Question for Restorers....Thin scales

[AntiqueHoosier]

I have sourced a faux tortoise material used in making guitar picks and decorative pieces for instruments. It apparently VERY thin... guitar pick thin.... Would that thickness work for scales? I have owned ivory scales that were very thin. Your thoughts?

[Maximilian]

Can you give us a measurement of the thickness. Are we talking 0.010 or 0.060 thickness? If they are very very thin just use a liner.

[AntiqueHoosier]

Max.... the material is .035 thickness.... the company is Turtleworks TOR-TIS

Can you give us a measurement of the thickness. Are we talking 0.010 or 0.060 thickness? If they are very very thin just use a liner.

[AntiqueHoosier]

Im looking to replicate as close as possible the genuine tortoise look gor a pair of MK31's

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5046/...866431b3_b.jpg

[Voidmonster]

My understanding is that the Tor-TIS stuff is too flexible for scales, which is too bad because it's a really good fake tortoise.

Unhelpfully, I have no links handy, but there are a couple of other options.

Alternatively, you could look for old shoehorns or broken fans made with the real-deal and salvage some.

Edited to add:

Luckily, those MK 31's are petite razors, so the amount of material needed isn't punishing.

[Voidmonster]

You know... As I think about this, I think there might be a good solution to the problem of the Tor-TIS material being so soft. A very thin lucite liner, bonded to the back with clear resin.

[Maximilian]

.035 is a bit on the thin side and I don't know the material well enough to comment how it flexes and what the strength is. I could work but being so thin you would have to use a very fine toothed saw and drill your pivot hole carefully in fear of cracking or chipping. I would just use a liner.