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Pointy 80s basses....cool or not


iconic

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13 minutes ago, rushbo said:

I had a BC Rich Warlock in custard yellow in the mid eighties. It sounded great, but not really the thing for playing REM/Americana stuff on. The look of that sort of instrument and all it's pointy brethren is so nailed to the glam rock/metal genre that they look really incongruous anywhere else. However, a nice BC Rich Mockingbird in a natural finish is on my bucket list...

My headless Flying V is also a very vivid yellow. It was originally a translucent red, so I know that it has a good looking wood under the paint. So I am going to strip it and stain it walnut (hopefully this year, though it has been an ongoing, rolling project since 1995…).

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5 hours ago, iconic said:

Saw a band last week and my bass nerd spider senses immediately spied....an old 80s Aria pointy bass standing proud on its stand...

 

A few things struck me as, ooh. 

 

First was that this was a smooth 'n slow 1-4-5 roots' n 5ths country band, consisting of 3 pensioners looking like a Victor Meldrew tribute act....and there's me thinking the band player would have more slap (pun intended) and PVC than a Kiss member. 

 

Second, that I haven't seen a pointy bass played in anger since the last time...well never come to think of it? 

 

Thirdly, that my 11 year daughter thought it was the coolest bass in captivity and, far more attention getting than her her pink 'n maple P.

 

The band were a great bunch of guys, not brilliant players but, importantly, funny as f*ck, non stop ripping the fosters out of each other and the audience so, fantastic fun....and unusual for a country band, not one dead dog was mentioned. 

 

'Victor Pointy Bass' used the headstock on a few occasions, to dig the singer in the ribs when the singer played a bum note on his harmonica, which seemed a plus, erm point, over my ohh so soft J and P. 

 

Just as observation and, I cant see them ever being desirable, collectable or making money, but then I thought that about the Ford Crappi, Vauxhall Cavpig and Austin Ambassador, Sony Walkman, old Synths, Hygena furniture, mullets (well maybe not) so what do I know?

 

(Similar to this puppy.) 

wnrsuaefalvgasnoxvei.jpg

A pointy headstock does not a pointy bass make.

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I've always fancied a BC Rich Mockingbird bass, I think it's one of the nicest guitar shapes out there, althhough I've heard neckdive can be an issue.

 

I also keep an eye out for Ibanez Destroyer skinny stringers, a lad at scool had one and I fell in love with it.

Edited by Cato
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5 hours ago, Bassassin said:

Never was a fan of the pointy/droopy headstock on an otherwise conventional-looking bass, just looks like a mismatched bitsa.

 

However - proper out-there 80s pointiness: hook it into my veins!

 

My first 'serious' bass was one of these:

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Washburn B20 Stage. Sold it to buy something you could slap on, a somewhat less pointy Aria RSB Deluxe II.

 

Always had GAS for an Iceman or a Westone Dynasty. Maybe a Raider in one of the 2-tone glitter finishes.

 

Or an Aria ZZB in blood splatter...

 

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The Washburn reminded me of this, which is a real instrument by Kinkade Guitars of Bristol I believe 

 

image.jpeg.ba63dcddd8a5d14918de6ee7bc415e37.jpeg

Edited by Tokalo
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6 hours ago, KingBollock said:

Do you mean Red/Gold or the Raider II with a red body and black headstock?

 

The bass player I replaced in the first proper band ever I joined, had the red/gold version.

 

No, it was red/black. Always thought it was a I, but could have been a II.

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8 hours ago, Mudpup said:

And i always wanted one of these back in the day. It's an Aria ZZB which they also did in a blue sunburst or 50/50 black white graphic. I wasn't brave enough though and ended up with a safe looking Aria RSB Deluxe 2 instead...

 

image.thumb.png.1241000c2a74a129abbed06f9ae78798.png

 

Crikey, I forgot I owned the blue version of this. My only sour deal I did on Bass Chat, buyer never posted my case back😊

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1 hour ago, iconic said:

Crikey, I forgot I owned the blue version of this. My only sour deal I did on Bass Chat, buyer never posted my case back😊

That’s the only thing that would bother me about buying a replacement Raider (which I will do, given the chance), I really, really miss the smell of the hard case that I had for mine.

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Bought a Charvel when they first came out. Had it for years but sold it about some time ago. A great bass but let it go and havent really missed it. The pointyness of it was cool for a whike but not so much later on.

20150403_163625-1_compress97.jpg

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I had my bass stolen and had to get hold of a bass ASAP. I had seen a friends band and the bass player was playing a red Charvel by Jackson which sounded excellent. The guy was selling it cheap and I bought it. It did me proud for a year and sounded really great but it was too pointy for me as I was playing in Blues bands at the time and it just didn't suit the genre.

 

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23 hours ago, KingBollock said:

My very first bass was a Westone Raider I. One of my biggest regrets is having to sell it and, should I ever find one, I will buy another.

 

981828FD-C718-4857-8079-A2E886C963EF.jpeg.fce14b79bb5e63754542a107b8fce64f.jpeg

 

My current number one bass is a BC Rich Warlock.

 

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I also now own a Thunderbird, but that’s fairly rounded. And a headless Flying V (not a bass, though I did once narrowly miss out on getting its bass twin).

 

Seeing the other posts in this thread reminds me of a guitar (not a bass, sadly) that we had in the guitar shop I worked in when I was a kid. It was a BC Rich Ironbird in black with pink crackle. It was glorious!

 

*Neither of these photos are of my own basses.

Beat me to it.

My first bass was a Raider 1. I still have it, though !

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23 hours ago, lidl e said:

Im big on pointy basses, but ive sold almost all of mine.

 

Used to have a crazy custom shop BC Rich Bich bass.

 

My all time favourite pointy is an ibanez icb500 iceman bass which you can see pointing out behind me.

 

This is only pic i got of it

 

616079489_rawkftt3.jpg.a3583915de04063b6074713c006b307e.jpg

 

 

 

Wow dude, you look really wasted

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13 minutes ago, fleabag said:

 

Wow dude, you look really wasted

I think i blocked out my face years ago to postt this on hcbf.

 

There is almost 100% chance though that i was wasted.

 

In fact, there is a pretty much 100% chance i am wasted everytime i post here.

 

I like to do that often...

 

This is me though...

 

IMG_20221027_134203_009.jpg.1213210ba40a049bb1676f12c660c2f8.jpg

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14 hours ago, mario_buoninfante said:

Fender Japan have a lot of things not listed anywhere esle, amongst them this one

 

 

https://www.fender.com/ja-JP/hama-okamoto-signature.html

 

 

 

I kind of like it.

 

Mind I don't exactly love it or would ever buy one, but I don't think it is ugly, and I condone Fender daring to actually try something different.

 

The headstock is kind of not all that pretty though, but then again not really any worse than their Tele headstock.

 

 

Edited by Baloney Balderdash
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The 'Argos' thread in OT made me wonder if this qualifies as properly pointy:

 

                  Vester Argus

 

image.thumb.png.2c31dcebcae9243668d07c73ea988ddd.png

 

Always thought these were genuinely great-looking basses, 90s or early '00s I think. Rare as anything.

 

Can't believe I passed one up on here for £99 about 10 years ago, due to being brutally skint!

 

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