The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > General Acoustic Guitar Discussion

View Poll Results: Do You Prefer Your Guitar To Have a Pickguard?
Yes 81 60.00%
No 54 40.00%
Voters: 135. You may not vote on this poll

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #16  
Old 01-25-2020, 09:13 PM
whvick whvick is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 1,565
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulzoom View Post
I never understood why more manufacturers did not just do like FB and include it in the case. Let the player decide if they want it or not.


I agree put them in the case for the buyer to decide.
But I guess the dealers prefer them so guitars do not get scratched up in the showroom.
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 01-25-2020, 09:24 PM
Brucebubs Brucebubs is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Eden, Australia
Posts: 17,792
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by whvick View Post
I agree put them in the case for the buyer to decide.
But I guess the dealers prefer them so guitars do not get scratched up in the showroom.
.. and would the maker still cover the warranty if the owner messed up the guitar trying to put it on and getting it all wrong?
__________________
Brucebubs

1972 - Takamine D-70
2014 - Alvarez ABT60 Baritone
2015 - Kittis RBJ-195 Jumbo
2012 - Dan Dubowski#61
2018 - Rickenbacker 4003 Fireglo
2020 - Gibson Custom Shop Historic 1957 SJ-200
2021 - Epiphone 'IBG' Hummingbird
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 01-25-2020, 09:48 PM
Skip Ellis's Avatar
Skip Ellis Skip Ellis is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,422
Default

Depends on the guitar's use , for me. My 000-18 has a pickguard and I use it for heavy thumb picking (Travis/Watson) and bluegrass flatpicking. On the other hand, my Brook Torridge has neither a pickguard nor an endpin - it is used for more classical/Celtic/folk fingerstyle type things and I treat it more as a classical guitar with steel strings and it's never been played with a pick.
__________________
2022 Brook Lyn Custom, 2013 Brook Torridge, 2014 Martin 000-18, several homebrew Teles, Evans RE200 amp, Quilter 101R and various speaker cabinets,
Very understanding wife of 48 years
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 01-25-2020, 09:52 PM
Rev Roy's Avatar
Rev Roy Rev Roy is offline
Resident Guitar Hack
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Northwest Oklahoma
Posts: 7,168
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulzoom View Post
Depends on the guitar and the pickguard.
Yep. What Paul said...
__________________
2021 Edmonds OM-28RS - Sunburst (Adi/Old Growth Honduran)
2014 Walker Clark Fork (Adi/Honduran Rosewood)…incoming

FOR SALE: 2023 Martin 000-15SM 12 fret w/ K&K mini

Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 01-25-2020, 10:09 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Nova Scotia
Posts: 43,428
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bard Rocks View Post
If there is to be a pickguard, I'd prefer it to be clear. Why have great wood, then hide it?
That's what I did with my Taylor BTO with sinker redwood top, it has a clear pickguard to show the wood.
Reply With Quote
  #21  
Old 01-25-2020, 10:44 PM
Rudy4 Rudy4 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 8,792
Default

I learned my lesson when a friend picked up my cedar-topped Lowden and used metal finger picks on it.

All my guitars that don't have a guard now get the thin clear guard attached with the water float application method. (courtesy Frank Ford's excellent instructions...)

It's very unobtrusive and protects well.
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old 01-25-2020, 10:48 PM
min7b5's Avatar
min7b5 min7b5 is offline
Eric Skye
 
Join Date: Oct 2000
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 7,668
Default

I prefer no guard. Ten years of flatpciking with not scratches. I guess I've got good aim
__________________
Instruction
Youtube
Instagram
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old 01-25-2020, 11:03 PM
menhir menhir is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Pittsburgh
Posts: 1,208
Default

I'd prefer not to have a pick guard, bit all four of my acoustics have one. They were just made that way.

Two of them are clear, almost invisible.

So although I don't care for one, having one won't prevent me from purchasing a guitar that I otherwise like.

