Nothing can ruin the look of a bass like an ugly pickguard can

Right now I have zero instruments with pickguards & actively avoid them.

 

Ugly as in shape, or color? I always thought Music Man’s toilet seat pickguards are kinda ugly, but I still love my Sterling.

 

Ugliest pickguard *shape* I know of has to be the Gibson Ripper/Grabber.

Ugliest color? Tort. (*ducks and puts flame suit on*)

 

I know some like 'em, but I've never been able to get with a tort pickguard on a red bass.

 

A sunburst Jazz with a tort PG has got to be one of the ugliest basses ever made. No offense to anyone who actually ownes one of course.

 

I have a red bass with tort and I love it
Actually that one you posted looks uuuugly though! Too brrrownn

 

Oh, yeah... this thread will go far.

 

this one

 

HERETIC!

ATTACK! ATTAAAAAAAAAAAACK!

 

Yeah that particular bass doesn’t look good but I think it’s because that’s a terrible tort job. With proper tort it might look pretty sweet actually (IMO).

 

Black body, maple FB, tort. Ugly.

 

No picture no proof.

 

Black and tort can work, but a maple fretboard + tort never works. Tort requires rosewood fretboards. This isn’t even just an opinion, it’s an actual law.

 

Fender JP-90..... Great sounding MIA bass, lightweight and blessed with a horrific design of a pickguard to most people. I loved the bass, but yeah, the pickguard looked like Fender was trying to cut back on plastic usage and provided the bare minimum of one. It's not even over the area where it's supposed to protect the body from errant pick playing! I honestly think had it had a better pickguard or none at all, the bass wouldn't have been discontinued. This isn't my JP-90, but it looked just like this. I don't think I even took a picture of it...it was that fuggly.

 

That’s so ugly that it’s actually kinda enduring.

 

Anything with tortoiseshell. Looks like pepperoni vomit.

 

Stock modern Fender tort stinks - you have to go spitfire or vintage.

 

My Gibson Ripper is still my main player, but it has never been because of looks. Rippers come from an era where Gibson sold several basses with different pickup placements and Gibson decided to save production time and cost with a single body with a big routed space that could allow installing any of the setups and then covering the space with a pickguard made for that bass. In a recent conversation, Becky Lawrence told me that Bill’s vision for the Ripper was a more modern looking body style, and he referred to the Ripper as having “your grandmother’s pickguard”. But I think his electronics design for the instrument is genius.

Otto