Is it OK to remove my pickguard from my Gibson Les Paul Studio Silverburst?
I don’t see any real problem with removing the pickguard. Of course, it’s there for a reason: to protect the finish from wear. If you remove it, you’ll almost certainly get some scratches there. Repairing a finish is tricky, and with a sunburst (silver to black) it’s going to be harder. If you’re lucky, they’ll just be surface scratches that you can buff out with polishing compound. If or when you put the pickguard back on, it’ll probably *hide* most of the damage to the finish. Here’s a suggestion: Make a *clear* pickguard!! The pickguard looks like it would be pretty easy to reproduce. Remove the black one and trace it onto a piece of plexi-glass. If you can’t scavenge the original mounting brackets, they’ll be easy to recreate with a trip to a hardware store. The plexi-glass will eventually show scratches, but it will be less visible than the black one you have now….and you can always make a new one.
