What Puts You Off?

[HMX]

I'm not into the colour of the Fender Pau Ferro fretboards. They look too light for something that's been effectively used to replace rosewood.

[Stub Mandrel]

Alembic's pointy bits.

[jazzyvee]

On 13/08/2020 at 16:50, paul_5 said:

Agree completely. 🤮

My own pet hates are ‘Buzzard’ basses -

 

and basses with more knobs than strings; if you exceed this number then you’re an audio engineer first and bass player second.

seriously, get stacked knobs and do it tastefully!

Although I would never buy one, I admire the dramatic look of the buzzard bass. It looked correct on a big stage in the hands of John Entwhistle but I think would look out of place in a local pub gig or at a jazz festival. 🙂

This is another one that appeals to me but again not something I would buy.

Edited August 19, 2020 by jazzyvee

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, jazzyvee said:

Although I would never buy one, I admire the dramatic look of the buzzard bass. It looked correct on a big stage in the hands of John Entwhistle but I think would look out of place in a local pub gig or at a jazz festival. 🙂

This is another one that appeals to me but again not something I would buy.

Icky.

The worst bits of an Alembic plus the tackiest neck inlay ever...

<Googles>

Egad! It is an Alembic...

 

Do they write scripts for QVC in their spare time?

Quote

Beautiful deep beveling lends dimension to the Dragon's Wing. It is not meant only to delight the eye but to animate the wing's structure as if it were unfurled and preparing to take flight.

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by Stub Mandrel

[Richard R]

1 hour ago, jazzyvee said:

Although I would never buy one, I admire the dramatic look of the buzzard bass. It looked correct on a big stage in the hands of John Entwhistle but I think would look out of place in a local pub gig or at a jazz festival

Spot on! Sometimes, if not most times, it's about the show as well as the sound and people remember what they see as well as hear:

I wish I could afford to buy this for use at Christmas Eve services :

 

 

[Dapper Bandit]

I appreciate an over-the-top instrument as much as (perhaps more?) the next person however I really don't like the following:

Wobbly 'Not-a-Fender-copyright-wise-but-really-really-close' headstocks

Pointy for pointyness' sake - BC Rich Warlock is iconic but that's about the limit

Gold hardware

Matt white pickguards

Safe as milk designs after 1979. If you're going to super-strat then at least give me a swirl finish!

[durhamboy]

Bloody heck, I think I've owned or built instruments with at least half the features that qualify for "What puts you off?" 

But there are some things I've always been averse too, regardless of trends, fashion and my own taste and maturity, though any development there, over the past 50 odd years, is open to debate.

So my pet hates include,

Gold hardware

Pearloid pickguards

Spiky pointy odd shaped "metal" type bodies and headstocks

Embossed leather on guitars and basses

Badly done relic jobs where the wear and dings don't relate to actual real wear points. I'm don't own any pre reliced instruments, but can appreciate the work and skill involved in making the well executed ones.

 

 

 

[akabane]

I tend to slightly change what I like in basses as the years go by.

However, the few things I’ve never liked, and perhaps never will:

-Maple/light fretboards 

-bad quality quilt/flame quilt on tops (I do own one like this though)

-sunburst finishes

-Fender body shapes and headstocks

-Fender design copies

-Lipstick pickups

-Oval pickups

 

Love seeing all the different opinions on here

[Ghost_Bass]

On 20/08/2020 at 03:54, durhamboy said:

Bloody heck, I think I've owned or built instruments with at least half the features that qualify for "What puts you off?" 

But there are some things I've always been averse too, regardless of trends, fashion and my own taste and maturity, though any development there, over the past 50 odd years, is open to debate.

So my pet hates include,

Gold hardware

Really???

 

Pearloid pickguards

Oh, come on!

 

Spiky pointy odd shaped "metal" type bodies and headstocks

You get this one, for sure!

 

Embossed leather on guitars and basses

Have you seen the BC boss's RBX 775? I don't think so!

Someone, a link, please.

 

Badly done relic jobs where the wear and dings don't relate to actual real wear points. I'm don't own any pre reliced instruments, but can appreciate the work and skill involved in making the well executed ones.

