Pickguard help for an ugly Precision Bass

[jd56hawk]

Notice anything strange about Fender's color options for their Deluxe Active basses?
Fretboard choices comes to mind.

By the way, I like the gold, too...but it doesn't have to be so flat, so plain.

 

[1954bassman]

The gold looks good to me, white pearloid would also. Google custom pickguards for lots of choices and suppliers. I like Chandler pickguards myself.

 

[Canadian APII]

Hello there!

I am looking to buy my first Fender bass and I have found one that sounds incredible to me.

It is the Fender Deluxe Precision Bass Special. I played it against a few Squiers and various Fenders and this one just sounded the best to me. I've had so much fun visiting the music store just to play this monster!

My only problem with it is that it is (in my opinion) a very ugly bass. I know that aesthetics aren't everything, and I still intend on buying it, but I was wondering what you guys think I could do pickguard-wise to make this bass look better. I like gold pickguards on certain basses, but it definitely doesn't look good with this metallic blue paint job. I've had it suggested to me by one of the sales guys at the music store to go for a vintage mint green pickguard, but I'm not sure how that will look. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks, guys!
Travis

Definitely not ugly. Don't do anything. I love the look.

 

[BrentD]

Do all you guys who have tried this bass live in Michigan?! That particular blue one is a good one!

 

[gregmon79]

I actually kinda dig the gold pg. And Im not much of a gold guy either. IF not that one though, I would go with red or black pearloid

 

[Eric Swaim]

3-ply black-white-black, Darth Vader would have it no other way.

 

[7dollarbologna]

My 50's p-bass lacquer started out that way - I did this:

 

[FerK]

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrreeeeeeeddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd

 

[bolophonic]

I have a deep blue Precision with a black pearl guard and it looks great. But so does that gold anodized guard.

 

[bassliner50]

I find the white common pick guards the ugliest. Fortunately you don't have that. To me, gold looks ostentatious. You don't play ostentatious or over the top music, do you? Subtleties are the thing. Go with tortoiseshell my friend (maybe trending toward the red.) . Tort works almost 100% of the time. Think: What would Yoyo Ma use on his beloved cello? ...Nice Precision BTW!

 

[xrockstrongox]

Well if it were black (probably the blue too), I know matte black with a Zelda decal looks good (IMO)!

 

[Chris204T]

Can you just take the pick guard off and go naked? Not sure what's under there on a P bass. I bought a black Jazz with a white pick guard and didn't care for it, so ordered a solid black one from these guys and love it black on black Invalid Link Removed They have thousands of choices of colors/patterns. I would add that getting black PG screws made a big difference too. They were very cheap and make all the difference on a black PG.

 

[lavmonga]

I like the gold, but black with a b/w/b looks great too.

 

[Nev375]

Rosewood to match the fretboard.

 

[Bufalo]

if it were me

I have just exactly this on my metallic blue P-bass, and...

 

[buldog5151bass]

Depending on your budget, consider something personalized. I've seen them made from old records, reproductions of photographs, all sorts of cool stuff.

If you are going unique, go unique.

 

[mc900ftj]

Notice anything strange about Fender's color options for their Deluxe Active basses?
Fretboard choices comes to mind.

I have the "Blizzard Pearl" with rosewood shown in that "family photo" . I actually like the gold pickguard on that color/paint scheme. Looks really good in person and kinda retro feeling. On the black ones, though...I'd probably switch it out to my tastes...I like the black pearloid suggestion.

 

[Zoomaster]

Blue pearloid, or shell would be my choice. You can find samples of both on Invalid Link Removed

 

[Lownote38]

Parchment/black/Parchment. It's somewhere between cream and white. Looks great with blue.

 

[jd56hawk]

I have the "Blizzard Pearl" with rosewood shown in that "family photo" . I actually like the gold pickguard on that color/paint scheme. Looks really good in person and kinda retro feeling. On the black ones, though...I'd probably switch it out to my tastes...I like the black pearloid suggestion.

I wanted a Blizzard Pearl model for quite some time.
I just thought it was strange that Fender offered a maple fretboard with every color except for the Navy Blue Metallic. Saw one on ebay last year where someone had swapped necks...the maple looked good with the blue.