Color -- how important is it to you?

[Madwatch]

if the bass plays and sounds, who cares?

Because you might get some weird looks showing up to that metal gig with your pink hello kitty bass?

 

[overit]

"I think a really good instrument should inspire the player both sonically and visually." - Rob Allen (from the website)

 

[ScarfFace]

My collection will always need at least a couple sunburst basses, after that color becomes less important. I really like some of the classic Fender colors, like Fiesta Red and Sonic Blue (especially faded) but I haven't ever owned one. I don't like green, most reds, most blues, and the only way Id have a purple or pink would be with lots of metalflake. Black and White both look great with tort and Id love to have one of each. Natural doesn't inspire me

 

[flam]

Just like with cars, as long as it isn't some crazy color, I don't care much. Except my Ric. The finish looks blurple, and I can't stand it.

 

[groooooove]

i do believe that instruments should look nice... nobody wants to play something thats really ugly..

all of my basses are exotic top woods, but i don't mind a solid color on the body..

but of course sound will always come first.

 

[MegaSwing]

I used to like them plain. Now I like them kind of bright and garish. But mostly I just accept them however they come to me. Each one has a story to tell.

I find the wilder the color, the better it looks under stage lighting. On the other hand, instruments that look awesome in regular room light often don't look that special under stage lighting. JMO.

 

[M.R. Ogle]

. On the other hand, instruments that look awesome in regular room light often don't look that special under stage lighting. JMO.

Yes, exactly. That's a lesson I learned a long time ago with a BC Rich Wave bass I used to own in iridescent purple. Looked GREAT in normal light, looked like poop brown under some stage lighting situations. From then on, Wood, black or white mainly for me.

 

[MrBKerth]

My favorite is Oly White preferably an aged one. Besides that I like Gibson's Cherry Red, Sonic Blue aged, or dark natural woods.
HOWEVER - I would easily bring a pointy gun shaped bass in hot pink to a gig if it felt right and played right. The colors I like are just a nice bonus.

 

[bholder]

Because you might get some weird looks showing up to that metal gig with your pink hello kitty bass?

Not if you're wearing this:

 

[Madwatch]

Not if you're wearing this:

I stand corrected

 

[Jackson Knight]

I'm super picky about colors, but it depends on the bass. Doesn't have to go with my other basses, but has to look good. Like I would never get a black Ibanez SR when I could get it in pearl white. But if I had a jetglo 4003, I'd love it forever.

 

[bholder]

I stand corrected

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

 

[Dan Knowlton]

I prefer natural wood - CHECK OUT THE REGENERATE M5 in my Avatar! But, other than green, colors (tints, solids, bursts..) work for me.

Dan K

 

[obimark]

Mine are dark red (NAte Mendel P-Bass) and Off-White- (Carvin LB4000)
I do notice that my Carvin photographers much better on gigs. The dark red, disappears on dark stages.

 

[deeptubes]

I like being able to see the wood grain. I have 1 natural, 2 tinted poly, 1 sunburst, and 1 silverburst.
Not particularly a fan of some bass colors - red (I don't even have any red shirts), purple, white (the silverburst was originally white), or any kind of neons/pastels. But, just because something doesn't tickle my fancy doesn't mean it's not right for someone else.

 

[gidbass]

I love the look of wood grain basses (tinted and natural), but I typically prefer solid colors for me.

 

[cnltb]

Color -- how important is it to you?
Not very.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

In the beginning, I really wanted 'wood' basses. No colors, no weird tints, just stuff that looked like fine furniture. Then I was willing to accept 'tinted' wood, where you could at least see some grain in the surface.

Now I just really no longer seem to care, i just want it to feel great and play great.

How about the rest of you?

Definitely don't like loud obnoxious finishes. My basses are either sunburst, olympic white, black, red (with flame top) or natural.

 

[DwaynieAD]

i care much less when buying used than i do when buying new. i'd like purple basses but that never happens.

 

[Mystic Michael]

Color definitely matters. Music is, after all, an aesthetic experience. So it shouldn't be that much of a stretch to conceive that someone who is aesthetically oriented enough to play music might be aesthetically oriented enough to express himself through other aesthetic forms as well...such as color.

While I love the look of a natural wood finish bass guitar - preferably in rich, deep, dark grains such as walnut, wenge, cocobolo and Macassar ebony - what I instinctively want to own and play are contemporary-styled instruments with shiny gloss or metallic solid colors, especially gloss black and gloss bright white. But I'd also consider something like a metallic purple, metallic platinum, metallic champagne, or even a metallic pink...if it's in the right shade.

MM