Really Ugly Pickguard

[Wade Hampton]

After Pitar wrote:

Originally Posted by Pitar

Pretty much all of them look dumb to me. There it is - a nice looking guitar with an aesthetically sabotaging plate of plastic glued - GLUED - to the finish. Being brainwashed by the "tradition" of the look is no excuse. Just plain old logic tells you that the thing is visually incongruous with the the overall aesthetic of the instrument. Liken it to slapping on a bumper sticker. No guards. If you care about the guitar you'll never actually need one. If you're abusive then you won't be worried about ugly.

Scott replied:

Originally Posted by hairpuller

So, what you're sayin' is I'm a moron for liking my pickguards. I'm cool with that.

Yeah, that's more than a little harsh, Pitar, especially where you wrote:

Originally Posted by Pitar

...No guards. If you care about the guitar you'll never actually need one. If you're abusive then you won't be worried about ugly.

There are different playing styles out there, as you're probably aware, and with some of them it's beneficial to have pickguards mounted. What's more, many, perhaps most of the worst scratches on my instruments were put there by other people.

Some of them were friends I allowed to play my instruments, but the worst damage on a couple of my instruments was inflicted by uninvited idiots who grabbed the guitar off a stand without asking and proceeded to wreak havoc. This has happened to me on more than one occasion: it's an unhappy side effect of playing out in public a lot.

So I'm sorry if you think that the presence of pickguards is the sign of an abusive player, but that's an unjustified assumption and very judgmental of you. I definitely thought you had a more generous spirit than that.


Wade Hampton Miller

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by hubcapsc

Gibson f 25... and look at that nice top that's being
covered up!



-Mike

The Everly Brothers knew guitars (their dad was influential finger stylist Ike Everly), and the pickguards on the Everly Brothers model were actually intended to mute the sound, to get a very dry percussive strum (definitely not an all-purpose instrument!)

But what's the reasoning behind the pickguards on the F-25?

[Ncbandit]

Now that I see what Brucebubs posted I would have to vote for that.

I have never seen one I like. What is more beautiful than the guitar itself. I pull them all off and if there is a tan line I add a wood pickguard.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by frankmcr

The Everly Brothers knew guitars (their dad was influential finger stylist Ike Everly), and the pickguards on the Everly Brothers model were actually intended to mute the sound, to get a very dry percussive strum (definitely not an all-purpose instrument!)

Interesting. I knew about Ike Everly, but not the reasoning behind the batwing pickguards.

Originally Posted by frankmcr

But what's the reasoning behind the pickguards on the F-25?

That's easy - they're a copy of the tap plates used on flamenco guitars. Back during the big Folk Revival movement of the late 1950's and early 1960's, some of the folkies were putting similar tap plates on their guitars to protect the tops from their vigorous (but not exactly precise) strumming.

So that style of pickguard was already in somewhat common use in the target demographic for this particular guitar, the folk musicians.

Here are some flamenco guitars that have similar tap plates:

˙˙˙

That Gibson was designed to be usable with either steel or nylon strings which, again, was a trend of the time with those folk musicians. The Martin New Yorker model was another guitar from the period that could be used with either steel or nylon.

So both were products of that specific era and the people who were using those guitars.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[GTRGUY005]

Originally Posted by PHJim

This poster is amazing...and sad at the same time.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi, I'm primarily a flat picker, and I don't hit any part of the guitar with my pick.

I hate to see guitars with that furious slash from overly aggressive strumming, but, when I clean my guitars I DO see marks on my oickguards, which puzzled me for a time, and I've determined that it is from the nails of my trailing fingers although I'm not aware of ever touching it.

We tend to like what we are accustomed to - and the std size Martin pickguard on dreads, looks just fine to me (as long as it isn't black) and the smaller ones on 00,000 and OM etc.

Don't like pick guards on mandolins or archtops, or belly bridges on 000s!

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

So both were products of that specific era and the people who were using those guitars.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

Ah, okay, thanks! Now I can visualize an F-25 in the hands of maybe somebody making an LP for Folkways in its early days (the days of thick heavy vinyl and a typewritten flyer with notes on the songs tucked into the cardboard sleeve).

[PHJim]

The Levin Company made Levin and Goya guitars, the folk model, made to take either nylon or steel strings. Julie Andrews played one of these in The Sound Of Music. I believe she had nylon strings on it. They looked like a classical guitar with a pin bridge, position markers and a strap pin. These originally had white pick guards, but these were discontinued in the early sixties. I believe they were model F11.
Oscar Brand played one with the white pickguards.


http://goyaguitars.tripod.com/catalog64_4.htm

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by PHJim

.


http://goyaguitars.tripod.com/catalog64_4.htm

Wow. Theo Bikel, Oscar Brand, Ed McCurdy . . . dimly remembered - but remembered - voices from The Midnight Special on WFMT . . .

[chrismitchell]

Originally Posted by hubcapsc

Gibson f 25... and look at that nice top that's being

covered up!







-Mike

Those are cult favorites among the country traditionalists.

[chrismitchell]

I really don’t prefer pickguards either, but for some reason, I like the look of double pickguards. I think the guild standard guards kind of put me off. Solid guitars though. Have people had any luck removing one cleanly?

[Methos1979]

Generally speaking I really don't like any pickguard. But I'm less offended by smaller, darker ones (although not the all-black ones), especially on darker topped guitars like all mahogany. So I much prefer, let's say, the Martin OM pickguard to the Martin 000. I hate the look of the tiger stripe or even the mottled appearance. I did kind of dig the Taylor wood ones that were coming out for a while there though. Go figure. Maybe it's a wood on wood thing? But a lot of the outlandish ones here take the cake. And the Gibson F25? That's just an abomination!

[semolinapilcher]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Hi, I'm primarily a flat picker, and I don't hit any part of the guitar with my pick.

I hate to see guitars with that furious slash from overly aggressive strumming, but, when I clean my guitars I DO see marks on my oickguards, which puzzled me for a time, and I've determined that it is from the nails of my trailing fingers although I'm not aware of ever touching it.

We tend to like what we are accustomed to - and the std size Martin pickguard on dreads, looks just fine to me (as long as it isn't black) and the smaller ones on 00,000 and OM etc.

Don't like pick guards on mandolins or archtops, or belly bridges on 000s!

I like the more accurate (British?) term, scratchplate. And for me it’s not a pick wear nor even from my nails, but rather my pinky rubbing on that area.

[Slim Zooms]

Originally Posted by hubcapsc

Gibson f 25... and look at that nice top that's being
covered up!



-Mike

Can I just say "Yuck!"

Pick on!

Slim

[Marcury]

Originally Posted by upsidedown

No need to worry about glue ruining your guitar's finish. These presumably screw right into the wood. Available on my local craigslist. Let me know if you want me to grab them for you.

Oh BoY! Do I get to choose the license plate?