Is this possible w/o damaging or devalue-ing the guitar? Thx!

Wouldn't touch it leave it alone and just close your eyes when you play it,it'll save ya alot of dough.

i agree with walt... i tried to change a pick guard a few years ago following my local dealers advice and the finish still came off. now that guitar is my willy nelson wana be beater!

bb

It depends on how long the pickguard has been
on. I changed one on a 14000 dollar D 45 and it
came off quickly but the finish was a bit
wrinkled under neath being it was soft lacquer
and still was not cured enought to withstand the
heat necessary to remove the old one. Guys in
the Martin forum change them all the time and
many of us like the Grevens enough to risk it.

That said I have never seen a Collings guard I
wanted to change so I have no experience changing them per se. You can have the guard put
in the case by Collings on new orders however and I have always thought that was a good idea.

Personally I think they all should come separate
because Martin chose to put the same crappy pic
guard on all their models and it is a photo printed tortoise shell design that is downright
detracting on most models. The greven really
finished off the D 45 well but I'd hate to have
removed it thinking i'd leave it off completely
as the finish was noticably marred from the
heat. I could have buffed it back out I suppose
but was going to put the Greven on anyway.

So the short answer is ,yes you can change but
be prepared for thing to go wrong . On an older
instrument I would not do it myself.

It shud be ok if u change to bigger size pickguard, hiding out any mess. I changed my previous OM2H teardrop pickguard to a dreadnought size with no problem. Also avoid light colour one like the dalmatian type. But best to let a qualified repairman to do the whole job.

Thx for the feedback, everyone. What sparked this question was that I saw some Collings-type pick guards on eBay with mention of using them as replacements. I then googled a couple of things about people replacing pick guards. I thought I must be missing something- seems a little risky (especially with a high-end guitar). Anyway, my curiousity led to the question. Thx again.