I don’t agree.

I’m not suicidal. Why would I do that?

www .mediafire. com/file/l5yb8kvxjuw6kuq/InShot_20221023_135021914.mp4/file

Restring, and polish of my Les Paul Studio. Favorite guitar. The strings were dead, kinked at ever fret, I played the crap out of them. So I polished the guitar (went over everything with a micro fiber cloth), got rid of the built up hardened gunk which is basically old polish s*** (which I don’t use anymore because of that) which melts melts and hardens.

Which gets me into the classic mental debate about the Les Paul “To Pick Guard, OR No?”

This guitar, a 2007 Les Paul Studio, did not come with a pick guard installed. Which is rare on the Les Paul Studio. I just felt, it needed one. It needed something with that plain top maple and the only thing that could be done was a guard, which to me, on a Les Paul is for looks. Aesthetics. It doesn’t protect anything, actually it does, it would prevent that gunk buildup in that spot underneath, but that doesn’t really harm anything anyway. It’s wipe-away-able. The guard is for looks. On this guitar, that’s a plain Mable top. No figuring. There’s no tiger stripes or quilted Maple, but it does have some detail. Wood grain. Patches and it does that cool thing maple does and changes depending on the angle you look at it. Things disappear and appear. That’s a thick maple cap 3/4 of anninch that ck or more, the carved maple top, on-top of a slab of mahogany. That’s what a Les Paul is. It’s nice for a plain top, plain tops can be nice too, and then pick guard covers up anything that is sort of nice where it is. The wood grain and replaces it with the classic looking pick guard. It really makes the guitar look like a Les Paul but there is also something nice about a Les Paul that is clean without that piece of plastic on there.

I installed it myself and I nailed it. It’s installed perfectly. I ordered the Genuine Gibson guard, the Gibson gold bracket, and I drilled 2 holes into it. Perfectly. The screw and nut underneath for the bracket does not touch the body, and the part of the guard in between the pickups along the body, bends and curves in the shape of the body. It’s absolutely perfectly installed. And when it’s removed, the holes are invisible I painted the insides of the holes black. Invisible.

So I’m back and fourth all the time. Usually on a string change after a cleaning. To guard, or No?. I’ll leave it on for this string cycle.

When I bought it, I had never seen a LP Studio in tri-burst. It’s a classic Gibson colour. Really classic. From the start classic. I love seeing other Gibson guitars new and old in the same colours.