Any cheap or easy way to remove guitar pickguard "tanline"?

[Mando&Me]

Hi, folks. You've been so helpful in the past.

I have a guitar I really love, a 10-year-old Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-500M slope dread, which happens to have the most hideous factory pickguard known to man (will post a pic tomorrow).

I bought a standard batwing pickguard from LMI to replace it, only to discover it doesn't fully cover the tanline on the spruce top.

I'm sure the answer is no, but is there any cheap or easy way to get rid of the tanline?

Thanks in advance.

M&M

[HoGo]

I fear there is no easy or cheap way. The tan is in the finish and wood so even sanding may not remove it. Any color added to the finish will make it even worse...
But after few years of suntanning the color will become more even...

[bpatrick]

There's really no way to get rid of the tan line. It's in the wood now. It would take a tremendous amount of sanding into the top to get beneath it and ruin the top. Most folks just get a new pick guard the same size or slightly larger to cover the tan. I'm refinishing a guitar I made where the top coat failed. The guitar is only 3 years old and was kept in a studio most of its life. It has a faint tan line from that limited amount of time and sun exposure.

[Timbofood]

I’d recommend just letting it go, your guitar just got a new bathing suit that’s all.

[rockies]

My solution to that was to buy the pickguard material (adhesive backed or a sheet of adhesive material) in the sheet form from LMII and cut to the shape to cover the tan line and put on the same as a purchased pickguard.
Dave

[Ivan Kelsall]

Unless the pickguard shape has changed over the years,here's what it looks like. Even buying your own material to make a new guard,there's not many shapes that i can think of that would cover all the 'tan lines',& it's the shape that the OP doesn't like.
For me,it looks a tad overlarge compared to a standard Martin pickguard,but i don't really like the
'fat-a**' look of the Martin one either,
Ivan

[Mando&Me]

Just wanted to thank everyone who posted in response. You told me what I already knew, but just wanted to see if there was something I wasn't thinking of.

Ivan: You beat me to the photo; sorry, just been too busy the last few days. But yes, that's the same ugly pickguard. Thanks so much for taking the time to post that, and also for your opinion.

I'm gonna go back to PLAN A, which is to remove that pickguard and mail it to Taylor at Holter, see if he can come up with anything,.

Thanks, Folks,

M&M

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi M&M - I've seen a few guitars that have had a replacement pickguard fitted & they've usually had a ''tan line'' as you call it. There doesn't seem that you can do too much to get rid of something like that unless you go for a 'full frontal re-finish' = costly, & it may change the tone (?). It's not too bad if you're replacing a small p/guard with a larger one,but in this case,you need to go larger still - not an option !!. I can't help but think that i'd maybe have bitten the bullet & stuck with the original.

I must admit,that although the original p/guard isn't exactly 'pretty',i've seen a few worse ones (''to me'' that is),
Ivan

[multidon]

The reason the “tan line” is there is that light could not reach those portions of the wood and darken them, as happened with the rest of the guitar. Now that those portions are exposed they will begin to darken too. Eventually, with enough light exposure, the effect will become less noticeable as the newly exposed wood darkens.

The reason I know this is because I purchased a used hammered dulcimer that included paper strips with the note names on them. They were designed to place alongside the bridges to be a help to the beginner, and be removed when the player learned where the notes are. However, this person simply left them in place and never did remove them. This is actually pretty common and you see these used dulcimers with lighter strips of wood. I removed the paper strips and now, even after just a couple of months, the effects are already much less noticeable. Of course, I suppose different woods react in different ways. This dulcimer top is mahogany. YMMV but I would expect that, regardless of species, time and light exposure will help.

[Timbofood]

You could go “Flames of Love” a la Count Sparkula.

I don’t remember who posted that particular moniker to Larry Sparks but, it’s stuck in my head!

[Jim Garber]

Just for your info, that "ugly" pickguard was copied from the original pre-Gibson Epiphone flattop guitars. Here is a spread from a 1942 catalog. Personally, I don't think it is ugly, just different. Remember this guitar is not a Martin, it is an Epiphone. They actually copied the old ones, more or less.

[Ivan Kelsall]

I feel some empathy with M&M - The pickguard on my Lebeda was (is) simply an anonymous piece of Ebony. I removed it,then decided to re-shape it & put it back on. It was ok for a week or so then i decided that i just didn't like it & removed it. It's still off. It was easy for me to do without any of the problems that M&M has. If something really doesn't appeal to you 'visually',then it's ''put up or shut up'' a lot of the time. In this case,i'd bite the bullet,take on board what Jim Garber says above - ''original Epiphone shape'', & stick with it,
Ivan