Elvis may have left the building, but it’d be wrong to run a guitar-related business without tipping our hats to the King of Rock & Roll!
Possibly one of the most famous custom scratchplates of the 1960s, if not ever, belonged to one of the biggest names in 20th century showbiz and pop culture- Elvis. Known for his oft-impersonated stage persona, Elvis’s main guitar from a key era in his career featured a custom designed, upgraded pickguard- and one that we can replicate for you today, so that you too can strum like the King.
Gibson introduced the J-200 (sometimes also referred to as the SJ-200) in 1937, and despite low sales ($200 was a lot of money back then) it gained a reputation during the 1950s as a big-sounding guitar for singer-songwriters. Pete Townsend of The Who would later be a fan, claiming they recorded really well and responded nicely to heavy strumming… it’s no surprise then, that between 1957 and 1970, Elvis Presley was most commonly seen with his ’56 Gibson J-200. After his return from National Service in Germany, he had Scotty Moore send it off for refurbishment. As Scotty’s website puts it, The guitar was to be ‘refinished, repaired and [have] Elvis’ name inlaid on the fretboard. [Scotty] also requested some additional inlay work on the front, nothing elaborate but something different that Elvis might like, a design of their own discretion.‘
The result is the classic and distinctive pickguard seen on most of Elvis’ performances through the 1960’s- emblematic of the ‘raygun gothic’ and ‘googie’ styles… it wouldn’t look out of place in a game from the atompunk ‘Fallout’ video game series.
Naturally, we’ve been approached by many various Elvis enthusiasts over the years for replicas of this classic design!
After faithfully re-drawing the shapes in some design software, we were finally able to replicate it and and opted to infill the lines with gold paint for that authentic retro-futurist look. The engraving offers a real depth to the shape and looks fantastic against the black material… Elvis was a notoriously heavy strummer (just look at the marks on any of his guitars!!) so we reckon he would have approved of the 3mm perspex we use… no amount of strumming will wear through this material!
Fitting: J200 guitars vary a little over the years so heres what you can do: Ask us for a print out you can cut out check on your guitar. We can also create one bespoke fitting for you – send us a fitting template from card and we’ll do the rest. We’ll pack up your new favourite pickguard made in a week or two and Return to Sender for you to stick on!
Order yours today at tinytone.co.uk!
