and if pressed, I’d say it was my favourite of the  shells.

  4 Ply Brown
Slightly darker then the 3 ply version, less yellow  bleed through in the mix (presumably because the yellow “layer” is thinner)

  
  3 Ply Red
Similar to the brown version really – yellow and red,  one on top of the other, but it’s the same principle, same results, just a  little more vibrant then the brown.

  4 Ply Red
Where the brown 4 ply shows a little less yellow, the  red version pretty much cuts it out completely. Its almost bordering on a red pearl  for us, and certainly not without its charms. Ideal if you really hate the idea  of the yellow peeking through.

  Celluloid
For completeness sake, heres a photo of a celluloid plate too - i think we can all agree, it looks absolutely glorious, and theres a real depth to the "shell" effect - but if you look closely at the photo, you can probably see that the plate (in this case a Jazzaster) has badly warped, its been kept in the same conditions as the PVC plates above, for the same amount of time, but its way past being usable now.

FAQ

These "tabbed" pages are great, because they mean we can go into a bit more depth on some of the more "niche" topics of guitar parts, but, at a certain point, it does make sense to just lump some of the "really niche" stuff into an FAQ and be done with it - so here it is!

Will this pickguard fit <INSERT GUITAR MODEL HERE> ?
Right then, I’ve typed this out in emails (tens of) thousands of times, and, honestly, it’s as cowardly an answer now, as when it first wrote it.

"I DONT KNOW"

No one does, not really, not with total, 100%, unwavering certainty.

This is a bit of a two fold "problem" sadly – but bear with me, if anything, it’s a window into the insanity of guitar parts!
Firstly, in the grand scheme of things, I (and every other guitar tech/tech support/musical instrument shop employee) see a frighteningly small cross section of guitars manufactured every year.

There will be models of guitar I never see in the flesh, let alone have them on the bench, let alone have them on the bench for a pickguard replacement. I’m not exaggerating here – there are makes and models of guitar I won’t know about until I receive an email or phone call about them.

And there’s no Haynes manual for this stuff – no one higher up the food chain is recording pickguards. Theres no spec sheet which covers a Stratocaster® or a Tele® or a Les Paul® in this sort of detail. Even Fender® who are, pretty good at recording “what uses what”, don’t go this deep. Joe Bonamassa probably isn’t measuring and recording his guitar collection either.

So, pickguard “knowledge” is something of a hive mind thing – I generally only know if a pickguard fits (or doesn’t!) when I get an email saying “Craig? Wonderful job!” or “This pickguard for a Stratocaster® didn’t fit my Encore® Blaster” (I half kid! All feedback is good feedback when it comes to pickguards!)

So, you’d think that’d be easy right? You’re expecting an email after a few days asking for feedback aren’t you? Well, that brings us on to fold 2!

“Pickguards are standardised”
Yeah…. Not quite… its close, but not quite true!

Pickguards ARE standardised! I know more about Fender® then any other manufacturer, and I can say, with certainty, there are 3 recognised “official” specs of Stratocaster® pickguard mounting plan. This is the ultimate truth. 1954-57, 1958-62 and 1963-this morning! (other things change, but the mounting screw positions, are always the same)

And I know, that there will be pickguards I ship out today, that won’t fit guitars that I would have sworn blind, they should fit. 50s Strat® that won’t accept 50s plates, modern guitars that wont take modern plates. Brand spanking new sixties inspired Strat® that won’t take a 62 pickguard.

Things change – guitars will come off the production line with an “out of spec” pickguard. Sometimes it’ll be intentional, sometimes it won’t. Fender® might be trying something different, they might have switched factory, they might have changed… something. It might be the introduction of “the new standard”, it might have been an experiment – no one knows why we come away from the standards, but it happens.

Its not common, but it happens. A hole will move 2mm, and nothing else will change. A tremolo route will be 1.2mm smaller, a bridge humbucker will move forward 6mm – and these changes aren’t recorded, and by the next production run (or model, or re-issue) the change has vanished, and we’re back to working on the standard.

So – the best advice I can give to anyone considering a “will it fit” email?

Click on “Technical Specification” above – there’s a diagram. Measure it against your guitar.
I can’t see your guitar, I don’t have the dimensions, and even if I had the exact same model produced a week earlier and a week later, I’m in no position to say that yours, is the same!

It’s the only way to be certain – and its dead easy! Everything’s measured centre to centre (on the holes) and edge to edge, across the shortest possible length – give yourself a bit of a tolerance to account for measurement errors, and it’s a 2-minute job to figure out.

“I’ve measured, the pickguard physically fits, but the screw holes don’t line up?”

This is, honestly, the most common “my pickguards not standardised” gripe – and, really? There isn’t much I can do – I’ve got to fall on the sword of “all pickguards are standardised” – I appreciate that your guitar might be out (and, chances are, its “out” to every aftermarket/spare parts pickguard you’ve seen too)

There is so little recorded about out of spec plates, and they appear to be so isolated/random – that trying to figure out “out of spec” plates, is impossible – I appreciate that it’s a massive inconvenience, and we all want pickguard swaps to be easy, but there are some cases where it just isn’t.

So, you’ve got two (and a half) options!
First, is the most logical.
Fill and redrill the mounting holes on the guitar, (change any routing if you need to!) and bring the guitar back into the standard spec! It’s a little more work, you could, potentially, devalue the guitar (although, I honestly doubt anyone would care at this point)

Epoxy fillers are very good nowadays, and will allow you do redrill holes very close to old ones, and, all in all, its very easy! All your handy work will be covered (although, I can make no promises about the routing!) – and all future pickguard swaps, are easy! Every guitar parts shop up and down the land, is working to the same standards.

Custom pickguards, they do exist! Plates made, from a big sheet of plastic, cut to size, mapped out to your individual guitar! They’re, by and large, ludicrously expensive (considering it’s a sheet of PVC cut into a pretty shape) – they’re VERY labour intensive, they have a high failure rate, they take a long time to produce… they cost a lot to buy because they cost a lot to make, and require a fair bit of skill to do well. Axesrus® doesn’t do them, what we’d need to charge, I wouldn’t want anyone to pay for a bit of plastic – but there are companies out there that will do the work. Just go in eyes open – it SHOULD be a £100-200 job – don’t be surprised when the quote hits, and be cautious of anyone offering to do it for £30.

Whats the half option?
There are, on rare occasion, pickguards that Axesrus® wants, because we want to start producing them, but, for whatever reason, we cant get hold of one. So, if your happy to send us the pickguard? We’ll make you a new one free of charge (it doesn’t happen quickly I’m afraid, normally takes 3-4 months, and you don’t get the original back)

We can’t do it for everything (out of spec Strats/Teles/Etc are usually not entertained) but, its always worth asking – if it tickles out fancy, and you’re not in a rush? Always a chance of a free one.