This is my 2001 Morris MF500 - While I love the guitar, the stock pickguard was one of those cheapo printed tortoiseshell sticker things that never really thrilled me. I ordered a Martin style black one but the radius for the soundhole was totally wrong so I wondered how hard it could really be to just make a pickguard from scratch - Turns out, not really so hard at all.

The Morris MF500 with pickguard installed.

Mix up some epoxy

I made 50g of a 2 part epoxy, using a popsicle stick to mix it thoroughly together (when you think you’re done you’re halfway there).

Then I poured it out onto a grill tray (because it’s perfectly flat) lined with waxed baking paper, otherwise you’ll never get the epoxy off.

Then, because I wanted a tortoiseshell look, I added 5 or 6 drops each of these inks/washes used for model painting.

Red and brown washes, drop it in, swirl it through with a cocktail stick.

Once you’ve dropped on your tints use a cocktail stick or anything non-absorbent and sacrificial to mix it through. Go as crazy as you want.

I stopped at this point, that looked mixed enough for me

Once you’re happy with your level of swirl just leave the epoxy to cure, usually overnight. Then you can just peel it off the waxed paper.

Once it’s cured you just need to cut out the shape. I used the stock pickguard as a stencil and traced around that with a scalpel - this has 2 benefits over a Sharpie:

1- It won’t rub off and you can clearly see it.

2- It provides a stress line in the material so the plastic resin is more likely to break along that line, making the cutout process less perilous.