98 incorrect size pickguards...replacement help!!

[Lowden 25]

Hello
i was wondering if any of you guys know where i can find a pickguard for a 98 historic which will do away with the horrible gap at the treble pickup?......Gibson really botched their measurements up here.......is there anyone who makes such a pickguard?
all help REALLY appreciated on this one
Thanks

 

[Biggles58]

I had the same issue with my R8 and found a good replacement pcikguard on ebay but I bought one of the last ones this fellow had 3 years ago. Do a search on 98 R8 pickguards and you'll find a few threads on the topic

 

[Chef Greg]

http://www.lespaulforum.com/forum/search.php?searchid=795461

 

[Sean French]

I thought the regular Standard pickguard would fit without the gap.Seeing as the '93-'98 Historics have the pickup spacing of a regular production Standard.Not sure though.

 

[Electric Lloyd]

Hi. I have a real vintage P-90 pickguard that I cut to fit my '98 R-9. You may be able to purchase an Historic R-6 guard & cut it for PAFs.

 

[Lowden 25]

Thanks
for all your help guys.............i had thought about an historic R6 Guard myself but it may be too short.....getting one may be hard too
cheers

Michael

 

[Cream Fan]

'98 was the year they had the bridge pickup in the wrong spot, for whatever reason. It's not the pickguard.

 

[Lowden 25]

gulp!.............thats even worse
scary stuff!

 

[BudBurst]

Lowden,

Provided that the spacing on your 98 is the same as a regular production standard(I dont know),then like El Lloyd suggested, the R6 guard is the way to go. Im wanting historic cream plastic on my 68CA, and I just received the
R6 pickguard that I ordered, and lengthwise it is spot on. I just havent gotten around to cutting the openings yet. I got mine from Sweetwater.

 

[Lowden 25]

Thanks Budburst
i will look up sweetwater

cheers

 

[Electric Lloyd]

Also, I believe only the '97 & '98 PAF equipped reissues have this problem. It was an attempt to have the guitar intonate better by moving the bridge (& the lead pickup) back for the longer string lengths needed for lighter strings.

 

[SHRIMP69]

from 1997 and 1998, the space between pickups were wider because of wrong neck joint position or something. the pickguard itself has been the same one since 1993 i guess. so nothing we can do to fill that gap with the genuine gibson pickguard. i guess we have to special order one to some pickguard pro shop. i have two '98 R8's and it used to bother me to hell. now i am making sense of it just for myself that my two R8 have cool vintage looking shrunk pickguards like
some vintage les paul standards.

 

[Cream Fan]

It's funny, but the '54 Oxbloods have the same issue, though for a different reason entirely.

 

[55Custom]

Also, I believe only the '97 & '98 PAF equipped reissues have this problem. .

My 1996 R8 had the same problem. The pickups on pre-1999's were 2-3/8" apart, instead of the vintage-correct 2-1/4".

There might be a dealer in the "business classifieds" here that makes the "no-gap" pickguard for those.

 

[bluesjuke]

This has been ongoing even back to the 50's from time to time.

 

[Lowden 25]

Thanks Guys
for all your valueable input as usual............Chef Greg has sorted me out with one he had.................top guy!

cheers

Mike

 

[bluesjuke]

Was wondering if you'd jump on that.

 

[burstman59]

My 97 r8 guard had the gap so I complained to Gibson back then and even wrote on their forum about it. I think I complained about it so much that they let me send it back but not just for that reason. It also wouldnt stay in tune. When I git it back it was corrected and they cut a new guard for it as well. I doubt if they would do that now. I also waited about 4 months to get it back. I realize the gap is there but I have been told several things why this is on the 97 and 98 humbuckered Historic LPS. Some are not as bad as others. One dealer explaned that its not the back pickup at all that is in the wrong spot but its because they moved the neck further north about a 1/8 th of an inch so they had to move the front pickup up therefore causing the gap at the rear. I was told by another guy that the rear pickup is indeed in the wrong place so who knows. I think RS has moved a couple of these for customers. I dont have my 97 any more to measure but I've noticed in photos of some historics the the 16th fret line is right even with the body and on some it is indeed about a 16th an inch above it. I just looked at the pullout of the Greeny/Moore burst in this months VG and the 16th fret is a little above the body line but...We cant really rely on this as the whole outline of the body is a hair bigger on Historics right or wrong ?

 

[TweedToneKing]

You could just lose the guard …

 

[corpse]

Good comment- take a look at the date of the OP.
We have been here a while...