Overwater Aspiration Artist vs Vintage V1004

[Annoying Twit]

Overwater


Vintage



Enough differences to show that they definitely aren't anything like the same bass. E.g. isn't the Overwater a bolt on bass, while the Vintage is neck through (under the veneer)? Diamond shaped knob pattern, but pointed differently. Similar, but not the same body and headstock shape. But, there seem to be quite a few design touches that seem to suggest some inspiration or shared design DNA in there. Or is it just random chance?

[muttley]

Cooincidence, I'd say. The body shape of the Vintage is more similar to the Peavey Grind, IMO.

[Annoying Twit]

The headstock and pickups of the Overwater and the vintage are quite similar. It's probably just coincidence due to there being quite a few basses of that particular shape. The most distinctive feature common to the Vintage and the Overwater are the pickups, being a single coil jazz style and humbucker. There's a Shine bass that has that combination, and I'm sure if we go through every bass in the world, so do a fair number of others. But, there are many more common pickup combinations than that.

Given that the Overwater basses were designed from scratch, including all hardware, I'm wondering why they didn't make them look more distinctive from the competition. And perhaps to design them to look a little more 'boutique', as some Spear or Alden basses are. E.g.




People often criticise the bass market as being too conservative, and that explains all the cookie cutter Fender clones. But for a venture like the Tanglewaters, how does designing instruments that look quite reminiscent of other mid-priced instruments work as a selling strategy.