I'm usually not a fan of any burst finish or tort guards, so I bought a bass with both.
Being left-handed, there is little opportunity for test drives. This one felt so good the finish didn't matter, and the "old school tobacco burst" over alder has grown on me. Actually, at this point I'm quite fond of it (but I still prefer shoreline gold, sonic blue, or a few others).
Even though I can acknowledge how well the tort guard works on this bass, it's still not my thing.
Here's where the hair splitting begins. Out of the fifty-something available options, I'm leaning toward single-ply black; but, matte or gloss?
The masterful MS paint simulation:
Here's an example if it working on an ASAT. (I think part of what makes it work here is the smaller guard and more chrome.) The new film still on the guard gives it a sort-of matte appearance in this photo.
I have seen matte black work with a gloss finish on lighter woods (ash body, maple neck/fb). I think matte tends to work well with maple.
It's hard for me to imagine what might work better here. I might prefer whichever would have a more understated appearance.
Also, what tonal changes should I expect when switching from tort to black? The current guard is 4-ply brown tort (with mint layers for extra sustain), not the notoriously low-mid heavy 3-ply red tort.
A diagram of various split hairs:
Other ideas/suggestions welcome
Being left-handed, there is little opportunity for test drives. This one felt so good the finish didn't matter, and the "old school tobacco burst" over alder has grown on me. Actually, at this point I'm quite fond of it (but I still prefer shoreline gold, sonic blue, or a few others).
Even though I can acknowledge how well the tort guard works on this bass, it's still not my thing.
Here's where the hair splitting begins. Out of the fifty-something available options, I'm leaning toward single-ply black; but, matte or gloss?
The masterful MS paint simulation:
Here's an example if it working on an ASAT. (I think part of what makes it work here is the smaller guard and more chrome.) The new film still on the guard gives it a sort-of matte appearance in this photo.
I have seen matte black work with a gloss finish on lighter woods (ash body, maple neck/fb). I think matte tends to work well with maple.
It's hard for me to imagine what might work better here. I might prefer whichever would have a more understated appearance.
Also, what tonal changes should I expect when switching from tort to black? The current guard is 4-ply brown tort (with mint layers for extra sustain), not the notoriously low-mid heavy 3-ply red tort.
A diagram of various split hairs:
Other ideas/suggestions welcome
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