ca35 said:
"Religion is the smile on a dog" or at least thats what Rickie Lee Jones thinks.
No seriously I really like the double pickguard look. Is it wrong to add something to a guitar that was not a factory or stock product. I don't care about the value. I like the look. And the protection to the top ain't bad either.
I have that album on cassette.
I like the double 'guard look too. Lots of people do it, I suspect it may be Guild's single most common option. On the Havens D40's they shipped it uninstalled so the owner had a choice.
You probably could have ordered a D35 from Westerly with double 'guards, so in my opinion it IS a "factory or stock product".
The one thing to think about is that a lot of folks think it has a negative impact on the top's ability to resonate. I CAN tell you the D40 has the least sustain of all 3 of mine, and doesn't have that much volume advantage over the much smaller bodied F65ce, but that may be because it's a flat-back. I installed the 2nd guard within a month after getting it, so I never really heard it any other way.
Getting a second guard can be as simple as ordering a left-handed 'guard as a prt from Guild, that's all it really is, just mounted upside down. They come as sticky-back press-ons now. Cosmetically, it probably won't be a perfect match for pattern and color, but you could probably get a good pattern match with a little sanding, and I've read that factory installed guards were finished over for a while.
