Tortis/Tortoloid Pickguards

[Bob Connor]

Anyone got any ideas or theories on what sort of epoxy is being used to make these?

It looks like brown dye has been added.

I did notice on Stewmac they are now offering Tortoloid pickguards that Mario Proulx is manufacturing for them.

I love the look of them but they're very expensive and I wouldn't mind having a go at making them myself.

[Kim]

Just a guess here Bob but I would try that pouring resin they use to self level finish burl coffee tables etc, bunnies stocks it.

I thought of having a go myself at one time. My thoughts where to make a silicone rubber mold of the shape you want into which you pour a tinted resin base of gold/amber then drop in blobs of a second mix of choc/brown and dragging it through the base mix to give the tortoise look.

The trick of course would be how much mix to make in total to 'dome' fill the mold, and how hot to make the mix so it will give the scuff resistance desirable in a pickgaurd yet still be 'hard' enough to polish out.

I see much trial and error in your future

P.S. The colour tone tints should be fine as should any spirit based tint. One other thing, I have reshaped a Grevin Tortis pickgaurd to suit my needs and then polished the reshaped area back out with micro mesh so you can't detect where I had sanded. This would seem to indicate that you could probably sand and polish the feather edge into the pickgaurd if need be and if this is how John Grevin is shaping his, it would explain why the pre-made jobbies are soo bloody Xie.

Cheers

Kim

[Allen]

I've only ever put one pick guard on a guitar, and the material was just black plastic of some sort. These fancier ones look great, but are they hard and inflexible, like resin, or much more pliable like plastic?