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Looks over tone?

Sacrifice tone for looks?

  • Guilty

    Votes: 54 29.3%

  • Not guilty

    Votes: 130 70.7%
  • Total voters
    184
#42
twinjet said:
Has anyone else done something as silly as sacrificing tone for looks?
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I have three, primary criteria…"LOOKS", "FEEL" and "SOUND", specifically in that order.
  1. If I don't like the esthetics, I'm generally disinclined to pick it up in the first place…basically, it's a non-starter.
  2. However, if I don't like the feel, then it doesn't matter how pretty it is or how great it sounds. I won't bond with something that doesn't feel "right" in my hands.
  3. Ultimately, I find "SOUND" to be the easiest to alter. After all, strings and pickups can change an instrument's sound in both little and large ways.
twinjet said:
I had a really sexy Jazz bass, but it didn't exactly provide what I wanted in tone.

View attachment 742509
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Okay, you get one "LIKE" for having had that, but subtract one "LIKE" for giving it up. :facepalm:

If you're concerned over cost, but you really, really want a white jazz bass with blocks, just get a Squier Vintage Modified '70s Jazz, a set of Fender Custom Shop pickups and your strings of choice. Bing…Bang…Boom! :thumbsup:
 
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#43
My sunburst jazz has the best tone ever...but on a barroom stage with questionable lighting it doesn't visually "pop" like my natural P does, so I usually play the P live. Audience can't hear the difference. Still sounds pretty darn good.

SHALLOW? I AIN'T ASHAMED
 
#44
I hear that..although I don't mind the looks of my XL2 the playability, feel and tone faaaar outweigh everything..hard to describe unless you can personally relate. Kinda off topic from the fender thing so forgive the opinion if unwanted
 
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#45
I've never bought a bass primarily because I liked it's looks more than its sound.

But I have been guilty of passing up very nice sounding basses because I strongly dislike anything with a so-called "relic" finish.

So while cosmetics have never been sufficient justification for me to buy an instrument, they have been enough of a reason for me not to buy one.

I guess I'd have to say the look of a bass isn't a plus for me if it sounds good. But it can be a negative.
 
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#46
I'm with you. I don't like the looks of P basses very much, and prefer the looks of jazzes, Stingrays, Rics, Spectors, Thunderbirds....you get the idea. I'm also not a big fan of the P sound soloed. In the mix, well that's another story- it's superior to most basses I've played.

But I own 3 of them and no jazz basses. The reason- they have a tone that just works for me.

My favorite looking P is my white 62 AVRI with the ashtray over the bridge. Looks pretty cool (not Jazz cool, but cool enough IMO), and the thing just plays and sounds perfect in the mix. I sometimes play another guys Jazz bass with a band that I sub for. It's nice, but head to head with my P it doesn't quite sound the way I want. I play off the neck pickup, but it's still missing the grunt.

Can't go wrong with a Jazz, but for my taste, the Precision is more right than a Jazz.
 
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#48
twinjet said:
I'm at a crossroads.

Bought a Fender American Standard P bass last month, and tonally, it's everything I need. Aesthetically, it's pretty.

View attachment 742322

Buuuut...

View attachment 742320

That's what I want, with a black pearloid pickguard. I've always preferred the look of a Jazz bass. Not to say that I dislike the Precision look, but...yeah.

The thing is, the N3 pickups are rather bland. I much prefer the tone of the Custom Shop pickups and would rather not drop another couple hundred on a new set to install myself.

On top of all that, if I returned the P I would be paying up to another $500 ($400, if no pickups) for essentially a stroke of the ego and a little bling.

I spent some bonding time with the P last night, playing along to recordings of a 17-piece big band I once worked with. To put it simply, I got a tone I loved every...single...time.

Do I get that with a Jazz? Yes and no. The whole reason I even bought a P was because I exclusively used the neck pickup -which barely gave me a P tone- when I owned a J, and the bridge pickup gave me a seemingly unavoidable Jaco tone that I had grown sick of.

Has anyone else done something as silly as sacrificing tone for looks?

I'm thinking I may put my other basses, an L-2000 and an SR305F away for the rest of 2015 so I can really bond with my Precision and reassert the love for that bass.
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I wouldn't say I sacrificed anything. Taste in tone changes. Taste in look changes. For a long time I played mainly coffee table basses to include Warwick corvette, Warwick fna, Warwick thumb bo5, Warwick thumb nt5, and Conklin Gt7. All of which had natural finishes. Both my fenders were black and my current bass is a stingray 5h in silver sparkle. From coffee table to silver sparkle is probably as far away from similar as you can get. But I dig the look. Here's some picks of my main gigging basses over the years
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#49
I'm fairly fortunate, as I love the look of most basses and normally really like the rest. Of course not counting one-offs or estremely niche stuff it's not relevant to have an opinion on anyway.

So, sound is something I don't consider subject to compromises. If I can't get the sound I need, the bass moves on. That was why my otherwise great looking and extremely nice playing Fodera got the boot, I could never make the sound work for me. That being said, I really like my basses to both look and sound perfect to my eyes and ears. That's probably why I only own custom made basses now. I'd still love to have a nice P or J or similar, I'm sure I'll get there one day when the kids get a bit older.
 
#50
Feel,tone,looks...... for me anyway. You can always change the time of a bass... But one that is not comfortable to play will always be that way. Kinda makes me think of that Winston incident that ended with ".................. yes but tomorrow I'll be sober!" ;) History buffs may get that one......
 
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#54
I'm right there with the OP. I have an awesome honeyburst P bass. Love the sound and the feel. I want a black one though. And I don't want 2 P basses.

Swap out the body? Paint it? Sell it and get a black P? Oh... life is so complicated sometimes.

And this makes it even harder Fender Precision Bass Alder Body

This too, which I'm actually just seeing for the first time and may wind up happening Invalid Link Removed
 
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#56
Jazz Bass body, Jazz Bass neck (with block inlays) ... single P bass pickup, problem solved. I have such a beast that my long time bass tech built a few years ago, being a mostly J bass guy it was the answer for me when I need the P bass vibe.
 
#58
Malak the Mad said:
I have three, primary criteria…"LOOKS", "FEEL" and "SOUND", specifically in that order.
  1. If I don't like the esthetics, I'm generally disinclined to pick it up in the first place…basically, it's a non-starter.
  2. However, if I don't like the feel, then it doesn't matter how pretty it is or how great it sounds. I won't bond with something that doesn't feel "right" in my hands.
  3. Ultimately, I find "SOUND" to be the easiest to alter. After all, strings and pickups can change an instrument's sound in both little and large ways.
Click to expand...
Well, this saves me from having to post virtually the exact same thing. I approach things exactly the same way, and think about them all in terms of modifiability. You can't really change feel, so that is critical, I probably rank that first. Aesthetics of an instrument are important to me, and they can be somewhat modifiable - new pick guard or even paint if you want to - so that goes second. Tone is the easiest to change - drop in new pickups, you have new tone! New preamp, new tone! Easy peasy. So, yeah, I'll take looks over tone anytime. :)
 
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#60
I've never bought a bass because of it's look. Playability and tone all the way.
I'll take a beat up, relic say 1961 Jazz Bass over a clean, hardly played 1961 Jazz Bass if the beat up one played and sounded better.
 

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