Doner Designs
Steve Doner
- Jun 2, 2012
- 5,784
- 6,819
- Disclosures
- Doner Designs is an alias for Steve Doner
I have always had a thing for natural wood grain with a clear finish.
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Poll: How have your aesthetic preferences changed over time?
- Thread starter twinjet
- Start date
I don't have preference, it's a bass by bass situation.
That "close to the wood" thing - I get it. That's why I have so few "painted" bases over the years, and so many like you describe.
But as I get older, I wonder, "are my tastes getting more irrelevant?". No doubt for me the answer is yes. And if it takes glitter and clearcoat to bring up the next generation, I'm all for it!
I've never really been a fan of blonde nautural finishes or painted finishes. Stain, I can get behind, or a natural finish on dark or interesting wood. My first bass was a 4001 in Fireglo - sort of stained, but with wood grain showing.. My current small herd is all either natural interesting wood or stained wood. I figure if it's made of wood, I want to see some evidence of that. I voted for "not at all" - pretty much haven't moved on aesthetics.
Used to love Les' CTs and Geddy's Js, just kinda like them now.
Used to despise red guitars and basses, but if they have a mint or yellowed pg I rather like them.
Used to hate Ps, now my only bass is a P.
Never was passionate about either Warwicks or Rics, now I want a Warbacker Four Thousandvette standard 5.
Used to despise red guitars and basses, but if they have a mint or yellowed pg I rather like them.
Used to hate Ps, now my only bass is a P.
Never was passionate about either Warwicks or Rics, now I want a Warbacker Four Thousandvette standard 5.
One constant has been my distaste for Warwick. Not into the body, the overall appearance or the sounds I've heard from them.
I used to like basses with nice exotic wood tops and non traditional body shapes.
Now I prefer Precision and Jazz style instruments.
Natural , blonde , sonic & lp blue, CAR used to be my favorite colors.
I couldn't stand Fiesta Red , white, black, sunburst, Daphne blue , or metal flame sparkle colors.
Now they are my favorites .
Couldn't stand tort either but now I like it on certain colors.
Now I prefer Precision and Jazz style instruments.
Natural , blonde , sonic & lp blue, CAR used to be my favorite colors.
I couldn't stand Fiesta Red , white, black, sunburst, Daphne blue , or metal flame sparkle colors.
Now they are my favorites .
Couldn't stand tort either but now I like it on certain colors.
Mine stayed the same. I still like brightly colored instruments and canned food products with fun labels.
Mine have somewhat changed for sure. I used to really dislike bass's like Ric's but now I like them. My tone preferences have changed a lot. I actually care about my tone today. I used to just play what I could get and just go. I learned a ton of stuff about sound and tone since I've been here and it's taken me a long way. I always have more to learn too. But learning about all that stuff really made me enjoy playing again. I've played for almost 20 years and there was a big 6 or 7 year block where I barely played bass at all. Now, I play every single day just about. But I love bass. I love tone. So that is the biggest thing that's changed for me.
Sorry, went off the beaten path haha But yeah, over the years, my aesthetic changes have changed a little. I've always been a sucker for black and maple
Sorry, went off the beaten path haha But yeah, over the years, my aesthetic changes have changed a little. I've always been a sucker for black and maple
Haven't changed much at all. I liked these as a kid; like them just as much now..
As I have gotten older, I seem to prefer mahogany over just about any other wood for musical things except just maybe flame maple. Does that count?
Drastically. Back in the 80's, I thought "wood colored" instruments were stupid (sunburst, natural) and no shape was more aesthetically beautiful than the dangerously pointy bc rich ironbird. Ha! now I'm the polar opposite. natural woodgrain, sunbursts and smooth curves of traditional classics is what floats my boat.
I used to have very specific taste in how my bass looked. Now-a-days I'm way more concerned with how it sounds and feels. If I'm bass shopping, I wouldn't go out of my way to find a horrible looking bass to prove a point, but I would probably buy a horrible looking bass if everything but the aesthetics rang the bell;comfortable to play, sounded great, quality hardware, controls were all positioned where they should be.... If I was shopping and all those boxes were checked, I would probably be ok with a reiced fuschia and banana yellow paint job and a tort pic guard. Probably....
Well, as I ponder my long and illustrious playing career of the last 11 months...
Actually, kidding aside, I am surprised by how much my tastes have changed in such a *small* amount of time... It is amazing how quickly one's preferences can morph (or in some cases, emerge) when you start actually playing and using something!!!
Initially, I wanted *only* black on black instruments, and I still love it (especially strings), but I find that I now gravitate towards colors like LPB, CAR, and even natural. Yet I still greatly prefer a satin finish to gloss--that hasn't changed.
I used to dislike the fender "club foot" headstock shape. So boring! Now I find it iconic and beautiful.
Not so much a change, but I discovered just how much I *despise* sunburst and tort--mostly the tort. Although admittedly, my antipathy was likely exacerbated into disgust by the burst/tort GOML brigade up here on TB, nevertheless I will never have tort anything on any instrument of mine.
I also discovered that despite most of my instruments having a rosewood/ebony fretboard, for some reason I now have a distinct preference for a simple maple fretboard--even on black instruments! I also discovered that I *love, love, love* a color-matched headstock.
I still prefer a p-body over a j-body (although an Aerodyne will be mine one day), I still think Schecter makes some of the best looking instruments, I still hate the "Thunderbird" and "V" guitar shapes, I can't stand inverted headstocks, and I still like my black leather Harley straps. So, not everything has changed I guess...
Actually, kidding aside, I am surprised by how much my tastes have changed in such a *small* amount of time... It is amazing how quickly one's preferences can morph (or in some cases, emerge) when you start actually playing and using something!!!
Initially, I wanted *only* black on black instruments, and I still love it (especially strings), but I find that I now gravitate towards colors like LPB, CAR, and even natural. Yet I still greatly prefer a satin finish to gloss--that hasn't changed.
I used to dislike the fender "club foot" headstock shape. So boring! Now I find it iconic and beautiful.
Not so much a change, but I discovered just how much I *despise* sunburst and tort--mostly the tort. Although admittedly, my antipathy was likely exacerbated into disgust by the burst/tort GOML brigade up here on TB, nevertheless I will never have tort anything on any instrument of mine.
I also discovered that despite most of my instruments having a rosewood/ebony fretboard, for some reason I now have a distinct preference for a simple maple fretboard--even on black instruments! I also discovered that I *love, love, love* a color-matched headstock.
I still prefer a p-body over a j-body (although an Aerodyne will be mine one day), I still think Schecter makes some of the best looking instruments, I still hate the "Thunderbird" and "V" guitar shapes, I can't stand inverted headstocks, and I still like my black leather Harley straps. So, not everything has changed I guess...
Last edited:
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
An ES335 has always been my idea of what a guitar should look like. It's not too surprising that I have an EB-2 and played it exclusively for a long time. I like Thunderbirds, too. That's more recent, and radically different. Some things change, some don't. Life and everything is still all about f-holes. Which Thunderbirds lack. Nothing is perfect.
