Pickguard, on or off?
- Thread starter Gahr
- Start date
OP
Gahr
Ambassador of Blues & Brews
If you by «Danish modern» mean furniture from the likes of Kaare Klint, Arne Jacobsen and Poul Henningsen, I have to say I really like it! Granted, their stuff was designed more than half a century ago, but I still think it holds up.
I see your point regarding the LP pickguard, though. It is kind of strange. Unlike the SG pickguards it doesn’t follow the lines of the guitar body, it seems like it is there simply for practical reasons without the designers ever thinking of the aesthetics. That being said, I still think it looks rather pretty on a goldtop...
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
Gotta disagree there.
This is a photo of a 1930 L-50:
This is a photo of a 1935 L-7:
Not terribly dissimilar, right? Obviously not influenced by the "jet age" and the LP design is not exactly a jet-age delta-wing knockoff either, in part because it simply followed Gibsons own heritage and in part because the world's militaries were not using delta-wing jets in the Korean war era when the Les Paul was designed.
The design of the guard was for functionality and aesthetics. It balances the the look of the guitar, has a purpose, and holds up as well today as the rest of the guitar does.
syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
That's a good example of no poker chip with no pickguard that I was referring to earlier.
Bocc69
Ambassador of Metal Health
That's what's so great about guitars. We all have different taste and styles.....we can take the same guitar and change it to our desire.
Me, I'm a poker chip guy. 2017 didn't come with one, so I added it. The person I sell it to can take it off if they want....lol, like I'd ever sell it!!
Me, I'm a poker chip guy. 2017 didn't come with one, so I added it. The person I sell it to can take it off if they want....lol, like I'd ever sell it!!
OP
Gahr
Ambassador of Blues & Brews
Cool! The poker chip is definitely staying on. At the moment the pickguard is back on here, but I am still on the fence. What I really want, though, is one without the "1960" inscription. It is just so damn hard to find one that matches the color of the pickup rings and binding as well as this one does. I have two spare cream LP pickguards lying around, and they are both way too light in color. Do I really need to buy an aged one?
Col Mustard
Ambassador of Perseverance
I agree with removing the poker chip also... the aulde Gibson poker chip that says Rhythm/Trouble is way retro,
(read that obsolete) from the dim dark pioneering days
back when guitars with two P-90s were new-fangled innovations just like the
Mig 17 and the F 101. Gibson designers felt that they should include some indicator
for the ignorant performer...of how this new technology should be used.
They were trying to sell these to Jazz guitarists. Rock an Roll did not exist when this
design was completed and offered for sale. Jazz guitarists were accustomed to arch top
F-hole hollow body guitars wiith one P-90... or something like that. These guys had laughed
at the Telecaster, and called it a canoe paddle or a snow shovel...
To get them to buy a solid plank of wood with two pickups, Gibson had to offer a guide as to
what the instrument was good for. What do we need this for now? It's just more plastic junk
cluttering up your beautiful guitar. A stainless steel washer looks better, and costs very little.
You left one very important alternative out of your poll: "Keep the Pickguard if necessary to protect the top..."
This would have been my vote if it were available. Because the pickguard actually does have a useful
function... For those whose style includes heavy handed pick work with a heavy pick. Better to scratch the
plastic than to gouge your Golden Guitar.
Some performers play with bare fingers, and need no guard. Others, like me play with a light touch
and a thin pick. So I have made several pickguards out of Ebony or Walnut, and can enjoy their beauty
without scratching them much. I'd have no need of that '50s era plastic delta wing on my Les Paul, if
I owned one.
If you have to have a poker chip, get one that says Guns/Rockets
or Karen/Sharon or Angel/Devil or Sif/Freija or Hel/Valhalla
or Thor/Loki or my favorite: Bite/Sting... A good Norseman should have
a poker chip on his guitar that says Skoll/Hati... *grins
or keep it simple and say Neck/Bridge (in Norwegian)
which actually makes sense in 2018.
(read that obsolete) from the dim dark pioneering days
back when guitars with two P-90s were new-fangled innovations just like the
Mig 17 and the F 101. Gibson designers felt that they should include some indicator
for the ignorant performer...of how this new technology should be used.
They were trying to sell these to Jazz guitarists. Rock an Roll did not exist when this
design was completed and offered for sale. Jazz guitarists were accustomed to arch top
F-hole hollow body guitars wiith one P-90... or something like that. These guys had laughed
at the Telecaster, and called it a canoe paddle or a snow shovel...
To get them to buy a solid plank of wood with two pickups, Gibson had to offer a guide as to
what the instrument was good for. What do we need this for now? It's just more plastic junk
cluttering up your beautiful guitar. A stainless steel washer looks better, and costs very little.
