Which decade bought us the most freaky basses?

[The Burpster]

So, I've just been watching TOTP2 and it was on the 80's and whilst it was really a 'kinda goin' nowhere new' decade musically (with the exception of Hip-hop) it did spawn some freaky hardware.....

So come on B-chatters, what is your most freaky decade for basses and why?

Me...? Bootsy... need I say more?

[silverfoxnik]

[quote name='The Burpster' post='187586' date='Apr 28 2008, 08:54 PM']So, I've just been watching TOTP2 and it was on the 80's and whilst it was really a 'kinda goin' nowhere new' decade musically (with the exception of Hip-hop) it did spawn some freaky hardware.....

So come on B-chatters, what is your most freaky decade for basses and why?

Me...? Bootsy... need I say more?[/quote]
My first thought was the 70's too... But if you look at BigRedX's 'Weird & Wonderful Basses' thread, seems like there's loads of freaky basses around now??

[ped]

Spot on Nik!!

I guess the 80's saw some freaky designs, and the introduction of the 5 string (in the 80's?) challenged many peoples concept of the instrument - and still does if ongoing debates are to go by.

I definitely think the 80's spawned some of the best basses though! 'Don't make 'em like they used to' etc ;0)

ped

[thedarxide]

60's. Some of the crap that came out of the east was freaky by my definition......

[Mr. Foxen]

50s, suddenly basses weren't all huge any more.

[BigRedX]

As a connoisseur of the 'freaky bass' I think that every decade had had it's share. Remember also that yesterday's weirdo is todays mainstream instrument; and even if the individual brands disappear or re-invent themselves with more normal fare, the good ideas live on and get improved and we get used to them. What has changed is the increasing numbers of unusual and innovative ideas that are also serious musical instruments. With the Weird and Wonderful thread I want to show that there is a wide variety of non-mainstream design ideas out there available across the whole price range. In the past many of the 'weirder' designs were simply just weird and didn't really cut it as musical instruments. However since the late 70s the percentage of unusual designs that are also real players instruments has been steadily increasing. There are still the purely bizarre and unplayable such as the 15 string and multi-neck basses that show up regularly on eBay but they are now in the minority.

[bnt]

There might not have been that many weird basses in the 90s, but when they were weird... boy, were they weird. Anyone remember this [url="http://www.ctbasses.com/"]Carl Thompson[/url] monstrosity?

Edited April 28, 2008 by bnt

[chris_b]

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' post='187655' date='Apr 28 2008, 10:30 PM']50s, suddenly basses weren't all huge any more.[/quote]
Basses went really freaky in 1951...........

[BigRedX]

[quote name='bnt' post='187732' date='Apr 29 2008, 12:53 AM']There might not have been that many weird basses in the 90s, but when they were weird... boy, were they weird. Anyone remember this [url="http://www.ctbasses.com/"]Carl Thompson[/url] monstrosity?[/quote]

Which proves my point exactly...

That bass might have been weird back when the track was released but now there's a host of imitators doing the CT stripy body and hooked upper horn, and while not yet mainstream it no longer has the OMG impact that the original did.

[Rayman]

I personally think that some of the gear around today is as freaky as it gets.

Look at some of the custom makers like Ritter for instance, beautiful woods twisted into the most pig ugly looking monstosities I've ever seen.

Admittedly some of these makers, Ritter included, make some fabulous looking stuff, but there's a lot of mad looking designs floating about on the current crop of builders that should never see the light of day. Give me an 80s pointy thing any day of the week.