NPD (New Pickguard Day) - Spitfire Content

[Jared Lash]

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.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but here's my understanding.

Old school tort pickguards were made using celluloid nitrate to imitate actual tortoiseshell, as was common at the time. Celluloid was also used to imitate other materials like ivory or linen. It was great for this because it was clear but also created unpredictable patterns, just like natural materials.

But it's nasty, toxic, flammable stuff and eventually guitar manufacturers moved away from it to today's "tort" pickguard material, which is essentially just sheets of plastic with a pattern on it that is trying to mimic the old celluloid tort.

But because that's all it is, today's tort guards are very 2D and lack variation in pattern or color compared to the old celluloid pickguards which often varied a lot in color (both from guard to guard and often within the same pickguard) as well as being unique in terms of the patterns.

In short, they are much more vibrant and will have a unique pattern and are expensive because today celluloid pickguards are difficult to make and thus rare.

I'm not sure why anyone is relating it to making you a better bass player etc. It's an aesthetic mod to enhance your guitar or bass for people that dig that look and are willing to spend the money.

 

[Phaidrus]

Dark Burgundy, "Crazy 60s / Subtle Mix" pattern. Mark was so amazing to work with! Highly recommended!!

Pics do not do it justice. Is it worth $300? Ehhh..that is debatable. To me it was. I can say that it's MUCH, much better than newer stock Fender or Chandler. Very 3 dimensional, no pixels, amazing.

Very sexy! Btw, what strings are these?

 

[Ellery]

Very 3 dimensional, no pixels, amazing.

Help me out here...
is this printed? I thought tort was different colors of plastic swirled together. Is it common for these to be printed or does this company do that to match a specific pattern?
I am starting to question the world as I perceive it.

 

[WRM]

Help me out here...
is this printed? I thought tort was different colors of plastic swirled together. Is it common for these to be printed or does this company do that to match a specific pattern?
I am starting to question the world as I perceive it.

The process was explained in a prior post - it starts as a layer of liquid clear, then drops of dye are added. The depth of the dye within the clear is what gives it the 3D effect.

 

[Ellery]

The process was explained in a prior post - it starts as a layer of liquid clear, then drops of dye are added. The depth of the dye within the clear is what gives it the 3D effect.

OK... what threw me off here is that he mentioned pixels. Still don't know what he meant by that. Thanx.

 

[Marc DLarosa]

Ooo I wish. It’s an American original 60s precision.

I'd bet that for another 300 bucks, you can get someone to paint the headstock.

 

[40Hz]

Pics do not do it justice.

Classy!!!

I have yet to see a Spitfire pickguard where I didn’t immediately think: Wow! And yes, pictures do not do them justice by a long shot. There’s a dimensional quality they have that a camera can’t seem to capture. If it could we’d all be perfectly happy with photo-tort. And we all know how widely admired those photo-tort pickguards are.

Congratulations on getting yourself one. Looks great on that bass. Spitfires are a little outside my current price range for something that’s just for looks. But “never say never” as the saying goes. I’ll confess I’ve been looking at the dark burgundy ones for a few years now. So it’s probably only a matter of time before I just say YOLO and get one.

 

[PennyroyalWe]

The hand applied tort effect is under a (plastic?) clear layer, just like a vintage tort pg. I don't know the exact process - but it looks and feels like any other tort pg in that respect. You'd have to be a player that really 'digs in' to do much damage.

...as in this much played 1969 tort - a SF pg would look the same if you played your bass professionally for a solid 50+ yrs.
View attachment 5236702

My point is just that something that small that cost that much money, I’d feel pressured (by myself) to keep it looking pristine for as long as possible. Which, in turn, would mean I’d likely play that bass very sparingly.
Nice things are lost on me.

 

[Matt O]

OK... what threw me off here is that he mentioned pixels. Still don't know what he meant by that. Thanx.

A lot of tort out there is “photo tort” where a photo of tort pattern is printed onto the white layer of plastic with a clear plastic over top. If you look really close, you can see the pixels of the photo. Looks horrible. “Genuine” tort has no pixels.

 

[Mike Vee]

Very sexy! Btw, what strings are these?

LaBella LTF

 

[Mike Vee]

Help me out here...
is this printed?

Absolutely not, Spitfire is handmade the old school way.

 

[Mike Vee]

My point is just that something that small that cost that much money, I’d feel pressured (by myself) to keep it looking pristine for as long as possible. Which, in turn, would mean I’d likely play that bass very sparingly.
Nice things are lost on me.

For me, the cool part of a vintage style Fender bass is how it wears! I'm a SUPER OCD type person but with my bass it's cool to get wear! The guard is already swirling up from a few wipings, I dig it!

 

[dmk]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but here's my understanding.

Old school tort pickguards were made using celluloid nitrate to imitate actual tortoiseshell, as was common at the time. Celluloid was also used to imitate other materials like ivory or linen. It was great for this because it was clear but also created unpredictable patterns, just like natural materials.

But it's nasty, toxic, flammable stuff and eventually guitar manufacturers moved away from it to today's "tort" pickguard material, which is essentially just sheets of plastic with a pattern on it that is trying to mimic the old celluloid tort.

But because that's all it is, today's tort guards are very 2D and lack variation in pattern or color compared to the old celluloid pickguards which often varied a lot in color (both from guard to guard and often within the same pickguard) as well as being unique in terms of the patterns.

In short, they are much more vibrant and will have a unique pattern and are expensive because today celluloid pickguards are difficult to make and thus rare.

I'm not sure why anyone is relating it to making you a better bass player etc. It's an aesthetic mod to enhance your guitar or bass for people that dig that look and are willing to spend the money.

I always thought Fender moved away from celluloid, but right here Fender says the top layer of their tortoiseshell pickguard is still celluloid. There's only one way to find out - put a match to it. I have a spare pickguard and just might be tempted to try it. Invalid Link Removed

 

[J.Wolf]

Think of it this way, you could spend more than $300 changing your bridge knobs and tuning pegs from Chrome to Black and nobody would think twice about it being “not worth the price” for an aesthetic modification.

 

[DB66]

If you keep your bass for 20 or 30 years like I have it’s worth it. If you’re a flipper no.

 

[ad9000]

Another Spitfire guard I got was to replace the original on my '62 P-bass, after it cracked due to the typical shrinkage. This one came out a little more red than I expected but it still looks really good. Before I ordered it I hunted around elsewhere and couldn't find anything that looked halfway decent.

 

[Mike Vee]

Another Spitfire guard I got was to replace the original on my '62 P-bass, after it cracked due to the typical shrinkage. This one came out a little more red than I expected but it still looks really good. Before I ordered it I hunted around elsewhere and couldn't find anything that looked halfway decent.

View attachment 5237107

No one would ever know that’s not original

 

[Mildew Jones]

Love my Spitfire guard, purchased this from JIO, stills brings much pleasure to the eye…

 

[JIO]

Love my Spitfire guard, purchased this from JIO, stills brings much pleasure to the eye…

View attachment 5237132

Nice to see it again! Looks great! The only reason I changed it was to get the 'thin black layer' version that Mark later was able to source! (post #17 & 20)

 

[Lowbrow]

Love my Spitfire guard, purchased this from JIO, stills brings much pleasure to the eye…

View attachment 5237132

This is a very nice example.