Pickguard or no?

Charles Meadows

I have noticed it doesn't take long for Stochelo to wear away the finish where his right hand hits the top of the guitar. My experience with old Martins has been that the ones with a little top wear have the most mojo!

Anyone here feel strongly about having a pickguard or not?

constantine

Well he's a maniac so I can see needing it rather than pulling a Willie Nelson right thru the top! I think the vintage pick guards look great and also serve a good function.

Jehu

I find the clear ones to be tacky if you can notice them, but with a clean install you can make them practically invisible. I use an iPhone screen protector, and Frank Ford's method works very well:

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Pickguards/ClearGuard/clearguard1.html

It is only visible if you look very closely and at a certain angle. The only downside (aside from lack of mojo) will be that in the long term, you may get different UV exposure under the pickguard than in adjacent areas. I'm not too concerned for mine, but if you have an expensive guitar that might be a consideration.

Bones

Removable. No adhesive necessary. Work well on my guitars.

http://kling-on.com/

Al Watsky

I don't tend to do damage to the tops of my guitars and do not install plates on vintage guitars and in fact have removed quite a few over the years.
On the other hand, if I own a utility guitar that will be handed around at a session or loaned out , I always install a plate.
I use the LMI self adhesive plate which is around .017 thick and always used a mist of water to eliminate air bubbles. Thats a technique used by folks in the trades to install mylar window treatments .
You can't really see the plate.
The problem with plates isn't the UV changing the color of the surrounding wood. The difficulty is that peoples picking and pawing often exceeds the dimension of the plate. So you see this unscratched area surrounded by a scratched area, which looks knarley after a few years.
If you need a plate thats covering the whole top I guess I think your playing style is somewhat uncontrolled .

Jehu

That's why the baby Jesus invented polyurethane, no?

wim

Pick guards are ugly and naff I really don't like the way they look. Conversely, don't mind a bit of scratches on the guitar it's cool. As long as you're not going to plow through the top completely.. and if you are, it's time to adjust your technique a little because it's certainly not necessary to dig into the top like that