My flamenco has to have one, and my old parlor had one, long missing. But the outline of where it was is so obvious I'll have to get around to replace it sometime.
__________________
Pray, Hope, and Don't Worry - Padre Pio
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old 01-26-2020, 12:01 AM
frankmcr frankmcr is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 5,336
Default

Poll needs a "Whatever" option.
__________________
stai scherzando?
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old 01-26-2020, 12:32 AM
gmel555 gmel555 is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2018
Location: Lower Slower Delaware
Posts: 2,776
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by paulzoom View Post
Depends on the guitar and the pickguard.
My thought as well.
__________________
“The tapestry of life is more important than a single thread.”
R. Daneel Olivaw in I. Asimov's Robots and Empire.
Reply With Quote
  #26  
Old 01-26-2020, 01:18 AM
DenverSteve's Avatar
DenverSteve DenverSteve is offline
Guest
 
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Denver
Posts: 11,893
Default

It's no big deal to me. If it has one and I would prefer that guitar to not have one I simply remove it. Some guitars look great with one, some don't. There is no one answer.
Reply With Quote
  #27  
Old 01-26-2020, 01:21 AM
Shadowfox Shadowfox is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 1,891
Default

I think the answer is easy: Clear guard.
Reply With Quote
  #28  
Old 01-26-2020, 03:57 AM
Wade Hampton Wade Hampton is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Chugiak, Alaska
Posts: 31,164
Default

I prefer having a pickguard. I have a pretty accurate right hand attack these days, and don’t scratch up my guitars, but when I first started playing I was pretty heavy-handed. It would have been a bad idea for me to go without a pickguard back then.

It’s still a bad idea to go without a pickguard when other people play my guitars. I’m a fairly genial guy when it comes to letting other players try out my guitars; in fact, I really enjoy hearing them played by other accomplished musicians. But a pickguard is mandatory in those circumstances.

I’ve got one good friend and frequent musical partner who’s a much better guitarist than I am and has been playing considerably longer, yet he doesn’t have as precise a right hand attack as I have. When at a party I let him play the one guitar I own that doesn’t have a pickguard, sure enough, it got marked up.

Not badly, but noticeably.

I’d rather have my friends enjoy my guitars rather than hovering nervously over them when they play them, so for me it’s a good idea to have pickguards on my guitars.

As for clear pickguards, I’m sorry, but those just remind me WAY too much of the clear vinyl furniture covers several of my friends’ mothers had on their living room furniture when I was a kid.

Imagine this: it’s a hot, humid Kansas City summer in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s, it’s over 100 degrees Fahrenheit with 100% humidity, and none of the houses on our block have central air conditioning. Imprisoned by politeness and forced to visit briefly with my friend’s mother, I sit on a chair covered by a clear vinyl furniture cover, and in the muggy air I feel my skin gluing itself to the vinyl. When finally given leave to go outside and play with my buddy, I have to literally PEEL MYSELF OFF the vinyl.

No thank you. No thank you very much. I don’t want anything that reminds me of that anywhere within two miles of any of my musical instruments. As for the supposedly beautiful wood grain that I should be eager to keep ever within my sight: really? Spruce is not all that exciting, for the most part. Besides, I can still see most of it when I have a pickguard mounted on the guitar.

You know, in case I want to gaze adoringly at it or anything....


Wade Hampton Miller
Reply With Quote
  #29  
Old 01-26-2020, 04:13 AM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is online now
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: The Isle of Albion
Posts: 22,067
Default

This is partially about Usage, partially about aesthetics, and partially about design.
Dreads : Yes
Jumbo (Roy Smeck) Yes
12 string dread - yes
12 string jumbo - Yes
000 yes
00 - no.
0 - no -but it has a small one and that's OK.
Archtops - no
National reso - no
Mando - no.
__________________
Silly Moustache,
Just an old Limey acoustic guitarist, Dobrolist, mandolier and singer.
I'm here to try to help and advise and I offer one to one lessons/meetings/mentoring via Zoom!
Reply With Quote
  #30  
Old 01-26-2020, 04:17 AM
J Patrick J Patrick is offline
Charter Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 5,678
Default

...I gotta have a pickguard as I am a pinky rester a lot of the time...doesn’t take long at all for me to start wrecking the finish...
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > General Acoustic Guitar Discussion

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 02:59 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=