I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I'll show my aesthetic bias here and most may give a rip, but what is the history, and original purpose of, the giant pick guards Gibson originally put on their F-5's, and why the heck do they and others still put those smothering and less than attractive things on mandolins. Tradition?
Were they originally sized because mandolin orchestras, originally unamplified, had to play very hard, sometime with big strums? Abbreviated pick guards, for those who like them, now seem to do fine.
Thanks for any background.
Bookmarks