How to make CUSTOM LASER CUT PICKGUARDS (ft. Longer Ray5 20w CNC laser) DIY step by step tutorial

[@hephaestusofficial]

Excellent video! Wish this was available before I quit my job as a CNC engineer! I actually made many custom stuff, scaled bass replicas, some stage stuff for my band, beer can openers for all my close friends and a ΒΒQ with a dragon theme from the stand to the walls. The program I used was CypOne and Metalcut on Windows if anyone is interested.

[@phobos7176]

Love that. Don't let your circumstances define what you're capable of! Such a simple way of looking at things, yet so effective

[@dasuol]

Thanks for the tutorial. I've been using Lightburn for a while but still learned a couple new things here. Awesome! Quick suggestion for a shortcut when rounding for corners for the pickup hole. After you get your rectangle sized correctly, you can use the Shape Properties tab (bottom right of the cuts/layers panel) to add radius to all the corners at once. Doing it this way leaves it editable if you want to adjust it later on. To get the radius exact (for this one where it's hemispherical on the ends) without trial and error just take the height of your rectangle and divide it by two.

[@jeffallen3382]

Just convert the pdf to a vector. I just did that with a project I'm doing and it worked great!

[@95FORFREEDOM]

Excellent video, this is the first video i have seen showing how to use the drawing functions of lightburn . Thanks

[@danamoose1234]

The image trace feature in lightburn could save you a ton of time tracing the nodes.

[@robertlathan4639]

Great to see you brother and we love you!!!

[@arustydodge2111]

Another “Git r done” start to finish lesson! LOVE your channel, and your humbleness, DAN. Been with you from the start, and will remain in your posse! ⭐️⭐️🙏⭐️⭐️

[@prime-mate]

Light burn is a great program.. I use it professionally daily. Essential to my work flow

[@billsguitargarage]

Thanks for the video. Based on your review I ended up taking the plunge and getting the longer ray5 to start my journey. so I may have a question or two down the road!

[@edulpn]

For a second, reading the notification text, I thought you were making a custom pickguard for a Sterling Ray5 bass lol. Nice job!

[@JoeTheGuitarGuy96]

dan, the more I watch of you describing these systems, especially how to basically designing pick guards from files, it's really giving me thoughts on what I could do. Sure, its an investment, but especially the size, I don't have much space as it is, this would be perfect for pickup rings, pick guards, Trussrod Covers I also use veneers to give the plywood some variety, this could be the step to get better results.

[@chiptait]

Thanks for some great ideas!

[@neurocosm]

This was a wicked helpful video ... Maybe a future purchase!

[@johnnysmink3661]

Awesome video, Dan! Thank you for it!

[@jeffyoung8726]

Dan, love the video. But you know good & well I'm just gonna have you custom make me a pick guard! It's just much easier that way. God bless you, Jenna & the kiddos! Talk to you soon buddy... ✌

[@DJPLAYNICE]

Appreciate the upload, Dan. RAWK!!! 🤘🏼

[@dennisperusse3837]

Great video. One question though on your Cnc machine shown in earlier videos. Did you ever get a chance to look at the program Freecad at all?

[@briansimpson8116]

Great video

[@bggouvea]

love this video, just down loaded tele deluxe from terrapin. I have a pc, might you know what program to enable in light burn? Thank you

[@MrDaveKC]

Wait, a Tele? Seriously that's a very cool, very interesting laser. And I would be seriously interested in a longer adaption to it. This is definitely an area I would be very interested in doing myself, so hopefully one of these days I can put the cash together to do a good decent laser for cutting.

[@prime-mate]

Recommend trying the print cut functionality..

[@gretschzeppelin1183]

Was just wondering why you didn't use trace image,does this not work as well as the he method you used. also will be using the site for the pick gaurds thanx 👍

[@anthonywatson3130]

Not being familiar with LightBurn, could you import the image into Inkscape, use the trace function, and import a SVG instead of the PDF?

