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Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 10:22 am
by bterry
Who’s making the best aged white guards for vintage-correct restorations, etc?
I’m looking specifically for a lightly minted white guard, like you’d see on a real ‘59-‘62ish Fender. Not over-greened or too beat up...nothing extreme but with vintage correct bevel and color, etc.
Thx!
BT
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Sun Nov 29, 2020 10:41 am
by adamrobertt
Spitfire does these, and they look great. Also check out eBay seller fenderparts
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 9:12 am
by Highnumbers
The actual pickguards Spitfire makes are great (in terms of fit, bevel etc.)
But the aging on the white guards is lacking. I once made the critical error of polishing a guitar that had an aged Spitfire parchment guard installed, and brown stain came off with one swipe of a polishing cloth! It was stark white under that. So his aging is simply painting on some kind of stain, not permanently discoloring the guard.
For what they cost, I was pretty disappointed. Especially when I emailed Spitfire and their reply was "polishing and cleaning vintage guitars is a no-no" and offered to re-relic the guard for another $50. Erm...thanks.
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 12:38 pm
by bterry
Yeah, thanks for the responses - my experience with Spitfire has been less than stellar, that guy is a jerk and he doesn’t really stand behind his product, unfortunately.
Hoping to find someone else if anyone has any suggestions, thanks!
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 1:11 pm
by adamrobertt
bterry wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 12:38 pm
Yeah, thanks for the responses - my experience with Spitfire has been less than stellar, that guy is a jerk and he doesn’t really stand behind his product, unfortunately.
Hoping to find someone else if anyone has any suggestions, thanks!
That's unfortunate, and not the first time I've heard such a review. I've only had good experiences with him, but maybe I'm just lucky?
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 2:57 pm
by bterry
IDK, I seem to hear about 50/50 on his work. If it goes well it’s no problem but if something is off he’s not very good with handling it.
So, you take a risk with him, essentially. I ordered one thing from him and that was enough for me.
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:06 pm
by andy_tchp
Closest I've seen that looks almost slightly realistically 'old' is Fender's 'parchment' from the AV65 reissues, though it doesn't really have any 'mint' characteristics.
Everything else looks horrendous (AVRI 'mint' = Puke green, and most aftermarket offerings = yellow).
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:14 pm
by adamrobertt
andy_tchp wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:06 pm
Closest I've seen that looks almost slightly realistically 'old' is Fender's 'parchment' from the AV65 reissues, though it doesn't really have any 'mint' characteristics.
Everything else looks horrendous (AVRI 'mint' = Puke green, and most aftermarket offerings = yellow).
Where have you found those? Unfortunately my Thin Skin '65 came with a mint guard and i really wasn't a fan of it
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:25 pm
by andy_tchp
adamrobertt wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:14 pm
andy_tchp wrote: ↑Mon Nov 30, 2020 3:06 pm
Closest I've seen that looks almost slightly realistically 'old' is Fender's 'parchment' from the AV65 reissues, though it doesn't really have any 'mint' characteristics.
Everything else looks horrendous (AVRI 'mint' = Puke green, and most aftermarket offerings = yellow).
Where have you found those? Unfortunately my Thin Skin '65 came with a mint guard and i really wasn't a fan of it
Shit, I can't remember, I was on the fence about buying one for my AVRI (which has had a black guard since I bought it, the AVRI 'mint' was a disgrace).
It was almost certainly Darren Riley, as he's my go to.
All I can find now is parchment from the 'American Pro', which looks pretty good in the photo. It looks pretty much just 'white', which is what a lot of the vintage '60s guards look like anyway.
https://darrenriley.com/store/fender-am ... 710715000/
Just realised you might be searching for a Jazzmaster guard. 'Pure vintage eggshell' (from the AV65) might be your best bet?
https://guitarpartsresource.com/pickguards_jazz.htm
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:00 pm
by Kurpak
The most authentic shade of pre cbs mint celluloid I've found was the result of leaving a Fender 62' mint reissue (or the spitfire mint green guards) out in the summer sun for a full day or so. If you care about the wide bevel get the Spitfire one. The longer you leave it out the whiter it gets. The reissue Fender mint is slightly too dark and saturated, the sun UV bleaches and lightens it slightly making it look nearly identical in shade to the old Fender color (compared to an original guard I've got here.)
You'll never get 100% there because the original celluloid had a slightly translucent look, but you can match the shade really close with this method.
I've experimented with all the available mint PGs out there, and this gave me the best results.
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:07 pm
by Kurpak
I went through my box of pickguards but couldn't find the one I sun aged. The color will look really close to this after you sun bleach it.
https://www.tcgakki.com/pic/sub/3/is337363153578357.jpg
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 5:00 pm
by andy_tchp
Kurpak wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 2:00 pm
The most authentic shade of pre cbs mint celluloid I've found was the result of leaving a Fender 62' mint reissue (or the spitfire mint green guards) out in the summer sun for a full day or so. If you care about the wide bevel get the Spitfire one. The longer you leave it out the whiter it gets. The reissue Fender mint is slightly too dark and saturated, the sun UV bleaches and lightens it slightly making it look nearly identical in shade to the old Fender color (compared to an original guard I've got here.)
You'll never get 100% there because the original celluloid had a slightly translucent look, but you can match the shade really close with this method.
I've experimented with all the available mint PGs out there, and this gave me the best results.
Hey, I'm going to give this a try, as the guard is already off the guitar.
We have dangerous UV levels too now it's summer, might as well use it for something productive
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:53 pm
by bterry
Let me know how it turns out
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 8:21 pm
by andy_tchp
bterry wrote: ↑Tue Dec 01, 2020 7:53 pm
Let me know how it turns out
Even better, I'll take some before and after photos on a white background.
Re: Best Aged White Guards?
Posted: Tue Dec 01, 2020 10:28 pm
by bterry
Alright! Thanks, much appreciated!
