That is really nice. I actually tried to get mine more “subtle” like yours. It came out a little more busy than I anticipated but I still love it.
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NPD (New Pickguard Day) - Spitfire Content
- Thread starter Mike Vee
- Start date
Just like some cars with the same color wheels (Porsche), painted headstocks can look amazing. But I do think it does sometimes look tacky, especially on a lot of custom shop models where it’s too flashy.Natural headstocks are where it's at with Fenders, especially with Precisions.
Black headlock faces (ala Spectors) > than color-matched headstocks.
Color-matched headstocks are like cars with painted wheels.
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Very good vintage-styled P-bass (oohh nooo it doesn't have the 7.25" fretboard radiuuusss .. ahahah .. I could care less, rock on!).
Eyes scorched. I can't unsee it now. Good thing lunch is a few hour away.
Just curious. $300 !!!??
What makes the price so high for a small sheet of a plastic like material that is most likely stamped from a die, not hand shaped?
Not knocking it, and pardon my ignorance, just want to know what justifies the high price. Probably takes about 20 minutes to whip one of these up.
What makes the price so high for a small sheet of a plastic like material that is most likely stamped from a die, not hand shaped?
Not knocking it, and pardon my ignorance, just want to know what justifies the high price. Probably takes about 20 minutes to whip one of these up.
That was my first attempt at a nitrocellulose finish years ago. It was supposed to be Sonic Blue and was until the clear coats were applied, when it yellowed immediately and turned it into kind a Volkswagen s**t green. If you look closely there are a couple of small dings where you can see the Sonic Blue color. Also, I was advised to use tempera paint for the color coat, and some kind of reaction with the nitro caused the finish to check all over like a very aged instrument. Accidents will happen, I guess, in this case mostly good.
Maybe this could go in the trunk of that car...Natural headstocks are where it's at with Fenders, especially with Precisions.
Black headlock faces (ala Spectors) > than color-matched headstocks.
Color-matched headstocks are like cars with painted wheels.
View attachment 5236047
Each one is hand made from scratch completely custom using nitrocellulose
I prefer the 9.5 by a long shot.
Tort, like many things in life, you either “get it” or you don’t.
Since others are sharing their spitfire tort, here’s mine:
Since others are sharing their spitfire tort, here’s mine:
They are very nice as well, but they only offer one pattern as far as I know. Spitfire allows you to customize it in many different ways, I didn’t want one that was so red looking on the surf green.
I recall when the gentleman was experimenting and developing these. From his early efforts, it looked to me like he starts with a shallow pool of clear resin and then drips spots of dye onto it in various patterns which might - or might not - look like the real thing (meaning, either the real thing they used to cut from actual tortoise shell, or the real thing as made by whoever supplied Fender's early celluloid PGs - take your pick). Depending on the consistency of the unhardened clear plastic, the exact colors of the dyes, and the drip pattern, there is a wide variety in the final product. Obviously there's a considerable amount of time and manual effort put into each one; they're not just printed like dollar bills or punched out like coins. Tortoise has an obvious visual depth to it which isn't remotely duplicated by conventional printing processes. (I'm assuming here that the current manufacturing process is basically the same as that developed in the early days, before Spitfire was a business operation.)
Tortoise shell was originally of commercial value because of its mechanical properties - a unique blend of affordability/cost, stiffness, toughness, workability, machinability, and other things materials geeks get excited about - rather than looks, but all we notice nowadays are the visuals. The appearance of generic modern tort is so ghastly that, by comparison, the Spitfire version is great. But to my eye it still doesn't look like tortoise, of either the real or vintage instrument varieties. So to me, the price is excessive. But if one must have something resembling tort, the Spitfire product has a huge lead on the competition.
Do you actually think people buy pickguards to improve their bass skills?
My $2k+ American Fender came with a Tort pickguard. I enjoy it very much. Why would I pay another $300 to get a different shade or pattern of the same thing? I thought I had to check my ego just buying the Fender but I guess I'm not on that level.
