Ugly Bass thread

[casapete]

I've always liked my Washburn AB20 single cut, not for everyone though.

[tegs07]

Kramer: Beauty or the beast?

 

Gibson are also marmite for me. Thunderbird is iconic and I love it, but you can keep the EB-0, Grabber and Explorer. The Les Paul guitar is gorgeous. I’m never sure about the bass.

Edited September 14, 2021 by tegs07

[WinterMute]

5 hours ago, Hellzero said:

Here are my two original Ibanez AFR from 1991, designed by the late Rolf Spuler, a true luthier and genius.

 

These are certainly the most beautiful and ergonomic basses ever made.

 

"Certainly"? Thass fighting' talk around these here parts...

 

I always thought they looked like they'd been left on a radiator.

 

Fugly is as fugly does I guess, isn't it great they we don't all like the same thing, and that that thing isn't a standard Precision.

Edited September 14, 2021 by WinterMute
typo

[Bassassin]

21 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Kramer: Beauty or the beast?

 

 

I like that. Similar design to the Vester Argus, (which I always had a bit of GAS for) & was likely an influence.

 

 

Although I expect this won't have too many fans...

[tegs07]

5 minutes ago, Bassassin said:

 

I like that. Similar design to the Vester Argus, (which I always had a bit of GAS for) & was likely an influence.

 

 

Although I expect this won't have too many fans...

I would describe that as a bass of two halves. One half is harmonious the other just odd. Though saying that I like each half on it’s own merit … hmmm maybe one that you could grow to love.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 13/09/2021 at 20:02, neepheid said:

I have a lot of love for G&L basses but the Interceptor?

 

 

Hmm, an acquired taste that not many people acquired, I suspect.

 

Curios, that's the first G&L I've ever seen that I like the look of.

[Stub Mandrel]

12 hours ago, BigRedX said:

For my take on the ugly bass just imagine that I have posted photos of every single bass that Fender have ever made.

 

Not only are they ugly but they are also boring.

 

[StickyDBRmf]

Uh, can you tell me why a "true luthier and genius" would design a bass where the bridge doesn't fit on the bass?

[Bobo_08]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Never seen this before .. ever... Fender prototype from the 70's?

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, Bobo_08 said:

Never seen this before .. ever... Fender prototype from the 70's?

 

No, a production model from the mid 80s.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Performer_Bass

 

[alyctes]

The Performer is the only Fender design I've ever liked the look of.

[lemmywinks]

Precision

Ric (all of them)

Warwick Katana and Vampyre

Any singlecut that isn't Godin, Bolin or Rick Turner

Warwick/Status Buzzard

Also Alembic Series, Jaydee, Pangborn and Status Kingbass. Horrible shape..

Edited September 15, 2021 by lemmywinks

[tegs07]

The Parker Fly was a sight for sore eyes:

[tegs07]

And if The Munsters were ever to form a band:

[tegs07]

Fender have tried several times to do different basses from the performer to the dimension but people basically want P an J basses. Some of the 80’s HM basses were pretty good but I guess Ibanez dominated that market.

Speaking of which I could learn to love most things posted here so far but never the BC Rich stuff and just about anything with a pointy headstock!

[LeftyJ]

8 hours ago, StickyDBRmf said:

Uh, can you tell me why a "true luthier and genius" would design a bass where the bridge doesn't fit on the bass?

If you mean the AFR, the bridge fits perfectly. It's the lever of the D-tuner you're seeing 

(also designed by Rolf Spuler)

 

Here's a similar one on an SR3000:

[Guest]

7 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

No, a production model from the mid 80s.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Performer_Bass

 

 

I found this quote from John Page

 

 

"Yes the Performer was one of my designs. Believe it or not, the Performer bass (designed before the guitar) was designed to be the Elite version of the Jazz Bass.. yes that's right... it was going to be the top version of the Jazz Bass... scary huh? The shape of the instrument is derivative of the back of the Strat Look at the waist cut on the back of the Strat and you'll see where the basic horn/body shape started. At the time (1982-3ish?) I was designing this, Fender was considered a pretty conservative instrument Kramer, Jackson & BC Rich were building these radically styled instruments, so we wanted to get into that market. In my original design, it used a Strat-style peg-head and the pickups were a double Strat hum-bucking setup. I also designed the Fender Logo On The Performer I can't say that that a good thing, but it was kinda cool to design a new Fender logo. We got some comments that it looked like the Peavey logo, which really whizzed me off.

 

The guitar that was produced was different than the original that I designed. I initially designed it to be made in the US, but it ended up being made in Japan. When that transition happened, things were changed. The peg-head went from the Strat to the Swinger, for example, so I don't remember what pickup they actually went with. I angled the pickups to thicken up the top end a bit... and it looked cool. Well, at least to me, I like "off-line aesthetics". Why weren't they successful? Look, I was a designer in Fender R&D for years before I started the CS. I was always trying to design something new and different. When we started the CS, I tried to do the same. Reality is, the public wants Strats, Teles, P & J basses from Fender. So it's really tough to get them to accept any "new & different" designs in any great quantities. I'm afraid I have no idea how many were actually produced.

 

I designed the five string version when I first came back to start the CS in '87. To the best of my knowledge there was only one prototype made by Fuji Gen Gakki It was kind of a pinkish color and had the same basic features of the 4 string Japanese model. When I initially designed both basses, the were modified Mustang coils, wound beefier and wired to be hum-bucking. When the four string version was released it used a single coil p/u under each cover. The original also was designed with a angular/massive/fine-tuning bridge, and a "lightning bolt" styled string tree. Both were prototyped but never released. I never heard of any instruments being destroyed for any legal issues... maybe another one of those "legends"?

 

 

The idea behind the neck was simple, at the time a lot of bass players were guitar player converts. Bass playing style started to have more of a "lead guitar" approach, so the idea of a narrower neck was to help along those lines. The original proto went on the summer before it was released with the them "hottest" bands, Billy Idol (I don't remember his bass player's name) and The CARS bass player, Ben Orr. "

 

From here 

Edited September 15, 2021 by Ricky Rioli

[Hellzero]

1 hour ago, LeftyJ said:

If you mean the AFR, the bridge fits perfectly. It's the lever of the D-tuner you're seeing 

(also designed by Rolf Spuler)

 

Here's a similar one on an SR3000:

 

@StickyDBRmf : and the monorail bridge patent belongs to Rolf Spuler too just like the D-Tuner for it.

 

Thanks @LeftyJ

[Doctor J]

The non-reverse Thunderbird is a thing of cruel deformity

 

 

[ezbass]

1 minute ago, Doctor J said:

The non-reverse Thunderbird is a thing of cruel deformity

 

 

Agreed, all the sleek beauty of the normal T’bird bludgeoned (probably the wrong adjective) out by a blind, bandsaw operator. Better suited to powering a canoe.

[SumOne]

Tonika:

 

 

[fretmeister]

Just waiting for Big Red X to post some Fenders...

[fretmeister]

On 13/09/2021 at 21:05, TheGreek said:

The new headless Ibanez seems to be selling very well at the moment but can't for the life of me see why. None of the lines flow.

 

They play really nicely!

 

I love the sort of metallic but matt green on the short scale one. Suits a modern finish more than burl!

[Rich]

12 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

Oh how I love the Performer basses. Given the cash I'd have a replica luthier-built, but with sensible string spacing (IIRC the originals are 16.5/17 at the bridge?).

 

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, fretmeister said:

Just waiting for Big Red X to post some Fenders...

 

You're a bit too late, BRX has been and gone - couldn't even be bothered posting pics (mic drop)