Pickford Guards

GavRichList

think Pickford look more like a specific era of MIJ guards rather than the real thing. Personally don't like them at all, but as @stickyfiddle says, there are some out there that are a billion times better than a) modern fender and b) these. Spitfire are a little too "extra" for me; Lava and Avant both exceptional. 

guitargeek62

Is there something about these pickguards that means they block the capture and sharing of hi-res photos?

Radiofred

WezV said:

Radiofred said:

I had a terrible experience using Pickford and would avoid. My pickguard arrived looking nothing like what I asked for and the paint cracked on the finish when I put it on my Jag. There was also a misunderstanding on the process. It was implied to me that he'd use my current pickguard as a base to make the new one but instead he just painted over it. When I brought this to his attention he was very hostile and accused me of deliberately damaging the pickguard (why would I do this?) and then blocked me.

I can understand the misunderstanding on process, I'm confused by the sentence highlighted.  If he said he was using the existing guard as a base, i would fully expect he was converting the existing guard, rather than using the old one as a template to make a new one.

Regardless of that, he should not be blaming you for the damage, or blocking an unhappy customer.

My understanding was that he was going to use it as a template to make a new one as I asked him if he could alter the guard to make it larger as there is a slight space between the Pickguard and  upper control plate on my Jaguar. He replied that he would do his best. If he was just painting over it, why would he not correct me there and then? It would just be the same guard returned to me afterall but I can see how that whole aspect of our transaction could be a misunderstanding from the both of us and I expressed that to him. When I brought up the work he'd done and how the paint cracked when I put it on and that I wasn't happy about it he completely blanked me and was unresponsive and then finally blocked me. There was no offer of him fixing it for me and I'm now stuck with this pickguard. It's this reason I can only recommend people don't use him. 

I noticed he was posting on reddit on a random username pretending to be unrelated to Pickford Guards™ while recommending their work. I find that telling of the type of person he is. 

Kittyfrisk

stickyfiddle said:

bertie said:

Seziertisch said:

bertie said:

I gave you a LOL anyway (sympathy mostly)


but £75 for a "basic" guard  - not  a cats  -  think I paid about £35 for my last strat guard

I presume the guy is making his own tort (at least it looks that way). 75 quid is actually very reasonable. Spitfire etc. cost multiples of that

I guess,  if you really need something "special"  or for restoration, but it’s still just a normal tort pickguard,  how good can it be/need to be ?      

Proper tort guards are so much nicer than the shit that Fender et al use I wouldn’t think twice about paying extra for one (and have, more than once). 

Market price is 150-300 for the really good stuff so these are a relative bargain. 

A little too red and not enough yellow bits in them for me, but I assume that might be something you could request a slightly different vibe 

I doubt that you can find a tortoise to agree with you... 
Or do you mean plastic tortoiseshell patterns that you personally think look best?

brooom

Has anyone ordered from John at pickford recently? He took my order and payment, but is yet to deliver weeks after letting me know he was sending it over.

GoldenEraGuitars

brooom said:

Has anyone ordered from John at pickford recently? He took my order and payment, but is yet to deliver weeks after letting me know he was sending it over.

Have you messaged him?

brooom

Hi have, but will keep doing so throughout this week.

Seziertisch

brooom said:

Hi have, but will keep doing so throughout this week.

He is quite active on social media, he just posted  on Facebook.

brooom

Yeah, well he is posting on social media but not answering my emails.

But no problem I will share all our communication and proof of payment evntually. Will wait one more week.

It's a bit of a shame as I was quite excited to get the new pickguard.

GoldenEraGuitars

brooom said:

Yeah, well he is posting on social media but not answering my emails.

But no problem I will share all our communication and proof of payment evntually. Will wait one more week.

It's a bit of a shame as I was quite excited to get the new pickguard.

Maybe send a message via instagram? Or comment on his latest social media post? Just thinking outside the box 

brooom

Thanks, I was thinking about letting this week go by and see if he would answer my multiple emails. But it's getting clearer and clearer by the minute that he does not intent to deliver. Unfortunately for me this time I paid with paypal f&f (something I never do).

But anyway, word of advice... John at pickford pickguards will hapilly take your money and not deliver any product. That's the kind of service you'll be dealing with.

