Tortoiseshell pickguards

[Raman]

For or against?
Discuss.

I believe this has the potential to become the most divisive and bitter argument in the history of TB...

 

[joelns]

For, but only on a traditional or tobacco burst.

 

[Raman]

They remind me of my grandfather's Bakelite kitchen table and of cigarette-smelling taverns.

 

[Volker Kirstein]

Actual Tortoiseshell - firmly against.

Plastic facsimile - no opinion. You do you.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

I don't like them and associate them with the "traditional" brown sunburst.

But that's just my vote, you do as you like with your bass(es).

 

[grimjim]

I like tort, but only on black or burst. But that's just me.

 

[matty1039]

I think the fret board is more important than the color of the bass. Maple and tort are not a good combination. Instead I'd pair a black pick guard with a maple fret board. Rosewood and tort generally look good together.

 

[Max Headroom]

I love tortoiseshell and maple.

 

[fhm555]

Not something I care for at all, but that's just me.

 

[Raman]

I guess I don't understand why they are such a common feature on basses...

 

[arbiterusa]

I'm fine with good looking tortoiseshell on a pickguard, problem is most of it looks terrible.

 

[Frank77]

This should have been a poll!

I hate tort: I have never owned and never will own an instrument that sports tort.

 

[themickster]

Nobody minds cats being made from tortoiseshell.

 

[Hot Rats]

Tortoise shell looks like the kind of puke one would produce after gorging themselves on bad beer and pepperoni pizza with way too many pepperoni.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Being ‘for or against’ tortoiseshell pickguards is like being for or against clouds.

Also, there is absolutely no point in arguing over peoples’ opinions about aesthetics.

 

[themickster]

Tortoise shell looks like the kind of puke one would produce after gorging themselves on bad beer and pepperoni pizza with way too many pepperoni.

Yes but do you like it

 

[fishdude101101]

I love them on any bass.

I really really dislike white pickguards. I won't play with one.

 

[Hot Rats]

Yes but do you like it

Sometimes they really work.

 

[FatStringer52]

Some like them, some don't!

The real question is why do you want to start an argument?

 

[Raman]

Some like them, some don't!

The real question is why do you want to start an argument?

I actually agree that you can't argue with taste.
I thought it would be obvious that I meant this thread as a joke, what with me opening up by saying that «this has the potential to become the most divisive and bitter argument in the history of TB...»

This said, I'm actually wondering why tortoiseshell is such a common pickguard pattern, as I'm reminded every time I shop for a bass, and even more so recently when I shopped for a pickguard. It seems to me that type of pattern was very popular in the 50's but went completely out of style for kitchen tables, countertops and just about everything. Yet on basses, it stuck around.