When did Fender pickguards change from nitrate celluloid to vinyl?

[Jim C]

From what I can tell, the standard pickguards were as follows (this does not include any specials)
* early / mid 60's - nitro guards in white or tort
* 70's; guards were white, tort, and eventually black

When did they change materials, and is the different shades of white that are offered (parchment / mint / aged) all based on the nitro aging?

I am searching for a replacement guard for my blonde 72 P; looks like the Fender units are nitro on the top layer; not sure that this is particularly correct.
My 73 P (original owner) is still pretty bright white and I believe it to be vinyl. Am also assuming that the 70's basses did not use the aluminum shielding plate that is below the tort guard in my 60' P (man did that guard shrink).

[johnk_10]

by 1970 they were all vinyl or ABS with the exception of tortoise guards, that still had a celluloid top layer.

3 ply guards started in mid-1959 (w/b/w) made from celluloid on most models. The p bass and jazzmaster used a 4 layer pickguard of tortoise/w/b/w, except on certain custom colors which used a 3 layer w/b/w pickguard. celluloid guards had an top white layer with a mint green/yellow tint, thus giving them the name "green 'guard". the amount of green/yellow depends on the abuse and UV the pickguard was subject to. this material was used till January '65 when fender switched to vinyl or ABS for their multilayer pickguards (celluloid was dangerous and very flamable, and shrunk with time causing cracks). sometimes these pickguards are called "nitrate 'guards" because nitric acid is one of the key ingredients used to make celluloid. '65 and later white pickguards do yellow a bit with age, but even aged white guards look much different than the older "green" guards. in the late 1960s, white pickguards change slightly. from the front they look identical to the 1965 to 1967's, but 1968/1969 white pickguards had a bottom layer (the layer not seen unless the pickguard is removed from the body) of pearloid.

[Jim C]

Thanks John
One last question:
If mint guards were used on custom colors (w/b/w) until January of 65', would the later white guards look like what is now called parchment?

Fender offers these parchment guards but they have a truss rod cutout

[Rusty the Scoob]

Great post, thank you John!

I'm curious about one thing - why would Fender put a perloid layer on the back of the pickguards in 68-69?

[Russell L]

Originally Posted by Jim C

Thanks John
One last question:
If mint guards were used on custom colors (w/b/w) until January of 65', would the later white guards look like what is now called parchment?

Fender offers these parchment guards but they have a truss rod cutout

My 2001 American Jazz has that cut-out.

[johnk_10]

Originally Posted by Rusty the Scoob

Great post, thank you John!

I'm curious about one thing - why would Fender put a perloid layer on the back of the pickguards in 68-69?

IMO, Fender already had ALOT of the 3-ply pearloid material and wanted to keep the stock look of the white guards (on strats, teles and tele basses so they just used the back of the pearloid ones. they only used pearloid guards (with the pearloid showing) on some mustang basses (usually sunburst).

[johnk_10]

Originally Posted by Jim C

Thanks John
One last question:
If mint guards were used on custom colors (w/b/w) until January of 65', would the later white guards look like what is now called parchment?

Fender offers these parchment guards but they have a truss rod cutout

the later white guards were vinyl and just yellowed a bit with age. they never made parchment guards in the '70's. parchment is a newer thing that is supposed to look like an 'aged' white guard.

[Jim C]

Thanks John; appreciate the information

[FretlessMainly]

Great info, John. Always good to know a bit more about the past. A (somewhat) related 2-part question about guards, if I may (maybe I should ask in a new thread?): when did Fender start putting serial #s on the back of the guards, and do the serials on the guards generally match the neckplate and/or headstock serials? Or do they vary much like the neck date/neck plate #s?

Thanks!

[C.Linton]

Isn't nitrate cellulose the same material that most picks are made of? If so, than another possible reason might be that N-C is highly flammable. Have you ever lit up a guitar pick?

[Jim C]

Originally Posted by C.Linton

Isn't nitrate cellulose the same material that most picks are made of? If so, than another possible reason might be that N-C is highly flammable. Have you ever lit up a guitar pick?

Yes same material as some (not all) guitar picks.
Highly flamable and the reason that so many old movies were lost due to fire.
Celluloid Film Hazards in Conservation | Chicago Artists Resource

[Rusty the Scoob]

Originally Posted by johnk_10

IMO, Fender already had ALOT of the 3-ply pearloid material and wanted to keep the stock look of the white guards (on strats, teles and tele basses so they just used the back of the pearloid ones. they only used pearloid guards (with the pearloid showing) on some mustang basses (usually sunburst).

Oh, that makes sense! They had the 3-ply pearloid blank stock sitting around and just flipped it over and made guards.

I didn't know there were any factory pearloid guards from Fender... why did they use it on the Mustang, I wonder? Wasn't that considered the budget model?

[johnk_10]

Originally Posted by Rusty the Scoob

Oh, that makes sense! They had the 3-ply pearloid blank stock sitting around and just flipped it over and made guards.

I didn't know there were any factory pearloid guards from Fender... why did they use it on the Mustang, I wonder? Wasn't that considered the budget model?

i never really considered mustangs to be a 'budget model' since they had alot of the same features as higher end models, but they were less expensive than the top of the line. i suppose that, compared to a Jaguar or a Jazzmaster, the telecaster could also be considered a 'budget' model.

here's a pic of a '71 mustang bass, with a pearloid guard that i sold a few years back:

[Rusty the Scoob]

Yeah, I just meant in Fender's eyes at the time.

I think they did think the Jazzmaster and Jaguar were be "better" than a Strat which was supposed to be "better" than a Tele. And Rosewood necks were "better" than maple necks, Js were "Better" than Ps, etc. Anything that they could add to a spec sheet like extra pickups, countoured bodies, poly finishes, etc, was a plus - they didn't see the timeless genius of Leo's designs at the time. In that context, I got the impression that the smaller Mustangs were originally meant for beginners.

[Jim C]

I agree with mostly what you are saying Rusy based on buying my first Fender in 1973. My local dealer was the largest music store in the world at the time (Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center) and believe they held this title another 20 years.

The sales staff did pitch the Jag as the "best" guitar even though everybody bought strats and to a lesser degree teles; maybe a bigger commission?
We were told that the J bass was the premier and the Mustang was designed for those with small hands; it was the Bronco bass that was the beginer intrument IMO. Never heard that one fingerboard was better than another from my dealer

I had saved my lawn cutting money and went in to buy a Fender although I wasn't sure if I'd get a P or J; salesman asked why I didn't get the J as I had enough cash and the P was hard for me to play; I told him it sounded better to me and he said that was the right decision and to keep playing and my hands would get stronger; in hind sight I wish it was a custom color and not a natural although it still is pretty cool

There was also a dealer in my area that sold "grey market" Fenders at about the same price; they were not an authorized dealer and had to remove the neck plates and install blank plates without serial numbers; would like to have stack of those right now

[Rusty the Scoob]

Grey market - that's interesting! Yeah, a stack of those would be nice. Cool story, must have been exciting! Which P is the one, the 72 or the 73?

About the fretboards - my admittedly crappy memory tells me that in 1959 (or whatever year it was when they switched over from all maple to all rosewood) they did it for durability reasons as players were wearing through the finish on the maple ones too quickly. At the time they thought rosewood would be seen as an upgrade to all intstruments, and it was a few years before they realized that some players preferred the maple.

[Luckie]

I'm trying to dig up an original recipe mint guard for the '64 I'm restoring, any ideas?