Thanks! Glad you like it!
I hate clear pickguards on a sweet paint job. Question......Whats the deal with everybody here being Anti-pickup rings? All the high end guitars have them, PRS, Baker, Carvin, ESP, McNaught, Warrior, Brian Moore, etc etc. Everytime people here see pickup rings their like "ewwww, get rid of the pickup rings!" And I don't get it, I'm like ewww, get rid of that clear pickguard. None of the high end guitars that have crazy tops, like spalted maple, awesome quilt or flame, buck eye burl, etc have clear pickguards....if their are any they are in the minority of exotic wood guitars with a clear pickguard. Almost none of the awesome top Prestiges or J-Customs have them either. Why not? I like to think its b/c the guitar companies realize as well that it doesn't look good, and it takes away from the beauty of the wood, or paint job.
All my custom guitars I'm making right now that are 11 to 13 piece multi-laminate exotic woods will have metal pickup rings. A pickguard just looks cheap in my opinion.
If I have a fancy figured wood I don't want to cover it with anything, even if its a clear pickguard. If the person playing the guitar is playing something like a prestige, j-custom or one of the other high end fancy woods non pickguard guitars then they are more than likely going to be good enough to play it without scratching the paint all up with their pick. I don't like the look of direct mount either, it looks too plain or "naked" to me 75% of the time. I hate seeing that big gap all the way round the pickup, especially on the sides.
Everybody has different tastes tho, that just my personal tastes. The only Ibanez's I like pickguards on are swirls and bodies that are routed in the front of course.
