Help me choose a pickguard for my Jazz Bass

[mazdah]

What do you suggest?

black:
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tortoise:
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or standard:
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?

The instrument has the vintage white finish.
The body is a little more yellow (like a cream) than standard pickguard.

I will add pickup & bridge covers for sure!

 

[Mr.Matti]

Tortoise.

 

[4Banger4]

Black no bridge cover if you're thinking about one. Could also put some black strings on there to make the white pop a bit more.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

Black would work fine with PURE white... but black pickguards always scream "70's" Fender to me... which turns me off.

White with vintage white? Looks like a mismatched suit.

Vintage white, rosewood board, asking for a slice o' Tortloaf.

 

[Bullitt5135]

+1 on the tortollini. For some reason, it just looks like right on that vintage white body.

 

[tZer]

+1 (again) on the tortoise - but I am biased...

The USA Jazz V in the center is one of my main workhorses.

 

[inate_hex]

Personally, I would put a gold one on!

 

[SurferJoe46]

I would vote tort - if I voted. But I gotta ask if a mint would look good?

So far I haven't had any positive thoughts about mint - but that might change.

Oh yeah - then put the covers on it and a tug bar.

 

[Hawkbone]

black

 

[iamthebassman]

 

[inate_hex]

are you in a band? what genre of music are you into? white bass with tort won't look good in a death metal scenario

 

[dave64o]

I voted tort because, well, it's just the right answer.

However, black also looks good and I think a mint or an anodized gold would look good, too.

 

[Bongolation]

White on cream is one of the few solutions better than tortoise.

It really brings out the aging of the paint and hypes the vintage look.

The other thing is that white Fender pickguards are worlds easier to find cheap compared to tortoise, which are nearly impossible to get under $30 for a Jazz. $29.31 shipped was the best I could do after three months of looking.

 

[Scorpy Jacobs]

I would pesonally go for tortoise, i am saving for a white P bass and i want to put a green tortoise pickguard, only problem is all the green ones i can find are too vibrant. i am hoping to find an off set green, almost the mint green but in tortoise.

By the way, did anyone notice the Jazzmaster/jaguar style switches on the Jbass? i would reckon that they are kill switches

 

[Clark Dark]

why not step outside the box and go MM ? WD parts has replacement Marcus Miller pickguards.

 

[Bongolation]

Another pickguard warning here...

I just got that tortoiseshell pickguard from Amazon and it had shrunk and curled up like a potato chip. So had the one at Guitar Center. They shrink quickly if they aren't installed right after Fender cuts them.

If they've been gathering dust for a year or two or three, forget a clean installation.

This means that it's going to bulge up in the middle and the screw holes will no longer line up properly and you're going to wind up stripping screws or filling the holes and drilling them over.

This is a lot of bunk for the kind of money they want for a piece of plastic. :scowl:

If the one you get isn't flat, that means it's shrunk. Don't accept it.

 

[gnarlyopossum]

I have a cream colored jazz bass with tort pickguard. I love it!

 

[SurferJoe46]

I know the old cellulose tort guards shrunk and wrinkled - but the modern plastic ones too?

I got a gen-u-wine Fender 1962 11-hole pickguard in tort, PN/ 0992022000 and to date - almost a year later - it hasn't bent, bagged or sagged at the knees.

 

[One Drop]

I would also suggest tort, but a similar thread on the FDP recently showed me the righteous beauty of mint on yellowed white.

It's a very early '60's Fender look, will go great with covers on.

 

[Bongolation]

I got a gen-u-wine Fender 1962 11-hole pickguard in tort, PN/ 0992022000 and to date - almost a year later - it hasn't bent, bagged or sagged at the knees.

Did you install it?

If you install it, it's like nailing the buckskin to the barn wall. It can't shrink in that direction because the screws are more or less holding the circumference stable.

If it's just loose, trust me, they shrink and curl.

I was going through a big pile of them at GC last weekend and it was like emptying a can of Pringles, I swear. :scowl:

They'll even do it when they're installed if they can find a loose place that's not nailed down. On a couple of my Ps, they curl up around the pickup holes and bell up in the middle.

Seems strange that after all this time they haven't found more stable plastic.

For some reason tortoiseshell is worst, though it doesn't look like it's the top layer that's shrinking.

Very mysterious. Caveat emptor!