What's the benefit of a pickguard?

Lauri M · #1 05-27-2002, 04:23 AM

Is it just the looks or is there something else?
I personnally don't like pickguards, except in Jems.

raijin · #2 05-27-2002, 05:17 AM

I would guess (and I'm only guessing here!

) that a pickguard is to guard the body itself from pick scratches. You can replace just the pickguard when scratched up. Unless you would rather replace the body or get a new paint job that is.

- raijin

nuno · #3 05-27-2002, 08:12 AM

dont know why,
but i ended up liking useless pickguards, like the clear ones on the back-routed FP, BFP etc, and the gold one of the RBM (please, dont flame on me!).
i repeat, dont know why, that's just me.

raijin · #4 05-27-2002, 09:20 AM

I've never really cared for pickguards myself. Never had any problems without them on any of my cough*piece of crap*cough guitars but they look pretty cool on the Jems for some reason. I especially like the mirrored pickguard on my dbk although it's like getting two scratches for the price of one with that reflecting surface!

- raijin

BeastofLove · #5 05-27-2002, 09:45 AM

Aside from keeping the body free of scratches and an easy way to mount electronics, I feel that guitars with pickguards (in general) have a more acoustic tone when unplugged and they have a ... spongier feel than guits with direct-mounted pickups. I like the spongy thing, ergo I like guitars with pickguards. Cosmetically I don't really feel one way or the other unless it's a great finish on the guitar (a la swirl or 3120).

-Ben

nuno · #6 05-27-2002, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeastofLove

I like the spongy thing, ergo I like guitars with pickguards...

ERGO??? ERGO???
do you English/Americans really use the word 'ergo'??? OH MY GAWD!!! that's f***ing cool!!!!
i like when non-Italians use Latin/Italian words!
oh, sorry for going out of topic...

[think to myself] (damn... they say 'ergo'! oh my...) [/think to myself]

Rich · #7 05-27-2002, 11:42 AM

With the exception of a clear pickguard, typ[ically a pickguard has always been used to cover front routing on a guitar (check out any Strat). On a guitar with rear routing you could say it's there for mounting the electrics for a particular tone. In the case of GMC/PMC/FP/BFP about the only use it has is protecting the finish.

caprile · #8 05-27-2002, 11:56 AM

nuno: they use them a lot, like 2002 AD and ie.

BeastofLove · #9 05-27-2002, 12:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuno

ERGO??? ERGO???
do you English/Americans really use the word 'ergo'??? OH MY GAWD!!! that's f***ing cool!!!!
i like when non-Italians use Latin/Italian words!
oh, sorry for going out of topic...

[think to myself] (damn... they say 'ergo'! oh my...) [/think to myself]

You caught me in a latin moment

. And not that Ricky Martin kind of latin either...
And yes, Americans do use some of that latin but not all that frequently. Generally, people in the States use latin phrases to make themselves sound smarter than they actually are. I ouldwae evernae odae hattae.

-Ben

EKG · #10 05-27-2002, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rich

With the exception of a clear pickguard, typically a pickguard has always been used to cover front routing on a guitar (check out any Strat).........In the case of GMC/PMC/FP/BFP about the only use it has is protecting the finish.

DING! DING! DING!
Also gives you the option to mount the pups to the pickguard vs. direct mounting. Yes, there is a slight difference in tone

Texter · #11 05-27-2002, 05:59 PM

Pickguards are former pickpolice...

raijin · #12 05-27-2002, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texter

Pickguards are former pickpolice...

Is that a step up or a step down?

raijin · #13 05-27-2002, 09:33 PM

Sorry, Lauri. Don't mean to highjack your thread but I have a question.

From reading the above, I'm a little confused. Is the pickguard an essential part of the guitar for some Jems? Or is it more like the toy you get when you buy a happy meal, meaning that it's not entirely necessary but kinda nice that it's there?

- raijin

Two hands31 · #14 05-27-2002, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by raijin

Sorry, Lauri. Don't mean to highjack your thread but I have a question.

From reading the above, I'm a little confused. Is the pickguard an essential part of the guitar for some Jems? Or is it more like the toy you get when you buy a happy meal, meaning that it's not entirely necessary but kinda nice that it's there?

- raijin

Since every JEM ever made has a pickguard, I'd say it wouldn't seem like a JEM anymore without one.

BucketBot · #15 05-28-2002, 12:08 AM

Useless pickguards are cool. I just ordered 2 of them just for looks. As for keeping the guitar free of pick scratches... insn't drilling a bunch of holes in the body to mount it kind of defeating the purpose?