Nothing too elaborate or involved here, but a few years ago I had an idea to put real cowhide on my Tele bass and never got around to it. The pick guard routing on that bass is a bit involved, and I quickly found that leather hide on its own is too flimsy to serve as the only pickguard, as it needs rigidity underneath it to keep the screws holding it in place. (Especially if it's a style of pick guard that holds electronics/PUPs and/or pots in place like a Tele or P bass). I had purchased real hair on hide leather on eBay for about $25 at the time, and there's enough material to do about 3 or 4 pick guards, depending on the size(s) needed.
Fast forward to today. I recently bought an AM Pro P bass in white, and figured the cowhide would work well and be easier to mount. I didn't want to mess with the original pick guard, so I bought another cheap guard on eBay to use as the under guard for rigidity.
Using the guard as a template, I first made a cutout window template out of paper to the size of the guard and maneuvered it around the top of the hide until I got a nice visual of a pattern, then cut the hide to size and used spray adhesive to affix it to the guard.
It's not perfect, but I'm digging it. And people love to come up and run their fingers across it, LOL:
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