Project: making an aged gold leaf pickguard

bad_alice · September 2023

Hi folks, and hoping all is good where ever you are?
My Strat body recently spent some time in the astonishingly talented hands of @lamf68 and returned the other week, sporting it's new "clothes" of relic metallic navy nitro over Aztec gold nitro. And rather gorgeous it looks too (IMO) with loads of authentic looking checking all over it. "Awesome" just about covers it.
The question of what pickguard might look best with this was one I knew I could only answer, once the guitar was both back home and fully assembled again. Yes, my original idea had been anodised gold but...well, those can be a bit hit or miss in terms of where they land in the yellow/gold/bronze/orangeWTF spectrum and scoring one that perfectly complimented the aztec gold was always going to be a challenge.
Franchin Guitars do sell a tidy array of gold/metallic leaf finished pickguards but at around £100 (and that's before delivery and assorted import taxes) each I felt trying to make my own was worth a punt and, as I got lucky and this turned out really well, I thought I'd share my process with you.
First up, here's how the guitar looks now with its new fancy pickguard now on board...

I'm going to take you through the process step by step and, just to keep things manageable in terms of amount of pics and text, make each step its own post in this thread.
Right then.
Let's get to it!

bad_alice · September 2023

Step 1:
Gold. What do I love about gold and the variety of looks it can offer in guitarland?
I'm definitely in the "trying to give it some depth" category as well as being aware that its "BLING!!!" factor is clearly off the charts if you don't take care. Some people love that, and all power to them, but for me, I'm all about dialing that down a bit and, hopefully, in a way that compliments the guitar. In addition, I adore the whole oxidisation vibe that old Gibson goldtops produce and so, bearing in mind this Strat's paint job is already a relic, it felt like embracing all those aspects was what I wanted in the gold leaf pickguard that would go on this particular guitar.

Supplies:
I already had an old pickguard in a parts drawer that fit this guitar perfectly, so I was sorted on that front
1 x 80ml Mod Podge (see pic below for details and price). The deal with this stuff is that you paint it evenly over the pickguard and then wait a few minutes until it's dryish-but-still-tacky (it's a gold leaf "size" in this way - go check out YouTube to dig deeper into this side of things. It won't be time wasted!)

1 x pack of imitation gold leaf sheets - while I'd probably advise against embracing <glances down at wedding ring> imitation gold in other aspects of your life, you really do here. And especially so if an aged look is what you're after. It's so much easier to handle than pure gold leaf, it's pretty damn cheap and it will oxidise over time (it's main ingredients being copper) so it's only going to oxidise and patina aka look better and better as time goes by, much like a tasty, tasty goldtop.

bad_alice · September 2023

Don't worry about missing any bits and having gold free areas, just keep adding layers until the whole area of the pickguard is covered.
It'll end up looking something like this...

bad_alice · September 2023

The next bit gets a little artsy but again, it's fairly easy and, as I don't have any particular aptitude where painting is concerned, just take your time and see how it goes.
I bought some teeny paint pots of ACRYLIC paint at £2 each from my local toy shop. If memory serves I used bronze/metallic brown, gold, bright green and bright blue.
Oh, and if you search Google Images for Franchin Guitars gold pickguards, the chances are that you'll find a pic there that'll help you know what to add and where.
This is the outcome at this stage...

bad_alice · September 2023

It looked good but...it didn't quite have the oxidised vibe I was after. Plus it felt a little flat and one dimensional too, none of which are adjectives you really want where gold leafed...well, anything is concerned.
I took a huge deep breath and decided to take my green acrylic paint and create a very dilute green wash. I then painted this all over the entirety of the pickguard.
Now, and this is important, ONLY do this once the rest of the acrylic paint is 100% bone dry. Otherwise you risk the detailed painted bits being washed away and/or losing all definition as the green wash smudges, fades and generally ruins them. It's not a complete disaster as you can just start over and lay on a fresh layer of gold leaf but I have no doubts this error will ROYALLY piss you off so yeah, I thought I should mention it.

