What is...

[Dan B]

I don't usually like Burls either, except for Buckeye Burl, which is awesome! Camphor Burl is usually really unappealing to me.

I love flamed and quilted tops though, ESPECIALLY Quilted Ash tops. Absolutely beautiful.

FWIW, it shouldn't just be a veneer covering the wood, it's a much thicker (1/8", 1/4", 3/8", whatever) laminate over the body.

As far as the pickguards.
I like white pearl, and occasionally black and grey pearls, but anytime I see green or red or what have you, it looks incredibly cheap and stupid. (Though I did have a dark blue pearl pickguard on my first Strat at one point. The body was black.)
I can't believe it when I see people doing green pearl on sunburst or something, it looks so bad that I have to LOL.

The same goes for cheap looking Tort pickguards. I'm not usually much of a fan of Tort shell pickguards, but if you are going to have one, it better be a nice looking one.

I'm the opposite about burled maple; personally I can't stand Buckeye but I love Camphor.

I love almost everything else concerning wood figuring.

Pickguards...I like anything in greyscale (Silver, Black, White) if it's done correctly. I've seen many black and white pickguards with a bunch of fingerprints on them and it doesn't look pretty. When it's clean, the bass really stands out. Pearloids, from what I have seen, are less susceptible to that though. And as for colored pickguards, Tort is really my only favorite. Only in some instances would a colored pickguard work (Black+Red, Blue+Blue, Red+Red). Personally I find Red+Mint to be awful, but Green+Mint to be awesome.

I'm weird like that.

 

[lanceropolis]

The shape of the headstock.
If the shape bugs me for any reason, I just can't like the bass.
It's dumb, but we've all got our little hang ups.

+100000000000000 I'm glad I'm not the only one.

 

[Reynoldbot]

aw, my FAV is the jazz style. i love the asymmetry at the back end!

oh - and i never liked the "quilted" top look. blah.

Yeah I think the jazz bass body may be one of the greatest designs of the postmodern era. It's sleek, fast, and aggressive. The bass always looks to be in motion, and is meant to be seen horizontally, as in "being played right now". It also draws your focus around the entire bass and directs your eye to the player.

Symmetry can get really boring really fast.

 

[Demonator]

Not having a place to rest my hand while playing.

 

[JoZac21]

The shape of the headstock.
If the shape bugs me for any reason, I just can't like the bass.
It's dumb, but we've all got our little hang ups.

+1... if the headstock doesn't look good I tend to approach the instrument w. a bias. Occasionally color may turn me off, but not as much as an aesthetically unappealing headstock...

I know that I'm drawn to fender and gibson headstock designs because I've been around them my whole life... they're everywhere and they're iconic... so having been "programmed" to recognize those designs, to me, most other headstocks don't look "right".

I suppose I am a victim of solid marketing. :scowl:

 

[Kwesi]

Things I like:

Exotic tops - there's just something so classy and artistic about exotic woods.
Natural/Transparent finishes - It works with my like of exotic tops in that I find it very classy and artistic.
Knobs - it's probably more function than form but it's so ingrained that I can't really tell. I pretty much require that my bass have no more than 6 and no less than 3 knobs, counting concentric pots as 1.

Deal breakers:

Pickup/Bridge covers - I can't stand the way they look. I don't think it would affect me as much if I could understand why people like them but I can't, lol.
Solid color finishes - Can't stand them unless it's on a Jazz bass.
Small bodies - With the exception of Roscoes and Spectors, small bodies weird me out and even the two that I like look funny on me.

There's probably a lot of other stuff that I don't like but I don't think I want to put that much brainpower into it

I think I'm picky in that if there is anything that I dislike about a bass aesthetically I won't buy it. I can't think a visual feature I dislike on any of the basses I currently own. Call me shallow the way I see it, if I don't want to look at a bass why would I play it?