Another ever-repetitive pickguard colour thread

[Ace Flibble]

I'm going to be making a Thinline Tele (or at least I hope to make one, pending Warmoth's response to some questions). Can't settle on a pickguard though. The guitar that's inspired me is a Fender Custom Shop Thinline that Kate Voegele uses, which is a creamy colour with a flame maple neck and metallic black (well, it's a kind of fake brushed black metal effect) pickguard. I'm aiming to replicate that but I'm not a fan of cream or any variation of it and the only colour guitar I've not had before is blue, so I'm going for a Sonic Blue finish instead (though I'm tempted by Blue Ice too). Sonic Blue/Blue Ice + metallic/brushed black doesn't look too nice, so I thought about just plain solid black, but then I'm not 100% sold on that either. Going to be skipping the f-hole as well since I'm not too fond of how Warmoth leaves the finish rough on the edges of f-holes and I've not got the tools or patience to sort that out properly. Also I'm going to be using EMG pickups (as she does), which only come in matte black or white finishes (not touching the off-white ones) and I'm thinking about Graph Tech String Saver saddles ('cause I'm sick of strings binding and I break high Es quite often) which are black.

So, help me decide. I've knocked up some Kisekae designs that cover the ideas I'm considering at the moment. Any other ideas would be appreciate, just bearing in mind I'd like to keep this pretty simple, not a fan of pearloid and the like.

Black pickguard, chrome metal hardware, white plastic hardware

Same but with String Saver saddles

White pickguard, black plastic hardware

Same with the String Savers

Finally everything white

Also undecided on the neck finish, if it'll be vintage tint or plain gloss (I've noticed the Warmoth tinted neck finish is a bit more vivid than the Fender one and I'm not sure that'll look so great with the pale blue) and I dunno about the black dot inlays, I hate dot inlays of any kind but I dunno if diamonds are different enough to be worth it and I'm thinking blocks or any other bigger inlay will look bad with it.

 

[Mor Paul]

I vote tortoise.

 

[Cagey]

I'd use the second theme from the top - black pickguard, string saver saddles, white neck pickup. I like the vintage tint necks Warmoth does better than the clear gloss, but agree with you that it might be out of place on this guitar. That's a cold color body, chrome is a cold finish, so a cold neck matches up better. I'm not a big fan of diamond fret markers, I'd stick with the black dots or nothing at all, relying on the side markers instead. Overall, it's going to be a frigid-looking thing, but it'll be consistently so.

 

[imminentG]

With light vintage looking clours like that, I usually vote all chrome. I think perhaps an aged guard would compliment the look best.

 

[erogenousjones17]

I vote tortoise.

+1

It's always time for tortoise!

 

[Superlizard]

Yep - tortoise.

That blue + tortoise screams "Fender".

 

[Ace Flibble]

I actually can't stand tortoiseshell pickguards. Sorry, I knew that would be mentioned, was tempted to say something about it in my first post. One of my first guitars was a horrible, horrible Squier Vintage Modified Strat which was white with a tortoise pickguard and that thing turned me off tortoiseshell anything for life. Bent steel bridge saddles too. I seriously just get nasty flashbacks to that wretched thing. "Show us on the doll where the guitar touched you..."

But yeah, I get the 'cold' comments, but after having sunburst and iced tea burst Les Pauls for years it'll be nice to have a change and Teles don't look right to me in reds and oranges or anything like that. Definitely starting to prefer the idea of a non-tinted neck finish and maybe no inlays.

 

[mayfly]

I'm actually liking white/white.

Very classy.

 

[DangerousR6]

I'm actually liking white/white.

Very classy.

Where you seeing white/white... :icon_scratch:

I see powder blue/white... :dontknow:

 

[dbw]

I like the black.

 

[AutoBat]

if it can't be tortoise, how 'bout pearloid?  (the white isn't too bad though)
either way, black saddles seem to work.

 

[Ace Flibble]

Where you seeing white/white... :icon_scratch:

He means white pickguard/white pickup.

Gaah. I dunno. I guess pearloid could work too, just worried it might get a bit flashy with the flame maple neck. Then, not very helpfully, someone on another forum suggested I do a tinted neck and black pickguard, copy the usual Thinline butterscotch/black design only replace the butterscotch finish with firemist gold, which does sound very tempting. I was sold on blue, but now I'm thinking gold would be more versatile across genres and I play everything.

God damn you, Warmoth. Stop offering so many options. It'd be so much easier to put guitars together. :icon_biggrin:

 

[erogenousjones17]

Gold would be more versatile? I didn't realize colour affected what style of music you could play on a guitar...  :icon_scratch:

I know it's tough to choose, but why not just go with whatever you like best?

 

[Ace Flibble]

Gold would be more versatile? I didn't realize colour affected what style of music you could play on a guitar...  :icon_scratch:

I know it's tough to choose, but why not just go with whatever you like best?

I think I can answer both of those questions with this: I play blues, '80s arena rock and gothic metal. Just about says it all really. It's been pretty odd when I've tried to play blues with my ESP seven string super-Strats and it's been equally odd when I've gone on stage with eyeliner, black nails and my soft pink LP Jr :laughing11: Even if the tone is fine, it still looks and feels a tad weird. So I've gotten into the habit of having many, many guitars, each with a specific purpose; this one would be for a blues-come-country vibe. 'S just it was pointed out to me elsewhere that maybe it was time I put something together that I could use for everything rather than having yet another guitar that only fitted in with just one portion of what I play.

Ultimately I do always go with what I think is the best option, but there have been a couple of times where I've later regretted my choice and been screaming at people "why didn't anyone tell me lime green, navy blue and pink chrome wouldn't work!?" :laughing7: I'm terrible at making decisions and I have a tendancy to fall in love with anything that has four or more lengths of metal string on it... so I like to get as many opinions as possible to make sure I'm not picking something completely stupid.

 

[zogoibi]

Lime green with tortoise shell pick guard and brown kiwi shoe polish eye-liner of course; striking, timeless and genre-crossing all at once  :headbang:

 

[dNA]

white or pearloid with black, no tint. Chrome hardware, though w/ the white pickguard black hardware might not look bad either.
i'd love to see a dark brown neckwood on that. i think dark brown and light blue are just gorgeous complementary colors

 

[kboman]

I think the white pickguard looks great on that body. Very 50's, very pretty! Then maybe the dark saddles + black pickup, just to make it more modern and interesting, possibly?

Tortoise is never acceptable, under any circumstances. Euuurrrrgghhh :tard:

 

[JaySwear]

i love the second one! i'm a huge fan of the string-saver saddles and won't use another kind (if i can help it) on my guitars again! plus i just love black pickguards :icon_biggrin: on pretty much everything

 

[zogoibi]

Why you hate the tortoise so fiercely.  Did you have a bad tortoise experience in you past? ccasion14:  How do you feel about anaconda?

 

[dNA]

yeah i don't really get how anyone could find tortoise-shell to be that bad in any context. Maybe not on light blue, but just in general?