GoldenEraGuitars

brooom said:

Thanks, I was thinking about letting this week go by and see if he would answer my multiple emails. But it's getting clearer and clearer by the minute that he does not intent to deliver. Unfortunately for me this time I paid with paypal f&f (something I never do).

But anyway, word of advice... John at pickford pickguards will hapilly take your money and not deliver any product. That's the kind of service you'll be dealing with.

Do you have instagram?

brooom

I don't have instagram. I will probably signup though and check his account.

He sent me an email today, still nothing concrete (doesn't send me a tracking or commit to a date) says he will send the pickguard, but then again he also said the was sending it 2/3 weeks ago and still nothing.

Seziertisch

brooom said:

I don't have instagram. I will probably signup though and check his account.

He sent me an email today, still nothing concrete (doesn't send me a tracking or commit to a date) says he will send the pickguard, but then again he also said the was sending it 2/3 weeks ago and still nothing.

Lack of clear communication in such scenarios is infuriating.

When I got my tort guard from Avantguard, it was delayed significantly. Emails sent and no reply received before they finally told me that owing to the heatwave which was happening at the time they were having issues with pouring the tort. If they had said sooner it would have been nice. 

BigPaulie

Seziertisch said:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/b5jzqoqzi7dvep7/IMG_4276.JPG?dl=0

This is a side-by-side of a “regular” tort guard with the one made by Avantguard.

Interesting.

You can really see a difference.

Which is which?

Seziertisch

Left is off-the-shelf, right is Avantguard

GoldenEraGuitars

Seziertisch said:

brooom said:

I don't have instagram. I will probably signup though and check his account.

He sent me an email today, still nothing concrete (doesn't send me a tracking or commit to a date) says he will send the pickguard, but then again he also said the was sending it 2/3 weeks ago and still nothing.

Lack of clear communication in such scenarios is infuriating.

When I got my tort guard from Avantguard, it was delayed significantly. Emails sent and no reply received before they finally told me that owing to the heatwave which was happening at the time they were having issues with pouring the tort. If they had said sooner it would have been nice. 

Just some input for someone who makes a living from the guitar world (which I never take for granted) - last night I had to take my son to ice hockey training, it lasts an hour. I had my laptop and phone with me answering every single email/instagram message/fretboard message I could find. Annoyingly one message was from last month which I forgot to reply to because I wasn’t well. But it took a full hour to reply to everyone, add new customers to my waiting list and reply to the replies as they came in from the first messages I sent out.

I don’t think being told there is a delay is necessarily annoying for anyone, it’s the ignorance that really gets people riled up. And if you’re aim is to turn over tens of thousands of pounds worth of business from something you call your passion then you have to factor in the time to communicate with the people who are paying your bills. I am a one man band and I do a serious amount of business as well as a serious amount of comms to secure new work and keep existing customers as happy as possible. 

In short - bad customer service can kill a business before a bad product does.

brooom

Seziertisch said:

brooom said:

I don't have instagram. I will probably signup though and check his account.

He sent me an email today, still nothing concrete (doesn't send me a tracking or commit to a date) says he will send the pickguard, but then again he also said the was sending it 2/3 weeks ago and still nothing.

Lack of clear communication in such scenarios is infuriating.

When I got my tort guard from Avantguard, it was delayed significantly. Emails sent and no reply received before they finally told me that owing to the heatwave which was happening at the time they were having issues with pouring the tort. If they had said sooner it would have been nice. 

I don't think there's lack if clear communication in this case. He is just plain lying at this point.

BigPaulie

Seziertisch said:

Left is off-the-shelf, right is Avantguard

Ah, right so.

I prefer the left FWIW.

Seziertisch

brooom said:

Seziertisch said:

brooom said:

I don't have instagram. I will probably signup though and check his account.

He sent me an email today, still nothing concrete (doesn't send me a tracking or commit to a date) says he will send the pickguard, but then again he also said the was sending it 2/3 weeks ago and still nothing.

Lack of clear communication in such scenarios is infuriating.

When I got my tort guard from Avantguard, it was delayed significantly. Emails sent and no reply received before they finally told me that owing to the heatwave which was happening at the time they were having issues with pouring the tort. If they had said sooner it would have been nice. 

I don't think there's lack if clear communication in this case. He is just plain lying at this point.

Did you get it sorted?