Rich Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 I don't mean functional features like slim necks or tighter string spacing, I'm talking about purely aesthetic stuff here. Body shapes and the like. I'll start the ball rolling. 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. 90s hair-metal Charvel/Jackson pointy headstocks. Looking at them, you can just smell the hairspray and dodgy spandex. Stick your foot on the monitor and away you go. Far, far away please. "Whoops". Rawwwwk. Errm, no ta. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Anything pointy or sparkly. Just doesn't look good to me. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 I'm not a fan of sunburnt in general, but two tone is particularly bad - just looks unfinished. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 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! 6 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorks5stringer Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 18 minutes ago, Rich said: I don't mean functional features like slim necks or tighter string spacing, I'm talking about purely aesthetic stuff here. Body shapes and the like. I'll start the ball rolling. 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. 90s hair-metal Charvel/Jackson pointy headstocks. Looking at them, you can just smell the hairspray and dodgy spandex. Stick your foot on the monitor and away you go. Far, far away please. "Whoops". Rawwwwk. Errm, no ta. Au contraire mon ami, the early P/Tele Bass headstock has the most pleasing symmetry and it is the later P Bass that should be confined to a darkened room! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) Branding on the body. Sandberg make some nice basses but those four dots mean I will never own one. And perhaps more controversially, tortoiseshell scratchplates. I always assume people like them because they invoke a particular era, because visually they make no sense - especially on a sunburst - gross! Highly subjective of course! Edit: I just thought of another one: those big long single cut bodies you so often see on higher end basses. I realise this one is not purely an aesthetic choice, but a horn does the same job, surely? Edited March 30, 2020 by Rexel Matador 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) It possibly comes under the heading 'functional' (although I've yet to encounter problems without the feature) but I just don't like the of any of those modern single cuts. A traditional single cut looks fine, Hofner Club, Gibson Les Paul, Yamaha Bex4, etc, it's just those with a bloomin' great bulbous top, erm, lump, that I can't get my head around. Edited March 30, 2020 by Maude Autocorrect, Hohner didn't make a Club 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Dots on the fingerboard. 😉 3 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cetera Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Modern singlecuts..... Euuurrghhhhhh...... Bodies like toilet seats *cough* MM Bongo *cough* Multi-string 'basses' that have more notes in the baritone,treble, alto & soprano range than actual bass notes available 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarPig Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 As above with the single cut bodies but also ramps, they always look like an afterthought. Semi-fretless basses (Ibanez do a version), just a bit of a gimmick. Roadworn/relic jobs. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Markbass. 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silvia Bluejay Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Am I correct in thinking that r ramps are in many cases an afterthought, and many can be removed and replaced as needed? I certainly wouldn't want a fixed one on any bass, even if I slapped. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Japhet Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) I don't like red - but then I don't like red anything (cars, clothes, guitars etc). Also relicing. Edited March 30, 2020 by Japhet 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Also, open truss rod access at the headstock on a Fender-style bass screams 'low quality!' to me. ...which I appreciate is odd, 'cos it's the more practical approach. I like to see nothing there, or a nice plug to fill the hole. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skidder652003 Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 any any any..six string 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scalpy Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Mainly cabs that look like a cheap 80s disco. The specs may be fantastic but if the speaker is visible through the metal grill because the board it’s mounted to is a different colour I’m out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexel Matador Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Stingray scratchplate and control plate. For such an "iconic" design they look like a rushed afterthought to me. 1 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 26 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said: Dots on the fingerboard. 😉 I’m with you on that, and your previous post too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul S Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 20 minutes ago, cetera said: Modern singlecuts..... Euuurrghhhhhh...... Ever so very much this ^^ They look like comic book whales to me. 2 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) 35 minutes ago, Rexel Matador said: Stingray scratchplate and control plate. For such an "iconic" design they look like a rushed afterthought to me. Better than the Stingray 5 pickguard, great instruments, but crikey, what an awful look Edited March 30, 2020 by Graham 3 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maude Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 18 minutes ago, Rexel Matador said: Stingray scratchplate and control plate. For such an "iconic" design they look like a rushed afterthought to me. Haha, the all new Music Man MangoBanana. I actually like the look of a Stingray. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 (edited) 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. Edited March 30, 2020 by casapete Edit 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
casapete Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 39 minutes ago, Japhet said: I don't like red - but then I don't like red anything (cars, clothes, guitars etc). Also relicing. Would be with you on the whole red thing, were it not for a nice old Fender in Candy Apple 🍎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickD Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Gold hardware, and weirdly 2 over 3 headstocks (fivers obviously). I don't mind any other configuration, just not that one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulbuzz Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 I'm fully onboard with many of the suggestions above: lumpy singlecuts Stingray scratchplate MM Bongo pointy headstocks I disagree strongly with any argument against the shape of the Fender P: what an absolutely fantastic design it is; introduced in 1954 and still dominant today, though several of its familiar design elements (headstock shape, scratchplate shape, body contouring) were really first introduced by the Strat in 1956. Man, that must have looked like a spaceship from the future when it appeared! Utter genius! As a general rule, I think symmetrical body shapes need symmetrical headstocks, and conversely for asymmetrical ones, though I accept that there are notable exceptions that look great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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