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Tort Pickguards = Tortoise shell?

#21
A guitarist I know gets tortoise shell from someone who raises/breeds(?) them. He laminates pieces of it and makes guitar picks out of them. They are pretty cool. They look like, well, tortoise shell except they are black/green.
 
#25
Fetusyolk said:
This may sound ridiculous to think of (or to not know), but are tortoise shell pickguards made from actual tortoise shell?

i'd also like to ask this of picks that appear to be tortoise shell.

i know many other things have been made from tortoise shell, but i haven't heard much about this. If this has been asked before i would be thankful for a link. i tried a search but i couldn't find much.
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On a related note, what the hell is fetusyolk?
 
#28
I've seen many custom knives that have real tortoise shell on them. They usually back it with real gold leaf as it's almost transparent. What I don't understand is real tortoise shell looks NOTHING like the pickguards :confused: All of the real tortoise shell I've seen is sort of clear yellow and light brown.

Like this:

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http://images.google.com/imgres?img...t:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&sa=N&um=1

http://images.google.com/imgres?img...E-SearchBox&rlz=1I7GGLL_en&sa=N&start=54&um=1
 
#29
on a completely unrelated note my friend has two pet tortoises. One who is pretty gigantic, and chased her around the yard yesterday. It was pretty humorous. Those guys go faster then you would think! (5 mph)
 
#33
Fetusyolk said:
on a completely unrelated note my friend has two pet tortoises. One who is pretty gigantic, and chased her around the yard yesterday. It was pretty humorous. Those guys go faster then you would think! (5 mph)
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I have a friend with Tortoises also. I don't think they are the kind that the pretty material comes from though.........other wise :ninja: They're actually cool pets and are very smart. They also dig like crazy so he's always repairing their playground area. All three are too heavy to pick up, I'm guessing well over 100lbs, maybe more.
 
#35
Here's your tortoise shell right here.

All items called 'tortoise shell' were actually made from sea turtles shells. These plates are much thinner than a land tortiose has and could be used as is for veneer and...guitar picks. They were caught to eat and the shell was a byproduct that actually became a high priced commodity in the 19th century. Totally verboten now, as it should be as these guys are all endangered. And awesome.
I am a lifelong amatuer herpetologist/geek and know about this stuff.:) BTW- that beauty there is a Hawksbill, one of the most endangered largely due to the heavy hit they got from over slaughter.

.
mongo2 said:
Here's a nice turtle I saw in the nature center at a local park. I love it's shell.

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#37
emblymouse said:
Here's your tortoise shell right here.

All items called 'tortoise shell' were actually made from sea turtles shells. These plates are much thinner than a land tortiose has and could be used as is for veneer and...guitar picks. They were caught to eat and the shell was a byproduct that actually became a high priced commodity in the 19th century. Totally verboten now, as it should be as these guys are all endangered. And awesome.
I am a lifelong amatuer herpetologist/geek and know about this stuff.:) BTW- that beauty there is a Hawksbill, one of the most endangered largely due to the heavy hit they got from over slaughter.

.
Click to expand...

Congtratulations, you passed the test. I wondered if anyone would realize the origin of "tortoise" shell and recognize the Hawksbill. :cool:
 

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