Which Pickguard For Sunburst Tele : Black or Tortoise :I Chose Black

[Lef T]

I've got a left handed American Standard Tele.
It's sunburst with a maple neck.
It currently has the stock white pickguard,but it's time for a change.
I'm leaning toward the Tortoise.
I wonder if I could get one from Fender.
Here's a pic of both choices and the sunburst in the pics kind of resembles my sunburst finish.
What would be your pick?

 

[Basco]

Black. Always black. To me a tele looks undressed in anything other than a black guard.

 

[nojazzhere]

I've got a left handed American Standard Tele.
It's sunburst with a maple neck.
It currently has the stock white pickguard,but it's time for a change.
I'm leaning toward the Tortoise.
I wonder if I could get one from Fender.
Here's a pic of both choices and the sunburst in the pics kind of resembles my sunburst finish.
What would be your pick?

View attachment 917328 View attachment 917330

Is this a trick question?
The answer is always tortoise.....ALWAYS.

 

[stormin1155]

White - good
Tort - better
Black - best

 

[rbr49x]

Bought this partscaster last month with a pearloid guard which I like on this bound body, but might not work as well without the binding. Staying with the original options, I definitely like black best.

IMG_1753

• rbr49x
• Oct 4, 2021

Brent Mason style pickups partscaster

 

[Kevin Wolfe]

Pearl-Awesome!

 

[DavidP]

White - good
Tort - better
Black - best

+1!!!

 

[Killing Floor]

Solved.

 

[Modernelove]

I’d go black or the gold

 

[Greg70]

Interesting discussion. I have a bone stock Lonestar Strat in tobacco sunburst with maple neck and it comes standard with the tortoise shell and I think it looks great. But on a Tele I'm kind of leaning towards the black. Maybe because that's how they originally came- blonde body with black pickguard.

 

[El Tele Lobo]

Hard to go wrong with either. Forced to choose, though, I would go with black.

 

[brookdalebill]

I greatly prefer tortoise shell!
Black is runner-up.
My Strats, and my Jazzmaster all sport the sunburst/tortoise shell look.
Classic!

 

[Blue Bill]

There's no accounting for personal taste. Pick one and try it out. Change it if you don' like it.

 

[SGD74]

It depends what look you want and what you are into.

I think pearloid on a sunburst tele looks kinda country but very cool. White is sweet. Black on a sunburst looks good to start with, then I find it too dark and boring, although it always looks wicked on a sunburst strat with maple neck.

I find tort on a sunburst a bit too busy for me and looks best on white/cream solid colour bodies. Although it can look cool or aged candy apple red and other colours.

Stick with what you like the most, you can always change it again.

I do think certain pickguard and body colour combos can suit rosewood or maple better.

 

[BerkshireDuncan]

White or black- IMHO tort (or gold anodized) on a burst is more of a classic Jazzmaster look.

 

[schmee]

I like the tortoise, at least in that picture and guitar.
If those are the two actual guitars, I like the darker burst on the second one/ black guard.

 

[Ironheadslim]

I am now liking tortoise on the 3-color sunburst more than I did vs black. Warmoth has many options on pick guards and they have always fit well for me.

 

[nojazzhere]

There's no accounting for personal taste. Pick one and try it out. Change it if you don' like it.

You can do that?

 

[Lef T]

I found a company called WD Music Products.
I called Fender this morning to see if I could get one through them,but they said no and recommended WD.
WD makes the pickguards in left handed and has some different Tortoise choices.
I'm leaning towards Tortoise.

 

[Tommy Biggs]

Of those 2 pics I prefer the black, but the Tort looks fine, and you should trust your gut.
Diclaimer: I have a 70s tele that came with 3 ply black, but I swapped it out for white for maybe 20 years... I'm back to the original black pg these days.
Tele PGs are easy swaps - although finding the lefty must be painful.