Red Tort Discontinued at WD, etc.

[Sauerkraut]

Here's WD tort on a CIJ JM I sold over ten years ago

Definitely red and jolly, but not very nice. They might have improved it in the years since. I dunno.

Anyway, I hope they'll replace it with something better.

[Moo-Stang]

Looks a lot like what I receivedlast year. Maybe mine is a bit darker in color, but the tort looks nearly identical.

Just placed an order for Montreux's Torlam red tort for my Japanese Mustang. Still printed, but looks to have a bit more depth than WD. It's more expensive though.

https://www.guitarslingerproducts.com/e ... stang.html

[Tweedledee]

This is a WD tort guard I bought used on eBay a few years ago. I'm not sure which version of their tort it is, but I quite like it. It has some real depth to it that most other modern tort seems to lack. It's the nicest I've found without stepping up into the "way out of my price range" league.

[blimpage]

Any hot tips for where to get a blank sheet of reddish tort that doesn't look like garbage? Most of the blank sheets I can find are either too brown or too expensive. I don't need Spitfire quality, I just need to not be able to count the pixels in the print from a metre away.

[Sauerkraut]

That looks really nice!
At least from a little distance.

[jvin248]

.

eh, when I needed a reverse/Hendrix style Strat pickguard in red tort to get close to the sun faded mystery tort on my Tele I just went on Amazon and found one for $12. I was originally trying to source a tort sheet and then cut it on my CNC but I couldn't find any blanks with that low of a price. Quick and easy won out. No pixelated problems on either pickguard.

[61fury]

Any hot tips for where to get a blank sheet of reddish tort that doesn't look like garbage? Most of the blank sheets I can find are either too brown or too expensive. I don't need Spitfire quality, I just need to not be able to count the pixels in the print from a metre away.

I got a sheet from Rothco and Frost, more than enough for 2 pickguards. I too got on a hunt for tort, got samples etc, all fakey crap.. So this sheet, 70 dollars shipped and I had to hand cut it myself was the best I could do after being smitten by those Spitfire guards.
They are out of stock at the moment but here is the link
https://www.rothkoandfrost.com/jeweller ... 29%5D=1611.
Looks like the fiery depths of hell in this pic, the reality is much more underwhelming, still it's very nice and looks much better than a phototort .
I'd post pics of my guard but i do not have an image hosting site. It's a swirl of tort on clear, see through so it picks up light. I used white paper to back it so it pops more. I still have the other half if you're interested. It's 5mm thick so it's a bit thick but after cutting and beveling it looks fine.


Why do we love tort so much when so much of it it not acceptable?

[Tweedledee]

That looks really nice!
At least from a little distance.

It actually looks good close up as well. Here's a bit of a closer photo, also in direct sunlight. I wish it looked "on fire" like this when not in direct sunlight, but I don't have Spitfire money so I make do with what I can.

[blimpage]

I got a sheet from Rothco and Frost, more than enough for 2 pickguards. I too got on a hunt for tort, got samples etc, all fakey crap.. So this sheet, 70 dollars shipped and I had to hand cut it myself was the best I could do after being smitten by those Spitfire guards.
They are out of stock at the moment but here is the link
https://www.rothkoandfrost.com/jeweller ... 29%5D=1611.
Looks like the fiery depths of hell in this pic, the reality is much more underwhelming, still it's very nice and looks much better than a phototort .
I'd post pics of my guard but i do not have an image hosting site. It's a swirl of tort on clear, see through so it picks up light. I used white paper to back it so it pops more. I still have the other half if you're interested. It's 5mm thick so it's a bit thick but after cutting and beveling it looks fine.

Thank you!

[Pepe Silvia]

The tort that matches the WD Tort is still listed on the Pickguardian website as in stock.

I don't see the 05R Red tort anywhere.

This should be the same stuff https://www.pickguardian.com/wp-content ... rtoise.gif

Here is the tort I got from Pickguardian

[Fiddy]

The samples posted here confirm what I posted earlier...

[tamerofbantha]

hey yall,

i want to bump this thread and give a shout-out to Paul @ Lavaguards

i had a very smooth transaction with him and could not be happier with my purchase.

the fit and finish on my guard was perfect. i debated between his guards and spitfire for a while and i definitely feel as though i made the right decision. i don't see how it could get any better than the stuff this guy puts out.

[Meriphew]

I ordered a couple of red tort guards from The Stratosphere. They looked decent in the pics, and were only $10 each. I ended up not putting them on (bought them for a couple of Teles) as they looked ok, but not great. I have Spitfire guards on a couple of offsets, and if I buy anymore tort guards they're def going to be Spitfire. If I'm going to the trouble of "upgrading'" my guitar, I'd rather spend extra and be 110% happy with it versus saving a few bucks and being partially satisfied.

[epizootics]

Soon it's not just going to be tort - we're about to see a massive shortage of everything.
Nickel-plated parts, metals and plastics in general, etc. The pandemic disturbed the whole production line worldwide and it's going to take a while for it to recover. Even the price of steel has gone up. The production of masks and face shields has had a deep impact on the plastics industry.

The WD stuff might be unrelated, but there is definitely a trend that's getting more and more visible.

I just spent the week helping out a friend who builds guitars for a living. The successive lockdowns have been good for business and he got swamped in orders (his is probably the biggest one-man operation on the French market). He was on the phone all week with European suppliers and every call went something like 'Oh. OK. So you have no lead time on this one? Can you order it in a chrome finish? Uh.' We spent some time relicing Gotoh parts and it became quite apparent that even their production had to make do with whatever materials they had on hand. We counted at least four different batches with slightly different materials - for the same parts! And we're talking about Gotoh here, who are renowned for their constistency.

All the suppliers basically say that we're in for a massive disturbance in the times to come.

As for tort, the Incudo stuff sold by Rothko & Frost is a Chinese brand that also supplies the eyeglass and jewelry manufacturers. You can find some of their products on Aliexpress:

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/group/ ... 8105.1_8_1

...but you're better off ordering from Alibaba directly. One or two suppliers there have a smaller minimal order than the others and the price works out cheaper than R&F, especially if you want to make more than one pickguard.

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 7eebe12aSU

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/ ... 7eebe12aSU

I hope this helps

[beauzooka]

I’m bringing this thread back from the dead!
Has anyone found any good (or at least not horrible) red 4ply tort blanks lately? It seems to be out of stock at many places still.
Thanks, Beau