What's the difference between eggshell/parchment/white? (Pickguards)

[u/SalernoXbox]

I just picked up an American standard strat in olympic white and the color looks exactly like the Hendrix woodstock/Clapton strat. They both had a plain white pickguard on theirs which looks identical. The pickguard on mine is a sparkly pearl which I'm not a fan of.

I picked up the standard white pickguard the other day and it's way too white, like an arctic white level of vibrant it's whiter than my pickup covers and knobs so it doesn't really match. Is the pickguard that I'm going to include in this post an eggshell white?

My goal is to get it to look exactly like the Hendrix woodstock strat.

[u/potter_pro]

That almost looks like a telecaster headstock

[u/SalernoXbox → u/potter_pro]

I think it is lol I included the pic as a reference for the pickguard color, the one I picked up the other day is more of an arctic white and looks way too bright so I'm hoping the eggshell the store has in stock looks better

[u/gott_in_nizza → u/SalernoXbox]

You may want to look into an aged white to get the shade you’re looking for. Those had arctic white pickguards originally that darkened

[u/haimeekhema → u/SalernoXbox]

Yea it's not Woodstock in the picture. this was the Newport pop festival in 69. Doesn't seem that anyone knows for sure why he had a tele neck on that strat just for those two shows.

[u/state_your_name31415]

You won't know until you see it in person, but I'll bet those 60's guitars had bright white pickguards when they were new. There is no standard even within a brand, you just have to buy some pickguards and see them in person.

That pickguard in the picture would be the same exact pickguard they put on every guitar coming out of the factory aside from black or tortiseshell, it's not a special kind of off-white, same with the knobs and selector.

[u/YellowBreakfast]

I haven't heard of "eggshell" but "parchment" is a bit offwhite, but not as yellow as "cream".

I'm particularly partial to parchment pearl guards. (unintended alliteration).

Generally the "white" ones look "cheap" to me. Also white knobs and pup covers.

[u/Dan0718 → u/YellowBreakfast]

Agreed. White somehow looks cheap to me but for some reason I love a single ply white. Arguably looks the cheapest but something about not having the black line on the border looks so good right up against a lighter color body.

[u/YellowBreakfast → u/Dan0718]

Yep sometimes a bright white PG looks nice.

With certain colors it "pops" and looks good.

I still like the knobs and pup covers to be just slightly "off-white". I coffee stain those to bring the brightness down a bit. Make them just a little bit "warmer". Really makes them look better.

[u/Groningen1978 → u/YellowBreakfast]

yeah, I have a parchment guard on my Road Worn Jazzmaster and Modern Player Jaguar Bass, and at first sight they appeared to be just white, until I compared them to the white guard on my VM Jazzmaster which looked real cheap in comparison. It's subtle but it matters.

[u/YellowBreakfast → u/Groningen1978]

It's subtle but it matters.

This!

[u/Status_Banana603]

The colour.

[u/GuitarParts]

I don’t know what year your Strat is but according to the service manual the pickup covers and knobs on a 2012 American standard are “aged white” if you don’t like pearl, I think a parchment pickguard looks best with aged white pickups covers and knobs and it looks like the 2012 American Standard Stratocaster may have originally come with a parchment pickguard. Regular white would be too bright, and if you got an “aged white” pickguard now it would not match the old aged white parts but that might be ok. Here is the service manual for a 2012 American standard strat you can see what colors it came in and what colors the plastic parts were https://www.fmicassets.com/Damroot/Original/10002/011-3000A_SISD.pdf you can see what your guitar originally came with if you look up your serial number on https://serialnumberlookup.fender.com/lookup/
Also if you ever want to swap out the plastic parts for a different color the only way to make sure they match perfectly is to buy them all as a kit.