Why does Fender use bad Tort?

[leokula]

But also wouldn’t you agree that a huge part of the allure with custom shop is aesthetic stuff? Like I’m never gonna be able to buy a $10,000 guitar or whatever anyway, but if I was, a huge part about me doing so would be aesthetics. I don’t think there’s be many people say they own a custom shop or were seeking one out because of how they sound ya know what I mean?

Hmmm I don't agree it's a huge part. I wouldn't order a CS because I want a specific color, I'll just go for a refin. CS means you get to choose everything, neck profile, radius, pickup wound, relicing, specific contours, you can have replicas of a certain year and so forth. And on top of choosing it, you know the best of the best at Fender are building it for you. Amongst all those things, I don't think having "real" tort is much important compared to all the rest of the hard craft that is put in a CS guitar.

I don’t think there’s be many people say they own a custom shop or were seeking one out because of how they sound ya know what I mean?

I think most people are after the sound than the aesthetics, actually lol that's just my opinion tho. I don't think it's worth it to pay what a CS goes for if all you want is a different color or pickguard. You are buying a full package of excelent craftsmanship. Anybody can attach a new pickguard to you guitar, but only the custom shop will provide you with some of the things they offer.

Aesthetics are important, yeah, but most CS are not even that flashy, you see many sunburst or black strats out of the CS.

[Mechanical Birds]

That’s what I mean though, it’s not just a different finish or whatever, but a very specific finish, or like you said profile or whatever set of features... finish is a big, big part of that. It just seems weird that someone would just be like “all of this is customizable but the finish doesn’t matter cuz I can just refinish another guitar” like honestly that makes zero sense to me but ya know diff’rnt strokez and all that

[leokula]

That’s what I mean though, it’s not just a different finish or whatever, but a very specific finish, or like you said profile or whatever set of features... finish is a big, big part of that. It just seems weird that someone would just be like “all of this is customizable but the finish doesn’t matter cuz I can just refinish another guitar” like honestly that makes zero sense to me but ya know diff’rnt strokez and all that

What I meant is all you want is a seafoam green jaguar, you can refinish a Squier, you don't need to order a CS for that. We've seen loads of refins even on AVRI's in here, it's not rare at all.

Plus the CS will do any finish, like literally anything. Aesthetics are important, like I said, I just think that even the most picky ones just want a brown swirly piece of plastic there, and not necessarily vintage correct tortoise shell. It's not universally associated with high quality. People ordering from the CS definitely don't care about that, otherwise they'd have changed that. As we all know, market drives things.

[Francer]

I think the Fenderparts tort guards look pretty good in pictures, but I’ve never seen one in person.

They’re quite nice, I have one on my AV65 Jazzmaster. I would say similar quality to stock AV65 tort in terms of pattern and finish but more burgundy which I like, also looks like 45 deg bevel.

[Unicorn Warrior]

That’s what I mean though, it’s not just a different finish or whatever, but a very specific finish, or like you said profile or whatever set of features... finish is a big, big part of that. It just seems weird that someone would just be like “all of this is customizable but the finish doesn’t matter cuz I can just refinish another guitar” like honestly that makes zero sense to me but ya know diff’rnt strokez and all that

What I meant is all you want is a seafoam green jaguar, you can refinish a Squier, you don't need to order a CS for that. We've seen loads of refins even on AVRI's in here, it's not rare at all.

Plus the CS will do any finish, like literally anything. Aesthetics are important, like I said, I just think that even the most picky ones just want a brown swirly piece of plastic there, and not necessarily vintage correct tortoise shell. It's not universally associated with high quality. People ordering from the CS definitely don't care about that, otherwise they'd have changed that. As we all know, market drives things.

As I said earlier. They don't care because they don't know to care. It wasn't until I joined this forum that I knew about the magic of the Tort. Ever since joining this forum, fender Tort is just something I have to settle with. It's just mediocre. Would just like to see Fender do better

[aliendawg]

C'mon guys. Overall, tortoise guards are not that pretty

[Unicorn Warrior]

^ lol

[mgeek]

I will eventually get a Spitfire but dropping $250 for a guard is not easy when that can get me a new Strymon Pedal, a ton of vinyl or LogicPro...

I've always been kinda baffled by this forum's obsession with tortoiseshell scratchplates, but this takes the biscuit $250 for a piece of plastic! haha

[sirspens]

I will eventually get a Spitfire but dropping $250 for a guard is not easy when that can get me a new Strymon Pedal, a ton of vinyl or LogicPro...

I've always been kinda baffled by this forum's obsession with tortoiseshell scratchplates, but this takes the biscuit $250 for a piece of plastic! haha

I used to hate tort. Until I saw good tort used correctly (and not with fucking sunburst).

[mcatano]

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that whatever the spitfire dude is doing in his garage would in no way/shape/form be practical at scale let alone pass any kind of EPA/OHSA/etc muster. Fender is a giant corporation and I imagine their metrics for literally any single part of their instruments that come from a vendor are like "is it consistent, do we get good margins, is it available when we need it, can we order a lot of it at once?"

But yes, the weird pepperoni guards look bad.

[Stephen_42]

Speaking of Spitfire....

Has anyone seen this?

https://spitfiretortoiseshellpickguards ... ming-soon/

I'm not sure if I hate it because it's ridiculous, over-the-top and unnecessary, or if I love it because it's ridiculous, over-the-top and unnecessary.

[Mechanical Birds]

Can’t someone here help him get a better site and edit down the descriptions of shit cause that whole thing is just a mess over at spitfirevintagetortiseshellpickguards.angelfire.net or whatever the fuck just GOD it always destroyed me that the guards were so cool but that website and the write ups are just horrendous

[JVG]

I agree that badly constructed or pixelated tort is bad, but beyond that it becomes an issue of personal taste. There are plenty of fenders that come with decent tort guards.

The worship of Spitfire is a bit over the top - many of them look great, while some look pretty shitty to my eyes. I cant help thinking that the idea of having something fairly exclusive is part of the appeal.

No personal offence intended.

All the best,
J.

[August]

I really want to use and love the Spitfire stuff, but I could never justify a quarter grand on a piece of plastic that I can't 1) see, and see that it's absolutely perfect before I buy and 2) return, no questions asked, if it's not right. They can also look pretty out there/off sometimes—I'm not really sure if that's just the tastes of the person who's ordered it or...

I understand that these are individual little pieces of art and labour, that the guy needs to make a buck (as do I for any work I do), but there needs to be some economy of scale and/or competition to put these (decent torts) in the realm of sensible for the less TGP offset lovers out there. IMHO of course.

I really do despise what is available today though, what has become commonly acceptable.

[Singlebladepickup]

I'm not really sure if that's just the tastes of the person who's ordered it or...

I think it is kind of a combination of what they ordered and...what came out. If you look on his gallery, there isn’t just one look for each of the following: vintage dark, vintage burgundy, speckled 60’s, subtle 60’s, crazy 60’s. It’s kind of like a general blueprint of where to go with it. It’s ultimately a crapshoot, but in my case I was flexible and it ended up being amazing. If you boil it down to a piece of plastic it sounds lame, but you wouldn’t define a painting as just a piece of oil-covered canvas - you acknowledged it’s a piece of art already. I’d totally consider getting another, even if i can’t say beforehand that I’ll love it. I do agree that the competition is severely lacking. I haven’t even seen spitfire do a vintage-looking brown tort. Closest is vintage dark, which is insanely good but does it’s own thing. Someone has to try to make one.