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Do you think vintage neck tints are a bit pretentious?

I like the tint on my SX. I think it looks good with the sunburst body, but I just prefer darker colors to light ones. As with everything musical, including instruments, it's personal preference in the end.
 
I find this post pretentious.;) It's a non issue for me, especially if it's on Fender P or J Basses, or one of the many sundry vintage style clones. I can see how some folks don't want an amber tint on a natural wood neck, and it might look out of place on some instruments cosmetically. I say each to their own. To say that it is pretentious, or makes one pretentious to play a bass with an amber tinted natural maple neck might be pushing it a bit far imho.
 
I think that clear Maple can have a really unappealing color to it, and vintage tint gives it a nice warm glow.
Vintage tint doesn't have to mean a vintage look.
It just enhances the wood and makes it look pretty.

SX's vintage tint looks really bad to me though.
Totally un-natural orange color from the pics I've seen.

I like my Warmoth neck's color:
2634797316_d05febba06_m.jpg
 
I like the amber look better than the white maple look regardless if it's on the back of a brand new neck or the top of a bass or guitar. I don't know why I like it better, I just do. Looks good on an SX, looks good on a vintage Fender, it just works.
 
Do you think vintage neck tints are a bit pretentious?

No, I don't.

I suppose you might mean that people are trying to impress people with a vintage looking instrument when it's really new? Well, sorry, I can't agree. It's just an amber finish as opposed to clear. I think it looks quite nice on many instruments, and you'll find it on instruments that are modern in styling, too. It's just a color choice.
 
How can a coat of paint be pretentious?

I can see how something might not be one's to liking, so leave it at that. I think it might even be reasonable to state an opinion like, "IMHO vintage tints look fake."

Calling a finish pretentious is relic bashing/trolling, IMHO. I guess for those who are younger and have rarely even held an older Fender, let alone owned them, they seem somehow holy. They aren't.

Get over it. Basses are just basses. Music, like pretense, comes out of people not instruments--tinted or otherwise.