Buying A Vintage JM Guard

[jeremy]

I'm finally pretty happy with my black AVRI JM. I've replaced the pickups with a pair of 61's that have worked out really well, and the guitar is really settling in and losing all that new guitar look and stiffness (this may all be in my head..)
Now I'm looking to pickup a vintage 60's tort guard, as the only thing left thats bugging me is the ugly (imho) repro tort guard. I'll probably have to source it from ebay unless anyone has any other suggestions? but my main concern is possible issues I'll run into..

I know a lot of these old nitro guards shrink, does this create a huge problem in re-fitting them to a different guitar?
Will any 60's guard fit my AVRI? A '62 would make sense as being the best fit but is this really the case?

Any help/insight would be great

edit- Almost forgot, what's the general consensus on a fair price? All the ones on ebay being flogged by this 'finditonlyhere' 'don't cheap out' guy seem a little excessively priced...

[RumorsOFsurF]

Any vintage guard will fit an AVRI...Or better, an AVRI guard will fit any vintage JM.  Obviously, a vintage guard will most likely have suffered some shrinkage. 

Doug (Fullerplast) has lots of experience with reviving shrunken pickguards...He'd know how to do it.  I know it just involves some gentle filing and test fitting.  Just remember, you can't put material back if you file too much off.

I do know that a vintage guard is the tits, but you'll probably pay $400-$500 for a nice one! 

Why not buy an aftermarket gold or mint 'guard?  I think gold on black is amazing!     This one belongs to our good friend, OffYourFace...




I'm sure he won't mind me reposting his beautiful '59

[Jay]

$400 and up is out of line for a vintage tort guard.  It might take awhile but I'd think one could be had in the 200 range or even less.  Shit, it was only a year and a half ago my vintage guard with 1 extra little hole in it (that I covered with a little sticker) went for $18!  The deals are out there just have to be patient.  Avoiding tuna-findit or whatever one of his 700 aliases is selling a pickguard, is a pretty good idea IMO.

[OffYourFace]

I'm sure he won't mind me reposting his beautiful '59

Definitely don't mind

I did pay $300 for a nice '61 tort guard I must admit....  it had very little shrinkage so I was very happy with it.

[PorkyPrimeCut]

Agreed on the price.

I've bought 2 over the last 18 months, both on ebay & neither cost more than $230.

Again, as said above, don't be fooled by sellers like tuna-matic (something like that) or music-outlet-shop. These guys are idiots who charge double the going rate.

Patience is a virtue. Take your time & something will come along.