Why do people like rosewood boards with unpainted headstocks?

[MisterMagician]

I can understand playing it because you like the way it handles or if you just don't care about looks, but I honestly can't figure out why some people prefer it.



For example, this one I made on the "halo guitars builder" (linked through the picture) looks okay, but the second you change the pickguard to black or just about anything else but tort and it just looks terrible. You would need to paint the headstock just to make it work then.

Funny enough, with a painted headstock (even just black painted), there is a lot more leeway on what pickguard/hardware combos work.

Also, I think a big issue is that modern rosewood is not actually rosewood, but some "technical nearest neighbor" substitute that often looks streaky or even orange (which is why I used "roasted maple" in the builder to get the shade of whatever tripe fender has been using for decades now). I think real rosewood looks just fine (even indian rosewood can look nice if it's not dried to jerky), because it's almost as dark as ebony and goes with everything.

 

[dougjwray]

 

[Gopherbassist]

I literally do not care about this.

 

[Minimalist]

Why do I like unpainted headstock with rosewood fretboard? Because I do.

The issue in your example is not the unpainted headstock, but the baby blue color and the pointed headstock.

 

[Michedelic]

I can understand playing it because you like the way it handles or if you just don't care about looks, but I honestly can't figure out why some people prefer it.

View attachment 7080962

For example, this one I made on the "halo guitars builder" (linked through the picture) looks okay, but the second you change the pickguard to black or just about anything else but tort and it just looks terrible. You would need to paint the headstock just to make it work then.

Funny enough, with a painted headstock (even just black painted), there is a lot more leeway on what pickguard/hardware combos work.

Also, I think a big issue is that modern rosewood is not actually rosewood, but some "technical nearest neighbor" substitute that often looks streaky or even orange (which is why I used "roasted maple" in the builder to get the shade of whatever tripe fender has been using for decades now). I think real rosewood looks just fine (even indian rosewood can look nice if it's not dried to jerky), because it's almost as dark as ebony and goes with everything.

Because they have other things to obsess over.

 

[fretno]

Why do unicorns only show up around rainbows?

 

[MisterMagician]

I literally do not care about this.

Sorry, forgot to consult you ahead to time.

Because they have other things to obsess over.

Well this is about why people prefer it, meaning they care about looks but like that look; not about people who don't care about looks.

 

[pcake]

I can understand playing it because you like the way it handles or if you just don't care about looks, but I honestly can't figure out why some people prefer it.

View attachment 7080962

For example, this one I made on the "halo guitars builder" (linked through the picture) looks okay, but the second you change the pickguard to black or just about anything else but tort and it just looks terrible. You would need to paint the headstock just to make it work then.

Funny enough, with a painted headstock (even just black painted), there is a lot more leeway on what pickguard/hardware combos work.

Also, I think a big issue is that modern rosewood is not actually rosewood, but some "technical nearest neighbor" substitute that often looks streaky or even orange (which is why I used "roasted maple" in the builder to get the shade of whatever tripe fender has been using for decades now). I think real rosewood looks just fine (even indian rosewood can look nice if it's not dried to jerky), because it's almost as dark as ebony and goes with everything.

modern rosewood IS rosewood - it's indian rosewood rather than brazilian rosewood, and both are Dalbergia. which is what rosewood is.

Wood Details: H-L

B egun as a private project, I was asked to make this available to others. For my own use, attribution was not a particular concern - which of course I regret now. If you see something you said or a...

tonewooddatasource.weebly.com

Dalbergia sissoo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

i love the look and feel of rosewood and ebony fingerboards myself.

 

[MisterMagician]

modern rosewood IS rosewood - it's indian rosewood rather than brazilian rosewood, and both are Dalbergia. which is what rosewood is.

Wood Details: H-L

B egun as a private project, I was asked to make this available to others. For my own use, attribution was not a particular concern - which of course I regret now. If you see something you said or a...

tonewooddatasource.weebly.com

Dalbergia sissoo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

i love the look and feel of rosewood and ebony fingerboards myself.

A lot are grenadillo ("mexican rosewood") or some other substitute. Indian rosewood is actually expensive now.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Sometimes it bothers me , other times it doesn’t . In this case it did bother mf enough that I had to place a custom order as soon as I was able . I had requested on several occasions until they finally said yes .

My 1st Amethyst Sparkle Stingray5 Special

Sold once I got them to make me this.

IMHO, this should have been the original specs.

 

[Rich Fiscus]

what is there to understand? Other people like things you don’t.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

This one doesn’t bother me. Most of the time , it won’t. But on certain basses I can see how it just looks better with the matching painted headstock .

On my Amethyst Sparkle, it just looked incomplete to my eyes.

I definitely wouldn’t say it should be that way on every single bass that has a rosewood fretboard .

It’s really just an aesthetic that some prefer and others don’t .

 

[Lowbrow]

I didn’t know I shouldn’t be ok with this.

 

[Lo-E]

Why do some people like red?

 

[MotorCityMinion]

but the second you change the pickguard to black or just about anything else but tort and it just looks terrible. You would need to paint the headstock just to make it work then.

It works with non-solid colors, stained or oiled bodies, with or with out tort, just fine.

 

[BassmanM]

Its like that because Leo got it right the first time.

 

[el murdoque]

Why do people like rosewood and unfinished headstocks?
Why do some people like to wear coral colored shirts?
Why do people like the taste of Olives?

The only bass I own that has no finish on the headstock is a P bass with a maple neck. That works well for me, because it looks (and actually is) a single piece. I don't particularly like it when the headstock is totally different from fretboard and body, but there are some combinations I would not mind at all - it is, as so many things are, down to personal taste.

 

[MisterMagician]

Its like that because Leo got it right the first time.

But the first were maple on maple.

 

[JakobT]

It's all very much a matter of taste - you might as well ask why somebody likes chocolate. I'm partial to painted headstocks myself, but we must all find happiness the best way we can.

 

[FugaziBomb]

I can understand playing it because you like the way it handles or if you just don't care about looks.

So if a person doesn't share the same taste in aesthetics as you, then they must not care at all?

but I honestly can't figure out why some people prefer it.

Theory of Mind

this one I made on the "halo guitars builder" (linked through the picture) looks okay, but the second you change the pickguard to black or just about anything else but tort and it just looks terrible

Does it?

You would need to paint the headstock just to make it work then.

Would ya?

Funny enough, with a painted headstock (even just black painted), there is a lot more leeway on what pickguard/hardware combos work.

Is there?