Not even good relic jobs. I'll give you that.

 

 

 

[Quilly]

P basses with too many Pickups, knobs and controls. You’re ruining a simple classic. For that matter... Any Frankensteined classics that has had extra nonsense grafted onto them. 

[Quilly]

My eyes...my beautiful eyes, how do I unsee this monstrosity 

Edited August 29, 2020 by Quilly

[OliverBlackman]

42 minutes ago, Quilly said:

My eyes...my beautiful eyes, how do I unsee this monstrosity 

I really like the look of those basses, but not the price 😬

[grumpyguts]

Painted necks

Those chrome things on old Fenders

Zero Frets

Headless

Single Cut

Stingray 5 string pickguard

White pickups

Anything that looks like a bit of antique furniture

Knobs with numbers on

Tort and Pearl Pickguard

Fanned Frets - never played one though

Warwick Thumb - that top horn looks a bit.... I leave it to you to guess.

The original Wal body shape 

Short scale necks - come on it's a bass! 

Gibson EB

 

[Eldon Tyrell]

On 13/08/2020 at 13:05, Eldon Tyrell said:

Cool thread. There are many, many things that put me off. I guess a lot of people will hate me now, but it is what it is. So, in no particular order:

- too many pots and switches (G&L L2K, I am looking at you ;- )

- weird looking pickguards (e.g., FGN Mighty Power P bass). Prefer basses without any pickguard.

- weird headstocks (e.g., Cort A4 Ultra, looks like a piece has been chopped off)

- weird body shapes (Steinberger XP2, Gibson Explorer and EBMM Bongo, I am looking at you ;- ). Only exception: Bootsy’s Space bass. Why? Because it is Bootsy 😍

- racing stripes on basses (e.g., G&L Fallout bass). Really? Do they make me play faster? Let me guess the answer. Just looks ridiculous. Maybe ok for a Ford GT or Mustang Shelby. Happy to have one of those 😎

- basses that look like ticks. Sorry, I don’t like ticks and therefore cannot stand basses like Pedulla’s MVP basses or the Gibson Les Paul Junior Tribute DC Bass.

- no separate battery compartments or ones with screws. Just look at how Dingwall is dealing with that. Simples.

- sparkle finishes. Too much bling. Sorry, not into that.

- basses that come with stickers, especially for the wrong football club (yes, you all know which one I am thinking of 😉

-painted and glossy necks. Not a fan of.

- removing the neck to adjust the truss rod (e.g., Fender AMVI basses). I know it is about being “vintage correct” but I still think it is a pain in the you know where. I also don’t like truss rod covers that you need to unscrew. I think EBMM have a good solution with the truss rod wheel.

- relic basses. I never got the appeal. It just screams “fake” to me. Relic your basses yourself by dropping them, hitting things, playing them forever. Trust me, you can do that even in your own living room. Some of my basses are the living proof for that ;- ) Thinking of it, even back in the 80s, I did not get why people would pay a company (e.g., Diesel) for jeans with holes. I am happy to do that myself. Thank you.

Ok, rant over. Now I feel much better 🙂

Ok, one more to add: I cannot see myself ever buying a bass with an "unappealing" name  (to say it politely ; -)

Some examples: Ripper, Grabber, Dolphin, Thumb, Idolmaker, Fallout, O, Longhorn, Surveyor (I mean, seriously? Survivor would have been better), Fallout, Matador, Bongo, Old Smoothie, SRH505F-NNF, BTB846SC- DTL (and several other Ibanez basses with similar strange names), Omen, and Stiletto (makes me think of shoes ; -) 

Any more? 😎

[Stub Mandrel]

20 hours ago, Ghost_Bass said:

 

I hope no-one is sad enough to leave the bit of plastic with the control names on in place....

[Stub Mandrel]

4 hours ago, Quilly said:

 

Add a zero the price and say it's a boutique maker and people will be falling over themselves for it...

(I think I tweeted my disgust for that particular one a few weeks ago...)

