Introduction to Guitar Pickguards
Guitar Pickguards are essential accessories that protect the guitar body from scratches, dents, and other forms of damage. They also play a crucial role in enhancing the guitar’s tone quality, decoration, and autograph-ability.
Since there are numerous types of pickguards, ranging from acoustic to solid-body electric, floating to golpeador, and various materials, including plastic, celluloid, mother-of-pearl, pearloid, acrylic glass, plywood, fabric, aluminum, and gems, choosing the right pickguard for your guitar can be a daunting task. Therefore, this article aims to explore the various types of pickguards, materials, benefits, and importance of thinness for acoustic guitar pickguards.
Types of Pickguards
Acoustic Pickguards
Acoustic pickguards are transparent, thin, and usually made of adhesive.Pickguards for acoustic guitars are vital in preventing the guitar top from scratches when playing with heavy strumming or fingerpicking. Without a pickguard, the top of the guitar would absorb the wear and tear, leading to a reduction in its lifespan.
Although some players may argue that pickguards impact the guitar’s tone adversely, research has shown that pickguards do not affect the sound much. The soundboard’s resonance is regulated by the bracing on its underside, which is not impeded by the pickguard.
Thus, the benefits of pickguards outweigh the cons.
Solid-Body Electric Pickguards
Solid-Body Electric pickguards are thin pieces of material that protect the guitar’s finish while adding aesthetic value. They also play a crucial role in maintaining the guitar’s tone performance.
Guitarists who use various techniques in their playing styles, such as hard strumming and fingerpicking, benefit much from solid-body electric pickguards. The pickguards aid in protecting the guitar finish and ensuring the guitar retains its tonal characteristics.
Floating Pickguards
Floating pickguards are usually found on archtop guitars, semi-hollow guitars, and most Gibson-style solid-body guitars. These pickguards are not in contact with the guitar’s surface but float above it, providing some degree of protection from scratches and scrapes.
Golpeador Pickguards
Golpeador pickguards are standard in Flamenco guitars and are typically wooden plates that are affixed to the guitar’s top, protecting it from percussive techniques such as tapping and hitting. These pickguards are often crafted to the guitar’s shape and size, making them unique to each model.
Materials
Plastic
Plastic is an affordable and standard material used to make pickguards for acoustic guitars. It comes in a wide range of colors and thicknesses, making it a standard option among players.
Although it is not as durable as other materials such as celluloid, plastic is easy to work with, and thus it is an excellent option for home guitar projects.
Celluloid
Celluloid is a highly durable thermoplastic polymer that offers excellent transparency and durability, making it an ideal pickguard material. The material is relatively expensive compared to other materials, but its strength and durability make it a worthwhile investment.
Mother-of-Pearl
Mother-of-Pearl is one of the most beautiful and elegant pickguard materials. It is a natural material derived from the shells of mollusks, and it is known for its iridescent glow and shimmering effect that gives it a unique appearance.
Mother-of-pearl pickguards are more expensive compared to other materials, but their elegant look makes them a popular choice among players.
Pearloid
Pearloid is a synthetic plastic material that mimics the shimmering effect of mother-of-pearl. It is relatively affordable compared to other materials and comes in various colors, making it an ideal choice for guitarists who want to customize their guitar.
Acrylic Glass
Acrylic Glass is a magnificent transparent material that offers excellent protection for your guitar while retaining its natural color. Acrylic glass is much stronger than ordinary glass, and it is relatively easy to work with, making it an ideal pickguard material.
Plywood
Plywood is a versatile and affordable material used in making guitar pickguards. Although it is not as durable as other materials, it is lightweight and easy to work with, making it an excellent choice for beginners.
Fabric
Fabric pickguards are usually added to give a guitar an alternative look. They are not always designed for protection but for customization of a player’s guitar.
Guitarists using fabric pickguards should keep in mind that they are not substantial and may not provide adequate protection for their guitar.
Aluminum
Aluminum pickguards offer excellent protection for guitars, especially for guitarists who use various techniques in their playing style, such as aggressive strumming, fingerpicking, and tapping. However, because of their heavy nature, they may affect the guitar’s sound performance negatively.
Gems
Gems pickguards are purely for aesthetics. Although they do not offer much in terms of practicality, they make a guitar stand out and add to the guitar’s overall value and beauty.
Benefits of Pickguards
Protection
The primary purpose of pickguards is to protect the guitar’s finish from scratches and other forms of damage. With a pickguard, you can play your guitar comfortably, without worrying about damaging its finish.
Tone
Pickguards offer a bonus enhancement to the guitar’s sound performance. They enhance the tonal characteristics of the wood, adding to the guitar’s sound quality.
