Aaaaah ! - That's better.

[Ivan Kelsall]

While i have no actual aversion to scratch / finger plates on a Mandolin,i personally don't need one. My Lebeda "Special" was built with one & that's how i bought it, & how it was until Saturday last. It seemed to me just to be an anonymous piece of Ebony,obscuring the instrument so i took it off.
I think the instrument looks a 100% better -anybody else done a scratch plate removal for the same reason ?,
Ivan

[Mike Bunting]

I don't have a finger rest on any of my mandos since I don't post my fingers and my pick doesn't strike the top.

[jim_n_virginia]

I've always taken mine off too or the mandolin didn't come with one but ever since I had to scrub off a ton of finger gunk on my old Fern that I sold I tried something different this time and I left the pick guard on this newer Fern that I bought.

I don't plant fingers anywhere and my pick doesn't touch the top but I play with an open fist as opposed to a closed fist and while I am not conscience of it I guess my ring finger and pinky occasionaly ever so lightly brush the top of the mandolin. I barely touch it but it is enough that after time it leaves smudges and after months in between cleanups it adds up.

So this time I left it on and while it took a little while to get used to it I hardly know it is there now. I look underneath the guard and the surface it perfectly clean so I am leaving it on.

The pick guard does have a purpose so I am going to let it do it's job. I don't plan on selling this mandolin anytime soon but I might one day and if I did it would only be for a DMM or MM that I really liked the tone so I am going to try and keep it as nice as I can.

I now have a pick guard, ToneGard and an armrest! My mandolin is ready for WAR! LOL!

[Ivan Kelsall]

Playing Banjo,i do of course,plant my pinky near the bridge for stability. I've tried doing the same thing when playing Mandolin,although i don't need to,but it just doesn't work,it's a totally different hand movement. Also, i tend to play with the finger of my right hand that aren't holding the pick,in a loose 'fist',so they come nowhere near the top of the Mandolin - but it's quite literally different (pick) strokes for different folks. The other thing is,i just prefer my Mandolin un-cluttered by anything that isn't of benefit to my playing - i've often wondered if removing the strings might the 'ultimate benefit',
Ivan

[Mike Bromley]

I love the pinky-plant debate. I wonder if drinking tea from a bone china cup requires a raised pinky, while swigging Tim Horton's uses all four? Does it change the flavour?

I pinky-plant sometimes, and other times I don't. I use stumpware rather than stemware, also.

Topic-consistent: I removed all pickguards. They rattle.

The methods are as variable as Newfoundland Weather, and all just as valid as the other, if the tone is good.

[AlanN]

What he said.

Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

[Ken Olmstead]

Ivan - the mando looks far better with the pickguard removed. Unfortunately, and with all respect due to the builder, it is a non-descript piece of ebony that does not look shaped that well for its purpose. On an F5, I really like to see a full Gibson style pickguard. 2 points, and A models are wide open!

I am actually going to a finger rest to facilitate going between instruments. If all I ever played was mandolin, I would not need one at all. I don't have one on my Fern and the top is virtually perfect. Any evidence, is from letting someone "try" my mandolin!

Looks really good Ivan!!

[journeybear]

I think it looks a lot better - symmetry is restored, the instrument is presented without fetter or clutter, and as Ken said, the pickguard was, ah, lacking aesthetically.

My A model has no pickguard, which is fine. I still have it somewhere, tucked away in deep storage, the original pickguard from my original A model - all I have left of it - and if I ever change my mine, I can install it. I remember it rattled, that clamping design being less than foolproof. So sayeth the fool. I also removed the pickguard from my late lamented F-12 (and that is presumably all I have left of that, wherever it is), for musical as well as aesthetic reasons - didn't see the point in blocking the treble side f-hole.

My concern has always been scratching the surface with a pick, not leaving "finger gunk." The latter can be wiped away; the former is a good bit more permanent!

[Chris Biorkman]

I don't plant, but I like having one on there to protect the top. It took some getting used to, but now I don't even notice it's there. I just got a sweet new bound abbreviated one from Tom for my Ellis that really dresses the thing up quite a bit.

[Denny Gies]

I purposely had the pick guard not included when my mandolin was ordered. Looks better without it.

[JeffD]

Wow! I must be in the minority. But I think most of the time pickguards look great, and especially if the instrument was designed with it, the mandolin looks kind of naked without it. I love the look of the vintage Ginbson A with pick guard. Very fine.

I recently saw (on here I think), a pre-Gibson Flatiron pancake, with a pick guard added. I though it looked really cool.



