Do you find natural finish ugly?

Depends on the wood. Aren’t some squires pine? Natural pine kinda sucks..

 

Whatever you do, it's simply going to look unappealing to you with a black, white or tort pickguard.
That's why you have to go this way.

 

It all depends on the particular piece of wood. If it’s your bass and you think it is ugly, then it is ugly.

 

Wood grain is my favourite, as long as it’s not super glossy.

 

No.

 

I personally find the look of natural woodgrain quite appealing. It would a real shame for you to hide the natural beauty with plain black paint. How generic and blah can it get?

 

Aside from the grain of the wood it also depends how well matched the pieces are. This kind of look does not appeal to me

 

Swamp ash.

 

ditto

 

nah

 

Meet Margot Robbie:

 

i always like natural, unless it’s a multi-piece body with a weird (to me) mismatch of grains

 

Nope.

 

If you want to go black, instead of painting, consider India ink. I have seen great results with that, and there is a thread about it here: Speedball Black Guitar Finish

I have seen some folks start with the ink, sand it down, then follow with a color stain. Looked pretty nice, but I guess that would depend a lot on the wood grain.

If you are DIY, I think the ink would be easier and look better than rattle can.

 

I prefer natural, because each piece is a unique design.
If you have a black bass, it’s a black bass. A blue bass is just that.
(I do make an exception for stain jobs, where you can see the grain pattern thru the color, those are pretty cool, too.)
If you have a natural bass, however, it’s a one of a kind, unique design... accent that with a cool pickguard and/or nice hardware and you’re good to go!

Granted, natural Basses with poorly matched pieces can look really crude, but that’s the manufacturers fault, not the woods’....

 

I agree, wood is already beautiful. Even high gloss sometimes.
Have you thought about just getting a figured maple or walnut pickguard?

 

On the contrary, I dislike opaque finishes.

 

Like everyone says, it depends on the wood.

Obviously, exotic woods look great natural or with some sort of translucent color. But on Fender-style basses ash usually looks great (and better than alder, basswood or poplar, in my opinion) especially with a little stain or tung oil on it.

One add -- natural finishes (especially ash) look great with a rosewood pickguard.

 

I own only one natural bass but I really like how it looks