Is anyone playing a bass on stage that they don’t like the look of?

I happen to agree with you about the point.

 

Not yet.

 

I used to own and play an Italia Rimini bass that was covered in white mother of toilet seat material.
It had a great sound,and i enjoyed kind of shocking people with its “so ugly it’s cool”esthetic.
Ultimately i traded it,because the frets on it were so jumbo,they hurt my fingers!

 

Do you just have a really ugly bass that has the perfect tone, and your just looking for validation from the group here to use it? Is it a Hello Kitty bass or something like that?

 

Gibson had their Gov’t series, tan or grey. Don’t know how they sounded though.

 

I play an avri 62 Jazz quite regularly. It is such a sweet Bass, it sounds great it plays great but I am just thoroughly burnt out on Sunburst and tortoise pickguards. So while I don't absolutely hate it I don't like the looks of it very much anymore.

 

I wouldn't buy a bass that I think is ugly. I don't care if others think it's ugly, that's their problem.

 

I don't think you'll find many cases of anyone going out to buy a bass they really think is ugly. They may purposely buy a bass others may find ugly for shock value or someone in a tribute band forced to play let's say a Hohner Beatle bass to keep the theme. I certainly have played my share of basses other thought were ugly but I didn't think of them that way.
Only real time I played a bass I thought was ugly was my very first bass which was bought for me by my parents when I was a young kid - it was a jazz clone bass in natural finish and tort pickguard. I hated it because it looked dated and very plain to a pre-teen where appearance was a big part of life. It looked far too 70-ish to a New Wave teen. The music store somehow convinced my parents it was the perfect first bass. Truth be told, that thing was a player, sounded great but I hated being seen with it when my other band members had an Iceman guitar and a Gibson Les Paul. I have to laugh because I now think that bass was beautiful, I can now appreciate the retro look, but back then it felt like driving a Model T Ford to a school prom.

 

I have a 1974 “poo brown” Fender P that I gig a lot - sounds amazing but looks kinda crappy.

Still an iconic bass, but the colour leaves a lot to be desired.

 

I see what you did there.

 

I just saw what you saw. Unintentional humour!

 

no

 

I think this about everyone that plays a newer T-Bird with mudbuckers, lotta people playing them and they all sound like farts.
it's what I consider a "look at me I play one too" Bass.

 

My Hohner B2B is a Steinberger clone-ish bass. I use it mainly as a travel bass. Replaced the pickups with Lindy Fralins so with flatwounds it sounds great. Easy to play. Hangs well and feels good with the double strap. Kind of an odd looking bass, though. I've had five other Steinbergers, including an L2. They seem to have me in their clutch.

 

My bass looks beautiful when its sitting there by itself. But in pictures and video of me playing it on stage, it looks like a bright maple neck floating in space with no body attached. The whole body is dark mahogany, black pickups and pickguard, you can’t even tell it’s a P bass from most pics of me playing it on stage.

Whatever. It sounds and feels incredible to play and it looks great by itself.

 

Thomas Silver: D-A-D

 

The bases I play look great on stage and in my opinion this is only becoming more true as I am currently working on two builds at the same time. Thank you, Marty Bell!!

 

Well, it's not so much that I think the bass is ugly per se... but whenever I gig with my Steinberger L-2 I'm very much aware that I look like a complete dweeb.

But for that sound, it's worth it.