Pickguard / Scratchguard

[merciful-evans]

Pickguards.

 

I think the name ‘pickguard’ is essentially a misnomer. Why? Because I don’t think most of us are likely to get a pick anywhere near the area the guard is supposed to protect. Maybe on a flat top playing rhythm with heavy broad sweeps would you be likely to scuff the body. Even then, I don’t know any players who flail about that wildly when strumming. Perhaps Ritchie Havens may have done? He was a pretty wild player.

 

So why are they there? One reason presented itself when I got my ES-339 Studio. Being a studio, it has no pickguard, and although my pick never touches the body, the fingers of my picking hand do make contact (pinky mostly). My picking hand does travel to and fro a little when I want to alter the tone, and this small contact has been enough to dull the polished nitro finish. Its noticeable.

I know it will buff out ok but of course I haven’t bothered.

 

Now the Epi Casino Coupe has the same body design as the ES-339, but this guitar does have a pickguard. I removed it from mine soon after buying. Needless to say, this has not produced the same dullness in that area because the clearcoat lacquer is harder & more resilient than nitro.

 

For this reason I’ve keep the pickguard on my Les Paul (it’s the 2015 removable type) to protect the finish. Though I have removed it to gig because I think it looks better without it.

 

I mostly dislike the look of pickguards but some models seem to suit them. I think they look good on SGs.

On Fender guitars they are essential of course because their function is less to protect the wood, so much as to cover up the large routed aperture containing all the electrics.

 

 

But maybe some of us do need the pickguard? I’m interested to know what everybody else thinks.

 

 

 

 

BTW When I removed the Casino guard I replaced the screws. That way there are no holes and also the screws don’t get lost.

[btoth76]

...

 

So why are they there? One reason presented itself when I got my ES-339 Studio. Being a studio, it has no pickguard, and although my pick never touches the body, the fingers of my picking hand do make contact (pinky mostly). My picking hand does travel to and fro a little when I want to alter the tone, and this small contact has been enough to dull the polished nitro finish. Its noticeable.

I know it will buff out ok but of course I haven’t bothered.

 

...

 

Hello.

 

That is why I keep them on.

 

Bence.

[surfpup]

Tone... the pick guard - and some say the case- are the real tone factors in a guitar.

[EVOL!]

Tone... the pick guard - and some say the case- are the real tone factors in a guitar.

 

No, no. It's the knobs. Witch hat knobs, specifically, have the sweetest vintage tones. Go with speed knobs if you want a more modern rock sound.

[merciful-evans]

I've just seen in the Repair & Restoration area someone ask advice about elbow skin marks on nitro.

 

To do this properly you need to wear a long sleeved shirt and surgical gloves to protect the guitar finish. not very rock n roll :(

[EVOL!]

Even then, I don’t know any players who flail about that wildly when strumming.

 

You've never seen me play: too much forearm and ham-handed is the best way to describe it. Pickguards were specifically made for neanderthals like me.

[pippy]

...I don't think most of us are likely to get a pick anywhere near the area the guard is supposed to protect.

 

So why are they there?...maybe some of us do need the pickguard? I'm interested to know what everybody else thinks...

First things first;

I can't speak for the majority of us, of course, but there are a great many carved-top LPs with the finish worn away where a 'guard would have offered protection.

Just try to google 'Neil Young Old Black' or 'Peter Green Gary Moore Les Paul' to see what I mean. Old Black even has a 'guard in place and just as well! Have you seen the mess under the top strings? Neil really should keep his fingernails trimmed shorter!

Some of Paul Kossoff's LPs also showed quite a bit of wear in the same area.

 

Secondly; I have 'guards on all my LPs mainly because I use it as a rest/anchor-point for my little finger but here's a snap of the only guitar I have which is 'naked' in this zone. It's an arch-top, BTW...

 

 

Now; I'm no Pete Townshend in the windmilling stakes but if I can do THAT and that's the alternative to having a 'guard on then, for me, it's a no-brainer.

 

 

Pip.

[surfpup]

No, no. It's the knobs. Witch hat knobs, specifically, have the sweetest vintage tones. Go with speed knobs if you want a more modern rock sound.

 

No way... reflector knobs for that shiny tone!

[btoth76]

No way... reflector knobs for that shiny tone!

 

Here is the wisdom!

 

I have them on all my LPs.

 

Bence.

[rct]

I anchor my hand on the bridge and not my pinky. I hit hard but don't flail.

 

My biggest issues are torn up right hand from (usually) crappy tele/strat bridges and dull, worn bridge work from constantly leaning on them.

 

I take pickguards off Les Pauls because they look better. I have no pickguard drama. I feel left out. Again.

 

rct

[surfpup]

You've never seen me play: too much forearm and ham-handed is the best way to describe it. Pickguards were specifically made for neanderthals like me.

 

Yep. Ever watched SRV? Lots of right hand motion... it really just depends on your playing style.

 

I use a lot of right arm too. I just went in a looked at my guitars, and they have marks on the pick guards. Never really noticed until now. That said I still can't stand pick guards on Les Pauls. Why cover up all that wood? But I'm not very precious about my guitars either... not one to freak out over a scratch ya know.

[jdgm]

Although I usually pick without resting any fingers on the guard, my pickguards are all covered in teeny tiny scratch marks.

I've never been conscious of hitting it - I'm sure I don't hit it.

Just one of those things.....

