Interesting pickguard designs!

What are your favourite designs for the pickguard? Or risha-guard / mezrab-guard / raqma / etc.?

I usually use a paisley-inspired design for my builds:



I also think a simple oval looks nice, simple but elegant:


On the Maghrebi oud arbi it's traditional to use a design inspired by the baklava!

I don't like oval ones personally. I also don't like Ouds without pick guards. I also don't like really large curvy ones.

I really love Dimitri Rapakousious pick guard designs.

Here's a couple of pictures I took in the Horniman museum in London in 2019... in the pre-covid times when we could visit museums!

this is a barbat from Iran formerly owned by Hosein Behroozinia with a pickguard shaped like a simplified map of Iran. Sadly a map of Britain would not look so clean...

Also taken at the Horniman museum, this is another Oud Arbi from the Maghreb with the 'baklava' pickguard at more of an angle:


Here's a couple of Egyptian ouds from the 1920's with similar pickguard designs (pictures from oudmigrations.com):



And here's a modern Egyptian oud made by luthier Epraim Shokry with an interesting bell-shaped pickguard:

Quote: Originally posted by majnuunNavid

I was Behroozinia's student when he donated/sold that Barbat to the museum. He said it was really hard to part with it. It was an emotional experience. And fun fact about the pick guard... He made it himself. Cut it out of the faux wood sticker they put on laminate wood. He gave me a slice to put on my Oud too. LOL. So that's why it's not a very precise cut out of the map.