Does Headstock Appearance Matter To You?

[Yellow Bang66]

Just curious where people stand on this one, and feel free to post pics of your favorite common or not so common headstock.

There are many, likely amazing instruments I have passed up because of aesthetic personal preference, even my Custom Roscoe LG3005 headstock looks a little funky to me, but have kept it because there is nothing that sounds or plays better (IMHO).

I tend to like controlled rounded lines, like my current instruments minus the Roscoe, which include a Stingray 5 and Fender Jazz Deluxe 5 (pictured).

What you got?

Nah. IMHO, the headstock just has to compliment the body shape & styling. But it's not a very big deciding factor.
I used to hate the telecaster HS, they looked weird/Funky to me, (like a deformed foot.) It just looked wrong. It wasn't until much later when I was rebuilding an ebay find & decided I needed to replace the neck with custom 1 from warmoth. So I had a wide choice to choose from I was leaning away from the traditional/tock fender style HS.
anyway, while I was trying to decide what I wanted to do I stumbled across a ZZ top zideo! with dusty Hill playing a telebass with a reverse tele head stock! I thought it looked so much cooler that way! IDK maybe it was just a different POV, but I was in love! I immediately ordered 1. & i love it & every who sees it loves it!! So itjust goes to show nothing is written in stone!keep your mind open, aesthetics are not as important as we like to think.Headstock shapes are a pretty obscure detail to get caught up with( form usually follows function), but I understand. GL

 

[Yellow Bang66]

Nah. IMHO, the headstock just has to compliment the body shape & styling. But it's not a very big deciding factor.
I used to hate the telecaster HS, they looked weird/Funky to me, (like a deformed foot.) It just looked wrong. It wasn't until much later when I was rebuilding an ebay find & decided I needed to replace the neck with custom 1 from warmoth. So I had a wide choice to choose from I was leaning away from the traditional/tock fender style HS.
anyway, while I was trying to decide what I wanted to do I stumbled across a ZZ top zideo! with dusty Hill playing a telebass with a reverse tele head stock! I thought it looked so much cooler that way! IDK maybe it was just a different POV, but I was in love! I immediately ordered 1. & i love it & every who sees it loves it!! So itjust goes to show nothing is written in stone!keep your mind open, aesthetics are not as important as we like to think.Headstock shapes are a pretty obscure detail to get caught up with( form usually follows function), but I understand. GL

 

[konfyouzd]

Nah. IMHO, the headstock just has to compliment the body shape & styling. But it's not a very big deciding factor.
I used to hate the telecaster HS, they looked weird/Funky to me, (like a deformed foot.) It just looked wrong. It wasn't until much later when I was rebuilding an ebay find & decided I needed to replace the neck with custom 1 from warmoth. So I had a wide choice to choose from I was leaning away from the traditional/stock fender style HS.
anyway, while I was trying to decide what I wanted to do I stumbled across a ZZ top zideo! with dusty Hill playing a telebass with a reverse tele head stock! I thought it looked so much cooler that way! IDK maybe it was just a different POV, but I was in love! I immediately ordered 1. & i love it & every who sees it loves it!! So it just goes to show nothing is written in stone! Keep your mind open, that aesthetic is not as important as we like to think. Headstock shapes are a pretty obscure detail to get caught up with (the form usually follows function), but I understand. GL

Dude...

I just looked up reverse tele headstocks... I'm finding it difficult to dislike it as much as I dislike the regular one.

"The more you know..."

 

[KohanMike]

When I first started playing bass over 5 years ago with my seniors ukulele group, I only wanted 2x2 style because I hang all my basses on the wall (see my avatar) and thought a 4x would not hang properly, then as I accumulated more sub-short scale (I only play 21" to 25" scale), I found one with 4x that fit my criteria, so I tried it and it fit the hanger just fine. Now I have four 4x and open to more.

 

[pcake]

i don't tend to notice headstock shape apart from the entire bass. oddly i notice headstocks on acoustic guitars, though, and owned two guitars that i disliked the headstocks on, but i loved the guitars. now i see the pics, i guess i don't like stubby headstocks on guitars.

 

[Mike Whitfield]

Yes; absolutely.

I haven't seen a tolerable one outside of Fender, Music Man (their basses only, not their guitars), the modern G&L type (with the "hook" on it), and your standard 2-per-side Gibson ones. Therefore, in 31 years of playing bass, aside from Japanese cheap-Os, I haven't ever bought anything outside of a bass from one of these four companies. I don't care how "good" it is. If it doesn't look attractive to me, it's out.

Seems odd to me that you like the G&L headstock but not the Peavey headstock, or like the Music Man but not the Yamaha BBNE2.

 

[skyline_01]

Are there actually any inline 5's? I don't think I've ever seen one.

Yep, I had a MIM Fender Jazz Deluxe V with 5 inline tuners, and I'm certain there are several others out there. Mighty Mite has 5 string necks with that config also.

 

[2F/2F]

Seems odd to me that you like the G&L headstock but not the Peavey headstock, or like the Music Man but not the Yamaha BBNE2.

