Color -- how important is it to you?

[TBird1958]

TBird1958, hi what's the green Gibson -a refinish?

Ya, It was a rat ass '76 missing a bunch of parts that I bought at BassNW, Mike Lull painted it 7Up Green, took forever to find the bridge and pup covers.

 

[Rosebud]

Cool, I've followed some of your projects in the past including when the Lull T bass pickups were coming out. I have yet to rock out a thunderbird, one day.

 

[Shovel]

Colors greatly matter to me. If a bass feels and plays and sounds great, I'll buy (if i have the money but I don't). Then I'll get it refinished. I'm not a fan of natural finishes (on solid bodies) and I don't like black or brown ever

 

[Humbled]

Colors greatly matter to me. If a bass feels and plays and sounds great, I'll buy (if i have the money but I don't). Then I'll get it refinished. I can't stand natural finishes on solid body basses.

Umm... No money for new basses but a paid refin is often a top priority?

 

[Shovel]

Umm... No money for new basses but a paid refin is often a top priority?

My point is that if I'm going to spend money on a bass, I'll gladly spend some more to be happy with it. I don't have the money for any basses right now, nor do I have the need for another bass, but If I did I'd want to be happy with my purchase.

 

[dls119]

I have a thing for lake placid blue but two of my three basses have natural finishes - the other is blue agave, which is okay-ish.

 

[Chazzz]

Of course, tone and playability are kings. But honestly, color - whether paint finish or wood color - is a big factor to me. So is body shape. I don't care how good it sounds, I will never own a CAR Bongo. I probably will never own a single-cutaway bass with a walnut or koa top. Having said that, I don't really have any doubt that when looking for a bass, I could find one with decent tone and playability that is available in several different finishes. I like wood grain, so a clear finish is fine. And I like the Fender 3-color burst, and black. Medium to dark grays are fine and maybe something in a teal green. But I would avoid red, blue, white/cream, "carnival ride" metal flake, and crazy burst color combinations, among other things. Also, I won't buy anything with gold hardware unless (a) I couldn't find something similar with chrome or black hardware and (b) I knew I could swap the hardware easily for chrome or black.

 

[sirsam22]

Very! But, I can say that because I'm only dreaming about a build.
I love darker wood grain, even if it is not matching in the body because it's cut from three different pieces of wood. I especially like burls and and woods that are naturally a color other than tan or brown. Maple is right out, though. Bleh.

I despise what I would call "normal" or "standard" colors like black, white, red, and sunburst. Non-traditional burst are amazing, especially purple, green, and silver. And, transparent finishes.

My current daydream build is transparent purple or teal, probably burst, or some natural exotic wood like buckeye burl.

I'm also a big fan of non-standard bodies.

 

[Mike Sorr]

For me it's:

Playability
Sound
Weight
Color

In that order. If I don't like the way it feels, nothing else matters. If I like the way it feels but it sounds terrible, it may be worth modifying, unless it is also too heavy. If it plays great, sounds great and isn't too heavy, I care less about color...unless it's like, lime green or something. Color is important (I love trans colors, especially red), but unless it's really bad it's not a deal breaker.

 

[millsbass5]

It's kinda weird for me. If it's a boutique bass, I like the craftsmanship and materials to shine through to show exactly why it's a boutique bass. If it's something along the lines of a Fender Jazz Bass (I don't do P-Basses), I prefer the pre-CBS custom colors, like Sea Foam, Shell Pink, Mary Kay, Sonic Blue, etc. colors from that era.

I would absolutely love to have a few pre-CBS Jazz Basses (or reissue models) in every custom color that was offered by Fender back in the day.

 

[PortlandBass77]

All about feel and tone.

 

[west al]

I'm not going buy a bass unless I like the color, finish, etc.

 

[DanGouge]

Currently I have a sunburst bass, a natural bass and a trans red bass, so I guess I like a range of colours and finishes. That's not to say that there aren't finishes I don't like, but they don't fall into blanket categories, i.e.: I'm not going to say that I hate all solid colours or all blue basses or something, there are some terrible solid colours and some terrible bursts and so on, it's not that simple for me.

 

[Jeff Scott]

How important is color, you ask?

I ran a custom black & white photo lab for almost 22 years, does that answer you question?

 

[BassHappy]

I would never say that the color is not important - but what is more important to me is that ALL of the design features of that particular instrument appeal to me, and work together to create a cohesive whole.

It's about overall fit and feel, including scale length, body shape, comfort, balance, sound/tone, playability and appearance/color. Not necessarily in that order, but all of those elements need to be present and working together as a whole - in order for me to be seriously interested. If you want to grab my attention show me some fabulous wood grain.

 

[diamondsplit]

Call me shallow…blame my art-student background…deem me a rank amateur…whatever, but to me, looks are very important. It's gazing at an excellent piece of work that makes me go, "Yum! I gotta pick that up and make it sound as good as it looks!!" If I can't stand looking at it, I'm not gonna want to pick it up. I don't care how good it's supposed to sound.

And since we're talking about our personal, esthetic preferences…MAD LOVE FOR PAINTED/MATCHING HEADSTOCKS!! I mean, really…who wouldn't give some of these a second glance?

View attachment 523900

The 2 fenders in Charcoal are beautiful and the blue burst is a great color My body has gibson les paul in blue burst its a great color

 

[diamondsplit]

It depends If i order a bass I will get the color i want or if I buy something from guitar center which I just did today I wanted a Music Man Classic they have 4 or 5 used ones they have sunburst natural and gold. I bought the gold its was more expensive but the El dorado gold is the nicest color and the lake placid blue is just as nice but both are limited edition and I spent more for the gold

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I would never say that the color is not important - but what is more important to me is that ALL of the design features of that particular instrument appeal to me, and work together to create a cohesive whole.

It's about overall fit and feel, including scale length, body shape, comfort, balance, sound/tone, playability and appearance/color. Not necessarily in that order, but all of those elements need to be present and working together as a whole - in order for me to be seriously interested.

I agree. Luckily, there are many colours and finishes that I find attractive, however I seem to gravitate towards white.

 

[placedesjardins]

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?

I'd be okay with the entire body, neck and headstock painted. Although I do like solid colors, I would rather have a transparent color rather than natural gloss finish if no solid colors were available.

 

[gabrielvv7]

I am not he kind of guy that would preffer a green or orange bass, (not that there is anything wrong with it), i just like simpler stuff... like transparent brown-yellow burst, gray, etc. or plain black. if i get red or blue, i have to add some black and/or chrome. i do enjoy playing an instrument that i like the way it looks as well as it feels... TO ME.