The Steel Guitar Forum

I recently bought a National Grand Console with the totem fret markers on Reverb. The pickup covers came off during shipping and shattered. I may be able to super glue one but the other is not salvageable. Anyone have any leads on replacements or someone who can 3D print a replacement? Or should I just return it? Does the value of the steel drop significantly without original pickup covers? Thanks

Man, that sucks. Maybe you could fix the one and have it 3D printed yourself. Sending back stuff is a huge hassle, I'd be inclined to keep it, maybe get a bit of a refund.

To reproduce a close re-production /replacement requires a mold for Acrylic heat pressed bending (Vac-U-Form) + hole drilling - cleanup and polishing.

About a thousand dollars to have one created and press off a few. Then it could be used numerous times after that.

We could reverse engineer one from your least broken and glued back together piece shown in your photos.

3D printing we can do white, BUT.... It will be functional only , and can never be smooth acrylic like the originals.

3D printing is basically a very smart hot glue gun that squirts out lines of .04mm molten polylacticacid that bond to one another -
tough and rugged, not completely smooth like a molded sheet of flat acrylic.

PLA ca be sanded and polished to a really nice finish with effort.

Hope this adds to the discussion.

Google "thermal bending plastic" and watch a couple videos. I think I'd give it a try. Personally, I think the pickup covers have more value to a collector than a player. I always took mine off. Is yours the white totem pole fretboard with the multicolored markers? My favorite fretboard ever. The black ones are pretty cool too. If everything else about the guitar is original and intact, I would say not having the pickup covers reduces the resale about 5-8%. I'm shooting from the hip here.

Glenn, I came to the same conclusion. Got 20% of what I paid for it back from the seller and am going to keep it. Bill, yup, mine is the white one with totem fret markers. It sure turned some heads when I opened up the case at my local guitar shop! Played it at a rehearsal and I don’t mind not having the pup covers, in fact I prefer it. Thanks for the replies guys!