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Where's the best place to get tortoise material for use as headstock veneer?

Maybe this would work. http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Pickguards/ ... ments.html

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Test whatever you end up choosing with a light wood (Holly, Maple, etc) veneer, white or reflective layer under it. It will look pretty flat if you don't.

This guy has real celluloid but you have to pay the hazardous shipping fee $$$

http://www.axinc.net/category_s/47.htm

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

"Real celluloid" will shrink over time, unfortunately, and never stops degrading.

Here's my 'Tortoloid' material used as a mandolin headstock; unfortunately, I can't find any photos of the completed instrument at this time, but I think it worked out pretty well. I would also highly recommend a light-colored veneer under whatever you choose, and if the veneer has some figure(flamed maple!) it will add that little "something extra" to the appearance, too.

+1 for Mario's Tortoloid, I have not seen it on a headstock but as a pickguard it looks great and is easy to work with. Mario how did you attach it to the mandolin headstock?

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

I also will say Mario's will be better than the acetate and celuloids.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I'd also like to be able to get Mario's stuff for overlays and electric pickguards, especially in larger and thicker (@.120") sheets. I've been using the S-Mac stuff linked to above for electric pickguards and it's nice but a little dark and a touch brittle when routing out.

you should also be able to spray the underside of the material with a light colored paint, or even put a foil backing on it perhaps, to make it "pop" a bit better, if laying it over a light colored wood isn't an option

I used the same 3M transfer adhesive we use to attach the pickguards; it's permanent enough. John Greven's Tor-Tis material is similar, so between the two of us, there should be a headplate for to suit most everyone's tastes, yet it surprises me how few of them we see used this way. Well, actually, given how pretty woods are, and since we're all wood fanatics, it's not so surprising, I suppose....

Mike, I have some ideas for development of a thicker, less flexible sheet, but haven't had enough free-time(ha! what the he!! is that...?) to work-out the colors(the thicker the final sheet, the less dye it will need), much less the correct raw materials. The Tortoloid material will remain slightly flexible forever, which is great when it's fixed to an acoustic instrument(because it will not stiffen the top...), but it also means that even if I made it at .120", it would still eventually sag if unsupported, as it would be near the pickup cavities and such.

Hadn't considered backing it with foil, but that would possibly also open-up further variations(gold foil, copper foil, crinkled, etc...).

"Mike, I have some ideas for development of a thicker, less flexible sheet, but haven't had enough free-time(ha! what the he!! is that...?) to work-out the colors(the thicker the final sheet, the less dye it will need), much less the correct raw materials. The Tortoloid material will remain slightly flexible forever, which is great when it's fixed to an acoustic instrument(because it will not stiffen the top...), but it also means that even if I made it at .120", it would still eventually sag if unsupported, as it would be near the pickup cavities and such."

For my uses the stiffness wouldn't matter, I don't do 'swimming pool' routes because in a tortoise-style material I don't mind the wood showing through.

Here's pics of the Stew-Mac stuff on a recent build.
http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/1312/Photo_770.jpg
http://www.tdpri.com/telephoto/data/1312/Photo_7561.jpg