I am a bluegrass nut, but until recently I did not know that Earl Scruggs played guitar as well.

Well, I went looking for some, pics, video anything I could to get a glimpse, soundbite of his playing.

I found this recording and I grabbed a pic from it..

This guy has 3/4 of his top covered with a pick guard.

I'd love to hear your theories as to why he may have wanted that much of a pick guard.

I am of the opinion that he wanted to minimize the vibration and stiffen the top, but Hell knows why he did it..



you can listen to it here if you are curious. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wE73TjcXIXM

looking forward to your opinions.

the bigger the pickguard the worse your technique.

he wanted to make it sound like a banjo

My new signature..lol

Over the years I've seen several wild and large pickguard configurations. In the day the owners of such probably didn't think much about how this affected the sound if in fact it did. Look at Elvis's leather tooled Martin cover. Now that had to have an effect on sound and tone..eh? I havn't read much about the effects of pickguards and their sizes. I wonder how many studies have been devoted to this. Maybe some of the forum members could get together and apply for a government grant to study this phenomemon.

Best,

Blues

Elvis wasn't much of a guitar player, so I doubt it affected his sound too much... Maybe his band realized his playing was so shitty that THEY had the guitar covered to muffle it as much as possible.

We're talkin' bout the king here....Well hush-a my soul, whats wrong with me? Maybe I'm all shook up ....eh?

Best,

Blues

well usually the guitars most wanted for the studio are ones that don't have much vibration mostly old gibsons so if you add a ton of plastic on the top you achieve the desired effect.

Al,
Not to deviate from the subject but your statement could apply to several different circumstances. LOL

Bust,

Blues

that goes along with what a bluegrass loving guy I know thought about this situation, His idea was that due to the fact that Earl liked to tild the neck upwards and use the vocal mike to amplify his Martin, he originally found the pickups were picking up some of the vibration and he had it stiffened with a pick guard.

My other line of thinking is that , if I remember well this Martin was his fathers before him and because of the way he uses banjo picks to finger pick this guitar, he may have worn a hole through the top ( Willie Nelson style) and this was a cost effective, quick repair that didn't require taking the guitar top off.

Maybe he thought it looked cool. I know I do.