Best pickguard color for Daphne Blue - Also NBD!

[scuzzy]

Mint, parchment, white, and brown tort all look outstanding. Flip some coins.

 

[greenscharlie]

black

 

[Ostie]

White pearl

 

[Keyser Soze]

 

[jpmcbride]

Flat black, single ply

 

[commonplayer]

Mint. I had this exact bass (which is the one I absolutely regret selling), and I went back and forth between a Fender '62 Tort guard and a Fender Pure Vintage '63 Mint guard. I settled on the Mint. Here are some pics from when I listed it. I gave the buyer the option of choosing which guard they wanted me to include. I ended up selling it locally in Chicago and the buyer chose the mint guard. Damn, wish I had this bass back. It had a David Allen P 1088 pickup in it and sounded amazing. Loved the nitro finish on this bass!

Fender Pure Vintage '63 Mint guard:
View attachment 4171580

Fender '62 AVRI tort guard.
View attachment 4171581

White original guard:
View attachment 4171578

We have a winner - that mint looks amazing.

 

[2F/2F]

Single ply black looks absolutely outstanding on pastel colors like Daphne Blue.

Second choice would be single ply white.

Tort, pearl, etc? Not so much, IMO.

 

[landry.bass]

I voted other.
Aged pearl would have my vote is it could. It looks cool and classy.

 

[WestyBassBob]

IMO, never tort or black, just as common as the white you're moving away from. Personally I like to have either the pickguard or the bass be a little more "eye-catching" I have white on one bass but the body is custom painted in a design I like.

Pickguard planet has tons of cool colors, I'm not affiliated with them just found them when pickguard shopping myself.

Blue candy crush?
View attachment 4171033

Tuxedo candy crush?
View attachment 4171034

Just some thoughts, if you aren't looking to go that far off the norm I'd go with the white pearl that was mentioned. Love the blue color, nice bass!

Really like those. They look like abalone which shouldn't be used at all.

 

[TheLowDown33]

pearl, either white or off-white variant

 

[mikewalker]

That's a Beauty!! Another vote for white/parchment here...

 

[porterbass]

We have a winner - that mint looks amazing.

Great choice! One note... not all Mint guards are the same. Some brands have a very unnatural mint color, so shop wisely. That's why I ended up with the Fender Pure Vintage '63.

Here's another trick for the finish on your bass. It's very delicate. I love the wear/relic'd finish spots on yours, but you can protect the finish and get rid of a bit of the "chalky" finish at the same time. Easy to do with Griot's Complete Compound, which you can get at many automotive stores. I polished mine with this and then a Meguire's car wax (any car was would work). This process seemed to lighten the finish just a touch too.

 

[DirkP]

Yes indeed, mint. My main bass is one of the limited edition '64 Jazz in Daphne Blue. It came with a white pickguard. I changed to slightly reliced mint and never looked back. Turtoise looks surprisingly good, too.
Fender did a good choice delivering the US vintage series '63 P in Faded Sonic Blue with a mint pickguard, too.

'63 Vintag Series P in Faded Sonic Blue with mint pickguard, '64 Jazz in Daphne with mint pickgurad:

Daphne + Turtoise pickguard from the LPB '64 Jazz:

 

[220_Hz]

I think mirror or raw aluminum would look cool. Blue and gray are a good combo

 

[Clark W]

I know I know, yet another pickguard question. I scored this Highway 1 P bass yesterday in Daphne Blue - it's absolutely killer so far but the parchment (or maybe it's white?) guard seems a little boring to me. I have an aged Fender '62 tort guard laying around so I tossed that over top, but it looks a little 'busy' at first glance.

So what say you, TB? Tort, parchment, or something else?

View attachment 4170929 View attachment 4170930

Black Pearl, maybe...
I would say definitely if it had a maple fretboard.
@Keyser Soze posted one with a white pearl and dark fretboard, that one definitely works for that color blue.

This is what it looks like on Satin Lake Placid Blue...
and cut with a wider bevel 35 degrees instead of the stock 15 degree cut.

 

[C Stone]

White on maple. Single ply black on rosewood.

 

[BobKos]

4 ply cream / black.

 

[1bassplayinfool]

Aged (yellowed) mother of toilet seat...

 

[Hot Rats]

There is only one correct response......

 

[electracoyote]

Normally, I would go with a tort to nicely compliment the rosewood fretboard.

But I have yet to see tort with any shade of blue that looked good to me. It always seems to darken the blue in an unflattering way. That classic daphne/robin egg blue will suddenly look dingy and discolored with tort on it.

Tort/rosewood seems to look great on much darker (i.e. very dark blue or black) or much lighter (i.e. white and aged white/yellowish) bodies.