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Where has all the decent tortoiseshell gone?


franzbassist
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[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1393062586' post='2375691']
Here's a (very complicated!) tort guard the Doc created for my Rosoce Beck. It's light-years better than the super-sharp pepperoni you usually get.


[/quote]

I hate to quibble here WoT but isn't that my Roscoe Beck?

:lol:

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I had a tort plate fitted a while back and WD and Sims are next door to each other.
One did a plate for £20-30 and the other cost £70.

There is a WORLD of difference between the 2 and you should see the plate in person as
catalogues just don't show it...
As good as one was, the other was digustingly awfully IMV.

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[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1393094031' post='2376186']
I had a tort plate fitted a while back and WD and Sims are next door to each other.
One did a plate for £20-30 and the other cost £70.

There is a WORLD of difference between the 2 and you should see the plate in person as
catalogues just don't show it...
As good as one was, the other was digustingly awfully IMV.
[/quote]

?? So which one was awful?

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[quote name='AndyTravis' timestamp='1393148120' post='2376564']
Fender have started doing the new 'pure vintage' pickguards from the new American Vintage stuff.

I've ordered one for my Nate Mendel.

Eye-wateringly not cheap...
[/quote]

Are these new? The pic on the website (below) looks like the usual tort that's been around for years..?


Compare to....



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[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1393150205' post='2376595']
WD. complete indistinct mush.
[/quote]

Thanks. I suspect that WD sell nitro cellulose and parchment tort and even within those catagories there is variation.

I suspect that SIMS don't actually make it and I wouldn't be surprised if their supplier was next door.

I believe that nitro cellulose plates can no longer be air freighted. Making it more expensive and elusive in the UK?

Peter

Edited by GreeneKing
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[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1393148830' post='2376572']
Are these new? The pic on the website (below) looks like the usual tort that's been around for years..?
[/quote]

They have the larger edge bevel on the '63' compared to the 62, the ones I've seen have been nicer than the stock picture...we'll see. May be a waste of money - I'll let you know next month when it arrives.

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So, I recently found this man out in California's website/blog who makes really good looking custom repro tort guards. Just not for Fender basses yet (they are coming through ASAP).

Anyway, I dropped him an email and his name is Mark and the company is called Spitfire Vintage Tortoiseshell Pickguards. He is going to join up here to contribute and ask questions from what he told me so have a look, get salivating and get ready to talk to the man!
[url="http://spitfiretortoiseshellpickguards.wordpress.com/order/"]http://spitfiretortoiseshellpickguards.wordpress.com/order/[/url]

Cheers,
Jon

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Well, Sims has a name for working at the higher end of markets IMO, so when he showed
me the samples, I wasn't exactly sure it would work. But the option across the road really wasn't an option at all
and the colour was too red, and I needed Sims to make me another clear plate as well, so I had them make both
as they needed to be custom made anyway

When I saw the end result on the bass..... it couldn't have worked better, so in view of the work they do and the
clients they have, I trusted they could see something I couldn't initially.

The tort on the white J5 looks so good, that that bass gets more comments than the quilted maple bass which is stunning in itself, IMO.

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[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1393581580' post='2382112']
Well, Sims has a name for working at the higher end of markets IMO, so when he showed
me the samples, I wasn't exactly sure it would work. But the option across the road really wasn't an option at all
and the colour was too red, and I needed Sims to make me another clear plate as well, so I had them make both
as they needed to be custom made anyway

When I saw the end result on the bass..... it couldn't have worked better, so in view of the work they do and the
clients they have, I trusted they could see something I couldn't initially.

The tort on the white J5 looks so good, that that bass gets more comments than the quilted maple bass which is stunning in itself, IMO.
[/quote]

Any good closeup pics we could see please JTUK?

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