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I've got an old Yamaha FG-300 on my bench and I'm not sure what to do with the pickguard. It's cracking, shrinking, and off-gassing. My inclination is to remove it, and order or make a replacement. But is there lacquer underneath? Does that matter?
The cracks rattle when you play it too, so if I don't remove the pickguard, how do I deal with the rattle? Flow some CA glue in the cracks?

Photos are here

Interesting how much that pickguard has shrunk as is evident by the original outline on the top. I would get that thing off of there pronto before the off-gassing damages the top. I don't know how Yamaha attached their pickguards; rather they were glued on or attached with transfer adhesive, but either way I imagine it will come off easy with a thin spatula worked under it. The reason I think this is that if it was glued on and well attached, with that much shrinkage it would have cracked the top (like the common pickguard crack on vintage Martin guitars which have the pickguards glued on to the bare wood and finished over). Don't worry if there is finish underneath.

I'd definitely remove it and replace it with something less volatile. Before you do that you should cut out a paper template and add a few mm on the edges so you can make an accurate replacement that will cover the footprint of the old one.

Like Dan said, get that thing off of there before it does more damage. Careful with the heat, it is celluloid and will start on fire if you get it too hot. Terrapin Guitars has that shape on file but I don't know if they can do the engraving. I did one about a year ago and can't remember what was underneath. If it's raw wood, a few coats of shellac and your good to go for a new one with adhesive film.

Welcome to the forum.

Steve

Thanks for everything!

I'm not worried about replicating the pickguard perfectly, it just needs to be functional. I feel fine ordering one from Terrapin.

If it's raw wood underneath, is there a shellac you recommend?

Any shellac will do for this purpose. Zinsser seal coat from your local hardware/home store will work. Or you can mix your own with flake shellac and alcohol. Three or so light coats should do it. I get my flake shellac from shellacfinishes.net and mix with PGA.

Thanks so much!

Got the pickguard off, here's what's underneath.

The part where the rosette is chewed up had different glue that didn't soften with a hairdryer. I had better results heating my spatula and chipping the pickguard away. I suspect someone before me used CA glue to secure the pickguard in that area.

My plan is to sand/scrape the old glue away, apply a few coats of varnish, then apply a new pickguard (I'm ordering one from Terrapin Guitars).

Sounds like a good plan. Your picture didn't load properly. At least I can't see it.

+1

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Well, dang... I added it to the original album, it should be the last picture here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/zD7YMMrgV97Cawh5A

All of those FG300s shed their pickguards like that. When you replace it, I'd suggest a significantly thinner one, less of a tone sink.

These go for stupid amounts of money...

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https://soundcloud.com/jeffreylsuits/he ... -runnin-13