P bass pickguards UK?

[Hydra19]

I've been looking for a custom made pickguard for my P bass in red celluloid tort but I cannot find any. Most of them are too yellowish.
I had googled and found Tiny Tone in manchester. They were very friendly on the phone and I sent them 3 pickguard to copy. In the end, they didn't have the materials so I ended up with only 1. Vintage 60's Red Celluloid tort, I told them I wanted to make my bass look like James Jamersons, and after £100, I got a really yellow tort guard, and not what I had asked for at all.
Here it is, along with some other pickguards I got from china (for £20), the 'custom' ordered one is even more yellow than the other ones, even though I specifically asked for a 60's red tort like James Jamerson's bass.

Does anyone else have any good places in the UK go get a custom made pickguard?

Edited June 16, 2022 by Hydra19

[such]

There's this great guy in Glasgow, @kodiakblairwill know the details, actually I'm thinking about reaching out too about one custom thing. 

[Pea Turgh]

25 minutes ago, such said:

There's this great guy in Glasgow, @kodiakblairwill know the details, actually I'm thinking about reaching out too about one custom thing. 

Search earlpilanz on eBay.  The issue might be supply of the correct colour tort though, probably all comes from the same place!

[yorks5stringer]

Supply chain issues with tortoises.....? I blame Tortext

[Hydra19]

They shouldn't have taken £100 and blamed me for picking the color. Total scam 

[kodiakblair]

5 hours ago, Hydra19 said:

They shouldn't have taken £100 and blamed me for picking the color. Total scam 

No, they should apologise as they refund your £100.

 

Here's the link to Brian in Glasgow, you've the choice of 5 or 6 Torts (4 being red tort).

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115165557727?hash=item1ad066f3df:g:DagAAOSwob5h0FKA

[PaulThePlug]

I'd be sending it back for a refund...

[shoulderpet]

Gig.ink is good

[Hydra19]

41 minutes ago, PaulThePlug said:

I'd be sending it back for a refund...

They refuse, they said I picked this color! They thought hard and long for a solution and decided to offer me a discount for a new pickguard but after £100 I already paid, I just couldn't spend more.

They took no responsibility for the look, after I had asked for vintage 60's red with not much yellow at all.
I am really disappointed by the lack of service, and then they turned around and blamed me for it. They were happy to leave me £100 out of pocket with that abomination, which says a lot about their customer service.
 

i also sent them these pics asking to explain to me where are the dark spots in the pickguard they sent but they refuse to answer. They just said I picked that color and now I'm not happy that it doesn't match my imagination. So disrespectful....
 

Any other recommendations for some nice looking guards? Thank you!

Edited June 16, 2022 by Hydra19

[LukeFRC]

This is a bass doc special from a few years back. Layer of real cellulose not printed.  From memory it was around £30

[pete.young]

Mike Walsh, @Cosmicrain, makes a lovely Precision pickguard. You could do worse than ask him what he has in the way of red tort.

[meterman]

Assuming you’re in the UK, I’m going to give another shout for Brian / earlpillanz on ebay. He’s done 4 custom pickguards for me and they’ve all been good quality, inexpensive and a fast turnaround too. Whether or not he can do a 60’s tort exactly like you’d like it, I couldn’t say but it would be worth sending him a message via ebay. 
 

Recently I fancied some 60’s-ish tort on my cheapie jazz bass but all the really good looking guards were costing close to the price of my bass 😮 So I caved in and got one from a local seller on ebay for €10. Looks alright on the bass, but not super 60’s by any stretch.

 

Oh and £100 for what looks like the cheap tort that’s all over Amazon and ebay for a tenner is really bad service. I’m sorry to hear you had to go through that. Is there no way to do a PayPal claim or something?

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I recently got a custom pickguard from Brian Pillans (Earlpillanz) in Glasgow and will be getting another one soon for a squier bullet mustang once I have decided what I want. His customer service is excellent—and he really seems to go the extra mile. He has several colours of tort and I wouldn't be surprised if he'd be able to accommodate a request to send a pic of an actual piece of material in stock before you place an order.

[Hydra19]

TinyTone just called to offer a free recut, they said if I'm not happy with the celluloid tort they can cut one that's not celluloid but has that look. Either way, if I get a good pickguard I'm happy with, it's all good. Nice of them!

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

Ask for a photo of the tort before they cut, or even better photos of a selection of pieces so you can choose the exact piece used.

[BassApprentice]

Hard to tell on a phone screen, but if any of the cheaper ones are quite dark tort I'd gladly take one off your hands.

 

I'm building a Pino style P if that helps 🙂

[Hydra19]

4 hours ago, BassApprentice said:

Hard to tell on a phone screen, but if any of the cheaper ones are quite dark tort I'd gladly take one off your hands.

 

I'm building a Pino style P if that helps 🙂

Sure, I've got 2 that don't fit. One is a little more red due to less yellow spots. I'll take a pic of both and let you know.
I don't need either, and you can have it for postage cost

[mcnach]

On 16/06/2022 at 18:04, shoulderpet said:

Gig.ink is good

 

But they don't do any of the usual materials, only acrylic with whatever design printed on the back, do they? At least that was the case a while back.

[AndyTravis]

@lee650has had 2 recently from Brian - both lovely, one was very dark like the late 60’s/Early 70’s “burgundy” ones.

[Owen]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/earlpilanz?ul_noapp=true

 

[Jono Bolton]

Brian Pillans made a great pickguard for my JV P Bass. The original tortoiseshell plate was a bit knackered and had a wonky cutout for the pickup where someone had tried to widen it and made an derrière of it. I sent him the original to trace and he did a smashing job and got the new pickup hole spot on.

 

[Owen]

I had a bass which cost more than I care to even think about. The scratchplate was not cut well. I sent Brian Pillans it with a description of what was wrong. The replacement was bang on. 

[lee650]

Yes I've recently used Brian Pilanz (earlpilanz on ebay) and he's got a few shades of Celluloid Tortoise. I had contacted Tiny Tone but I didn't like their colours, and they came out twice the price of Earlpilanz or Bass Doc.

I had a Dark red Tort and vintage Tort from Brian and my old Jazz had a Bass Doc. I know which type you mean without much yellow as it's what I was after. The only place I've seen that was Spitfire$$$$$$$$$

Below is Earlpilanz colour choice, I suspect they'll all have too much yellow for you.

 

BTW - both these guards were £30 posted and I had them within a few day,including the BB when I sent a template, highly recommended. He also does little samples of his Tort on EBay for £1.99 (cheaper if you buy more) so you can "Try before you buy"

 

Edited June 19, 2022 by lee650

[lee650]

On 16/06/2022 at 18:04, shoulderpet said:

Gig.ink is good

Tim doesn't do Tortoise, his graphics and solid stuff is good, but no Bevel.

[lee650]

On 17/06/2022 at 11:42, Hydra19 said:

TinyTone just called to offer a free recut, they said if I'm not happy with the celluloid tort they can cut one that's not celluloid but has that look. Either way, if I get a good pickguard I'm happy with, it's all good. Nice of them!

The printed ones look Awful IMO! Certainly up close, it's what they put on all the cheap Fenders. So theyve offered you another not as good guard for free,but you've still spent £40 more, than if you'd bought two guards from Earlpilanz. That's rubbish,if you hadn't removed the plastic covering, you should still be able to return for a refund. If you bought on online does DSR not apply in this situation?