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I don't like plain black basses
- Thread starter Flatwound
- Start date
This is why I rarely clean my black basses. I love the smudges.
It should work nicely. I’ve been aesthetically addressing this with some local bassists in my area. I have a friend who was with a very well-known and popular local grou and had an original Music Man Stingray that was a very bright red with white pickguard and chrome hardware.
He brought it to me wanting me to change the color but I refused to do it. The bass was beautiful but was lacking aesthetically. I told him if he would leave it with me I would work on it and he owed me nothing if he didn’t like the results.
I ordered all-black hardware, tuners, bridge, neck plate, strap buttons, knobs, string tree, jack plate and control plate. I also ordered a solid matte black pickguard. I mounted everything with black screws. That’s all I did.
When he came to pick it up he didn’t recognize it. He thought it was a different bass until I handed him a bag with the old pickguard and all the chrome hardware. He absolutely loved it.
That just shows it doesn’t take much to make bass aesthetics pop.
Try the all-black hardware with red knobs. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Here’s one I just finished building. The control plate is the only chrome on it.
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EdwardofHuncote
I Still Dream of Jeannie
- Aug 21, 2013
- 6,668
- 2
- 16,474
- Disclosures
- I privately own and operate a local musical instument repair shop.
I did not seek any of these out because they were black...
'87 Gibson Q-80
'82 Tobias Basic
'95 Turner Electroline (fretless)
...that's just how it worked out.
*special mention for the aging on the Tobias' finish...
'87 Gibson Q-80
'82 Tobias Basic
'95 Turner Electroline (fretless)
...that's just how it worked out.
*special mention for the aging on the Tobias' finish...
Looks fine without the stickers most of my basses have been black. My thing is I,m not really a pick gaurd guy. To each his own I guess.
All black is fine as long as there are boundaries. 
My badass non-boomer/non-sunburst, no-pickguard, Generation X, 80's/90's era influenced, Spector Euro 4 Classic in black..........
So...it seems to me...that if I want to know who has a pink bass guitar....all I gotta do is start a thread stating how much I don't like them 
But I did have an all black BC Rich Warlock and a Black Yamaha fretless RXB260F when I was younger
But I did have an all black BC Rich Warlock and a Black Yamaha fretless RXB260F when I was younger
I don’t like red basses. I guess I’m going to need to join a support group or something….
Although I don't intentionally seek out black basses, I've ended up with three of them (I have others that are non-black). My Ernie Ball USA-made SUB basses have a non-reflective matte-black textured finish on the bodies that I really like.
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Ohh, those are nice. I have to admit that the white one is more visually attractive to me.
I clearly should have said that I don’t like plain black finishes, not plain black basses.
Stickers!
I agree that a plain black Ibanez with chrome hardware, to my eyes, does have a bit of a cheap vibe to it (unfair because a lot of them are really great instruments for the money) but I think that's probably because when I was starting out around 25 years ago, a whole lot of the starter kits came with a bass in that color scheme. I have the same unfair feeling about plain red or plain blue Fenders with a single ply white pickguard, thanks to the Squier affinity series of that time. That said, I think the easiest way for me to overcome that with a black&chrome Ibanez would be to go all black hardware... and maybe some black nylon tapewounds while we're at it? For me that would instantly take it from the "cheap" vibe to "sleek". Likewise for a Squier, hardware style/aesthetic swap can go a long way. In any case, congrats on a nice free bass!