Edited August 29, 2020 by Stub Mandrel

[Quilly]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Add a zero the price and say it's a boutique maker and people will be falling over themselves for it...

(I think I tweeted my disgust for that particular one a few weeks ago...)

Manbearpig bass

Edited August 29, 2020 by Quilly

[durhamboy]

Ghost_Bass replied,

 

Gold hardware

Really???

 

Pearloid pickguards

Oh, come on!

 

I'll give you the gold hardware on the pic you included at least suits the colours of the natural woods, but it's all about personal taste isn't it? On most instruments gold just doesn't do it for me, besides most guitar hardware with gold finish seems to wear/flake of very quickly, then not such a classy(?) look...

Pearloid, well, it's always reminded me of crap from the 1950's, but for anyone who likes it, well that's fine.😉

 

[Quilly]

19 minutes ago, durhamboy said:

Ghost_Bass replied,

 

Gold hardware

Really???

 

Pearloid pickguards

Oh, come on!

 

I'll give you the gold hardware on the pic you included at least suits the colours of the natural woods, but it's all about personal taste isn't it? On most instruments gold just doesn't do it for me, besides most guitar hardware with gold finish seems to wear/flake of very quickly, then not such a classy(?) look...

Pearloid, well, it's always reminded me of crap from the 1950's, but for anyone who likes it, well that's fine.😉

 

Pearloid reminds me of Roman Catholic merchandise 😂

[Riverbassman]

Companies that can’t be original enough to have their own unique body style and copy a Fender Jazz or Precision body.  I don’t know why but it rubs my rhubarb the wrong way! 

[durhamboy]

6 hours ago, Quilly said:

Pearloid reminds me of Roman Catholic merchandise 😂

Ah, that might be it, I'd forgotten all that stuff from my school days. (Catholic school in the 50's and 60's, best forgotten.....) You've reminded me of the little glow in the dark Jesus in a little pearly plastic house with a spire and opening doors to reveal said JC. Given by a god parent I think?

[Quilly]

55 minutes ago, durhamboy said:

Ah, that might be it, I'd forgotten all that stuff from my school days. (Catholic school in the 50's and 60's, best forgotten.....) You've reminded me of the little glow in the dark Jesus in a little pearly plastic house with a spire and opening doors to reveal said JC. Given by a god parent I think?

Or those little prayer books you got for your first holy communion 😂😂

Edited August 30, 2020 by Quilly

[Maude]

On 14/08/2020 at 09:58, Lfalex v1.1 said:

The Attitude. Generally polarises opinion..

Is that for the Xbox or PlayStation? 

[Maude]

I really don't like it when a bass has a contrasting wood top put on and when the forearm contour is carved the lower wood is revealed, it just looks so wrong. The top should be the shape of the bass, not the shape of the bass with a big lump missing. 

If I was the first person to do this I would think "oh stinky poo, that didn't work" after carving through the top, "back to the drawing board". But it seems to be an accepted, appalling bit of design. 

Just make the top slab thick enough not to break through to the lower layer when carving. 

It's all moot though as I don't really like fancy multi-wood basses. 

The other thing I don't like is Alembics, they look like they fell out a Christmas cracker. All childlike shapes and chintzy gold toot screwed all over the place. 

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

48 minutes ago, Maude said:

Is that for the Xbox or PlayStation? 

 

19 minutes ago, Maude said:

I really don't like it when a bass has a contrasting wood top put on and when the forearm contour is carved the lower wood is revealed, it just looks so wrong. The top should be the shape of the bass, not the shape of the bass with a big lump missing. 

If I was the first person to do this I would think "oh stinky poo, that didn't work" after carving through the top, "back to the drawing board". But it seems to be an accepted, appalling bit of design. 

Just make the top slab thick enough not to break through to the lower layer when carving. 

It's all moot though as I don't really like fancy multi-wood basses. 

The other thing I don't like is Alembics, they look like they fell out a Christmas cracker. All childlike shapes and chintzy gold toot screwed all over the place. 

 

 

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing"

: Quote : 

- George Bernard Shaw -

 

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by Baloney Balderdash