Guitar design elements that make your eye twitch uncomfortably?

axisus · June 2023

I just saw a PRS Modern eagle. Very handsome guitars if you like that sort of thing, but then I saw the pickup selector switch and thought whaaaaaaa!?!??!?!

Boy does that look so wrong to me. I have a nervous tick just looking at it.

So what bugs you? weird headstocks? ugly shape?

Image: https://d2zap0z9ahyacn.cloudfront.net/eyJidWNrZXQiOiJwcnNpbWFnZXMiLCJrZXkiOiJndWl0YXItaW1hZ2VzL21vZGVybi1lYWdsZS12LTIwMjMtYW50aXF1ZS13aGl0ZS5qcGciLCJlZGl0cyI6eyJqcGVnIjp7InF1YWxpdHkiOjgyLCJwcm9ncmVzc2l2ZSI6dHJ1ZSwidHJlbGxpc1F1YW50aXNhdGlvbiI6dHJ1ZSwib3ZlcnNob290RGVyaW5naW5nIjp0cnVlLCJvcHRpbWl6ZVNjYW5zIjp0cnVlfSwicmVzaXplIjp7IndpZHRoIjoxOTIwLCJoZWlnaHQiOjY2MywiZml0IjoiY292ZXIifSwic2hhcnBlbiI6dHJ1ZX19

digitalkettle · June 2023

I love my DGT but I hate the back panels…luckily it’s a black back

Also on PRS, I hate their hard tail bridges (unless it’s a wrapover).

DrBob · June 2023

Jack plates on Strats

Penn · June 2023

Bird inlays.

Kittyfrisk · June 2023

Fucking bird fret inlays...

LionAquaLooper · June 2023

Angled humbuckers
Triple humbuckers
No headstocks

Even that middle single coil on that PRS is bothering me right now. Not only is a middle single coil unusual on a PRS, but it's also not equidistant to the bridge and neck humbuckers. Burn that guitar.

Funkfingers · June 2023

Frets. They take all the skill out of playing.

Pabcrane · June 2023

I struggle with head-less guitars.

And some heavily flamed maple tops.

digitalkettle · June 2023

Anything that makes a Tele not a Tele.

markarkark · June 2023

I think quite a lot of the (otherwise very highly skilled) people who design modern electric guitars don’t have a very finely-tuned sense of aesthetics.

There are definitely some exceptions, but I think the flow of the lines and overall balance in a lot of the classic designs is a cut above.

Jonathangus · June 2023

Humbuckers mounted at an angle.

P90s mixed with anything other than more P90s.

Rocker · June 2023

Three pickups on a Les Paul Custom.

V shaped guitar bodies.

Reversed (upside down) head stocks on Strats.

Kittyfrisk · June 2023

Micro switches, particularly when too close together & asymmetric .

axisus · June 2023

Rocker said:

Three pickups on a Les Paul Custom.

Yes! good call

Rocker said:

Reversed (upside down) head stocks on Strats.

Most definitely no!

Svartmetall · June 2023

The jack socket on Strats...this beautiful, organic, curvaceous design and then there's this big chunk of unnecessary ironmongery stuck on the front instead of a side-mounted jack like on the Tele, which would leave the Strat looking so much neater & cooler overall.

Pickguards on Les Pauls.

Bigsby 'vibratos' (or 'antituners', as they should be known).

The Gibson Moderne, those ridiculous reverse-V-bodied monstrosities and the Ibanez Fireman. Just....why?

Chickenhead knobs on anything, anywhere, ever; dunno what it is, they just wind me up.

'Sexy Woman' paint jobs on guitars; like how old are you, 10?

Guitars where the pickguards are so big that most of the instrument is covered in plastic.

DannyP · June 2023

Transparent purple or green bursts over figured maple.

V-shape tailpieces

grungebob · June 2023

Quilted maple. Hate it for some reason. Oh and abalone binding.

Funkfingers · June 2023

Svartmetall said:
The Gibson Moderne, those ridiculous reverse-V-bodied monstrosities and the Ibanez Fireman. Just....why?

The Gibson Moderne and Futura patent sketches were examples of Ted McCarty's sense of humour. Knowing that business rivals hoped to extract clues about forthcoming Gibson products, Ted thoughtfully provided some … only they were red herrings.

The Futura, Moderne and "Lightning Bolt" were never built. It is only because Ibanez created copies of these joke designs in the Seventies that punters assumed they must have existed twenty years before.

Eventually, Gibson was brow beaten into building limited edition re-issues of products that never existed to begin with.*

The Ibanez Fireman is just an upside-down Iceman. It exists because Paul Gilbert asked nicely if they would build him a few. It is a safe bet that Gilbert obsessives would buy anything with his name on it.

* Photographs of Futura prototypes exist but not the other two.

Voxman · June 2023

Pabcrane said:

I struggle with head-less guitars.

And some heavily flamed maple tops.

