Should You Take the Pickguard Off Your Les Paul?
Someone had to say it. Take the pickguard off your Les Paul!
It doesn’t matter if it’s an Epiphone or a Gibson. You can spend thousands of dollars on these guitars and then cover up the best looking part with a twenty dollar piece of plastic. Especially nowadays with all the great tops out there, flame maple, quilted maple, it just doesn’t make sense.
It Wasn’t Even Designed for the Les Paul
The pickguard wasn’t specifically designed for the Les Paul to begin with. It was just a design element carried over from Gibson’s archtop guitars because that’s what a Gibson looked like. Simple as that.
What About Protection?
The protection argument made sense for hollow body guitars with thin, delicate tops where players used the guard as a physical anchor during long gigs. But a Les Paul is a solid slab of mahogany and maple. Most of us are noodling at home or recording in a home studio, we aren’t beating these things up on the road every day. These are rock machines, not big band instruments.
The Cobra Burst Example
I recently picked up the Sweetwater exclusive Epiphone Les Paul Custom Inspired by Gibson in Cobra Burst. It has the Gibson style headstock and genuine Gibson USA pickups, a 490R in the neck and a 498T in the bridge. Beautiful quilted top that was completely covered by the pickguard.
I removed it and posted before and after photos on Reddit. Immediately someone commented “it’s a cheap guitar, why does it matter.” This guitar retails at $1,299 with genuine Gibson USA pickups. But honestly even that’s beside the point. It doesn’t matter if your guitar is five hundred dollars or five thousand. You picked it because you thought it looked good, so why are you covering it up?
I filled the screw holes with toothpicks, wood glue, and black paint since the body was already black in that area. It’s not perfect up close but on camera it looks clean. Even with the screw holes it still looks better than having the guard on it.
What About Resale Value?
This is the strongest counter argument and honestly it depends on what guitar you have. If you own a rare Custom Shop or a limited run that genuinely appreciates in value, don’t touch it. That makes total sense.
But the majority of Gibson and Epiphone Les Pauls being sold are Studios and Standards. Those aren’t appreciating. Go look at what used Studios and Standards are actually selling for right now, they aren’t fetching retail prices let alone above it. The resale value argument for your average Les Paul is a lot thinner than people make it out to be.
Even Gibson Knows
Gibson has been moving away from the pickguard on some of their own models. The Modern Figured, the Supreme, and the Axcess all come without one from the factory. On the Epiphone side the Prophecy and the Modern series do the same thing. They understand that people like pickguard free guitars. They just keep putting it on the traditional models because that’s what their core customer expects.
The Bottom Line
This is one of those guitar debates like tonewoods that will never have a definitive answer. But I’m taking a stand. Les Pauls look better without the pickguard.
If you don’t have one of those rare collector pieces and you’ve been on the fence, just do it. Realistically the worst thing that happens is you put it back on.
