swarfrat said:
I'm a guitarist. I dabble in bass. But I'll freely admit - basses do the coffee table wood thing with such panache that the guitars just stare in envy. I don't know why it's this way. Sure I've seen nice wood on guitars, but on a bass it just not even in the same league.
I know what you mean, and I don't know why that is, either. I still have some guitars with nice tops, but the real "coffee table" units have all been sold.
I suspect it has something to do with excess complexity. Guitars have more strings/knobs, more complex bridges, and everything is in closer proximity. Throw in a complex wood figure, and maybe the mind rebels. I know trying to mate highly figured necks with similar bodies is too much, so it stand to reason that adding a bunch more mechanical/electrical complexity takes you in the same direction. You can't get your mind around the whole package in an instinctive "first glance" way, which is sorta necessary to be comfortable enough to be creative and to manage in an efficient manner.
Basses, on the other hand, are relatively simple, and larger. So, they can afford to be pretty. Pretty doesn't overwhelm in their case.
But, I'm just guessing.
In any case, that's a fine stable of basses and there doesn't appear to be any electrical design duplication, so I'm sure they all sound unique unto themselves and are therefore justifiable. In other words, they're not just a "collection", they're a toolbox.