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Same tort pattern on two different Fenders?

GhettoBrassGuy

GhettoBrassGuy

Supporting Member
Nov 27, 2002
1,107
733
Nashville, TN
www.aaronbishopmusic.com
Disclosures
Endorsing Artist: Mike Lull, Lakland, Aguilar, JH Audio
#1
How are these pickguards made? I have a Jag and Mustang bass and the tort pattern is exactly the same on both. I'll admit, I have a little too much time on my hands to notice this, but still. Do all these basses have the same pattern?

IMG_1504.jpg

IMG_1503.jpg
 
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#2
It's not the same. look on the right side of the bass you'll see other markings missing fro mthe other. Very similar though.

I don't know how they make them. But my guess looking at it,it's almost like wood. They make a big block of the material then cut it,so like with that one you'd have majority of it looking the same as the yellow would travel through the block of brownish red almost like veins,so when you profile it you see the yellow spots.
 
#6
In the old days, those swirls were created by literally mixing two different colors of plastic material with a comb-like "random swirling" device. Nowadays, for mass-production factory instruments, they just have a digital image of the tort pattern, and they print it onto a blank plastic sheet.
 
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#12
Huge said:
Perhaps they slice it off of a hunk of tortloaf. Deli style.
Click to expand...

hahahaha

seriously though, i think the tort pattern is photo-etched onto the pickguard material, whatever it is. There are *very* few manufacturers making it old-style anymore, but some of the imaged tort looks really good up close. And some of it looks like crap, you can see the pixels. Depends on the manufacturer.
 
#13
TORTLOAF!!

I love it.

It's a sure bet that these identical guards aren't real tort -- real tort meaning real synthetic tort with the layer of red & amber celluloid swirled together. They're just vinyl with the tort pattern printed on. Real celluloid tort is actually a 3D effect because the the celluloid layer has some depth. It's not just a 2D print.
 
#15
The Fender tort guard I puchased a couple years ago for my jazz is certainly NOT "photo tort". Nor is the one I put on my Precison that I sold. Both were "62 RI" branded guards from Fender. I KNOW the tort on the Squires are phony, as they're obviously one dimensional. I think you have a rare instance of two sheets of tort being cut super close to each other and winding up in the same owners hands. These were made for each other! Of course the "photo tort" could also be a possibility, but I've never seen them on true Fender instruments.
 
#16
The whole tortloaf cut makes sense. Probability wise, it's small, but I DO think that both of then were probably adjacent slices on the tortloaf. It's feasible, both are MIJ so that tortloaf theory works out. If they were manufactured in different countries, it would be the printed on kind. IMO

I BELIEVE IN THE TORTLOAF.
 

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