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Need help, please vote on pickguard

Which pickguard, White Parchment or Tortoise Shell? (see photo)


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    280
I switch out pickguards often on my basses. It's the easiest and most affordable way to change the look of a bass.

Go with what mood strikes you. It's not a permanent change, rotate, buy a black one and have fun. Ultimately it's what you think that matters, our opinions are just that, opinions.
 
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I love tort. But I asked my wife, who is MUCH better at colors than me (but also likes tort). She said go with the white. It blends the maple with the burst where the tort is too abrupt a change.

However. we both like the anodized gold better than either choice.
That’s interesting. I put this out on my Instagram months back when I still had the tort on it. And most women replied with the white and most bass players with the tortoise shell. That’s when I switched it to white.

I was going for a 50s vibe with the white and thumbrest. I may just end up getting the anodized. Ugh. This poll hasn’t helped at all
 
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And most women replied with the white and most bass players with the tortoise shell. That’s when I switched it to white.

I'd wager that most non-musicians would generally select white from a visual preference standpoint. Bassists in particular have been brainwashed to choose tort. :p

I was going for a 50s vibe with the white and thumbrest.

Split-coil-pickup burst Precisions used gold until 59 when they switched to tort (and rosewood) if I'm not mistaken. ;)
 
I'd wager that most non-musicians would generally select white from a visual preference standpoint. Bassists in particular have been brainwashed to choose tort. :p



Split-coil-pickup burst Precisions used gold until 59 when they switched to tort if I'm not mistaken. ;)
That's correct. They also switched to the Rosewood fretboard in the 60s. The maple fretboard sunburst with tort pickguard didn't come out until the early 70s. I rather have a 50s vibe than a 70s:cool:. Especially because this bass also has the spaghetti logo.
 
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That's correct. They also switched to the Rosewood fretboard in the 60s. The maple fretboard sunburst with tort pickguard didn't come out until the early 70s. I rather have a 50s vibe than a 70s:cool:. Especially because this bass also has the spaghetti logo.

Just tell yourself that the guy you bought your 50s era bass from felt the gold was gaudy and pulled a white scratchplate off of a custom color bass and made use of it. ;) It makes total chronological sense. :laugh:

It's all a fictional narrative, so might as we have fun with it!
 
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Tortoise by a mile, though to be fair I'd personally never dream of putting any pickguard BUT tortoise on sunburst. I might see if I could find a little less dark (more red, maybe real celluloid from WD, Spitfire, etc.) tortoise for that particular finish if it were mine, kinda like my sunburst US Music Man Sterling, but that's just my preference. It's a celluloid one from WD.
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Tortoise by a mile, though to be fair I'd personally never dream of putting any pickguard BUT tortoise on sunburst. I might see if I could find a little less dark (more red, maybe real celluloid) tortoise for that particular finish if it were mine, kinda like my sunburst US Music Man Sterling, but that's just my preference. It's a celluloid one from WD.View attachment 3784103View attachment 3784104
Your Stingray looks great! I tried a more red one from Musically when I first got it. I found it made the burst look more orange. The tortoise pickguard I have now is from Fender, the vintage series.
 
It's a tough decision that could best be settled by 2 otherwise identical basses, one with tort and one with parch.
Tort has some cool factor for sure, especially with a burst finish. But if you and all your pals are filming a youtube bass video in town and you take a snack break at 7-eleven and you all park your Ps outside by the ice machine how will you know which one is yours? Parchment.
Or Tort. Dang!
 

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