Vintage tort vs Modern day tort

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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jonathanrichman
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Re: Vintage tort vs Modern day tort

Post by jonathanrichman » Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:21 pm

Yes after you have a vintage tort your taste for them definitely becomes a lot more refined. That WD celluloid can look good, and is def leagues ahead of the stuff AVRI's use. the printed stuff is just garbage by comparison.

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arkivel
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Re: Vintage tort vs Modern day tort

Post by arkivel » Fri Apr 18, 2014 12:59 pm

SneakyT wrote:I'd say there are quite a few good modern torts. They are different than the vintage stuff just due to the dye that is used in modern processes. My current tort materials that I stock are really nice. Are they as creamy looking as Spifire's? No but they are more than half the cost and are the proper thickness. I even have a reddish one that has the small thin black line between thicker parchment. BTW all celluloid torts have variation from sheet to sheet. I've seen several ugly vintage torts.

It's freaking silly that CBS is still getting bashed. Mid to late 60's were probably the most consistent instruments Fender made. Most changes that get blamed on CBS were made prior to the CBS buyout in '65 (aside from the paint). From my dealings most people's favorite torts are the reddish thin stripe that were in fact post '64. They didn't make that change due to price either. They changed to an ABS backed material due to shrinkage. Then CBS didn't change the tort material until it was dropped in the mid '70s due to lack of demand.
Streetglide wrote:The original material can no longer be made because it was flammable. The new stuff doesn't look very good whether it's on a Fender or a Martin D-28...
That's BS. Many modern torts (including the ones Fender uses) are just as flammable since they are still celluloid.
Spitfire is pretty expensive, but what do you expect? The guy personally mixes up a bunch of chemicals and makes each guard to your specs. Do you want a faded orange pickguard that is a dead ringer for a rare vintage piece and fits a CIJ Jaguar? You won't find one from anyone but Spitfire. Do you want an aged tort pickguard that sort of looks vintage if you don't look too close? You're still gonna pay $100 on ebay! You get what you pay for.

Maybe Spitfire can chime in here but I believe you're mistaken about the thickness. His newer guards have the thinner black line.

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jonathanrichman
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Re: Vintage tort vs Modern day tort

Post by jonathanrichman » Fri Apr 18, 2014 3:18 pm

It is quite expensive for a pickguard, however he's an awesome dude and is doing a serious service to the offset community. It'd be seriously amazing if he could somehow just make the guards a flat $100-120, I feel like they'd sell even more. At $175 for a relic'ed one, you begin to verge on actual vintage prices. That said, these aren't shrunken, will fit vintage, AVRI and now MIJ, and will fit without risk of cracking cause you're trying to push pickup covers through the shrunken holes! So thanks Spitfire for embarking and following through on this awesome venture.

Ps. would love to see a video of his process.

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SneakyT
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Re: Vintage tort vs Modern day tort

Post by SneakyT » Fri Apr 18, 2014 9:07 pm

I'm not knocking Spitfires work (which is pretty cool) but it is not the correct thickness, the white lines are the wrong color(s) and it is pricey. There is a thinner black line on his new stuff but still not correct thickness. Btw there is already a thread that turned into a commercial. Lets not do that with this one.
Troy Neagle Luthiery & Custom Pickguards

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OutRun86
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Re: Vintage tort vs Modern day tort

Post by OutRun86 » Sat Apr 19, 2014 2:24 am

Soochdaddy wrote:I think Fender did pretty solid with the tort on mine. Straight from the factory:

Image

Image

I've got to agree that a fair amount of "modern" tort does miss the mark in terms of coloration, depth and swirl. I also think this forum can be collectively over-obsessed about tort from time to time...

Edit to ad: With respect to the OP, I wouldn't want that tort on my guitar FWIW.
That is exactly what is wrong with modern tort in my opinion. To me it looks like a brown printed mess.

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jonathanrichman
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Re: Vintage tort vs Modern day tort

Post by jonathanrichman » Sat Apr 19, 2014 6:41 am

SneakyT wrote:I'm not knocking Spitfires work (which is pretty cool) but it is not the correct thickness, the white lines are the wrong color(s) and it is pricey. There is a thinner black line on his new stuff but still not correct thickness. Btw there is already a thread that turned into a commercial. Lets not do that with this one.
I have faith that in time and more R&D the future of spitfire will be nearly indistinguishable from the genuine article.

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Re: Vintage tort vs Modern day tort

Post by Spitfire7 » Tue Apr 29, 2014 9:10 pm

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There's only one who makes the best vintage tortoise shell pickguards. Spitfire Tort.
http://spitfiretortoiseshellpickguards.wordpress.com/

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