Anybody else hate pick guards?

[Pilgrim]

I don't need one, but I like the way they look on almost all basses.

 

[msaone]

I play with a pick and I am indifferent towards them. For one I wouldnt scratch the body with a pick the way I play that would be rather hard , some basses look great without gaurds, such as the jazz special , others look to plain , the boxer P from 1985 by fender,looks like a jazz special but just with a P pickup and no guard, its way to plain looking to me.

Yes you don't scratch the body hiding under a pile of colored plastic. That you'll never see.

 

[FunkRenegade]

That Roscoe Beck is oh so sweet

 

[msaone]

One of the very few Fender bass models that did not include a pick guard in the design, here is a photo of my mint 1992 P Bass Plus Deluxe. As for pick guards I own basses with and without. I bought this bass new in 1992 and what attracted me to it was that it did not look like a traditional P bass.

See how good a p bass looks naked.

 

[giacomini]

I like pickguards when the whole bass' color combo looks all cool (VERY subjective I know).

Don't really know, I think it depends, if it is a bass that has a pickguard as a standard (like P's and J's) I like them and find the ones that don't have kinda odd, but if the bass's got a more modern shape I think pickguards ruin the look...

 

[chef wong]

Thanks. It is my favorite of the three Fenders I own.

You're very welcome. I firmly believe the whole Plus and Plus Deluxe era is Fender's best.

 

[sratas]

usually I dislike them, especially the ones with white facing.
No hate at all, but I love wood under my hands/eyes and some days I still think that some designs have privileged bare plastic and hidden a good wood grain (Fender 50 P, Marcus miller jazz, even the P-bass itself)...
but now I have a jazz that I love, looked for some options with a naked body but finally found my bass and fell in love with it, with a pickguard...
but mine is quite a special 'guard, NOS baltic amber laminate on 3-ply, an looks so classy.

 

[BassDoc51]

I can tolerate them on a Thunderbird but nothing else. I wish Fender would put out a new line of Power Jazz Bass Specials. Maybe they could offer some cool finished and unblocked maple fingerboards too.

 

[highway1]

I like the look of my Tone Gaurd Anodized unit on my Jazz

 

[micgtr71]

I actually like having the spacing between strings and pickguard...it makes it more comfortable for slap. I do think that it depends on the bass. Bolt on...pickguard. Neck thru or set neck...no. This is not always of course.

 

[SpecialBlender]

I've never let the fact a bass has a pick guard or not influence my decision to buy it. My first priority is always how good does it sound or play. After that it's can I find one without a pick guard.
I'll always go without a pick guard given the opportunity, I just like to see the wood grain show through.

 

[Watchootognbout]

I don't care for basses with paint or pickguards.Ever since I saw first Stanley Clarke"s beautiful Alembic basses I LUSTED after basses with no pickguard.And I prefer the look of WOOD.Especially exotic woods with highly figured grain.But of course the majority of basses have paint and pickguards.Why does a bass need a pickguard?Does a pick user strum his bass like an acoustic guitar?No.So why does a Fender P-Bass or a Jazz have such a large pickguard?Usually to hide the sloppy front routing job.But nowadays many bass makers have mastered the art of routing through the back so pickguards are not necessary.Besides I love the clean no nonsense bare look.So try to seek out basses that are natural wood and have no pickguards.

 

[Warpeg]

I'm a fan of pickguards; they add a certain degree of character that I find visually appealing.

 

[grendle]

Hate them. No use for them even if playing with a pick. Consider them a cosmetic cover up for cheap routing. Ymmv

 

[deeptubes]

In general, I'm pretty much indifferent. I have 2 with and 2 without. But, I really don't like the pickguard/control plate combo on J basses. I do like the Deluxe J, the J Plus, and the J 24.

 

[khutch]

I don't hate pickguards. A nicely done pickguard enhances rather than detracts from many classic designs. Fenders and Fender imitations with controls mounted on a control plate look silly without them, in my opinion. Especially Jazz basses. The jazz bass control plate obviously is designed to tie into a pickguard and if you remove the pickguard it just looks like a bass with a part missing. The few Fender basses with controls mounted from behind and the many other brands/models that have rear mounted controls look fine without a pickguard. If you wanted to remove the pickguard from a front mounted Jazz bass and have it look right you would have to redesign the control plate so it looked like it was meant to stand on its own rather than to tie into something that very obviously is missing.

Ken

 

[ddhm]

I don't care for pick guards at all. I prefer the look of the wood. No color is cool. I love a satin finish too.

 

[taurus1]

I love chocolate and pickguards, hope this information is useful.

 

[Vince Klortho]

in 45 years my two biggest turnoffs for a bass or guitar is pickguards and sunburst finishes.

I am not into sunburst finishes either.

As for pickguards, I kind of like them. Especially when they are like a Precision has. I really dislike the separate pickguard and control plate that the Jazz has.

I also like rear-routed basses that do not have pickguards at all.

 

[hsech]

I like them on most basses but not all. One would look just wrong on my G&L ASAT bass. Same on my Carvin AC40F. My Fender basses would look naked without one. I gotta have my good old tort pickguard on my PBass and Jazz.