Do people in Germany play jazz guitar backwards?

[ilan]

Here are 8 vintage German-made arch-tops, by Aschado, Migma, Klira, Framus (3), Herrnsdorf, and Höfner. Why on earth are the pickguards reversed?

[Basvarken]

Because they follow the shape of the lower horn better?

[ilan]

You know how a flat-top without a pickguard looks after being played hard with a pick. The scratches are where normal guards would be. I don't see the point of designing a guard that does not protect the top.

[amptech]

The scratches are where normal guards would be.

Maybe they used Bill Wyman's bass as a template?

[Basvarken]

You know how a flat-top without a pickguard looks after being played hard with a pick. The scratches are where normal guards would be. I don't see the point of designing a guard that does not protect the top.

Well, take a close look at the pickguard of, let's say a Thunderbird,
In most cases the pickguard is not there to prevent the top from getting damaged. But it is often there for hiding an ugly wiring channel.

And, if it was there to prevent the top from getting scratched, it would have to be on the upper bout as well.
At least for me. That's were most of the scratches are on my bass guitars. 

[Rob]

Jazz guitars are often played near the neck for that mellow tone.
Their pickguards are more like a finger rest and are sometimes very thin.

These actually look like players guitars.

[amptech]

Jazz guitars are often played near the neck for that mellow tone.
Their pickguards are more like a finger rest and are sometimes very thin.

True. Many guitar books from the 50's and 60's points out that you need to use the finger rest to play the exercises properly.

[ilan]

Just this morning I sat down with a singer and she has a Takamine flat-top that she plays a LOT, the guitar has no pickguard, and it has a worn area that looks exactly like a teadrop guard would be. In some places she's worn more than halfway through the top, and I said, I see that you really love this guitar, you don't want a Willie Nelson second soundhole here, go get a pickguard installed. But the point is that it was almost exactly the shape and location of a teardrop pickguard.

[Alanko]

Somebody should unscrew those pickguards and put them back the Reich way round.

[Rob]

Somebody should unscrew those pickguards and put them back the Reich way round.

[Daniel_J]

I think one of the reasons for that shape and placement of the pickguards has to do with the idea of letting the soundhole unobstructed, so the sound from the soundbox gets projected at its full potencial.

[ilan]

I think one of the reasons for that shape and placement of the pickguards has to do with the idea of letting the soundhole unobstructed, so the sound from the soundbox gets projected at its full potencial.

The f-holes are not just sound holes, they are located where they are to make the part of the top around the floating bridge vibrate more freely.
Never noticed a problem of unfulfilled potential in Gibson jazz boxes with traditional shaped guards.

[Granny Gremlin]

Jazz guitars are often played near the neck for that mellow tone.

Mostly this.  Sometimes the top edge of the fingerboard is the rest.

With a sprinkling of "following the shape of the upper bout' and ' not obstructing the soundhole.'

I have seen instruments with play wear above the strings a la Basvarken, in the trad teardrop area, a la ilian's friend, as well as all sorts of places, but notice how those 2 specific examples are different.  People play differently, and wear their tops differently.  If you're playing somewhere between the twenty-somethingth fret and the butt edge of the fretboard as jazzers often do, those reverse pickguards actually are in the right place.  To me a TBird guard has no other place to go and covers all the area that would be in danger with me playing it, aside from the raised middle part right above it/below the strings which is not feasible to protect in an aesthetically pleasing and unobstructive way.

There have been plenty of players (including our very own Uwe) who have claimed tonal improvement with unobstructed F Holes  (in Uwe's case I believe he was referring to the acoustic/practise tone of an LP Sig or Cassidy).  I have no knowledge about that tho.