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POLL: Which Pickguard For My New P Bass?

Which pickgurad for my new sunburst Fender P?

  • Brown Tort

    Votes: 206 66.2%

  • Anodized Gold

    Votes: 105 33.8%
  • Total voters
    311
electracoyote

electracoyote

Jan 2, 2009
16,390
13,852
Purple Mountain Majesties
#1
I'm definitely going with one of these two looks on my new sunburst Fender P.

BrownTortonSunburst2.jpg


AnodizedGoldPickguard.jpg


Which do you prefer? It's an either-or question, no offense, but I have narrowed this down to the final two.

Thanks for your help.

P.S. -- I may have borrowed an image from another TB'er. It's a compliment.
 
#4
You know, what are you trying to do? If you want the one that's going to be most visually pleasing for most people, seems like tort's the way to go. But if you want to stand out or having something different, go with the gold. Depends on your goal, I guess.
 
#5
I have a tendency to go with tradition, so if it's a maple board I'd lean toward the gold, but rosewood definitely I'd go with tort. To me, the gold looks much better on my Oly White/maple P than the original tort. My MIM 'burst looks much better with tort.
 
#8
Schizoid75 said:
You know, what are you trying to do? If you want the one that's going to be most visually pleasing for most people, seems like tort's the way to go. But if you want to stand out or having something different, go with the gold. Depends on your goal, I guess.
Click to expand...

First, thanks for the votes and the comments everyone.

These are the two more "classic" or "vintage" choices, for historic reasons that have nothing to do with opinion. That's why I narrowed it down to these two choices.

The anodized gold was used many moons ago. You see it on vintage Fenders.

Same with the brown tort.

I've seen vintage sunburst P-basses with both pickguards, but I remain torn as to which looks best.

I like the notion that a rosewood board seems to support a brown tort. But the picture in the OP...will ya just LOOK at that! Even with a maple board it looks great.

The anodized gold, being a lighter shade, goes with a maple board nicely too. And is shines mysteriously.

I wonder which one would work best from a distance?
 
#9
When Fender kicked off the whole reissue thing, the first RI I remember seeing in person was a 3 tone burst P w/rosewood and the aluminum guard and at the time it looked sexy as hades to me. Fenders were out of my price range back then so I never really spent a lot of time fretting over what I couldn't afford, but every once in a while I'd see one that would grab my eye.

The aluminum also means it's pretty much impossible to have wavy PG edge.
 
#10
I don't like any sunburst finish ever made but if I had to choose it would be the brown tort.
In all truth seeing I don't care if it looks vintage or not I would have a Fender White pearl pg. (fenders white pearl is really an off-white not true white)

That would truely look sharp!
 
#15
Always go with the market.

Such is the beginning of wisdom. ;)

Even if you aren't selling the bass, you are selling your look and your presentation every time you perform, even if it's just with a few friends.

Tortoise is the way to go, though the current brown tortoiseshell is not a vintage color. Tortoiseshell, like sunburst -- if they are good ones -- give a "rich" presentation, which is something always to strive for.
 
#16
Bongolation said:
Always go with the market.

Such is the beginning of wisdom. ;)

Even if you aren't selling the bass, you are selling your look and your presentation every time you perform, even if it's just with a few friends.

Tortoise is the way to go, though the current brown tortoiseshell is not a vintage color. Tortoiseshell, like sunburst -- if they are good ones -- give a "rich" presentation, which is something always to strive for.
Click to expand...

This is good. Thank you.

Question: I just received a tort pickguard from WD Music. It is the standard tort, not brown, not red. However, it has a distinct reddish hue, and IMO looks horrible on the bass. It seems to me you are right, the vintage torts look "richer," and the only thing I can find on today's market that comes close are what most are calling a "brown tort."

Is there a better option?
 
#17
I'm gonna' go against the grain here. I'd say neither. On a Sunburst/maple bass, I think a black guard looks best. On a Sunburst/rosewood I'd go tort. On solid color basses (Fiesta, Honey Blonde, etc.) I like the gold anodized.

But if you're absolutely opposed to black/white/black and want to limit it to just those two in the poll, I'd go tort.
 
#18
electracoyote said:
This is good. Thank you.

Question: I just received a tort pickguard from WD Music. It is the standard tort, not brown, not red. However, it has a distinct reddish hue, and IMO looks horrible on the bass. It seems to me you are right, the vintage torts look "richer," and the only thing I can find on today's market that comes close are what most are calling a "brown tort."

Is there a better option?
Click to expand...

If you have to put that on your bass then the nitrate tort from Bass parts resource is the closest to vintage.

I will say however that I do not agree with Bongolation, the tort is not a richer look or a classier look. While I am not a fan of the gold either it is classier and cleaner looking than the tort is.

Link Removed
 
#19
electracoyote said:
the only thing I can find on today's market that comes close are what most are calling a "brown tort."

Is there a better option?
Click to expand...
I think FMIC's current brown tortoiseshell is probably the best I've seen that doesn't cost an insane amount of money, though I'm not crazy about the odd "texturing" of the mix.

There's lots of hideous tortoiseshell out there, particularly the printed stuff from China.

I'm going to put a 1973 Fender tortoiseshell pickguard on mine if I can heat it enough to unshrink it a bit on a jig. It's a reddish color but looks OK and is identical to the pattern used on the American series.
 
#20
I voted tort, but I like the idea of black too. The gold looks good on the solid colors, but the sunburst would go best with the tort or black IMO. I tend to like the more classic looks (somehow I ended up with a Schecter Riot-5, which I LOVE), and the gold on sunburst is just kind of meh...
 

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