Axesrus - Pickguard for Ibanez RG770 and JEM77

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Pickguard - For Ibanez® RG770®/JEM77®

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Ibanez RG770 plate - its weird... but stick with us here!

Right - full disclosure? The Ibanez® RG770 wasn't exactly a popular guitar(it eventually morphed into the 7 string version, the 7620, and the somewhat popular JEM 77 - I'll be amazed if any of these plates actually end up on a 770, put it that way!... but more on that in a second) - but, its pickguard is a bit of a "warning from history" - so a bit of back story is probably a good idea.

RGs as we know them today, in all their "curvy yet pointy" loveliness came into being in about 1987 - and superseded the roadster and roadSTAR series guitars (although originally, they were part of the Roadstar line, and technically speaking, still are) - which were, frankly, Strat® clones with a few tweaks to avoid any legal wranglings - the first "true" RGs were the the 5 series, which were followed by the 6 and 7 series (the 6 series was distinctly "Stratty", the 7s were distinctly "high end") - either way, to avoid getting bogged down - we see the first Ibanez® guitars in 1987 sporting the RG code name - the RG550, RG520 and RG570! (at that point, the coding actually made some sense too - 50s were HSH with pickguard, 20s are HH without pickguard and 70 were HSH without pickguard... easy right?!)

(just to be clear, there were other models in the original 5 series run, and there were 1, 2, 3, 4, 10 and 12 series... but lets ignore those for the time being - just know that there are others!)

Either way, the RG5s proved popular, and Ibanez® made the RG line its own "thing" - and rolled out a new, higher end 7 series in 1990 - and they stuck to the same naming conventions (so theres an RG750 too - HSH with a pickguard) and predictably, the RG770 came WITHOUT a pickguard! The pickups were mounted using pickup rings - a fairly common idea nowadays, but relatively modern back then.

However - two problems with that idea - without the pickguard, there was...well... nothing to guard against the pick hitting the body, so obviously, the finish of the guitar was in danger of getting a little battered AND, the single coil wasn't mounted in a ring - it was just screwed directly to the body, simply because the mounting rings didn't exist back then - and, frankly, it looked a little bit odd - not exactly the best idea for the flag ship of the RG line!

So, roll on to 1992 - Ibanez® decided that those two problems were too great - but there was a slight problem with the obvious fix! Firstly, they'll have wanted to avoid any big design changes (routing and refinishing bodies!) and secondly - sticking a pickguard onto the thing essentially turned it into a 750, which already existed!

As such, Ibanez® ended up stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea - they couldn't change the 770s without turning them into 750s, and even if they did, it'd cost a fortune - so they went a bit crackers, and completely reinvented the wheel (...pickguard) - and that brings us back to the pickguard!

The guitars couldn't be routed out to load the electronics from the top, so Ibanez took the 750s plate, and opened up the pot holes and switch slot to sit "above" the mounting nuts and bolts (not enough length on the electronics threads to reach through the wood AND a normal pickguard), and to maintain the distinction between the 770 and the 750, the pickups were direct mounted to the body again - no change of the middle single coil, but neck and bridge humbuckers were simply screwed down to the wood - they were sat on little foam cushions to give some height adjustment, so all 3 pickups needed the mounting screws accessible too - so Ibanez came up with these weird shaped pickup routes too. Finally, to top is all off, these plates were only ever offered in clear acrylic (so to all the world, it looks like theres no pickguard on there)

Neat little solution in the end - the direct mounted pickups showed a greater degree of engineering (no need to height adjust the pickups... not exactly true, but that was the idea), the plates offered protection to the finish, the guitar still looked as it was intended to as a "70", and there wasn't an enormous redesign/cost in doing it!

And, predictably, it flopped massively! The demand just wasn't really there for a higher end RG at that point, and by 1993, the 7 series was discontinued.

Sadly too, Ibanez® didn't quite learn from their previous mistakes either - and most all subsequent 70 series guitars (and 60s and 80s!) went back to true "no pickguard models" (the Jem77P being a rare exception... but those things had absolutely beautiful graphics on the face of the guitar, having that scratched up would have been criminal).

Now - your probably wondering why we're carrying a plate for an early 90s "flop" RG? Well - its kind of because the problem Ibanez® were trying to correct back then, is still true today - there are plenty of RGs that dont have pickguards, that could really do with them - they wont take normal RG pickguards because of the controls, and its a huge amount of work to convert them - and thats where this plate still has its uses - anywhere you find a direct mounted pickup on an RG, this plates the way to give yourself a bit of protection! No serious modifications to do - simply line it up, drill the mounting holes for the plate, and screw it down!

Plus - we offer them in other colours then clear acrylic! So you can, if you want, turn any 70/80 series (eventually, direct mount HSH setups were "officially" label 80s series... but its not exactly a strict rule!) into a 50s!

Tortoise Shell Explained

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.

Pearls 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.

So lets take a closer look.

  
  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 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.

  Ivory Pearl
If Aged Pearl is the Parchment, then Ivory Pearl is most definately the Ivroy to the white - much more creamy in colour. Usually, you only see if in a 3 ply triple Ivory - not very common nowadays, but does occasionally turn up.

  
  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.

  
  Purple Pearl
Hardly an all time classic, but not without its charms. Nice tight pearling, very few gaps between the squares, so nice and uniform - a love it or loathe it colour i suppose. Pair it with a black body and black plastics, and its a nice little statement piece though.

  Blue Pearl
Colour aside, its a fairly traditional pearloid - reflective squares, blue tint - looks a bit crackers on its own, but with the right body, it can work really well.

  Green Pearl
Again, a bit of a novelty colour for me - not exactly what you'd call a classic, but if thats your thing - more power to ya.

"Whites & Creams" 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.

  Parchement

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.

  Ivory 3 ply
As called aged white (and a source of much confusion!) - Ivory  is the only plastic that differs in colour in its 3 and 1 ply forms. The 3 ply above is quite a yellow, almost buttery cream, almos shades of nicotine staining.

Avalon Mother of pearl pickguard for a stratocaster

Ivory 1 Ply

And, for completeness sake - Ivory 1 ply. Strangely, never called Aged white - differs from the 3 ply version quite drastically, its much more a cream colour.A little softer, much less nicotine yellow.

Mint

Now, Mint is where things get really fun.

Mint was originally designed to mimic the "greening" of white celluloid plates as they age, but as they've become more popular, tastes have changed a little, so you see some variations within mint, so we differentiate between these variations.

At the bottom, you've got Mint "B" - the original Mint - its quite dark, and quite green. Any guitar you see online with a mint plate, is likely to have a mint B - its the most common of the mints.

Slap bang in the middle, you've got Mint "A" 3 ply- this is a slightly ligher then B, and is a half way house between parchement and Mint B for me - a little more subtle, a little less green.

And right at the tip, we've got 1 ply Mint "A" - slightly different to the 3 ply version, a little less green again.

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