Tort guard hate?

[DangYankee]

I would jokingly (and lovingly) bet if someone put up a general poll of "what color pickguard should I use on this bass?", I'd expect probably an ~80% chance of tort coming out the winner. Give or take ~10% depending on the color of the bass

Lucky for you, its been done many times! I did a query of all the polls on TB where tort was a option and have been randomly selecting them for data.

From a sample size of 21 posts, tort wins exactly 80.95% of the time.
From my data, Tort wins 100% of the time if you don't have a Blue Bass.

Tort wins with 89%: pickguard poll
Tort wins with 80%: Tortoise or Mint Green pickguard?
Tort wins with 70.5%: Just a simple help pick a pickguard poll..
Tort wins with 66.8%: POLL: Which Pickguard For My New P Bass?
Tort wins with 66.7%: Another..."Which Pickguard" Poll on my new Stingray
Tort wins with 61.5%: Help me choose a pickguard for my Warmoth Short Scale PJ (POLL)
Tort wins with 61%: White or tort pickguard; a poll for the masses
Tort wins with 60%: G&L color Poll: Help me choose!
Tort wins with 58.3%: The Twin Pickguard Poll!
Tort wins with 51%: White P basses..what pickguard color?
And the closest one I have ever seen, Tort wins with 50.5%: JAZZ BASS PICKGUARD POLL !
Tort wins with 44%: Pickguard Color Question
Tort wins with 39.3%: P-Bass pickguard decision
Tort wins with 38.8%: What pickguard should I get for my White/Rosewood neck Strat?
Tort wins with 34.6%: The definitive black p-bass pickguard thread.
Tort wins with 32.5%: Help me pick a pickguard for my for my MIM Acrtic White Jazz Bass
Tort wins with 31%: Which Pickguard
Tort wins with 28.5%: Should I change the pickguard?


The only ones I have seen where Tort did not come out on top were Blue Basses:

Tort loses on a Blue Bass: What color pickguard for a Sonic blue jazz?
Tort loses on another Blue Bass: Midnight Blue MIM Fender P bass pickguard color
Tort loses on another Blue/Green Bass: Poll: pickguard color for Seafoam Green?
Tort loses on yet another Blue Bass: Lake Placid Blue and Pickguards (Help me choose)

 

[Razman]

While I don't generally favor tort pick guards, I don't denigrate those who do. For those of you who do favor tort pick guards, 'denigrate' means 'to put down'.

 

[sigterm]

Lucky for you, its been done many times! I did a query of all the polls on TB where tort was a option and have been randomly selecting them for data.

From a sample size of 21 posts, tort wins exactly 80.95% of the time.
From my data, Tort wins 100% of the time if you don't have a Blue Bass.

Tort wins with 89%: pickguard poll
Tort wins with 80%: Tortoise or Mint Green pickguard?
Tort wins with 70.5%: Just a simple help pick a pickguard poll..
Tort wins with 66.8%: POLL: Which Pickguard For My New P Bass?
Tort wins with 66.7%: Another..."Which Pickguard" Poll on my new Stingray
Tort wins with 61.5%: Help me choose a pickguard for my Warmoth Short Scale PJ (POLL)
Tort wins with 61%: White or tort pickguard; a poll for the masses
Tort wins with 60%: G&L color Poll: Help me choose!
Tort wins with 58.3%: The Twin Pickguard Poll!
Tort wins with 51%: White P basses..what pickguard color?
And the closest one I have ever seen, Tort wins with 50.5%: JAZZ BASS PICKGUARD POLL !
Tort wins with 44%: Pickguard Color Question
Tort wins with 39.3%: P-Bass pickguard decision
Tort wins with 38.8%: What pickguard should I get for my White/Rosewood neck Strat?
Tort wins with 34.6%: The definitive black p-bass pickguard thread.
Tort wins with 32.5%: Help me pick a pickguard for my for my MIM Acrtic White Jazz Bass
Tort wins with 31%: Which Pickguard
Tort wins with 28.5%: Should I change the pickguard?


The only ones I have seen where Tort did not come out on top were Blue Basses:

Tort loses on a Blue Bass: What color pickguard for a Sonic blue jazz?
Tort loses on another Blue Bass: Midnight Blue MIM Fender P bass pickguard color
Tort loses on another Blue/Green Bass: Poll: pickguard color for Seafoam Green?
Tort loses on yet another Blue Bass: Lake Placid Blue and Pickguards (Help me choose)

But what's the MoE. The sample should be respondents not polls. I'm sure if you adjust the MoE sufficiently blue with tort wins every time.

 

[Dub56]

Lucky for you, its been done many times! I did a query of all the polls on TB where tort was a option and have been randomly selecting them for data.

From a sample size of 21 posts, tort wins exactly 80.95% of the time.
From my data, Tort wins 100% of the time if you don't have a Blue Bass.