Decoration
Pickguards provide various customization options and add to the guitar’s aesthetic value. They come in various materials and colors, making it easy for guitarists to match their guitar’s style with the pickguard’s design.
Autographs
Pickguards can serve as a unique way of collecting autographs from fellow artists. Since pickguards are easy to remove and replace, artists can carry them around for celebrities to sign them, becoming personal memorabilia items.
Importance of Thinness for Acoustic Guitar Pickguards
Thinness is an essential attribute to consider when choosing an acoustic guitar pickguard. A thin pickguard allows the guitar’s top to vibrate freely, thus improving the tone quality, volume, and projection.
A thick pickguard would impede the guitar’s resonance, negatively affecting the guitar’s sound performance.
Conclusion
In conclusion, guitar pickguards are essential accessories that protect guitars from scratches, dents, and other forms of damage. They also come in various types, including acoustic, solid-body electric, floating, and golpeador, and materials such as plastic, celluloid, mother-of-pearl, pearloid, acrylic glass, plywood, fabric, aluminum, and gems.
With this knowledge, players can choose the perfect pickguard for their guitar to enhance its sound performance, beauty, and lifespan. It is also crucial for acoustic guitar players to consider the thinness of their pickguards, which positively impacts the guitar’s resonance, improving its tone quality, volume, and projection.
Types of Pickguards for Solid-Body Electric Guitars
Fender-Style Plastic Pickguards
Fender-style plastic pickguards are the most common pickguards for solid-body electric guitars. They are typically made of a durable plastic material, such as ABS plastic, and are designed to wrap around the guitar body, providing maximum protection against scratches and other forms of damage.
Fender-style pickguards also provide easy access to the control cavity, where guitar electronics are housed. This allows guitarists to modify or upgrade their guitar wiring without having to remove the entire pickguard.
Back Access Panel
Some solid-body electric guitars come equipped with a back access panel, which provides easy access to the guitar’s electronics. Unlike Fender-style pickguards, back access panels do not have a visible pickguard on the guitar’s front side.
Instead, they allow access to all the electronics through a panel at the back of the guitar. This feature is especially useful for recording sessions or live performances where guitarists need to make quick changes to their sound.
Omission of Pickguard
Some solid-body electric guitars omit the pickguard altogether. This design choice is often seen in guitars meant for rock and metal genres, where sustain is a crucial characteristic of the guitar’s sound performance.
By removing the pickguard, the guitar’s strings are allowed to vibrate freely, resulting in longer sustain and less dampening of the guitar’s sound. However, omitting the pickguard increases the guitar’s susceptibility to scratches, and guitarists must exercise extra care when handling the instrument.
Types of Pickguards for Floating Pickguard Guitars
Gibson Les Paul
The Gibson Les Paul is one of the most iconic guitars in the world, and it is known for its floating pickguard design. The pickguard is held in place by two metal support brackets that are screwed onto the guitar’s top.
The floating pickguard helps to reduce the dampening effect that a fixed pickguard can have on the guitar’s sound quality. The brackets allow for height adjustment, which allows guitarists to customize the pickguard’s placement for their playing style and sound preference.
Archtop Pickguard
Guild archtop jazz guitars are known for their archtop pickguards. The pickguard is often made of tortoiseshell material and wraps around the guitar’s top, protecting it from scratches and other forms of damage.
The pickguard design is unique to each guitar model, and it adds to the instrument’s aesthetic value. Archtop pickguards can also have a significant impact on the guitar’s sound performance by affecting its resonance and tonal characteristics.
Golpeador
Golpeador pickguards originated in Flamenco guitars and are often seen in Spanish or Latin American guitar music genres.
Golpeador pickguards are mounted on the guitar’s top and are made of a hard material that can withstand the percussive playing style associated with Flamenco music.
The pickguard provides protection to the guitar’s top from scratches, dents, and other forms of damage that may occur during intense playing sessions. The pickguard’s location and design contribute to the guitar’s sound performance, particularly in Flamenco music, where percussive techniques play a significant role in the overall sound.
Conclusion
Understanding the different types of pickguards is essential for choosing the right one to protect your guitar from scratches, dents, and other forms of damage. Solid-body electric guitars come in various types of pickguards, including Fender-style plastic pickguards, back access panels and omission of pickguards to affect pickup tones.
On the other hand, floating pickguard guitars have archtop, Gibson Les Paul and
Golpeador pickguards. Each type of pickguard serves a specific purpose and can have a significant impact on the guitar’s sound performance, protection, decoration and overall aesthetic value.
By evaluating the different types of pickguards, guitarists can choose the right one to suit their playing style, sound preference, and aesthetic taste.
