Paint inspiration

I'm in the panning stage of building a new bass (P bass shaped).

However, I have run into a small problem when it comes to deciding on a paint scheme. The more I look at other basses the more difficult it gets do decide on something, so I was hoping somebody could help me with some ideas and/or opinions.

The fretboard will be ebony, and the "base" color will be black. Both the headstock and the neck will be painted That's about how far I have come so far.

The ideas I have had so far are the following (I'm not including all, just the ones I have thought properly about:


1: Black with some sort of pinstriping (red and/or white). Pretty simple technically, but getting the pinstriping to look good is very difficult. (The stripes will be made by masking ans spraying, not with a brush.)

2: Black with gold hardware (including frets) and maybe a pinstripe-like pattern on the body (Lines thicker than typical stripes, but the same kind of pattern). The pattern will be in gold leaf. I could probably add some black shading to the gold to make a 3D effect.

The main problem with this one is that I don't really like gold hardware, but combined with black I like it. I just fear I'll grow tired of it very quickly.

3: Black with blue flakes. (Discarded because it will require a very thick clear coat.)

4: Blue metallic and black hardware/pickguard. Discarded because blue metallic only looks good in sunshine, not indoors under incandescent light.

5: Black base with some red design airbrushed on the body. Black hardware/pickguard. (Along the lines of this) Very unsure about this one. I sort of grew tired of the scheme as I did a mock-up in Photoshop. Does it look cheap?

6: Silver metallic with black hardware and matte black pickguard. Easy to do right, but may be a bit boring for a custom guitar.

7: Dark gray metallic (graphite) with black hardware and black pickguard. My last paint job was graphite sunburst, so it's sort of already done.


So, does anyone have any good ideas or sources of inspiration for something along similar lines or any wise words to help me eliminate some ideas?



I just need to decide on a paint scheme, pickups and save enough money, and I'm good to start my project.


I'm sorry if this is the wrong place for ask for things like this. Feel free to move the thread if I'm in the wrong place.

 

Have you tested it yourself yet? I have heard people have problems with Duplicolors Mirage paints. It seems to not harden properly and stay slightly soft.

Maybe I should try to find a set of the blue/red variant and see how it works.