Anodized gold pickguard on a Strat???

[E5RSY]

Should I get a real metal one, or one of the imitation plastic ones? How will each of them affect the sound of the instrument?

Thanks for any input.

Scott

 

[Artamus]

By all means, get a real one! The "Painted from behind" plastic ones look awfully cheap and tacky imho. I had a white CV '50s Strat with a real anodized PG, and it looked and sounded great! I recently sold the CV, but have since replaced it with a sunburst '012 mim Standard - I'm seriously considering getting a Gold Guard for it, I really like them.

 

[JohnS]

Real is the deal.

 

[JonesKY]

Tonally, the alum pg will darken / attenuate highs a bit when compared to a plastic pg - not usually a bad thing for a strat w single coil pups.

If using a humbucker, then the alum pg will affect the mag field, usually resulting in added 60hz him.