Question for all you GS Mini owners

[EllaMom]

Inspired by another thread, where a new GS Mini owner chose to remove his pickguard....

Have you removed yours? How's it look? Any difference in sound? Do you play primarily with a pick or do you play fingerstyle with bare fingers? Just curious, since no pickguard + pick = possible markings as time goes on.

Thanks!

[TaylorGirl]

I have 2 mini's. On the spruce one, I left the PG on, because I use it for strummin'/jammin'. The hog mini (I just recently purchased) has the PG removed. I had a luthier at Elderly Instruments remove it at the time of purchase. I know a lot of folks do it themselves (and if done right, have no problem with it.....good advice on doing that is right here on this forum), but since they would do it for me, I felt more comfortable with that. The hog mini is my fingerstyle mini. I really don't think the removal of the PG changes the tone on a mini. I love the hog mini with the clean top, because the grains are so nice to see. If you strum a lot and are afraid of damaging the top, I'd leave it on. But, if you choose to take it off, the sooner the better, because the top will start to darken and you'll see a tan line from where the PG was.

[CodeBlueEMT]

 I removed the pickguard from my Mini. The non-gloss top didn't care much for my touchy feely right hand. Too much scratchy rubbing noise. Ordered myself a rosewood pickguard w/gloss finish and all is well.

[stepchildusmc]

if like the look of it without the PG, you can always remove it and put on a clear, removable one if you worry about scratches.