My pickguard won't lie flat ...

[jack.plugg]

... A year or so ago I bought an old, nice looking, black pearl Fender pickguard.

But twelve months on, I still can't use it because it won't lie flat!

I've tried putting it between books in a tight bookcase, and I even had an amp sitting on it for a few weeks, but it still won't do it. Yet, because it is such a nice guard I'm reluctant to get rid of it!

It has a Fender Custom Shop sticker on it, and it is a 5-ply guard, (and I have a similar problem with a 5-ply Fender tortoisehell Strat pickguard too).

Is it past redemption, or has anyone here got a good foolproof method that you've actually used with success? I imagine heat might play a part in curing the problem but I don't want it ending up like one of Salvador Dali's clocks!

[kickz28]

Maybe if you put it in boiling water before putting it under some books?
Thats what I would try.
Boil it, put it under some books overnight, and do this everyday until it was straight...
I don't know if it would work.

I'm not responsible if you ruin your pickguard :D

Joey

[GTO]

but I don't want it ending up like one of Salvador Dali's clocks!

Well, it can't be worse than useless can it?

You need to get a positive bow in the opposite direction, so the screws are pulling the edge down, not trying, in vain, to keep the middle from bowing up. I have used a hot air paint stripper for just such a task. Get somebody wearing thick leather gloves, no honestly, really thick, to hold the pickguard in a bend that puts the screw holes, neck-to-bridge, in an arc away from the body, and apply heat evenly to the middle underside. As you feel the guard 'relax', plunge it into cold water. Hopefully you will then have a guard with a set bow, but in the direction that when it is screwed down, it will lie flat. Think about it before you try, it worked for me though.

[Mark Davis]

All you need is some double sided tape under the pickguard. Remove pickguard put double sided tape under a few areas screw it all down and your done works everytime.

[Billy Claire]

Whatever you do, don't overheat it or get it near flame... that's nitrocellulose and it will make for a spectacular blaze.

[Teletwang]

Isn't that why Fender went to 8 screws?

[benmeza]

I have seen where people have had success putting a pickguard between two pieces of glass on a hot day - may or may not work, but it is easy enough to at least try(if you live somewhere warm like me)...

[lenny]

if it's a 3 ply pickguard, i can't see it letting go of its curve if the 3 plys have come to rest like that . so i'd go with the double sided sticky tape idea
$.02
been wrong before...
if you could somehow slide the 3 ply's in relation to each other...

i can't see it letting go of its curve if the 3 plys have come to rest like that

[jack.plugg]

... I'll take the bull by the horns and have a go at it.

The double-sided tape idea seems the easiest starting point, (so long as the pickguard doesn't pull at the paintwork or lacquer). If that doesn't do it, I'll resort to carefully warming it up.

Right now it is in the bookcase, jammed between a set of encyclo .... enciclopaed ... encyclope ... , oh, between some big fat books!