Hi folks,
has anyone of you swapped the pickguard of their Fender player series jazz bass? Anywhere I look for spare parts I read contradictory reviews whether they will fit a player series jazz or not. I’m looking for a high quality dark red/brown tortoise one.
Many thanks!
I had really good luck with this company. The quality exceeded OEM and fit was great. Website is a little antiquated, but you have to find the pickguard number for your bass (PG 1406) and the color number (color 41). When you order, you have to tell them your make/model, and any special notes. They then review and send you a Paypal invoice. I recently bought one from them, and I had it custom made in less than two weeks. Looks like Tortoise is a little pricey ($65), but the one I tried from Amazon first left a big gap between pickguard and control plate.
You can try Stratosphereparts.com. They have plenty of Fender bass parts.
Many thanks! Those custom pickguards look wonderful @AnotherJosh, I hope they ship to Europe!
@RuknRole Thank you! I see they sell the white pickguard I have from the player series. The others are labeled “Mexican Standard Jazz Bass”. However, there seems to be a difference between the standard and player series. The site mentioned above also has different templates, and I’ve read many times that the standard MIM won’t fit well.
You can try WD Music. They have pickguards for just about all bass brands and models. They can also make any pickguard if you supply a tracing of yours.
Thanks Mike, that site looks good!
Hey AnotherJosh, I’ve just ordered from Pickguard Planet, they actually offer a matching template for the Player jazz (it was just a bit hidden in the custom category). Thanks again for the recommendation. I will post pictures once I receive the pickguards. (Yes, I ordered two… Just couldn’t decide between brown tortoise and black/parchment/black)
I hope you enjoy @alex.s, I was very happy with the one I received. Quality materials and fit perfectly with no modifications (unlike the one from Fender 
). I bought another one from them for my Stingray (excuse the glare)
Wow, looks killer! I like the blacked out hardware and how the red layer just adds a subtle accent. Beautiful instrument!
Hi everyone,
today I received the pickguards from Pickguard Planet. 
They look and feel very nice (even with the foil still on). Unfortunately though, the template (14078 Fender Player Jazz Bass) doesn’t exactly match my Fender Player Jazz Bass. While all holes line up perfectly and the neck fits very well, the guards are a bit too narrow where they meet the control plate:
I’ve sent the photos to PG planet and asked for their opinion. I could probably live with it as both PGs can be mounted properly but it’s still an annoying drawback on the otherwise great quality… What do you think? I hope I’m not too picky! (Now that was almost a pun.)
Finally, I have also tried the original tortoise replacement guard from Fender which matches perfectly (surprise!) except for the unnecessary hole at the neck and a very tiny distance between the guard and the control plate (through which you can see the cavity):
Seeing my bass with so many different looks I probably like the black guard most. However, I might be switching them out every now and then in the future! 
The hole and the neck is to access the truss rod as that’s where it is on some models.
Yes, thx Wombat! It just doesn’t look that good to me when there is no truss rod access… I wish Fender offered an option without the hole and maybe also a black PG. But then again I could just put some black tape under the hole…
Fender pickguards are unnecessarily complicated. I almost went on a rant,but caught myself.
They’ve already replied to my email: „Many jazz bass models are exactly like that - the plate is wider than the guard where they meet.“ And they also added a photo of an example and kindly offered to duplicate from my original pg if I still don”t like it and send in mine.
However, my current notion is to simply overcome my inner Monk and keep the PGs as they are…
I‘ve had a look at Geddy Lee‘s jazz bass collection in his “Big Book of Bass” and many of the jazz pickguards seem to be a little narrower at the metal plate indeed… Also, sending in the pg from Europe would take quite some time.
It’s also easy enough to change the plate too
Sure, but where would I find a less wide plate?
I would check Reverb or Amazon. There’s a ton on Amazon
My Squier Bass VI I just got new came with the control plate wider than the pickguard. It’s a thing. The no truss rod thingy is more annoying to me.
To me that should not be on this bass, but if you don’t mind it then it doesn’t matter.
Not sure why that would be part of the template on a bass that isn’t vintage nor does it try to replicate a vintage one. Maybe they have two different templates for the player series?
Hi John, the one with the truss rod hole is a genuine replacement pickguard sold by Fender. Unfortunately Fender themselves only offer two pickguards with either 10 or 11 holes for jazz basses, there are no dedicated pickguards available for any series in special.
Thanks for sharing that your Squier came with a wider plate by default.
I think I’ll just keep the guards. 
That’s Fender saving $$ by only having to make two that “fit” but perhaps aren’t 100%. I have a bunch of pickguard planet ones. They are all custom though.
