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Posted by: joshl Aug 6 2008, 08:54 PM

Ok I played my Ibanez Gax70 lightly for about a year, and if you look at it from straight on you can see just tons of scratches from strumming, is this worse on a cheap guitar like that, or would this happen on any guitar without a pickguard?

Posted by: JeroenKole Aug 6 2008, 09:23 PM

probably due to the cheap finish that there are more, and more visible.

but even the priciest fenders and gibsons suffer from pick scratches, nothing much you can do about them.

Posted by: Bogdan Radovic Aug 6 2008, 11:40 PM

Its pretty ok...You can't avoid pick scratches..

Posted by: Ivan Milenkovic Aug 7 2008, 10:10 AM

If you abuse the guitar it will show. Often guitars have a lot of scratches so it's not only your guitar mate. Don't worry about it, vintage look is a cool thing

Posted by: Scott Gentzen Aug 7 2008, 05:20 PM

As stated above, it's common. It's part of why the expensive guitars are hung up on the ceiling at Guitar Center.

Pick guards help, because that's what they're for...you're just scratching the pick guard instead of the guitar's finish.

You really have to baby it to not get pick scratches. My main workhorse guitar's old, banged up and kind of a mess (previous owner had slippery hands I guess), and it has a pickguard and I don't worry about. My favorite guitar is also used and over 10 years old. I baby it, but it doesn't have a pickguard and was kinda scuffed up when I got it. The only new guitar I own I baby it to the point where I don't really play it anymore because I think the finish is kinda fragile (satiny black paint of some sort). I'm gonna get it signed next month and it'll likely get put away as a collectible.

Posted by: Fran Aug 7 2008, 05:27 PM

It's normal, guitars get easily scratched. Expensive guitars with a nitro finish get even more scratched than cheaper guitars with a poly finish. Go figure!