Pickguard Materials
Pickguards come in various materials, each with its unique advantages and disadvantages. Below is a list of popular and other materials used in making pickguards.
Popular
Materials
Plastic
Plastic is one of the most popular materials used in making pickguards because it is easy to work with, comes in a wide range of colors, and textures, making it a versatile option. Plastic pickguards are typically made of ABS plastic material, which is durable and affordable.
Other Materials
Celluloid
Celluloid is a highly durable material that offers excellent transparency and durability, making it an ideal pickguard material. It comes in various colors and patterns and is often used in vintage and classic guitars.
Although celluloid is relatively expensive compared to other materials, its strength and durability make it a worthwhile investment.
Mother-of-Pearl
Mother-of-Pearl is a natural material derived from the shells of mollusks. It is known for its iridescent glow and shimmering effect that gives it a unique appearance.
Mother-of-pearl pickguards are costly, but their elegant look makes them a popular choice among players.
Pearloid
Pearloid is a synthetic plastic material that mimics the shimmering effect of mother-of-pearl. It is relatively affordable compared to other materials and comes in various colors, making it an ideal choice for guitarists who want to customize the look of their guitar.
Acrylic Glass
Acrylic Glass is a clear material that offers excellent protection for your guitar while retaining its natural color. Acrylic glass is much stronger than ordinary glass, and it is relatively easy to work with, making it an ideal pickguard material.
Plywood
Plywood is a versatile and affordable material and is often used in making pickguards for beginner guitars. Although it is not as durable as other materials, it is lightweight and easy to work with, making it an excellent choice for beginners.
Fabric
Fabric pickguards are for aesthetics, and they are not always designed for protection. Players using fabric pickguards should keep in mind that they may not provide adequate protection for their guitar.
Aluminum
Aluminum pickguards offer excellent protection for guitars, especially for guitarists who use various techniques in their playing style such as hard strumming, fingerpicking, and tapping. However, because of their heavy nature, they may affect the guitar’s sound performance negatively.
Gems, Furs, and Skins
Gems, furs, and skins are materials that guitarists use for pickguard customization, and they are purely for aesthetics. Although they do not offer much in terms of practicality, they make a guitar stand out and add to the guitar’s overall value and beauty.
Benefits of Pickguards
Protection
One of the primary benefits of pickguards is that they protect the guitar from scratches, dents, and other forms of damage. Some pickguards have reinforced properties that offer additional stability to the plectrum, providing a smooth stroke.
Maintaining a guitar’s polished finish is much easier when using a pickguard cushioning your guitar pick and protecting the guitar from scratches.
Tone
Pickguards are crucial to the tone quality of your guitar. Guitars, such as the archtop and Gibson Hummingbird, are designed with a resonant body chamber that can significantly affect the sound performance.
Pickguards offer a tonal balance by adding to or subtracting from the guitar’s natural harmonics. Solid-body electric guitars benefit from a pickguard, providing an excellent ground point for the guitar’s electronics to reduce noise interference.
Decoration
Pickguards can improve the aesthetics of your guitar. They can be customized according to your design and theme preferences.
Some guitarists use pickguards to match their guitar’s body color or decor. The design of the guitar’s pickguard can create a unique identity for your instrument, just as a signature model guitar does.
Autographs
Pickguards can also serve as unique ways of collecting autographs from fellow artists. Signature model guitars often come with the artist’s signature already on the pickguard itself.
However, some guitarists prefer to carry a separate pickguard that they can have autographed for future memorabilia value.
Conclusion
Pickguards are an essential accessory for guitars, providing protection, enhancing the guitar’s tone quality, improving aesthetics, and serving memorabilia purposes for autograph-hunters. The choice of pickguard material and design depends on a player’s playing style, sound preference, and aesthetics.
Understanding the different benefits of pickguards can help you choose the best one to suit your needs and make your guitar stand out.
Taking the Plastic off a New Pickguard
One of the most exciting things about buying a new guitar is unwrapping it from its packaging and discovering its brand new and pristine condition. However, sometimes the protective plastic film covering the pickguard of a new guitar can be mistakenly left on for too long.
Here are some helpful tips on when and how to remove the protective film from a new pickguard without damaging the guitar.
When to Remove
It’s essential to remove the protective film from a new pickguard as soon as possible. Leaving the protective film on for too long can cause the corners of the pickguard to curl, adhering to the guitar’s top and leaving a sticky residue.
Removing the protective film promptly will prevent the film from adhering to the guitar and protect the pickguard from becoming damaged.
How to Remove
The proper removal technique is essential when taking the protective film off a new pickguard. Here are a few steps to guide you through the process.
Step 1: Locate the Film on the Pickguard