Pickguard screws

A stock T-40 has 18 pickguard screws, of which 13 are on the lower side. Am I right in concluding that this many were needed to hold the pg down on the contoured face of the bass because the plastic was not pre-bent to the body curvature?

good question. i've taken the pg off a couple of times, i'd say it was probably pre-bent. my only pet peeve with this bass is the tiny switches, if one breaks, off comes the pg. if these pickguards weren't pre-bent to the body contour before, those 57 screws will persuade them into shape

Excellent question. I've never really thought about that before. I have noticed that after market pickguards don't have the dimple around the screw holes. While I haven't put one on myself I've often wondered if they fit properly are end up buckling. I'm sure more than one person has busted the pick guard while torquing the screw way too tight.

A couple of years and T-40's ago I sent a stock T-40 pickguard to Jeannie's Pickguards and he made a template from it, exact duplicate. He actually said that it was hard to do because the guard was warped a little from the contour of the bass. His guard fit perfectly on mine.

Roger does great work and he's a nice guy, recommended:

http://home.comcast.net/~pickguards/

I may end up doing that for my triple toaster T-60 I'm building. I'm not looking forward to hacking up a vintage pick guard.

just a question, where exactly do you plan to plop in the 3rd pick-up?

After having to remove the pickguard more than a few times when I did my modding project and having to replace the pickup selector on my main T-40, I can attest to the agony of taking out or putting in all of those screws.

As for the possible cracking of the pickguard, the one on my fretted T-40 is cracked in the white layer at the edges by a few of the screw holes.

I can only imagine how frustrating it was to the people that assembled them every day to have to put in that many screws over and over again.

jtre wrote:

just a question, where exactly do you plan to plop in the 3rd pick-up?

Smack dab in the middle of the bridge and neck pickups.

About PT43's 3rd pick-up: can't speak for the T-60 guitar, but always liked the T-40's bridge p-up, but felt the neck one should have sounded livelier, so years back i tried a few different p-ups in the neck position. it still has some kind of creme colored DiFuzzio humbucker in it (adjustable pole pieces, i can't find anything on it, maybe it's what they call a Model One now), but since finding these web forums, i realize putting it back to stock is probably for the best.
i digress, back to Framptoning a T-40/60: back then i had considered moving the neck p-up as close to the neck as possible & throwing in a jazz p-up in the middle while the router was handy. i guess i'm the only one that thought this way, glad i didn't hack away at the lumber, because i don't think the p-ups i tried were enough of an improvement to justify further experimentation with power tools. though that Darkstar thing i read about here has me going.
another thing, obviously, be real gentle if you're thinking of cutting into the original pickguard, look at what was said above about the overtightened screws cracking the pg. - later

I totally understand the thought process to keeping our beloved T's stock. I felt that way myself until recently. I bought a '79 PAF T-60 about a year ago for the project but kept putting the carving off. A couple months back I received a T-60 body that someone had already butchered to accept a single coil in the middle position. Now I have no problem carving this one up.

Sorry about the temporary sidestep in the thread. To get us back on subject:

Does anyone know the size of the pickguard screws? I need to pick up some more for the T-63 project and my other source has tanked on me.

I've said this before, I would not change the electronics on a T-40. The dual humbuckers are awesome. They can more than hold their own with any type of music.

I was hesitant about changing the pickup on my T-45 but since I was trying to achieve a certain sound, it worked. That bass with the Dark Star was to serve a specific purpose, and it is incredible. The stock pickup couldn't get what I wanted on that bass. Even with flats. The Dark Star is known for being installed in semi-hollow basses but with a solid body, it's great.

Keep the T-40's stock.

This thread has really drifted....sorry. Let's get back on topic. Anyone?

Hi Tony!
Have you tried asking fr8train over at the T-60 forum?

I got some from him but they aren't marked and I have no clue what size they are!

Sure did Jeff. I'm still waiting on the package to arrive and I ordered it back in August.

All I know is IF you order a NEw pickguard it will be FLAT it is not curved i known there is a slight arch so im guessing that is why all the screews

my bass has a two rusty screw heads that i want to replace, the closest i found were at a boat store, #4 x 1/2" stainless pan. not exact but close, i bought a fistfull if anyone needs 'em