P basses without pickguards

[secondbestcody]

IMO this is what it should be. I see the whole pickguard thing as a consequence of Leo F's cheapskate way of building basses. His designs may be monumental in many other respects, but this kind of design choices could (should) have been abandoned many years ago.

It’s funny, I have the exact opposite opinion. I think most basses actually look more aesthetically pleasing with a pickguard and have turned some basses down because of that.

 

[rafunk]

Sometimes without pickguard you can se the beauty

 

[Bleecker]

View attachment 4225085

Love the single knob...!

 

[minimalist freedom]

Recent purchase for my sons bands, keeps his bassist away from my basses.

 

[2saddleslab]

Joining @Ghastly & @subdude67 with slabs sans guards.

 

[Eekum]

This was a killer bass and I regret getting rid of it. I just loved how it looked.

 

[edencab]

not a perfect shot, but this is BL's bass...MIJ after I put D'addario tapewounds on it

 

[Brich]

I love P's w/o guards, built this fretless reverse P last year

 

[chriscrob]

Honestly, I've *always* hated basses without pickguards. Especially P basses.

This one was my dad's from when he was in a bluegrass band when I was a kid. It's growing on me.
I still think about putting a pickguard on it one day sometimes, but also now sometimes I think about getting a whole fleet of pickguardless basses.

Then I look at this one---which I play every day---and see all the smudges from my dirty little fingers and imagine how they'd look under stage lights.

 

[TrevorG]

Technically doesn’t count but a good compromise in my opinion.

 

[r_bnks]

The only way I like them. (None of my other basses has pickguards)

 

[TK4261]

I like my 32" P without a pickguard

 

[Gluvhand]

John Wetton approves.

 

[micguy]

My P is guardless, and has a bit less on the horns:

 

[G On Bass]

Neither of my PJs have guards. They came that way and I don't see a need to add one. If it came with a guard that would have been fine too. But I can not tolerate a bass with a guard removed, leaving visible screwholes or routs, nor could I abide owning a bass with a stand alone Jazz plate with no pickguard.

 

[bdgotoh]

 

[N4860]

Not a P but here's another iconic design without its pickguard and control plate that I think looks pretty decent:

 

[bassbrad]

L

 

[porterbass]

It would be cool if someone made and sold a control plate for the P bass. I guess in theory you could just cut up a pickguard yourself though. They're super cheap and easy to find after all.

Count me in the camp who prefers to go pickguard-free and for a transparent finish. I love me some wood grain.

This is my Fender Custom Shop P bass, it came stock with dual Seymour Duncan '51 stack pickups. I liked it better without the guard so I bought this chrome control plate. Although I love black/maple basses, I've thought about sending it off to be refinished in something like a dark cherry burst.

 

[porterbass]