Vintage Fenders

[Burns-bass]

  On 28/03/2025 at 23:21, Hobbayne said:

I bought this 1978 Precision on here back in the autumn. I was 13 in 1978, watching Space 1999 and listening to You're The One That I Want which was constantly on the radio then. 

I wonder if that makes me vintage? 😅

 

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I really like that. 

[Alanko]

The pickguard chat in this thread was enough to make me sign up. The red tortoiseshell pickguard on the Fender Hama Okamoto Precision Bass is pretty good. A cut above the standard dark maroon modern Fender tort or the various lurid tortoiseshell pickguards on eBay. This is mine:

 

 

The tort layer is thin, but is the right mix of red, darker and lighter shades. The white sub layers are more parchment than stark white as well. 

 

I am 99.9% sure these same pickguards are sold separately under the 'Boston' brand, part number PB-415-TI. I bought one of these pickguards from a Dutch seller and put it on my AM Pro-II P Bass:

 

 

It isn't a Spitfire or Lavaguard pickguard, but a few tweaks to the colours used puts them well ahead of other cheap pickguards.

[briansbrew]

Thats a decent looking guard for the price...

[Reggaebass]

  17 hours ago, Alanko said:

The pickguard chat in this thread was enough to make me sign up. The red tortoiseshell pickguard on the Fender Hama Okamoto Precision Bass is pretty good. A cut above the standard dark maroon modern Fender tort or the various lurid tortoiseshell pickguards on eBay. This is mine:

 

 

The tort layer is thin, but is the right mix of red, darker and lighter shades. The white sub layers are more parchment than stark white as well. 

 

I am 99.9% sure these same pickguards are sold separately under the 'Boston' brand, part number PB-415-TI. I bought one of these pickguards from a Dutch seller and put it on my AM Pro-II P Bass:

 

 

It isn't a Spitfire or Lavaguard pickguard, but a few tweaks to the colours used puts them well ahead of other cheap pickguards.

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Welcome Alanko, that looks good on your P bass 

[Sparky Mark]

Avantguard fitted vs Fender Custom Shop on right hand side.

[Alanko]

  16 hours ago, briansbrew said:

Thats a decent looking guard for the price...

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The downside was finding one! I ended up buying two. The first seller sent me the wrong model. Both sellers were tiny guitar shops in the Netherlands. Essentially one-man operations. One needed payment via bank transfer, which made my banking app a bit jittery.

 

I couldn't find a UK seller, but contemplated noising up these guys: https://themusicalliance.co.uk/en/product/158481/pickguard-puncher-bass-standard-4-ply-tortoise-intense?view=newproducts

[briansbrew]

Thats a poor effort for a CS ...

[Sparky Mark]

  16 hours ago, briansbrew said:

Thats a poor effort for a CS ...

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Whilst I agree, it doesn't look so bad in situ.

[Reggaebass]

  16 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Avantguard fitted vs Fender Custom Shop on right hand side.

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That’s a really great looking CS mark, the guard fitted looks better I think 

[Sparky Mark]

  16 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

That’s a really great looking CS mark, the guard fitted looks better I think 

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Thank you, and I agree entirely. Avantguard are as close as modern tortoishell pickguards get to early 60s IMO. All modern Fender "vintage" tort is distinctly average unfortunately.

[Sparky Mark]

  16 hours ago, briansbrew said:

Thats a poor effort for a CS ...

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Indeed, although I don't think the processes used by Avantguard and Spitfire are scalable to the numbers that would be needed by Fender CS. I cannot think of another reason why Fender wouldn't fit an admittedly expensive, but infinitely more accurate pickguard to its £4-5k+ instruments.

Edited 15 hours ago by Sparky Mark

[dodgnofski]

  16 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Avantguard fitted vs Fender Custom Shop on right hand side.

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Plus one for the Avant Guard - closest I’ve seen to an original👍👍

[Mrbigstuff]

  15 hours ago, Sparky Mark said:

Indeed, although I don't think the processes used by Avantguard and Spitfire are scalable to the numbers that would be needed by Fender CS. I cannot think of another reason why Fender wouldn't fit an admittedly expensive, but infinitely more accurate pickguard to its £4-5k+ instruments.

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I’d guess because people buy them anyway

[Steve Browning]

  17 hours ago, Alanko said:

The pickguard chat in this thread was enough to make me sign up. The red tortoiseshell pickguard on the Fender Hama Okamoto Precision Bass is pretty good. A cut above the standard dark maroon modern Fender tort or the various lurid tortoiseshell pickguards on eBay. This is mine:

 

 

The tort layer is thin, but is the right mix of red, darker and lighter shades. The white sub layers are more parchment than stark white as well. 

 

I am 99.9% sure these same pickguards are sold separately under the 'Boston' brand, part number PB-415-TI. I bought one of these pickguards from a Dutch seller and put it on my AM Pro-II P Bass:

 

 

It isn't a Spitfire or Lavaguard pickguard, but a few tweaks to the colours used puts them well ahead of other cheap pickguards.

Expand  

 

Just looked and they're distributed in the UK by Rotosdound. Happy days!! I sent my newly delivered 1983 '62 Precision reissue back to Fender because the scratchplate looked so awful. I was put off Spitfire by an extraordinary tale of woe on BC a few years ago.

[Owen]

I have a Spitfire. It was mind bendingly expensive, but it does set the bass off nicely. 

[Alanko]

  5 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

 

Just looked and they're distributed in the UK by Rotosdound. Happy days!! I sent my newly delivered 1983 '62 Precision reissue back to Fender because the scratchplate looked so awful. I was put off Spitfire by an extraordinary tale of woe on BC a few years ago.

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 The Spitfire chap seems barely in control of the process of making the tort, then passes off the results as something unique and interesting. If it has a giant unmixed yellow blob in the middle then he will come up with some marketing blurb and a cute name for it. The Avantguard offerings look better with a slightly wet, suspended animation look to the tort. It also looks like they over-buff the pickguard once completed, however, melting don't of the details.