[@joelosacco]

Which model is your's ladder? 5,10,20 watt? You may have said which it was but I must have missed it. Awesome video. Learned a lot here!

[@prime-mate]

Also recommend flattening artwork in illustrator first. Allows for easier manipulation of file for iterations .

[@rogergrimmett9199]

I already have an Ortur laser cutter, would it be as effective as this one?

[@getenlightened]

What's the max depth you can reliably cut with the 20w? Thanks, Dan!

[@asdfasdfasdfsadf7868]

If you're not cutting and only engraving could you use this in an apartment?

[@cyranodaburgerack8745]

FYI if you have a Creality 3D printer, they also make 1.6/5/10w laser engraver modules so you don't need to buy a separate machine. I assume the 10w would be more than enough for making pickguards. I'm about to 3D print a "Prusacaster" using a Harley benton T style DIY kit, and I was wondering if I could make a custom pickguard for it. Is it better to make it from wood and then apply some top coating or cut directly from a sheet of acrylic? FYI, yours is the 1st video I watch aboput making a pickguard, I know nothing about the process. Well except don't laser cut flammable material. :)

[@brad-guitar-miller813]

Don't know if you mentioned this in a different video, where do you get the mat you are using for the hold down? Thanks great video.

[@GunsandGuitars]

It’s a honeycomb grid, and I prefer the x-tool honeycomb because it’s larger, and made of steel so I can hold down my material with magnets instead of clamps

[@brad-guitar-miller813]

@@GunsandGuitars thanks Dan

[@michaelkohan8577]

Can the laser do bevel cuts?

[@Atomic-zy2hd]

Have you tried using a pdf to svg converter instead of manual tracing?

[@GunsandGuitars]

Yes, the problem is that the svg still isn’t editable if you want to make changes to the design. That’s why I trace and create multiple layers

[@prOkrEAt]

Mac have trackpads and PC have mice? 🤔 That's some funny stuff. Once in lightburn there are literally no differences... Even can use a trackpads on a PC if you want to torture yourself (mice have so much more control, and available on Mac 🤣) Great video though. About to make my own pickguard for my jazzmaster type guitar but completely different controls. Thanks for posting.

[@GunsandGuitars]

I said Mac *laptop* to differentiate two things. Mac OS, and trackpad. Yes PC laptops have trackpads, yes Macs can use a mouse. I mentioned it so people didn’t get confused when I said “hit command+X” since PC’s don’t have “command” they have “control.” I also didn’t want people confused when watching me zoom by sliding my fingers on a trackpad instead of using a mouse wheel, etc. it was just a disclaimer that my exact terminology or gestures maybe not translate 100% to everyone’s computer setup.

[@prOkrEAt]

@@GunsandGuitars I was just kidding around . Found it funny. Oddly my Mac has no trackpads and my PC does. Mac mini and surface studio pro. I will say the cmd to Ctrl switching between two still gets me all the time after 30 years. Takes my brain a few times upon switching. Curiously have you done acrylic sheets yet? Or just the plywood? I'm going to do tests on plywood because I can get that easy at the local box store. But thinking of acrylic for final pickguard. Working on a design that does both cutting with laser and image etching.

[@RichM1967]

Why laser instead of cnc with a 1/8 bit? I have a CNC machine and wondering if this is something I should get, but if I can do the same thing on the CNC...

[@getenlightened]

How fast can you do it with a 1/8th bit? Including setup and clean up?

[@misinformationwithrandy]

The reason you have to re-export the pdf is because pdf is a *terrible* file format. The re-export cleans it up from whatever exported it at first.

[@yobentley7274]

I don't think I could that without a mouse. I use Bluebeam a lot for my day job. That program seems more like AUTOCAD. Not very intuitive to learn. Made that way on purpose I think.

[@spectrumofreality]

Why wouldn't you use use trace to place the nodes?