New Pickguard for Faded SG

Hey all,

I saw a Gibson Brown Faded SG at my local music store tonight. Not something that I am usually interested in, but the price made me think twice...

I have never been really crazy about those "full" pickguards on SG's, and was wondering if I could install pickup rings to hold the humbuckers and then add an SG "Half-guard" (if you know what I mean).

I then started to wonder what kind of routing they have underneath these faded SGs. Not easy to ask a store to remove the pickguard before buying, so I looked around the web and came across this picture from another TDPRI post:



Well, what do you think? Would a black humbucker ring cover up that routing?

Probably.

But it seems like the middle route between the two pickup cavities is the bigger problem...

I don't have any pics, but when I had my SG Faded apart, the routing was nowhere near as extensive as it is in that photo.

Oh Flip!

I never even noticed that middle routing!! Isn't that strange? I got all excited thinking about the pickup rings, and I didn't see the large canal in the middle of the guitar.

Interesting what Pointmonger wrote - I wonder if I will have to ask the store to try and lift the pickguard a bit?

Well, that took the interest down a notch. Maybe I can't make it work. I don't really need another guitar. I will write back and add if it's a go-ahead.