Pickguards are absolutely necessary if you play fingerstyle. Ironically a pickguard is only necessary on bass if you're not using a pick. Flatpicking on a bass is not like strumming an acoustic guitar. It's a small precise movement and the pick goes nowhere near the body of the instrument.
Guitar Parts Factory: Pickguard Material. 1-ply white pickguard material. Measures 11-3/8"(300mm) x 9-1/2"(250mm) and . 090"(2.5mm) thickness.
WD® Music Products, Inc. was founded in 1978 as the world's first source for aftermarket pickguards. WD® Custom Pickguards continue to be the industry standard over 40 years later.
Most paints on most plastic pickguards will peel and scratch off very easily. There are so many different type of plastics and paints, it is very hard to recommend something that will work "for sure". That said, you can always go out and buy a cheap can of spray paint, spray it on, and see if it works.
Wood Pickguard
- Step 1: Supplies. A sheet of Birch plywood in whatever thickness you want. (
- Step 2: Tracing the Pickguard.
- Step 3: Cut the Outline.
- Step 4: Cut Out Pickup Holes.
- Step 5: Drill.
- Step 6: Staining the Pickguard (optional)
- Step 7: Apply Finish.
- Step 8: Attach to Your Instrument.
if all you want to do is drill holes in the body for a pickguard and jack plate then you can do it by hand with a regular drill. just place the pickguard on the body, secure it, drill 2-4 holes and screw them in then drill the rest.
While it's possible to add a pickguard to a guitar without one, it can require a fair bit of work. As mentioned above, at the very least, you'll likely need to acquire and install new pots with longer shafts as well as a taller switch (if you can find one).
Answer: Tich, it's purely aesthetic. Nothing else. Most guitars don't need pickguards, because most people don't harm their guitar with a pick. We make thousands of guitars without them each year, and people don't have trouble.
Jackson Maine's acoustic guitar (which he famously plays during “Shallow”) is a Gibson J-45, while his olive drab electric guitar (which he rocked in the film's opening scene) is a custom Gibson ES 345.
A pickguard (also known as scratchplate) is a piece of plastic or other (often laminated) material that is placed on the body of a guitar, mandolin or similar plucked string instrument. The main purpose of the pickguard is to protect the guitar's finish from being scratched by the guitar pick.
Change Your Acoustic Guitar Pickguard, Here's How. Pickguards are one of those guitar accessories that are easy to forget about. The tortis material closely imitates pre-war style pickguards and it happens to be very scratch and impact resistant so it makes for a great pickguard.
In the late 1930s and 1940s, guitarists and inventors like Les Paul and Leo Fender developed the early designs of the solid-body electric guitar.
