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Has Quilted Maple Top become un-cool ??

#62
LucienBel said:
I really like figured Maple tops of any sort.

A lot of the quilt tops on cheap basses (if not all) are just laminates or very very thin pieces. So it's not that they're not cool, it's just a way to try and spice up the lower level instruments. Most times you can easily tell the difference between a quilt or flame top on a cheap bass from one on an expensive bass.
Click to expand...

You nailed it on the head, and this what I was thinking of in the OP, but couldn't put into words. You're absolutely right.
The photo earlier of the purple Modulus Q is breathtaking ...
 
#63
I've never really had a set preference one way or the other regarding any kind of quilt tops vs. painted instruments. I purchased this last week & it had absolutely zero to do with the top or what it may try to suggest to anyone as to how much it cost. I'm not out to impress anyone with my instrument's look or cost - I'd rather do that with groove, note selection & musicianship, but I'm digressing here. I bought it because of the tone & how well it plays. I wanted to break away from the jazz bass single coil pickup tone (I have WAY too many jazz basses already), so it was the pickups & their tone that drew me to it. I can't do anything about the top the manufacturer chose, but I will say that I like it. I agree with the poster who stated that if it suits the instrument & is done well, then it's a wonderful thing. In this case, I think it suits the shape of the instrument very well & compliments it strongly. To see this on a jazz bass body would probably be very over the top. Ehh - to each his own, but I like it on this body shape with these pickups. :cool:

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#64
They aren't uncool. They are no longer the flavor of the week that's all. Today it's buckeye burl or spalted maple. next week it'll be something else. Buy and play what you like is the best way to go.
 
#66
When I ordered this bass nearly 20 years ago, it was only the second spalted maple top I'd ever seen and the third one I'd ever heard of. Imagine my dismay when I walked into a Sam Ash several years later and saw sub-$300 basses with spalted tops. :eyebrow:

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