There’s a hell of a lot more than the headstocks that I don’t like about either of those, therefore I’ve never even considered purchasing them.

That said, the Peavey headstock looks nothing like a G&L headstock to me. And the other one (which I had to look up) is closer, and the profile taken alone is actually not terrible. But in the real world – hideous. Looks more like the Music Man guitar headstock to me, cramped with tuners. Not to mention that the tuner pegs are gaudy and have an ugly shape, and I don’t like five string basses. Let’s not get too much into how the bass itself is so hideous that no headstock would look good on it...but that matters too.

Beautiful (and connected to basses I like):

Ugly (and connected to basses in which I have zero interest):

I don’t even think these are that attractive in and of themselves...but they work with the Stingray body. I don’t love them, but I tolerate the one on my ‘77.

This is something that someone with the aesthetic sense of an 8–10 year old girl would be into:

 

[Mike Whitfield]

There’s a hell of a lot more than the headstocks that I don’t like about either of those, therefore I’ve never even considered purchasing them.

That said, the Peavey headstock looks nothing like a G&L headstock to me. And the other one (which I had to look up) is closer, and the profile taken alone is actually not terrible. But in the real world – hideous. Looks more like the Music Man guitar headstock to me, cramped with tuners. Not to mention that the tuner pegs are gaudy and have an ugly shape, and I don’t like five string basses. Let’s not get too much into how the bass itself is so hideous that no headstock would look good on it...but that matters too.

Beautiful (and connected to basses I like):

View attachment 3645202

Ugly (and connected to basses in which I have zero interest):

View attachment 3645201

I don’t even think these are that attractive in and of themselves...but they work with the Stingray body. I don’t love them, but I tolerate the one on my ‘77.

View attachment 3645181

View attachment 3645182

lol I'm just the opposite on both sets. I find the G&L to be pretty aggressively ugly and the Peavey to be gracefully beautiful, and I find the Yamaha to be just a prettier version of the MM headstock, although I do agree that many (perhaps most) of the Yamahas are too gaudy. In general I do not like gold hardware, especially for giant bass tuning machines, although there are some black basses, some fewer white basses, and the very occasional red bass where I think the gold works okay.

 

[vvvmmm]

I'll add that while I don't care how they look, how they look can indicate how the axe sounds. I've never played a pointy bass, but pointy guitars tend to have hot pups (like, say, DiMarzios) which might rule them out for, say, a alt.country application. I predict the same might hold true for, say, a Kramer or Ibanez, etc., metal-type aesthetic bass. Yeah?

 

[JIO]

matters

 

[Eddie LeBlanc]

Something about that Gumby Headstock got me decades ago..... LOL

 

[4dog]

Thanks for sharing.

any time!!

 

[retslock]

After 10-11 pages of differing opinions it’s plain to see that design attributes are evaluated and appreciated in so many different ways. What’s ugly to some is beautiful to others and vice versa. Perhaps this can help us all understand what a diverse group we are and to appreciate our differences with good humour.

 

[Mike Whitfield]

any time!!

I just read your signature quote. Now I have tea on my shirt.

After 10-11 pages of differing opinions it’s plain to see that design attributes are evaluated and appreciated in so many different ways. What’s ugly to some is beautiful to others and vice versa. Perhaps this can help us all understand what a diverse group we are and to appreciate our differences with good humour.

Well said.

 

[Jeff Elkins]

I voted for option three, but this is by far my favourite headstock design
View attachment 3644863

LOVE those. A Vantage was my main player for several years. When I decided to buy an electric guitar I searched for and found a VS600 to match my bass, I was so emamored.

 

[Marley's Ghost]

I play a Kiesel Vader headless so that's gonna be a no from me dawg.

 

[Baa]

LOVE those. A Vantage was my main player for several years. When I decided to buy an electric guitar I searched for and found a VS600 to match my bass, I was so emamored.

I've been thinking about buying a Vantage guitar, to match my basses, but haven't found the right one yet.

 

[Yellow Bang66]

Just curious where people stand on this one, and feel free to post pics of your favorite common or not so common headstock.

There are many, likely amazing instruments I have passed up because of aesthetic personal preference, even my Custom Roscoe LG3005 headstock looks a little funky to me, but have kept it because there is nothing that sounds or plays better (IMHO).

I tend to like controlled rounded lines, like my current instruments minus the Roscoe, which include a Stingray 5 and Fender Jazz Deluxe 5 (pictured).

What you got?

I just wanted to add. has any one one else ever noticed that the Fender tradition headstock shape is actually a side profile slhouette of an up right bass headstock? the round "ball" at the top is the scroll part of the violin's HS!. I alway thought that was ingenious!! or did I never notice it until recently?

 

[FloridaTim]

Never looked twice at a headstock. Just doesn't matter to me at all. Flip side: I wouldn't be caught dead with a Music Man style bass simply because of the pick guard. Can't stand the looks of them. Just different tastes.