[merciful-evans]

 

Just try to google 'Neil Young Old Black' or 'Peter Green Gary Moore Les Paul' to see what I mean. Old Black even has a 'guard in place and just as well! Have you seen the mess under the top strings? Neil really should keep his fingernails trimmed shorter!

 

 

Pip.

 

A refined artist like Peter Green could never have abused a Les Paul that way. I bet it was that bloody Gary Moore he gifted it to. !

 

 

 

Ok. You lot have convinced me that I'm wrong about pickguards.

They are needed and they are practical. Thanks for wising me up.

 

-Just never ask to borrow one of my guitars right?!

[pippy]

A refined artist like Peter Green could never have abused a Les Paul that way. I bet it was that bloody Gary Moore he gifted it to. !...

 

But hang on a mo'....

 

Gifted it to?!?!

 

 

It cost Gary Moore a whole £50 to get that guitar!!!

I've just checked and according to the Bank of England Inflation Conversion table that £50 equates to a staggering £698.30 in today's money...........for an old guitar!

"Gifted" indeed.....

 

 

FWIW Pt. 1...

Some of the old guard here might remember a wonderful chap who went under the name Thermionik. He was a mate of Gary's from even before the Thin Lizzy days. He had played the ex-PG '59 a few times and confirmed what PG had previously said; that the guit was actually a bit of a pig to play.

Sounded good, though.

 

FWIW Pt. 2...

In Peter Green's opinion the finest LP he ever played was Clapton's 'Beano'.

 

Pip.

[quapman]

So this thread has either let me know how damn lazy I am, or how bad I suck,, or perhaps I just don't care.

 

I neither remove or install pick guards. I do like the looks better with them off. But not so much that I care to remove them(probly just lazy). In the same breath I neither care to install them to avoid any damage(suck or don't care, not sure, still don't really care.).

 

All that said, I don't flail enough to cause problems. If I did, I likely still wouldn't care nor install them.

 

Am I a bad person for not really caring how my guitars look?

After the first scratch or dent, it's just a guitar. And I can get on with not worrying about it anymore.

They WILL hit the cymbals. They WILL fall off their stands. They may(PERHAPS) even bash headstocks.

But do I suck bad for not really caring? As long as it plays ok and stays in tune, I truly don't care how it looks.

Other than my latest acquisition my MIM natural finish strat. I haven't really bought a guitar because of it's looks.

But damn that is a pretty geet. Yet even though I love how my new one looks, I don't really care that it will get scratched or dented. Still waiting to pop that cherry. But when I do, I'm ok with it. It WILL happen.

As long as it don't break in half I'm cool. And yes, I have seen that happen. Not pretty.

[cody78]

Pickguards are useful for resting on, as a few already noted.

 

In terms of Gibson guitars, the only model I like to see without a guard sometimes is a Les Paul (although all mine still have them left on).

 

SG's look awful without them IMO.

 

Archtops generally look wrong without them (though pippy's looks cool).

 

Acoustics look odd without them.

 

When I was younger I was alwas put off Fender's because I thought there was way too much guard and thought it looked tacky, but in my older years I don't mind them so much.

[Mr. C.O. Jones]

I anchor my hand on the bridge and not my pinky. I hit hard but don't flail.

 

My biggest issues are torn up right hand from (usually) crappy tele/strat bridges and dull, worn bridge work from constantly leaning on them.

 

I take pickguards off Les Pauls because they look better. I have no pickguard drama. I feel left out. Again.

 

rct

 

You are not alone.

My bridge and tailpiece on my Trad look 5 years old but I have that guitar only a year.

They are my anchor point. I am trying to incorporate my fingers for hybrid picking so I don't wan't my fingers to stick on the top or the pickguard.

The pickguard came off just to see what's under there, and never went back on.

There are some tiny marks and micro-scratches all over the body, don't really know how they get there.

But in the end I don't really care, easy fix with Virtuoso.

[EVOL!]

No way... reflector knobs for that shiny tone!

 

[EVOL!]

Yep. Ever watched SRV? Lots of right hand motion... it really just depends on your playing style.

 

Fair enough.

[milod]

I'll agree that much, if not most, has to do with playing style.

 

I started anchoring my little finger on pickguards on archtops and semis, even my old Guild SG "clone" for fingerstyle right hand and later even with such far less flatpicking of any sort.

 

That does kind of double duty in orienting right hand, almost regardless of style/technique and also in a way, adding a bit of control to height of fingers or picks during whatever is going on. It tends to keep more of a horizontal sweep to whatever.

 

Started doing that with the five-string banjo.

 

Exception: Playing classical or flamenco type material I don't anchor the pinky. That's for more obvious reasons on the flamenco stuff, but on the classical, it's also because playing at different positions on the strings really do make a big tone difference.

 

My one guitar from which I removed the pickguard is a mid '50s "inexpensive for the era" single pup archtop I even used a couple years for playing country/rock in saloons in the '70s. I regretted it mostly, I think, because it just seemed "different" without it.

 

Then again, I think my Dad's old saying about what one finds attractive can apply here as well: Every man see my wife like I see my wife, every man want my wife.

 

m

[merciful-evans]

 

 

Exception: Playing classical or flamenco type material I don't anchor the pinky. That's for more obvious reasons on the flamenco stuff, but on the classical, it's also because playing at different positions on the strings really do make a big tone difference.

 

 

m

 

Same here Milod. Spanish guitars are a different kettle of fish.

[Pinch]

My Epi LP pickguard stays on, for comfort reasons, but also because it makes it look all Les Paul-y :)