Pickerwannbee - Posted - 12/20/2019:  04:41:52

Hello everyone. Merry Christmas to all. Been a while since I posted anything. I have a question. What is the best glue to re-glue a pick guard to a guitar? The pick guard on my 1976 Yamaha FG-300 has just about come completely off and needs to be re-glued. Thank you.

Orpheum - Posted - 01/02/2020:  08:59:46

Hello Pickerwannbe,
Happy new year to you!
I think the best way to (re)glue a platic pickguard is to use double-sided adhesive sheet, like this one :
stewmac.com/Materials_and_Supp...heet.html
You can easily find this kind of adhesive in every good DIY shop...

Pickerwannbee - Posted - 01/05/2020:  04:27:53

Thanks Orpheum. I took it to a luthier and he did that very thing. He noticed the guard is warped and said it may not hold and may need to be replaced. One side is already coming up.
Happy New Year to you.

ytterbium - Posted - 04/17/2020:  04:22:41

I looked up the internet and saw 3M Pickguard Adhesive Sheet is the best to use. Thanks for the info.

Dick Hauser - Posted - 04/19/2020:  08:22:16

I read an article that described how improperly fastened pick guards can damage a guitar.
The article said this had been a common occurrence. Newer attachment techniques are being used to avoid this problem. The glued on pick guards sometime caused the top of the guitars to develop a crack. I watched a video of a luthier replacing a pick guard. The operation was more involved than I expected it to be.

rcc56 - Posted - 10/09/2021:  21:11:51

If the glueing surface on your Yamaha is finished, you can use the 3M double sided adhesive from Stew-mac. Clean the surfaces really well with naphtha or mineral spirits and let dry before you proceed. But the 3M adhesive will not work if the glueing surface is bare wood. It will only stick to a lacquered surface.



Re-glueing a pickguard to bare wood is a big problem. If there are a lot of wood fibers stuck to a pickguard, there is a technique that will work that uses Titebond on Frank Ford's excellent website, frets.com.  From the home page, go to the "big index page," select "Items for luthiers," and you will find the article among the guitar articles under "pickguards." Since the glue needs 24 hours to set, it requires making an inside clamping caul to safely clamp the guard in place until the glue has cured.



If there are no wood fibers on the back of the pickguard, the bare wood must be either be glued with a glue that will bond plastic to bare wood, or the wood must be sealed with lacquer or shellac [a technique also described at frets.com].



Most of the glues that will bond plastic to wood, such as contact cements or CA glue are extremely invasive to finishes, and even with very careful masking, these glues have a way of bleeding under the masking and causing finish damage. The only thing that I have found that is safe to use is Wilson Art Melamine glue, which is used by cabinet makers to bond Formica to wood or particle board. Although it is not well known or proven in lutherie, I have used it a few times with success. Bear in mind that its bonding strength is quite modest, so it may not work if the pickguard is warped or curled at the edges. But it will not damage finishes, and cleans up easily by rubbing it off with your thumb after it is cured, or if necessary, with a light rubbing compound.

Somehwere, I heard of someone using a canopy glue such as Zap Formula 560 for glueing a guard to bare wood, but I have not tried it, nor do I know if it is non-invasive to finishes.  Zap's link to the MSDS is not working today, so I can not tell if it has any invasive solvents such as acetone.

Edited by - rcc56 on 10/09/2021 21:28:51

yellowdog - Posted - 04/03/2022:  13:50:49

Please don't glue it down firmly yet Picjerwannbee because I have recently invented a device that improves the sound of guitars that only works on guitars WITHOUT pick guards. It picks up inaudible Surface Acoustic Waves where a pick guard is usually located and converts them into more beautiful and louder audible sound. I submitted a Provisional Patent Request for it two weeks ago and as soon as it is logged in I will start selling them... CHEAP! It improves both volume and sound quality on my 3/4 size Baby Taylor guitar.

yellowdog