Success! Epoxy Tort

[Deed_Poll]

Cheers guys!

Hpr I definitely know what you mean, and I like the unique look. But if someone is going all in for "vintage accuracy", those old materials (though there was HUGE variety between them) had a degree of consistency in colour and texture within each piece.

Having said that, I'm really pleased with how these came out and I can't wait to buff them back up to a good shine.

I managed to take some pictures in better light, I still had to boost the blacks to bring out some more of the red, but this is more accurate.

You will also notice that when I copied, pasted and rotated the design to cut 2 from the same sheet, the tool cut the wrong side of the lower control plate so one is 3mm too short there :fp

Good news is, the plate still fits in nicely and will just mean redrilling the screw holes for that control plate and it shouldn't be noticeable.





The lower one actually shows a lot of yellow on the treble side, I quite like this! It reminds me of that flecked maple some Les Paul tops are made of.

You can imagine how difficult these are to photograph, look how different the very same guards look with different filters!

[hpr_hpr]

Hpr I definitely know what you mean, and I like the unique look. But if someone is going all in for "vintage accuracy", those old materials (though there was HUGE variety between them) had a degree of consistency in colour and texture within each piece.

Hmm, I haven't seen enough large pieces to have a definite opinion but my bet would be that they were especially selected for that consistency and quite a few pieces didn't make the grade and were cut for smaller/other parts . . . . but I will hazard the guess that the reason quite a few of the 'plastic' torts look wrong is because our brains ... even when we aren't aware of it ... are marvelous pattern matching machines and they perceive that the materials offered look to regular to be 'real'.

This looks 'real'.

I actually would worry that an overzealous customs officer would see it and . . . . well I guess you could have some savings tested, real tort being a keratin doesn't have the same chemical properties as epoxy

[2fLAz]

Holy cow ! That would look neat on my telemaster
Or JM

[paulnewman]

Wow, these looks incredible!! So much better and more unique than the stock tort guards Fender are currently making.

I really dig the variation in hues too, while it may be less "even", to me it looks natural. I think the beauty of a good tort guard is that they're all completely unique, so having some slight differences in tone is a positive in my book.

[Deed_Poll]

Thanks for the comments guys! Very kind words. Looking back through this thread, I can really see the progress me and Rebecca have made with a bit of old-fashioned trial and error. I really feel like we're homing in on something unique and cool in its own way now!

I'd like to try one with a bit of blue in it perhaps... But that comes later!

Yes Fabz, my first thought when looking at the lighter of the two was "that would look awesome on Fiesta Red"! It has a lot of red tones to it without having much area that I would actually call red. So lots of browny reds and orangey reds, and reddish oranges!

I might take a photo of it against your body actually

Paul and Hpr, yes it definitely does have a more natural look to it. It's not necessarily what we were going for, but a happy accident! I think I better get used to those, because this business is certainly more art than science.

Yeah Fender tortoise guards haven't been good for a really long time... I think there are certain situations where they work, but not in a deep vintage kinda way. Maybe they just haven't had enough time to fade! But the patterns all seem a bit too small and opaque, with too much dull purply brown tone and not enough red or yellow. They look kinda like a blood pudding, if any Brits know what I'm talking about!

So here are some shots in sunlight, and they're a MUCH better representation of the real colour.

First the lighter guard, without alcohol (it's satin, awaiting a good polish)



The same guard with some alcohol rubbed on it to bring out the colour and simulate how it will look after polishing



Now the darker guard, in satin but with just a smear of alcohol





You can see it's a huge difference!

And a couple of pictures of the side colour depth and thickness - you can see most of the dark pigment is on top, hence why the other side has 'faded':

[2fLAz]

They are amazing ! Such a great accomplishement !
I love both of them.

[maxbra]

+1.. fantastic work!!

[parry]

Wow. These look SOOOO good
I quite like the movement and contrast from dark, to light. This looks like such a nice balance between capturing the essence of the nice, old guards and marrying it to something a bit more modern and unique-looking.
Well done!

[hpr_hpr]

. . . . . because this business is certainly more art than science.

What little I've read of the way the original material was 'made' that was true then as well . . . .

[solfege]

These are fantastic.

[Unicorn Warrior]

Very interesting. I'm excited to see more competition in the tort world. These are starting to look really intriguing

[stratguy23]

These look great! I am planning a Squier Bass VI mod project (refinish in Shell Pink, Novak pickups, Staytrem, etc), and I Think a guard like this would be perfect. I don’t have the Squier Bass VI but let me know if you need the pickguard because I’d be happy to send it to you if you need once I get the instrument.

[Supa-Stang]

These look sick...

[wademp]

These are so good looking!

[Grey]

I love how organic these look, that sheet is like the surface of the sun and the contrast on the pickguards is fantastic. I know other people have said this already but while it may not be "vintage accurate" I think this result is even more interesting, and a unique take on the tort guard.

Eager to see some of those finished/polished guards.