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  #1  
Old 05-17-2010, 07:13 PM
moon moon is offline
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Default Pick guard affects tone?

I was wondering what effect the pick guard has on tone, and if it's worth experimenting with it off? It must be dampening some vibrations in the sound board.

In the same vein, do you think sanding off the varnish would have any noticeable effect? I don't care if my guitar looks like a shipping crate so long as it sounds good.
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Old 05-18-2010, 05:21 AM
MisterZeus MisterZeus is offline
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I asked & looked around concerning this very topic when I was thinking of adding a pick guard to a Little Martin LX1E I had.
Consensus of opinion seemed to be that a pick guard did not noticeably affect tone.

I went ahead and put a pick guard on the Little Martin and indeed I could not detect any change.
...not that I have the most trained ear in the world.
Just one man's experience with this same issue.
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Old 05-18-2010, 06:04 AM
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Joe F Joe F is offline
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There are folks that will claim they can even hear a difference in tone when a capo or clip on tuner is clamped on the headstock. For us non-superhumans though, I think there would be no difference pickguard or not.

I have removed the pickguards from all of my guitars for cosmetic reasons (I just prefer the look) and have never noticed any difference whatsoever.
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Old 05-18-2010, 06:43 AM
martinedwards martinedwards is offline
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the tonal difference WILL be there, but for a regular sized pickguard, it'll be negligable.

one of those huge cover 3/4 of the top Gibsons on the other hand.......
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Old 05-19-2010, 03:36 PM
moon moon is offline
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Thanks for the advice everyone.
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Old 05-20-2010, 06:58 AM
runamuck runamuck is offline
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I've removed pickguards on three guitars. One was a very noticable improvement. The other two sounded the same.
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Old 05-20-2010, 08:01 AM
moon moon is offline
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Interesting. I've got a Yamaha L20A, a hand-crafted, spruce/rosewood model from the 80's. There's a horrible thump on the G (the G the open G string is tuned to) which I seem to have tamed a bit by feeling around on the top for a spot which seemed to vibrate more on this note than the others and then sticking on a lump of blue tack. That got me wondering about the pick guard, or maybe even sanding off the lacquer finish.

Thinking about it some more (my luthier knowledge is exactly zero) I suspect that the sound board area behind the bridge is going to be the most important for determining tone and the area under the pick guard less so - although still significant in some cases as you say.

I'm tempted to experiment with that. Any tips on getting the pick guard off without breaking anything? I could live with a scratch or two but I wouldn't want to crack the top.

Update: found this topic about removing pick guards on the forum http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...p/t-44495.html. I guess heat and patience is the key.

Last edited by moon; 05-20-2010 at 08:53 AM.
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