Carving initials into bass

[Phlipper]

This made me laugh out loud. Back in the day when I lived in the barracks, my 1SG made us put our name and SSN on anything of value. My old Marshall head still has my name and ssn written on the inside with a sharpie. Lol.

View attachment 4838971

Ahhh ... I remember those days. An RG440 into a Marshall Split Channel 50. Saturday afternoons were a trip, with 4 or 5 of us playing and drummers coming over from other companies. My CO played rhythm and sang a mean Sweet Home Alabama.

 

[Milton Broome]

Yeh, I've done it. I've never re-sold a bass, so not an issue. Gives it a personal touch. Guitars are tools to be abused and enjoyed.

 

[BadSanta1281]

I've got an old transistor radio that my dad engraved his driver license number on.

Security is Job 1.

 

[jnottoli]

I have a guitar with "ass" scratched into the pickguard. At least it's not in the wood. For posterity, don't do it.

...Or posterior!

 

[JIO]

Nels Cline's black '59 Jazzmaster previously owned by Mike Watt.

 

[MegaSwing]

Yeh, I've done it. I've never re-sold a bass, so not an issue. Gives it a personal touch. Guitars are tools to be abused and enjoyed.

Everybody's got a thing. Dig it.

 

[bottomzone]

First, it's your bass and you can do it if you want to. Second, WHY????? Last, NOPE!!!

 

[BQFS]

I was a little bit annoyed after receiving my Carvin LB-75f. The original owner ordered a custom truss rod cover with his initials on it. First I sharpied it out, then when it came time to adjust the rod, I removed it and threw it away. I never buy my basses with the idea of maintaining resale value. Still, it never would occur to me to carve anything on any of them.

From the other point of view, if, before buying, the previous owner had carved anything onto the bass, I probably would pass if it was visible when being played. Less likely to buy, all other things being equal, if the carving was done on the rear of the bass, but that wouldn't necessarily stop me if the bass was a steal.

 

[massXvelocity]

People rip stuff off, so identifiers make sense to some worried about it happening to them. Aesthetically however, Burning the initials into the wood, would be my choice of disfigurement.

 

[aureliab20gt]

Sure... why not?

View attachment 4838998

Is that Wal bridge on square or is it intentionally skewed to help with intonation??....Or is it just my late cretaceous eyes playing up??

 

[BlueTalon]

Is that Wal bridge on square or is it intentionally skewed to help with intonation??....Or is it just my late cretaceous eyes playing up??

My first suspicion would be the phone camera that probably took that photo. They have a tendency to distort the photo somewhat.

 

[Salicete]

Carving my initials into a bass...cool idea, when I was 12.