No pickguards for me... not even on my two Gibson electrics, an ES-345 and an ES-175.
Guitars look far more balanced to me, visually, without a pickguard... maybe not a dreadnought, mostly due to 5 or 6 decades of looking at Martin D-28's (et al).
As for scratches and such? I am the one in charge of WHAT MY RIGHT HAND DOES AND WHERE IT GOES... even if I'm playing harder, it is still my job to control where that hand contacts (or doesn't contact) the face of the guitar.
When Mark Angus built me #35 in 1979, we had a heated discussion about having a pick guard on the guitar (I won!), German Black Forest spruce over maple. After about thirty years had passed, I pointed out to Mark the absence of any major marks where that pickguard would've been... of course, the entire top has been scarred and dinged; lessons learned the hard way in most cases!
Funny... I know where every mark came from and how it happened...
When I had James and Luke Goodall build me my Grand Concert (redwood over mahogany), James lobbied heavily for a pickguard, mostly due to the softness of redwood... I used my Angus as an example of "no pickguard". It took a while, but James finally relented. This was 8 1/2 years ago, and (knock wood!) there is yet to be a mark on that top...
__________________
"Home is where I hang my hat,
but home is so much more than that.
Home is where the ones
and the things I hold dear
are near...
And I always find my way back home."
"Home" (working title) J.S, Sherman
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