Official Luthiers Forum!

With and Without Pickguard

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Nice either way.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Without

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Without
But I might prefer with if it were a different pguard. That one IMO is just a little too large. The bottom right leg looks like it is drooping.

Steve: Looks nice to me either way. If the guitar is for some one else, please them. If it's for yourself I would suggest the guard. I put guards on any guitar I make for myself, not because I need them, because I don't. But sometime, somewhere, someone will play your guitar and scratch it to H^&L if you don't have the guard. DAMHIK.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

That guitar has gone without a pickguard for about a year. I thought I'd see how the pickguard would look. Rather than using the typical Martin style tear drop I thought I'd try to come up with a shape. As it turns out... this design looks a lot like a Gibson design. I didn't consciously try to do that... I have not yet try to sell my guitars, although, I may see if I could do that.

On my last one I used a clear pickguard. Since the top is sinker redwood, I thought I better try to protect it...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

I like the pickguard.

Commando

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Jason Moe
LaCrosse WI 54601

I like it either way, but I think the guard should be wider and closer to the edge. People who need them flail away and might get past the edge of that one.

I like pickguards, and I like yours with a pickguard. I like your design, because I like the 30's Gibson shape guard.
If you are going to try & sell your guitars, my advice is to make a guard and have it available to show the customer either way.
If you mount one on spec, a customer is going to say "I'd rather not have a pickguard".
Murphy rules on pickguards.

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https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008907949110

Hey Steve: First both guitars look absolutely beautiful!!!!

Second: I like it either way too and like the shape of the guard in the pic as well.

And third: I understand that you don't yet sell em although your stuff looks like you would have lots of takers. What I was waiting for in this thread was for someone to inquire as to where this instrument may end up. More specifically for me the decision to put on a p*ck gu*rd is a function of if it's going to a finger style sort who takes care of their stuff or perhaps a flat picking heavy hitter - form follows function is always worth a consideration.

Since you may be keeping it guess it depends on how and what you play and as such only you can answer this question, ultimately.

Really nice work though!!!!

Very nice with either option....good work. I prefer no guard if it was only a guitar for me. All of my demo guitars I have a guard on....and even then I worry with the way some folks beat on them. Ultimately it depends on the use the guitar will get....multi player guitars I recommend a guard, solo user guitars depend on the style of the player. Either way you decide, it looks good.

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Blue Ring Acoustics
blueringacoustics.ca

Thanks for the kind words Hesh (...and others). I have just finished my 10th build (the sinker redwood OM above) and the one with (or without) the pickguard has been around a while. Frankly, I just wanted to see how it would look with a pickguard. I think that some guitars look fine without, but I thought this one looked a little naked for some reason. I generally don't need a pickguard because even when I strum I'm pretty controlled.

At this point, I have not sold any guitars. I work full time and I average about one per year. I get kinda attached to them after all that time and I get so I don't want to let loose of them. I have given a few away. My wife says we're running out of room... I'm planning to retire soon and I'm thinking that perhaps I could try selling some. I don't expect to make a substantial amount of money, but it would be fun, which is really why I build them in the first place.

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com