Pick guard or no pick guard.

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,323
Reaction score
6,496
Guild Total
2
Did we not already hammer this theory out? The amount of plastic a Guild pg puts on a dread does not really impair tone or top movement right?
 

D30Man

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 30, 2015
Messages
2,949
Reaction score
998
Location
Rockwall, TX
Guild Total
5
My two cents is that it would be so minute that you wouldn't hear it to begin with. Unless of course you were Daredevil whose sense of hearing is heavily enhanced.
 

davismanLV

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 24, 2011
Messages
19,196
Reaction score
11,812
Location
U.S.A. : Nevada : Las Vegas
Guild Total
2
Hey Woody, if you find that thread where walrus posted about the leather pickguard recently, Christopher Cozad answers that question fairly well in regard to inhibiting movement of the top. If you find that thread I think it will answer your question.
 

Nuuska

Enlightened Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2016
Messages
7,668
Reaction score
6,028
Location
Finland
Guild Total
9
Howdy

Being hobby-/entertaining guitarplayer for over 50 years, ex-recording engineer, present roadie / foh mixing engineer and loudspeaker builder I dare to put my spoon into soup - here goes.

- back of guitar is against players belly - leather-, satin- , pullover or no jacket at all. And let us not forget how hard we squeeze the body against ours.
- whatever material you glue on top of the resonating soundboard has it size, shape and wheight - and all those will affect the sound - not forgetting the adhesives properties. . .
- choice of strings, picks etc and mostly your touch will determine about "kazillion" times more - I was at Leo´s house playing his guitar and not at all sounding like he did. He was at our store playing Steinberger bass through Gallien-Krueger with two Marshall 4x12 and my mate came to tell me : "Hey, that sounds just like Leo."

So - my humble verdict is - if it looks good - go for it.
 

jedzep

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2010
Messages
1,017
Reaction score
691
Location
Cooperstown
I have several flat tops w/o guards. I removed a couple of them myself as I love the naked look. Gibson made a really thick guard and put it on the B25. It sounded dramatically muted and they ruined what was basically an LG2 X-braced blues git. One thing though, unless you're doing the Willie thing, you can see the wear and hand dirt build up pretty quickly if you play a lot, and you have to have a good strategy for cleaning to keep that area from deteriorating.
 

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,323
Reaction score
6,496
Guild Total
2
Hey Woody, if you find that thread where walrus posted about the leather pickguard recently, Christopher Cozad answers that question fairly well in regard to inhibiting movement of the top. If you find that thread I think it will answer your question.

Thanks Tom. So negligible if any at all.
 

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,323
Reaction score
6,496
Guild Total
2
Howdy

Being hobby-/entertaining guitarplayer for over 50 years, ex-recording engineer, present roadie / foh mixing engineer and loudspeaker builder I dare to put my spoon into soup - here goes.

- back of guitar is against players belly - leather-, satin- , pullover or no jacket at all. And let us not forget how hard we squeeze the body against ours.
- whatever material you glue on top of the resonating soundboard has it size, shape and wheight - and all those will affect the sound - not forgetting the adhesives properties. . .
- choice of strings, picks etc and mostly your touch will determine about "kazillion" times more - I was at Leo´s house playing his guitar and not at all sounding like he did. He was at our store playing Steinberger bass through Gallien-Krueger with two Marshall 4x12 and my mate came to tell me : "Hey, that sounds just like Leo."

So - my humble verdict is - if it looks good - go for it.

Thanks man. Good story too!
 

Westerly Wood

Venerated Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2007
Messages
13,323
Reaction score
6,496
Guild Total
2
Hey D30 and Jed, thanks for weighing in. I figure it imperceptible. As I get older, the less plastic do I want around. Weird I know. I do remember the original pg falling off the D25 and me thinking it looked stupid w/out a pg. 😀
 

mavuser

Enlightened Member
Joined
Sep 15, 2010
Messages
8,128
Reaction score
2,636
Location
New York
i'm not in love with a pickguard on most electric guitars (so happy my SF-4 doesn't have one), but i would shred the top of any acoustic guitar that didn't have a pickguard. especially a spruce top with nitro finish. that thing would be toast.
 

Antney

Member
Joined
Feb 15, 2017
Messages
510
Reaction score
176
I like pick guards. I don't care for the size and shape of the guild pick guard.
 

walrus

Reverential Member
Gold Supporting
Joined
Dec 23, 2006
Messages
23,956
Reaction score
8,019
Location
Massachusetts
I know this not an electric thread, but to echo mavuser, I always took the pickguard off on any archtop I had - it's in the way (for me) and covering (usually) beautiful grain! My BB does not have one, I like it that way.

I would not take one off of an acoustic, though. And I would not put a leather one on, either!

walrus
 

Neal

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2013
Messages
4,856
Reaction score
1,627
Location
Charlottesville, VA
I'm not sure if anyone blindfolded could tell any difference in tone between pickguard/no pickguard.

Going against my New Year's resolution, last night I had an offer accepted for a 2005 F-50R that looks as if it has been without a pickguard for some time. So, I will need to decide whether to find and install a replacement, for both cosmetic and functional purposes.
 
Last edited:

johnny3j

Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2010
Messages
156
Reaction score
12
Location
Waterford, Ireland
Guild Total
3
Doesn't bug me on an acoustic, but raised or floating pickguards on Les Pauls and on archtops do sometimes get in the way (for me).
I like the Guild pickguard shape, it really is part of the Guild "look".
What about the double pickguards on Gibson Everly Bros jumbos and some other J200s? It doesn't seem to inhibit them...or their pricing!
 

rampside

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
3,118
Reaction score
410
Location
Minnesota's Iron Range
Guild Total
4
Maybe it's just me, but I can't imagine being at a point where I would even worry about that. The protection a pg provides, trumps anything else, unless of course, you're a nylon string player.
 
Top