Sylvan Music

  • Home
  • Rentals
  • Repairs
  • Lessons
  • Appraisals
  • About Us
    • Humble Beginnings
    • Staff
    • Policies
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Video Demos
  • Merch
  • Home
  • Rentals
  • Repairs
  • Lessons
  • Appraisals
  • About Us
    • Humble Beginnings
    • Staff
    • Policies
  • Contact
  • Blog
  • Video Demos
  • Merch

McCoy's Musings - Pickguards

9/2/2016

1 Comment

 
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!
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.  

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!
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
Picture
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.

1 Comment
Richard Loomis
4/11/2018 01:06:44 pm

Any Idea where I can get the Porter Wagoner D-41 Custom Pickup for my D-41 Thanks

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    May 2017
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    March 2016
    October 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015

    RSS Feed

Picture
Picture
Get our DVDs and learn how to set up your own guitar!
Picture
Sylvan's Own
 Banjo Jack Mount

Shop our online store at:
Picture
Sylvan Music - 831-427-1917
1521 Mission Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060

©All Rights Reserved