Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Styling cues you don't like


Rich

Recommended Posts

Fender style basses without pickguards,

Fender style basses without fender shaped headstocks,

Gold Hardware (Breaking this with my incoming Smith),

Relic or battered finishes,

PJ pickup arrangement,

Lakland Oval bridges,

Finally... Not an aesthetic thing but the single (non playability or performance related) feature that puts me off buying a bass is if it’s someones signature model... I absolutely love the look of the spruce topped Mayones HF signature, but I can’t bring myself to buy it because it has some bloke I’ve never heard of’s name attached to it.


*edit - I forgot ramps and headless basses.

Edited by CamdenRob
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Not a fan of Fender shapes - P bass, J bass (body and headstock). Yes some of them are nice to look at - especially those not made by Fender, e.g. Sadowsky, Sandberg et al. - but there's so much out there that looks better.

I loathe pickguards, especially tort, especially on Fender-ish basses.

I really don't like 'burst' colours, although I'm stuck with them on a few of my basses because there was no lefty alternative.

I'm sure I'll think of something else!

I agree with almost all of that, except that a tort pickguard seems to go very nicely on a blue bass.  Weird. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

I can't stand Fender P / J bass, Stratocaster shaped headstocks, and the big elephant ear tuners are ugly as sin. In fact I've never got the whole P bass thing. Bland with a side order of ugly. 

I'm not sure I've ever seen a wronger post on this forum, though I admit that being nearly crushed to death in a sea of gob whilst standing directly in front of the first P-bass I'd ever seen (The Damned, 1979) probably qualifies as a formative erotic experience, so I may not be entirely objective on the matter! 😁

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Graham said:

Better than the Stingray 5 pickguard, great instruments, but crikey, what an awful look

I was wondering whether this could be considered possibly the most appalling piece of unintegrated design - an afterthought with questionable functionality, and a bit of a marmite (or red wine puke) colour 😩 😬

image.jpeg.40835d67a2a1ec8966caabeed6534535.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I was wondering whether this could be considered possibly the most appalling piece of unintegrated design - an afterthought with questionable functionality, and a bit of a marmite (or red wine puke) colour 😩 😬

image.jpeg.40835d67a2a1ec8966caabeed6534535.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

Not if you compare it to its equivalent on a Rickenbacker - and that genuinely is a slapped-on afterthought.
rickenbacker-4003-jetglo.jpg

Roger Rossmeisl's original design followed the form of the instrument in a way the current "design" doesn't.
 

131631132_Rick40001960.jpg.351afd1342b771bdc9f69b7b5bd988a2.jpg

 

I think I've only seen a couple of singlecuts that aren't foul. I really have no idea why anyone thinks it's a good idea to add an extra 2kg of timber to a bass and make it look like this:

snoopycut.jpg.8a6666aa2725563afa387024590e8c20.jpg

And once you see it, that's all you can see...

  • Thanks 1
  • Haha 11
Link to comment
Share on other sites

36 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I was wondering whether this could be considered possibly the most appalling piece of unintegrated design - an afterthought with questionable functionality, and a bit of a marmite (or red wine puke) colour 😩 😬

image.jpeg.40835d67a2a1ec8966caabeed6534535.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

I was led to believe that the P Bass was an icon of design in that it was machine made cheaply with very little hand finishing ( not the case now) and the scratchplate above conceals the routing necessary to install pickups and associated controls.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, casapete said:

Any pretend Fenders - that is, basses with all the features/shape of the original but not. Appreciate they may be better built / higher spec / more upmarket / expensive / boutique, but just make the whole thing more original. I’m looking at you Sandberg, Sadowsky, Lakland etc etc.

I feel so silly 😜 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Things I'm not keen on:

Pointy basses

Not too keen on many of the iconic Warwick designs (apart from the one they stole from Stuart Spector and the Dolphin)

Weirdly sized pickups you can't swap out

Not a fan of green basses for some reason either.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, drTStingray said:

I was wondering whether this could be considered possibly the most appalling piece of unintegrated design - an afterthought with questionable functionality, and a bit of a marmite (or red wine puke) colour 😩 😬

image.jpeg.40835d67a2a1ec8966caabeed6534535.jpeg

 

 

 

 

 

Nah, that would be one of these :D

image.thumb.png.c701ba465ad47ceecb51560e7569dbd4.png

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, Rich said:

Early P-bass/Tele headstock shape. Don't like it, at all. It looks like someone's had a bandsaw accident with a regular P neck and tried to make the best of it.

This. 

I’m also not a fan of the modern “coffee table” basses. Which, of course, reduces the demand for them (by, er, one), helping to keep the price down for those who do. 

It’s almost a public service.  

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...