Greven Tor-Tis Pickguard
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reviewed by Todd Stuart Phillips 
A couple of years ago or so I was taking part in a song circle with some fellow guitar players in a nice Victorian home, then housing some of the best acoustic guitars available. For all of the exquisite tonewood and examples of the luthier's art experienced that day one thing that really stood out to me was the pickguard on El McMeen's Martin OM-28V. It was of a deep and luscious red, with murky swirls and pinwheels throughout. It reminded me of brush strokes on a master's oil painting and the beveled material used stood out with a healthy and attractive thickness. Even though we had the same model of Martin, that pickguard made El's slightly younger version look like a much better guitar. I was not surprised to learn it was a replacement pickguard made not by Martin but by luthier John Greven. Every Greven pickguard I have seen since has been simply wonderful, including the one now ensconced on my own 1998 Martin OM-28VR.
John Greven has been making guitars for some forty years. In the mid-1990s he grew frustrated with the available pickguard materials and invested three years in developing a synthetic material that would be as close to the classic faux tortoiseshell pickguards found on vintage guitars. He succeeded handsomely. His pickguards come in a variety of sizes suitable for most Martin and many Gibson models. They also come in a variety of colors and styles, reminiscent of different eras in the history of C.F. Martin & Co.
There are guards similar to 30s Martins, with browner hues or blackened reds with dense coloration. There are guards more similar to those guards found on many 50s Martins that are even redder and can at times be very dark or quite translucent, showing a bit of the grain or rosette through the clearest parts. Others still are non-traditional so you will have to check out examples of the various patterns and styles to see which might be right for you.
I was lucky enough to go to Maury's and pick one out personally. I had a very hard time choosing between two very different guards. One was dark blackish-red, that would be more like what you typically see on a modern Martin. It had a some noticeable but organic anomalies shaped like flower, a star and a coiled pinwheel. I thought it was breathtaking and could have been taken from some obscure corner of a Marc Chagall painting; even if one did not notice the details unless they looked closely. The other one had a lot of clear, amber areas with some blood red accents and a few solid, almost liver-colored spots. I went with amber-red one ultimately. The amber matched the aging toner of my top amazingly well and also allowed the outer band of the rosette to show through nicely. The edges are often quite translucent so it seems like it grows right out of the wood itself. After Maury took off my stock Martin guard and put on the Greven everyone agreed it looked like the guitar was made for that guard and vice versa. I could not be happier. But I will admit I wish I had bought that other pickguard just to have for some future OM down the road.
Greven Tortis pickguards are made to last a lifetime. They will never peel, warp or be affected by any products used to clean or polish guitars. They are reasonably priced and make any guitar look instantly special and much more expensive than it may actually be. In a word they are beautiful.
I know that Maury has run into some problems with Greven guards not being exactly the same size as Martin pickguards. But then, each Greven guard is shaped by hand and some people might be picky enough to mind the fact it does not exactly fit the "footprint" of the original pickguard. So even though one must accept the possibility of their Greven guard being slightly oversized or undersized, I personally have known a great many people who went with Greven guards on their Martin or Gibson and never met someone yet who was displeased.
Out of a possible 8 Notes on the T-Spoon scale of Guitaracity I give the Greven Tortis Pickguard a unique and exclusive 7 Notes.
TSP, NYC
