ES-335 Pickguard Plate .. Rigid??

[bluezguy]

Hey folks,

Lovin' my 335 like you'd never know but what about this ...???

 

I play holding a pick AND using my 2nd & 3rd fingers. Most times I need an anchor point which happens to be the pickguard. My pickguard pushes down an 1/8" when I set fingers on it. WTF???? This never used to happen on my early '90s ES335. Do yours do this OR are they rigid??

[vincentw]

The pickguard is an anchor for your fingers, and as such, a slight change in its flexibility has you all screwed up in your playing?

[JellyWheat]

The pickguard is an anchor for your fingers, and as such, a slight change in its flexibility has you all screwed up in your playing?

[j45nick]

I have two ES 335's: a '59 Historic (long guard) and a 1968 (short guard). Both guards flex, the long guard more than the short guard. It's only anchored to the guitar at two points after all, so it has to flex. I've never found this to be a problem.

[L5Larry]

It seems to me the question here is that the pickguard is moving, not just flexing.

 

As mainly an archtop player, the "finger rest" is pretty much a required accessory on my guitars (for my playing style). On my 345 I did a slight (reversible) pickguard mounting modification to make it feel my like my big archtops.

 

Basically what I did was turn it into a "elevated finger rest", by putting a nylon spacer around the front mounting screw, and a dowel rod post under the back corner (by the bridge pickup). This not only raised it up to the level of the top of the pickup mounting rings, it also gave it a "three point" support and made it feel solid as a rock.

 

Even without raising the entire pickguard you could still put a spacer under the back corner, or re-bend the mounting bracket to make the back corner sit firmly on the top of the guitar.