AcornHouse
Venerated Member
We have a new contender for ugliest pickguard On this 1939 Martin D-18 that Gruhn just posted on their Instagram page. They say they love oversized pickguards. Me, not so much.
Ugliest pickguard
- Thread starter AcornHouse
- Start date
fronobulax
Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods
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Doesn't bother me 
Wouldn't be my first choice, but I'd be okay on a '39 D-18 if it played and sounded ok. Would I order one for a new guitar? No.
wileypickett
Enlightened Member
I'm with Chris!
You know it was installed to conceal pick damage to the top, but did it have to be so inelegant and clunky?
If you're a furious and aggressive strummer, it does provide a lot of protection -- that's something I guess.
You know it was installed to conceal pick damage to the top, but did it have to be so inelegant and clunky?
If you're a furious and aggressive strummer, it does provide a lot of protection -- that's something I guess.
mellowgerman
Senior Member
If it didn't go all the way to the neck edge of the top, I could deal with it, but this one has just gone TOO FAR
The Guilds of Grot
Enlightened Member
If the upper right corner radius matched the lower two it would look fine. The sharp radius is just too jarring to the eye. (Not to mention what it's doing to the feng-shui!)
Bonneville88
Senior Member
Sorry... had to... otherwise was going to have pickguard nightmares...
The Guilds of Grot
Enlightened Member
Now it looks kind of naked!
fronobulax
Bassist, GAD and the Hot Mess Mods
- Joined
- May 3, 2007
- Messages
- 24,748
- Reaction score
- 8,881
- Location
- Central Virginia, USA
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Guitar porn of another sort?
Psst... Hey buddy. Wanna buy some naked pictures of your F30?
Bonneville88
Senior Member
Sorry Grot, sometimes nothing less than a complete pickguard cleansing is
necessary in extreme situations. You didn't see the part where I went out into
the woods with that disturbing first photo, looked up into a darkening sky,
invoked the spirits of the guitar gods, sang the ancient incantations, read the tea leaves,
poked the ashen bones, threw salt over my shoulder - then
went back inside and opened up photoshop
Guildedagain
Enlightened Member
I'll go naked on this one. Thx for fixing it ;]]
The Guilds of Grot
Enlightened Member
Sorry Grot, sometimes nothing less than a complete pickguard cleansing is
necessary in extreme situations. You didn't see the part where I went out into
the woods with that disturbing first photo, looked up into a darkening sky,
invoked the spirits of the guitar gods, sang the ancient incantations, read the tea leaves,
poked the ashen bones, threw salt over my shoulder - then
went back inside and opened up photoshop
If you're photoshopping you could have just fixed the top right radius!
Nuuska
Enlightened Member
It's too much for me! Naked is better!
Looks like some sort of foreign dignitary sash...
walrus
Looks like some sort of foreign dignitary sash...
walrus
jedzep
Senior Member
I'd pull it in a minute and go from there, all the way to a top refinish if I had to. That year model has high probability to sound so good it would never go back on the market in my lifetime anyway.
Some people just pick high on their guitar necks. I pick lower, from the middle to lower soundhole.
jedzep
Senior Member
I've seen some great flat pickers in my lifetime, and am always awed by the efficiency and precise pick mechanics they use. I think of players like Doc Watson and Molly Tuttle, for example. Their guitars never suffer the wounds of over-strumming, something I don't engage in anyway. At most, the side of my hand brushes on the normal pickguard area of my guitars and creates a buffing sheen.
A pick that's hitting the top hard after leaving the strummed strings is an indicator of a guitar that's being over-driven, in my book. I like to play in the optimum RPM range of my guitars, with or without a piece of plastic blocking my attack.
A pick that's hitting the top hard after leaving the strummed strings is an indicator of a guitar that's being over-driven, in my book. I like to play in the optimum RPM range of my guitars, with or without a piece of plastic blocking my attack.
SFIV1967
Venerated Member
Keith Richards is one of them, when standing he strums very high, you see all the scratches on the upper bout. Look where that pickguard is and where his hand is (and that is only a 12 fret guitar!):
When looking closer you see all the marks from strumming starting on the 13th fret on his 00-21!
Ralf