I am a firm and proud planter, when its the best way to play a passage, and I do it whether there is a pick guard or not.

[allenhopkins]

Some have 'em, some don't, no big deal to me. I plant my fingers on the top, and I did wear through the very thin finish on my Eastman 615 mandola within six months of purchasing it. I got the finish touched up and a clear plastic golpeador (which is what the flamenco guitarists call it, a "tap plate") glued to the finger-resting area.

Only time I took one off intentionally was on my '50's F-5, and that's because the plastic had warped so that the pickguard was curved upward at the end, and interfered with pick movement. I think it's all a matter of taste and technique. My new Eastman DGM-1 came with a very nice ebony guard, and I enjoy having and using it.

[AlanN]

I asked the builder to include the pickguard and all hardware for it, but to not do the install, and to drill no holes. I then sent the mandolin and hardware to Charlie Derrington, who I had commissioned to build and install an abbreviated pickguard made from a 'special' material. Charlie did a fabulous job, it looked great. I had it on there for a while, then took it off. Go figure.

It has remained in a box for 10 years now.

[mdlorenz]

I love a nice pickguard. But yea that one looks not quite right. Hans's guards & loar style are very complimentary to the looks of the mandolin though.

[journeybear]

I dunno, Alan. People sure are funny critters, ain't we? Go figure is right!

I may yet put my old pickguard on my new (to me) A model, but more for sentimental reasons than aesthetic or practical ones. I would be restoring part of my first mandolin to public life, and also honoring my mother, who bought it for me.

I'm more open to pickguards on A models than F models - and Jeff, yours looks fine with it - just because of the way they cover part of the treble side f-hole. I don't know how much of the sound it blocks, but it plays havoc with the look. It gives the impression that practicality has won over aesthetics, and I usually side with aesthetics in such considerations. Of course, you don't want to end up with an instrument like that 33K F-5 that keeps coming up for bid!

[Scotti Adams]

Im not a pinky planter so I can do or not do a scratch plate....I happen to have an abbreviated one on my Clark mando..I think it compliments it visually..not that it needed it.

[Fliss]

I like the "no-pickguard" look - it lets the beauty of the instrument shine through, IMO

Fliss

[Darryl Wolfe]

With no offense to Lebeda, I believe your description of anonomous ebony fits to a tee. It looks better off, but I believe a better looking pickguard could in turn enhance the looks.

[OldSausage]

I don't like pickguards. I don't even have a cover for my iPod. I usually have my luthier distress my iPods before I use them. And, by the way, my iPod is a tone monster. Or it will be once it opens up.

[woodwizard]

I like the look and the feel of the abreviated one on my goldrush. Tried it without it and then put it back on. Got pickguards on my A4 and L7 guitar as well. If it came with it I'll leave it on.

[journeybear]

I don't like pickguards. I don't even have a cover for my iPod. I usually have my luthier distress my iPods before I use them. And, by the way, my iPod is a tone monster. Or it will be once it opens up.

[Mike Bunting]

I love the pinky-plant debate. I wonder if drinking tea from a bone china cup requires a raised pinky, while swigging Tim Horton's uses all four? Does it change the flavour?

Now that's a bad comparison, Tim Horton's has no flavour or if you can detect a flavour it would be bong water! See you at Blueberry, they have real coffee there.
I agree with the rest of the statement though, "Chacun à son goût"

[lenf12]

It looks better off, but I believe a better looking pickguard could in turn enhance the looks.

I gotta agree with Darryl on this one. A better looking PG would definitely enhance the looks very much. Just for the record, can we call them "finger rests" rather than pick guards? That is their intended function. I use them on all of my mandolins and find it difficult to play a mandolin without one. As a matter of fact, my '56 F-12 sports an F-5 Journal Loar repro "finger rest" (thanks Darryl!!) and there is no evidence that partially blocking the treble f hole changes the sound in any way. Ask Dave Grisman.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[Dagger Gordon]

I don't have strong views about most mandolin pickguards, but I could NEVER buy a Gibson Hummingbird or J-200 acoustic guitar with their pickguards. Huge, tacky and just really awful!

[journeybear]

"Finger rest?" I don't think so. They're pick guards, meant to guard the instrument from potential damage by picks. You might occasionally rest your fingers on a pick guard, but it's there to guard against damage as shown in the pictures - which was not caused by planting one's fingers.

I'll grant that they probably don't impair the sound much. When I removed mine from the F-12, was hoping to do anything to improve its sound. It was rather young, and just needed to be played a lot, as it turned out. For years, as it turned out.