You left one very important alternative out of your poll: "Keep the Pickguard if necessary to protect the top..."
This would have been my vote if it were available. Because the pickguard actually does have a useful
function... For those whose style includes heavy handed pick work with a heavy pick. Better to scratch the
plastic than to gouge your Golden Guitar.
Some performers play with bare fingers, and need no guard. Others, like me play with a light touch
and a thin pick. So I have made several pickguards out of Ebony or Walnut, and can enjoy their beauty
without scratching them much. I'd have no need of that '50s era plastic delta wing on my Les Paul, if
I owned one.
If you have to have a poker chip, get one that says Guns/Rockets
or Karen/Sharon or Angel/Devil or Sif/Freija or Hel/Valhalla
or Thor/Loki or my favorite: Bite/Sting... A good Norseman should have
a poker chip on his guitar that says Skoll/Hati... *grins
or keep it simple and say Neck/Bridge (in Norwegian)
which actually makes sense in 2018.
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syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
I had a great laugh! Thanks for posting that...
I liked the Colonel’s, very likely autocorrected, “Rhythm/Trouble”!
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
This all came up in a recent thread and I will paraphrase what I said there:
...at the time that Ted McCarty was designing the Les Paul Rock and Roll was still an amorphous art form that was just coming together and was as-yet unnamed, but I think McCarty was well aware of the blues, r&b and country elements that eventually melded into RnR and designed the guitar with those styles in mind as much as Jazz. What little input Les Paul the man had on the actual design of Les Paul the guitar was probably no more than the stupid trapeze tailpiece and what color they got painted but I think...he [Les Paul] viewed it as a jazz instrument.
McCarty was an incredibly savvy guy. He saw the writing on the wall and knew they needed a solidbody to compete against Fender in the pop markets, as well as Jazz. He stated many times that the only reason the Les Paul had a carved top was because Fender didn't have the technical capability/equipment to produce one and Gibson did, so it differentiated them in the marketplace. Les Paul was an obvious endorsee, but that was more due to his name recognition than them using him as a doorway into the Jazz market, and LP was pretty avante-garde for his time anyway and definitely more of a pop act than straight Jazz.
Nope, R&R didn't exist (at least in the named form we know it now) but the world was at the very cusp of it and all the elements were already starting to congeal. Ted McCarty surely knew all of this when he designed the Les Paul and took advantage of it. The fact that we still buy and use these things for all styles of music is testament to what a visionary McCarty was, and I think it's a bit shortsighted to say that the guitar was designed and intended for use within the fairly narrow confines of a "Jazz" instrument.
Perhaps the Jazz guys did. But the country, Blues, Jump, R&B players sure didn't. The Broadcaster/Tele was revelatory for them and it's popularity is exactly what fueled Gibson and McCarty to design and market the Les Paul, which kind of supports the fact that it wasn't expected to be strictly a Jazz guitar.
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Col Mustard
Ambassador of Perseverance
Gotta disagree there.
This is a photo of a 1935 L-7:
Not terribly dissimilar, right? Obviously not influenced by the "jet age" and the LP design is not exactly a jet-age delta-wing knockoff either, in part because it simply followed Gibsons own heritage and in part because the world's militaries were not using delta-wing jets in the Korean war era when the Les Paul was designed.
The design of the guard was for functionality and aesthetics. It balances the the look of the guitar, has a purpose, and holds up as well today as the rest of the guitar does.
Okay okay, that L-7 pickguard looks fine, and it would also look fine on a Les Paul... because of the curve.
Our OP could get a custom P/G looking like that and enhance his gold top.
And I admit that the early design of the Les Paul predates the American F-101 by a few years, but
I maintain that the pickguard looked "jet age" in 1951, which was my point. Those other guitars are much
more retro than the Lester, whcih was Fender's point of competition. And the Delta wing Mig 21 that I posted
came much later. But I maintain that the Les Paul designers added that P/G to look like a rocket fin or a
Jet fighter wing, or something very up and coming at that time. I was only a toddler then, so what do I
know.
I actually like the curved p/g you showed for the L-7. But you could take that off and the guitar
would look fine... as long as you can ignore the holes.
ivan H
Ambassador of Tubes & Grooves
I voted "on" as I prefer the guard be on most lesters. A goldtop can go either way but mind you don't put pick scratches on that beautiful gold top. Re the delta wing, put simply, the LP guard has nothing to do with a delta wing. The delta wing is so called due to it resembling the Greek uppercase letter "Delta" which is this
Even to say the LP guard is the shape of half a delta wing is incorrect as a delta wing has a straight trailing edge which the LP guard doesn't. Cheers
Even to say the LP guard is the shape of half a delta wing is incorrect as a delta wing has a straight trailing edge which the LP guard doesn't. Cheers