Salvaging an old Samick Strat copy

[McCreed]

So far a dremel has worked well to reshape, using a grinding attachment to get the angle around the edge somewhere near right. With some luck some fine sandpaper and a bit of a wet sand will clean it up to an acceptable state.

Another good tool for working on pickguards is just a Stanley knife blade held in the hand (without the "knife" part).
It can be used as a scraper and affords a lot of control if you looking to remove a little bit at a time. Actually, you'd be surprised how much material you remove quickly as well. They're good for both fine tuning bevels or heel and vibrato cut-outs.

FWIW, the plain old blade has a plethora of uses doing this kind of work.

[Edit to add: Fine sandpaper used dry then wet will clean up the new edges nicely. You can even use a bit of polishing compound after.]

Like Simon, I was going to suggest a sanding drum on the Dremel for widening the control cavity. Definitely less risk of accidental or incidental damage.

BTW, that first fret is #@#$^ mess! (but you probably knew that already )

[lunaticds]

Another good tool for working on pickguards is just a Stanley knife blade held in the hand (without the "knife" part).
It can be used as a scraper and affords a lot of control if you looking to remove a little bit at a time. Actually, you'd be surprised how much material you remove quickly as well. They're good for both fine tuning bevels or heel and vibrato cut-outs.

FWIW, the plain old blade has a plethora of uses doing this kind of work.

[Edit to add: Fine sandpaper used dry then wet will clean up the new edges nicely. You can even use a bit of polishing compound after.]

Like Simon, I was going to suggest a sanding drum on the Dremel for widening the control cavity. Definitely less risk of accidental or incidental damage.

BTW, that first fret is #@#$^ mess! (but you probably knew that already )

I do wish I'd been a little more patient before getting in there with the router. That said, I did survive. Just. I did need to take a lot out. The original pickguard only ever had 2 pots, so the addition of the third needed a fair chunk of space, as did the centimetre I needed to knock off above the bridge to allow for the pickup. The originals were up higher.

I spent a couple of hours reshaping the pickguard and trying to get the angle right to deal with that middle white ply. It's really not great, but it's better than it was after my first attempt at it. Due to the alignment differences from the differing shapes I can't have this quite as tidy as I'd like - I'd probably need to get a fresh cut made of the original pickguard, but I'm not sure I care quite that much on this guitar.
Theres a particularly odd bit near the bottom of the neck - that was a screw hole.

Before:


After:


I definitely prefer the black pickguard and pups. Given how slow Australia Post is, I suspect it'll be a week or two before I get the new fret wire and tools to have a crack at sorting that neck out.

[FrankenWashie]

Another good tool for working on pickguards is just a Stanley knife blade held in the hand (without the "knife" part).
It can be used as a scraper and affords a lot of control if you looking to remove a little bit at a time. Actually, you'd be surprised how much material you remove quickly as well. They're good for both fine tuning bevels or heel and vibrato cut-outs.

FWIW, the plain old blade has a plethora of uses doing this kind of work.

[Edit to add: Fine sandpaper used dry then wet will clean up the new edges nicely. You can even use a bit of polishing compound after.]

Like Simon, I was going to suggest a sanding drum on the Dremel for widening the control cavity. Definitely less risk of accidental or incidental damage.

BTW, that first fret is #@#$^ mess! (but you probably knew that already )

+ 1 on cavity adjustment with dremel + sanding drum.
Routers are wonderful labour saving tools but to be safe and protect your workpiece, you have to know exactly what you want to do and jig/ template accordingly.
it is possible to freehand effectively, many here have done so, but I wouldn’t attempt it on your first ride.