bad_alice · September 2023

Frustratingly, I seem to have accidentally permanently deleted my photo of how the pickguard looked after the wash had dried but, suffice to say, it was now a very flat gold with a greenish tinge including some small areas that were a slightly stronger green plus the dark areas now felt more integrated too.
Excellent.
THIS was what I was hoping for!
Why? Because if you really want gold to respond to the light like you'd expect, then this next stage is crucial.
I began adding more Mod Podge over the top of this, but in a slightly less even and, around the edges and the areas where it felt like natural wear would occur, much patchier manner.
After that had reached the "tacky" stage I began adding fresh gold leaf but,, again in a much more haphazard way, for example, folding the leaf back on itself/tearing random size bits/sprinkling much smaller pieces on. My hope was this this would add some much needed texture and give the finish a more natural look too.
I got lucky and it seemed to work. BOOYAH!

bad_alice · September 2023

Okay, the pickguard is done and looking great. WIN.
Now, how on earth to seal it and properly protect it from the ravages of RAWK and the passions of the idiot (me) playing this guitar?
With the caveat of "I probably won't truly know how successful I've been at this until a good bit of play time has passed" applied, here's what I decided on...
1. 3 x coats of gloss clear coat poly aerosol spray
next:
2. 2 coats of clear Yacht (thin and very hard) varnish
and finally:
3. 4 more coats of gloss clear coat poly aerosol spray.
Obviously, ensure the previous layer has FULLY dried before applying the next.

The final step being taking a fresh razor and removing the dried excess from the edges of the pickguard's pickup cavities, the holes for the vol/tone pots and the split where the 5 way switch pops through. You need to do this as otherwise there's a good chance they won't fit as the residue of all of those layers will be left behind on the edges of those cavities.

bad_alice · September 2023

Okay, maybe I fibbed.
There was one final stage before I was totally happy with how the pickguard looked on board the guitar.
After all of this efforts, I felt that the usual contenders of chrome/relic/black/cosmo black /gold screws all looked shit against the pickguard's new look.
The Devil they say, is in the details after all.
Happily, this was easily remedied.
I took the 11 pickguard screws and the pickup height adjustment screws and stabbed each of them into the top of a small cardboard box I had lying around. This meant that only the screw heads were visible.
They were painted with the acrylic gold paint I'd bought and then sprayed with several coats of the gloss clear coat polyurethane spray I still had left over.
Once dried they were all ready to be used to attach my new, rather fabulous #YMMV pickguard to its guitar!
Pics?
Pics you say?
Well, okay then (and hoping you found this thread a helpful and maybe even inspiring one?
Wishing you the very BEST of luck if you decide to give this a go too

And, to bring this thread full circle and end where I began, here is in full...

markblack · September 2023

cheers for the post... i like it!

CountryDave · September 2023

A most excellent run through.
Guitar looks ace.

paulnb57 · September 2023

I dont dislike that, refreshingly different, thanks for sharing

markblack · September 2023

funny enough I was thinking of a gold foil guitar might be fun to try... but your post inspired me to have a go a scratch plate for a build I've been working on...

first is gold leaf over black.

Gold leaf over white and more distressing.

bad_alice · September 2023

markblack said:

cheers for the post... i like it!

Glad you enjoyed it Mark, cheers!

CountryDave said:

A most excellent run through.
Guitar looks ace.

Thanks David and it felt like a fun project to share

paulnb57 said:

I dont dislike that, refreshingly different, thanks for sharing

Cheers Paul

markblack said:

funny enough I was thinking of a gold foil guitar might be fun to try... but your post inspired me to have a go a scratch plate for a build I've been working on...

first is gold leaf over black.

Gold leaf over white and more distressing.

NICE! They both look terrific! Loving the distressed vibe on the white one too - very cool.

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Project: making an aged gold leaf pickguard

Comments