*Real* tort pickguard

MaglorOnBass

MaglorOnBass

Jan 23, 2018
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#1
By “real” I don’t mean the actual shell of a sea turtle...

I’m looking for a brown tortoiseshell pickguard for a black fretless (MIM) fender standard jazz bass with a rosewood fingerboard.

I bought a cheap (red) tort pickguard for a different jazz bass a while back, and it was totally flat and two dimensional. A real tort pickguard should have a 3 dimensional depth and not look like an image printed on plastic.

How do I know with certainty that a tort guard I am ordering will have this three dimensional quality? It doesn’t show up in photos.

Is there keywords I should be looking for? A specific seller? Price range?
 
#7
HeavyDuty said:
That would be my suggestion. I’ve always found Fender’s tort pickguards to be as good as it gets.
Click to expand...

This. For all intents and purposes, they are “real” tort. Spitfire makes versions that aesthetically can look simlar to vintage (if you’re lucky...there’s some that don’t look remotely like anything that ever exsisted at the time as well). Many aftermarket and cheap Ebay ones are in fact just printed images as opposed to being an actual layer of celluloid. I’d personally avoid any tort that isn’t branded and sold by Fender. People like to poo poo it for not looking vintage enough, but the fact is it’s better than almost anything else out there and isn’t a roll of the dice and insanely expensive like Spitfire can be.
 
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#10
So, does anyone know if today's celluloid is as flammable as it used to be? I've lit picks on fire a couple of times - the speed at which they burn is...impressive. I'd hate to have that happen to a tort guard.
 
#12
Recieved my official Febder pickguard, but it was a P bass guard. They are sendin a replacement. I didn’t take it out of the plastic, but it doesn’t look very 3D. Just looks like the $17 printed one I got from Amazon.

Will report back when the right one arrives.
 
#13
I can only assume that the pick guard material is not made by Fender, WD, etc.
Obvioulsy some are better than others.
No that this is helpful, but it's not the brand but raher the material (and dye cutting) that is important.
I ordered a parchment guard for a P that was supposed to like like a 70's aged guard.
I have a few and the Fender parhment was not good enough to put on the bass.
OTOH, I've heard that Fender tort guards are good.
 
#14
Recieved the correct pickguard. It’s definitely an official Fender product.

I guess it looks a little deeper than the cheap one I got for my 5 string... not truly 3 dimensional though. I guess what I’m imagining doesn’t really exist. Like a red pearl, but with the swirling colors of a tort.
 

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#15
MaglorOnBass said:
Recieved the correct pickguard. It’s definitely an official Fender product.

I guess it looks a little deeper than the cheap one I got for my 5 string... not truly 3 dimensional though. I guess what I’m imagining doesn’t really exist. Like a red pearl, but with the swirling colors of a tort.
Click to expand...
That doesn't really look like a tort guard that comes on Fender guitars and basses. It looks like a red pearloid guard of some kind.
 
#16
Yeah - that looks bogus.

I have one of the Mr. Gearhead/Fender 10-hole Jazz PGs in tort/white/black/white... that's four layers.

You can tell it's real tort - nitrocelluose anyway - when it won't lie flat during high humidity conditions. That very reason is why Fender used another screw hole and the two tug bar screws to help hold it flat. That would then be a 13-hole PG. Since this one is a 10-hole,

I don't know what Fender was thinking - but it's easily resolvable by adding the extra screw and the tug bar. I always wondered why that extra screw hole was there - between the neck and the top p'up. But then again, I've got two US Fender Jazz basses with their OE Fender tort - 4 ply - and they have the 13 holes in them. Go figger.

They are all 4-ply too; I think that a big delineation.

Anyway - mine is in the original sealed packaging, and I believe the part number is 0992-157000. I ain't selling it. The P/N won't Google by the way - I dunnow.

If I squeeze some of the air outta the package, I can smell the nitrocelluose odor. Yummy! Thanks for reminding me about it.
 
#17
MaglorOnBass said:
Recieved the correct pickguard. It’s definitely an official Fender product.

I guess it looks a little deeper than the cheap one I got for my 5 string... not truly 3 dimensional though. I guess what I’m imagining doesn’t really exist. Like a red pearl, but with the swirling colors of a tort.
Click to expand...

That is a sweet looking tele? What is it? Translucent red body. White neck not just bound but all over the neck? Also, what are those saddles? I just picked some up that where the seller lied and they are similar so I’m wondering what they are.

I was looking for a tort guard for my candy cola red Strat and I didn’t like the fender one. From what I’ve seen guitar parts factory has a vintage style actual nitrocellulose one that’s flammable and looks fantastic from what I’ve seen from somebody’s posting.
 
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