Handmade Metal Pickguards

One thing I have always wondered about guitars is, why are the pickguards plastic? You’ve got all kinds of exotic woods, precision craftsmanship, topped off with a cheap piece of plastic. Not to say they always look bad, just that a lot of times they could look so much better. The Japanese guitars of the 60’s often had metal pickguards. It contributes immensely to their design aesthetic and it’s not surprising these guitars are becoming more and more sought after.

From a practical point of view metal pickguards can help shield the guitars electronics from outside electrical interference. Most plastic pickguards are at least partially covered on the underside with metal foils for this reason.

So now I’m sure your thinking, maybe I should get me a metal pickguard. Well, your in luck, because I recently came across a maker of fine, custom, handmade metal pickguards. Her name is Christiane Eertmer and she is an artist from Germany. I asked Christiane if she could tell me about herself and her work and she had this to say:

I started making these pickguards about 2 years ago. I’m a trained engraver. I was trained to engrave hunting rifles with traditional engraver tools.
I love to engrave and working with metal in general and since I also love the beauty of guitars so I wanted to combine this.
About the process. I make the pickguards of metal plates (aluminium, brass, copper).  At first I make the designs with pencil and paper. Then I saw the pickguards out and engrave them.
Lately I also started to plate the metal with other metals like gold, brass or copper. Or I work with paint.
I make everything myself and by hand. I don’t use CNC, laser or mechanical gravers.
Some of the pickguads (like Strat, Tele, SG …) consists of two parts the sawed out part and a backplate. This backplate is also made of metal to serve as a shield and to cover the electronics.
I make my own designs as well as custom work.

I accept orders for all shown pickguards and also for custom pickguards.
The price depends on the material, design and size.
Prices for the Les Paul size start at $ 45
for Tele, Firebird, Thunderbird, SG size at $ 70
for Strat, Flying V, Precsions bass size $ 85
(without shipping)