Beat me to it re headless.. They just look so wrong.

UnclePsychosis · June 2023

Sunburst.

Awful.

BigPaulie · June 2023

Penn said:

Bird inlays.

This

Nightswan · June 2023

Dean V Headstocks. Cheesy Airbrush Graphics. Tortoiseshell anything. Dot inlays on uber expensive guitars. Badly placed strap buttons on guitars prone to neck dive. 3x3 tuners on superstrat headstocks....inline 6 only please and that goes for 7 strings as well. Volume knob too close to bridge humbucker. Toggle switch between the humbuckers or HSH guitar...something you're gonna hit for sure when playing.

Svartmetall · June 2023

Funkfingers said:
The Ibanez Fireman is just an upside-down Iceman. It exists because Paul Gilbert asked nicely if they would build him a few. It is a safe bet that Gilbert obsessives would buy anything with his name on it.

I'm a huge fan of Paul's playing (was lucky enough to meet & interview him once, very nice guy) but that guitar is just fuuuuugly.

Tannin · June 2023

* Sunbursts on acoustic guitars. Sunbursts are for Les Pauls. End of story. Stop being a sad wanna-be. If it's not a Les Paul, finish it in natural.

* Fake wooden veneers on carbon-fibre guitars. Dumb idea and it looks awful. Emerald, I am looking at you.

* The dumb double pickguards on some SJ-200s.

* Lack of binding. Not only is the binding an important protective part of the guitar's structure, making a guitar without any binding looks dreadful, like a face with the eyebrows shaved off. Obvious offenders include Cole Clark 1 Series and those cheapskate new Gibson Generation models.

* Those stupid moustache bridges on SJ-200s (and some other models).

* Those tiny Martin pyramid bridges. They look sort-of OK once you get used to them, but I can never really believe that there can be enough glue area on the bottom to make them safe long-term.

* The ugly lack of decoration to properly finish most Martin guitars (such as the D-18)

* The ugly over-decoration on Martin D-45s. (In contrast, apart from being a joy to play and sounding great, the HD-28 is one of the very few Martins which actually looks right.)

* The jarring Sapele headstock veneer on various Maton models such as the SRS-60

* That kitch kangaroo inlay on the Maton Tommy Emmanuel models. Lovely guitars to play or hear, shame about the look.

* The awful black so-called sunbursts on J-45s and many other ugly things. There is a special hell reserved for anyone who paints one of these very, very ugly finishes on a nice guitar (or even on a not-so-nice guitar like a J-45).

* While I'm at it, any sort of painted top on a wooden acoustic instrument. (You can paint electrics if you want to.)

* Six-a-side tuners on acoustic guitars. On a Strat, a bass, or a Tele, six-a-side works and looks great. On acoustics it never, ever looks right. Thankfully, for the most part it is only done by Fender and Fender acoustics are crap anyway, so it's no real loss.

* Dark woodstain. Just don't do it. If you don't like the colour of the wood, use different wood. Never, ever stain it. In particular, do not under any circumstances stain mahogany or mahogany-substitute to make it look like rosewood (it doesn't). There is only one crime worse than that, which is staining maple. (But you can stain electrics if you wish. Electrics have different aesthetic rules and - let's face it - they are only electrics so who cares?)

* Trem bars on acoustics. Just say no. (Gretsch rancher with the Bigsby, go and stand in the corner and face the wall.)

* Mini guitars. Most mini acoustics look bad. (And they play like crap too.) Special mention for the shape of the Cole Clark ones which go beyond bad into the truly awful.

Image: http://tannin.net.au/other/dpr/CC_mini.jpg

* All the crap on the pickguards of Hummingbirds and Doves.

* Short scales. If you want less than ~640mm, buy a ukulele.

Pabcrane · June 2023

It's funny, there's quite a few things mentioned which I actually really like in guitars, as I imagine there are more than a few people who like head-less guitars and flamed maple tops. Ahh well, vive la différence!

Dumodal · June 2023

Three Humbuckers or P90 pickups guitars.

Banana shape headstocks ala Kramer.

Fenders with reverse headstocks.

Richlite fingerboards.

Melody Maker Headstocks.

fastonebaz · June 2023

Any tele. Horrible looking things

BigPaulie · June 2023

Those horrible big black control panels on the side of some electro acoustics.

scrumhalf · June 2023

Non-functional fingerboard inlays, closely followed by no fingerboard inlays at all.

Ugly headstocks.

Tone bars.

Tannin · June 2023

scrumhalf said:

Non-functional fingerboard inlays, closely followed by no fingerboard inlays at all.

All fingerboard inlays are non-functional.

(If you can see them you are not holding it right.)

Sporky · June 2023

Jonathangus said:

P90s mixed with anything other than more P90s.

I agree with that as a literal statement, but one P90 and one different pickup works. If there are two P90s then any third pickup must be a P90.

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Guitar design elements that make your eye twitch uncomfortably?

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