Pick-guard keeps coming off

[Peter Hackman]

Not sure that this qualifies as a repair question but there seems to be no better forum.

My Collings came without a pickguard. After a few months I had a mini-guard installed, the style that attaches with two pins. Apparently the holes were drilled a little too large, or the pins were slightly skewed, as the thing keeps coming off. I have put a few drops of silicon into at least one of the holes, which means that the thing comes off slower. It's pretty annoying when this happens in mid-song, especially if I'm recording. The guard will make some noise when it's almost off.

Suggestions?

[Michael Lewis]

Pete, it sounds as though the holes need to be drilled out and plugged so they can be properly redrilled. There is no substitute for a proper installation, except duct tape. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[woodwizard]

Pete,
The little guard on my Goldrush was just like that with the two pins and it also kept coming off when it was new. Pretty annoying isn't it... I put just a tiny tiny tad of that Elmers yellow glue on the pins and it hasn't moved sence about a year now. Just don't put very much and let it set like over night. If at some point I want to remove it won't be hard to break the glue loose. Worked for me.

[MikeEdgerton]

That white glue might not hold if there's silicone in the holes.

[sunburst]

Suggestions?
Too late...


Please don't go near that thing with silicone!

If the mandolin ever needs any finish work/touch up, or of the fingerboard ever needs to be re-glued, or other repairs done, silicone can cause the person doing the repairs serious problems with finish/glue adhesion.

A "quick fix", by the way, is to slightly bend the pins so they have more resistance going in and out of the holes.

[Frank Ford]

For what it's worth, Collings installs the small pickguards with brass screw inserts mounted in the fingerboard extension and two tiny machine screws to hold the guard on. Because of the potential difficulty in lining things up, I understand that Collings insists on doing the job at the factory. It's a very good, solid installation.