I love doing a variety of different kinds of projects! Most recently, I had the opportunity take a new twist on my “statement wall” murals by applying the same concept to a guitar pickguard!
Since I am also a guitar player, this project was particularly enjoyable. My client Greg was building his dream electric guitar, and while he knew exactly what he wanted in terms of the type of guitar and components, he wasn’t sure what to do with the colors and the final look of the guitar – which is when he came to me.
To keep a simple, classic vibe and also have the type of wood Greg wanted, we went with a maple neck and fretboard and a medium-brown stained ash body. For the knobs and pickups, we used a classic Fender-style “mint” to add a splash of color while still keeping to the classic look. However, Greg still wanted something to take it visually over the top to make the guitar unique and striking – which left the pickguard.
In looking at my work, Greg particularly liked my abstract “statement wall” murals where I start with a pattern from nature but blow it up and tweak the colors to make something new and dynamic. Doing this with a pickguard was the perfect match with what Greg was looking for!
After sending him a number of pictures of different patterns from nature, we settled on this picture of agate:
For the pickguard, I chose the section that work best with the shape of the guard and pumped up the colors to create a wild but classy look to top off the guitar.
Here is the final guard! Below is the guard laid out with the guitar body, knobs and pickups to give an idea of what the final product will look like. Now I can’t wait until Greg has it all put together!
Enjoy,
Jason