This week I would like to highlight a piece of equipment that serves an important role both functionally and aesthetically on a guitar: the pickguard! There have been a number of different pickguard designs over the years, some crazier than others, and I thought I'd show off some of my personal favorites.
By the way, if you are into bluegrass music, check out the 1972 documentary "Bluegrass Country Soul"...You will not only see some enormous/ridiculous pickguards, but also some classic performances by the likes of Earl Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers, Ralph Stanley, The Country Gentlemen, Roy Acuff...well, you get the idea!
By the way, if you are into bluegrass music, check out the 1972 documentary "Bluegrass Country Soul"...You will not only see some enormous/ridiculous pickguards, but also some classic performances by the likes of Earl Scruggs, The Osborne Brothers, Ralph Stanley, The Country Gentlemen, Roy Acuff...well, you get the idea!
Flatpick wizard Bryan Sutton is fast becoming one of my favorite modern acoustic guitarists. He holds multiple Grammys as a go-to studio musician in Nashville and plays some of the fastest and cleanest lead lines I've ever heard. Though his 1948 D-28 wasn't built to be left handed, Bryan says the guitar "spent some good playing time upside down!" Thus the twin pickguards.
According to a Guitar World article published after Waylon Jennings died, the guitar he has become most know for playing was a 1968 stock sunburst telecaster that he had modified by a saddle maker who taylored the Leather body case and added the white roses. More of a "bodyguard" really, but pretty ridiculous all the same!
Perhaps the most outrageous of the bunch, the Porter Wagoner "Wagonmaster" D-41 features one of the most outlandish pickguards I've ever seen on an acoustic guitar. Sort of a Batman-meets-Spinal Tap thing going on here. Nothing conventional about this country singer's axe!
I feel like there was a period during the 60's and 70's when guitarists were competing to see whose pickguard could cover the most space on the top of their guitar. Lester Flatt's iconic 1950 D-28 had a huuuuge pickguard -- almost as unique as his right-hand thumb pick technique.
Perhaps the most recognizable guitar in country music (also a great representation of the virtues of having a pickguard!), Willie Nelson's famed "Trigger". If that guitar could only talk, I believe it would have a quite a few stories to tell...
Until next time!
-McCoy
Until next time!
-McCoy
McCoy Tyler is a salesman at Sylvan Music with an aptitude towards acoustic guitars, amps, and pickup systems. When he's not spouting musical knowledge on the sales floor, he can be found doing some hot picking and sweet singing with his group The McCoy Tyler Band.
RSS Feed
