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Does anyone know of a source of really good 'tortoiseshell' plastic suitable for making acoustic guitar pickguards? The Grevin stuff is good, but I like the dark stuff that folks like Collings and Bourgeois use. I've heard that First Quality sells a product called 'Turtlebuilt' (or something like that) but I don't see it on their site. Any ideas?

LMI, First Quality and several other places sell a product called Tor-Tis. Great stuff, if you go to LMI's site you can download PDF files of each color. I believe that they have the dark stuff. If you PM me I can put you directly in touch with the lady that makes it.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Hi Lance,
I'm looking for the best tortise shell binding I can find.
I bought some binding from Martin and it's very thin and so dark it looks like black binding.
Maybe the lady you mentioned might know where I can find it.
Send me her phone and name please.
Maybe you know where I can get the best stuff.
Thanks Lance.

Walter

You might try John Greven himself http://grevenguitars.com/tortis.htm
He makes the dark stuff too. I'm the furthest from being an expert of probably anybody here, but I think they are the least plastiky (not a real word. ?)of all I have seen.

One thing you can do to make tortise bindings look a little more colorful is put a white backer behind them. So your purfling/binding scheme might be:

b/w/b/w/tortise

This will give you some "pop".

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Hi Brock,
The tortoise binding I'm using is right against a light colored Sycamore wood. I'm not sure a white backing would do much good...maybe?
Before I applied the binding I noticed it was rather dark and didn't show a lot of tri-color if you will.
That's Martin for you. Sell something inferior to the builder and use a finer product on their pre built guitars.

Thanks, walter

Did you apply a bit of finish to the binding/polish it up before coming to that conclusion, Walter? Because it does make a difference.

   Tortice and Ivroid binding have a celuloid base. This is now considered a haz mat material. I know Martin still carries it but Stew Mac stopped it. It is getting harder to find.
   

gwmusical sells it. good quality good price and Gary is great to deal with