Tort wins with 89%: pickguard poll
Tort wins with 80%: Tortoise or Mint Green pickguard?
Tort wins with 70.5%: Just a simple help pick a pickguard poll..
Tort wins with 66.8%: POLL: Which Pickguard For My New P Bass?
Tort wins with 66.7%: Another..."Which Pickguard" Poll on my new Stingray
Tort wins with 61.5%: Help me choose a pickguard for my Warmoth Short Scale PJ (POLL)
Tort wins with 61%: White or tort pickguard; a poll for the masses
Tort wins with 60%: G&L color Poll: Help me choose!
Tort wins with 58.3%: The Twin Pickguard Poll!
Tort wins with 51%: White P basses..what pickguard color?
And the closest one I have ever seen, Tort wins with 50.5%: JAZZ BASS PICKGUARD POLL !
Tort wins with 44%: Pickguard Color Question
Tort wins with 39.3%: P-Bass pickguard decision
Tort wins with 38.8%: What pickguard should I get for my White/Rosewood neck Strat?
Tort wins with 34.6%: The definitive black p-bass pickguard thread.
Tort wins with 32.5%: Help me pick a pickguard for my for my MIM Acrtic White Jazz Bass
Tort wins with 31%: Which Pickguard
Tort wins with 28.5%: Should I change the pickguard?


The only ones I have seen where Tort did not come out on top were Blue Basses:

Tort loses on a Blue Bass: What color pickguard for a Sonic blue jazz?
Tort loses on another Blue Bass: Midnight Blue MIM Fender P bass pickguard color
Tort loses on another Blue/Green Bass: Poll: pickguard color for Seafoam Green?
Tort loses on yet another Blue Bass: Lake Placid Blue and Pickguards (Help me choose)

80.95% of the time based on this data set eh?? I guess I was close when I guessed 80%! Hahah

Seriously. This is fantastic. Cracked me up when I saw this

 

[LYNCHMAN]

back when i was young and dumb and just getting started playing bass i had a cheap jazz copy from the local dept store that was sunburst with tort PG and i thought it was horrible and cheap looking, and i quickly painted the whole thing a different color...i carried that opinion for years . but now that i'm much older and wiser i see the error of my ways, however there are appropriate colors to match with tort (or pearlite) PGs and there are inappropriate colors ....but i now like tort very much....

 

[thmsjordan]

I remember seeing a real tortoise shell guard on an old Gibson Jazz guitar and it was warped and cracking. Real tortoise shell doesn't always age well.

The stuff I see now is far more in the red zone than most actual tortoise shell and far more uniform in pattern than the real deal. Mother nature can really make for some irregular patterns with a lot of creamy sort of white added. It varies tremendously in nature.

Buddhist here, so I tend to avoid anything that came from an animal or looks like it did. That's why I no longer use fur lined sinks in the bathroom.

 

[Michael Jewels]

How can you improve on sunburst and a tort guard?

Mike

 

[Jeff K]

All good. I'm not a big fan of flats.. there I said

I like tort thoigh.

"Prepare the stake and the bonfire!!"

 

[NeonVomit]

Just reminds me of 'old'. Not vintage retro way, just 'old'. I have never owned a bass with a tort guard and I never will. But whatever floats your boat! Hence so many choices.

 

[Axstar]

How can you improve on sunburst and a tort guard?

Mike View attachment 2997287

Easy! Tort doesn't look right on guitars with the exception the Fender offsets in certain colours and jazz/ES-355 style guitars. The bright white pickguard covers don't sit nicely with that tort pickguard, and it looks like repro 'photo tort' anyway, which tends to be very 1-dimensional and overly red/black.

 

[City]

They look great if you are playing with Elvis. Tort just has the vintage grandpa look. That's just me.

 

[jumbodbassman]

tort with SB and rosewood is the look for me. that being said new torts are iffy....

 

[secondbestcody]

White with tort is the best!

 

[gorneyg]

Huh?

 

[Axstar]

White with tort is the best!

I had one of those CIJ Mustangs, and it is the look! My only thought, at the time, was that the tort was very dark and didn't have any movement to it. If you look at '60s Mustangs (and P basses) the tort on them was often lighter, and had a bit more depth/swirl/movement to the pattern.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

I wouldn't say there is a lot of hate for tort, if anything there is an annoying amount of love for it, which then leads to a backlash.
I generally don't like it because its old and antiquated looking. I can stand it on a black bass, but mostly because there aren't a lot of red pick guards out there. Then some people pair it with colors that are hideous on their own, and call their visual abomination "sweet."
Like I said, it looks old and dated. I wish people would move on from 60 year old designs and come up with something new.

Your premise is totally wrong. When you're old, you can't get no dates.

 

[oldspice]

I happen to like tort with maple. But, I’m weird.

 

[JRA]

Tort reminds me of when my cat vomits up its food. It looks exactly the same way.

I’ve seen some that I liked, some that I didn’t.

wow TB has really taken an odd turn lately

all of my blue basses have tort guards and they just look stunning! but on other people's basses, they look like *%$@. i guess i'm just lucky.

 

[FrenchBassQC]

I love tort...

 

[Waytootrue]

Ironic that some of the first tort hate I've ever really noticed is in this thread. As far as I understood, everyone else loved them too!