Re: Pick-Guard Replacement on A-Style Mandolin?
Originally Posted by
Bill Cameron
. Take a look through the classifieds and look at the multi-thousand-dollar mandos: F9, Collings, etc--you will see that hardly any of them have pickguards, because they are unneeded on a mando, since the strings are so high above the top--and they interfere with the sound by covering the f-hole.
Worth noting... they are not "pick guards" as such. They are actually finger rests. They do serve a real purpose, though whether you need, use or like them is a matter of preference and playing style/technique. Where they are not used there can be substantial wear to the top through finger resting. I have some mandolins with them, some without. I must say I prefer them with, though not so much the larger plastic Gibson type, rather the 'abbreviated' style made in bound ebony as seen above on my Ellis. I find these to be really nice. I did a few tests once, recording the same mandolin (a Gibson F5 Fern) with and without the pickguard into a very nice microphone, and not only listened to the results, but ran them though a spectral analyzer. I could not detect any difference at all with either method.
Gibson F5 'Harvey' Fern, Gibson F5 'Derrington' Fern
Distressed Silverangel F 'Esmerelda' aka 'Maxx'
Northfield Big Mon #127
Ellis F5 Special #288
'39 & '45 D-18's, 1950 D-28.
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