Guitar design elements that make your eye twitch uncomfortably?

stimpsonslostson · June 2023

bluecat said:

I never really understood why makers produce guitars with reversed headstocks. Maybe the made too many left handed neck blanks and had to use them up somehow and put the side markers on like a right handed model. They always look very strange to me.

And yet on some guitars they just "work"- the N4 looks amazing to me.

I don't like the large 70's style headstocks on some Strats either.

Tannin · June 2023

^ The main thing is that at least they remember to put the fretboard on the front side.

bluecat · June 2023

That's a LOL from me Tannin.

Sporky · June 2023

Guitars where the forearm cutaway goes through the top, exposing a different body wood.

Supportact · June 2023

I hate those soundholes you get on acoustic and semi acoustic guitars that are like f holes but they're more like a diamond shape or triangles. It just looks wrong to me.

I realise this is totally irrational, some people probably like the look. I can't defend it really.

axisus · June 2023

bluecat said:

I never really understood why makers produce guitars with reversed headstocks. Maybe the made too many left handed neck blanks and had to use them up somehow and put the side markers on like a right handed model. They always look very strange to me.

It's one of those wrong things that just feels right, like wearing your girlfriend's panties. And we've all done that right!

..... I said we've all done that right ...

hey, help me out someone ....

Philly_Q · June 2023

stimpsonslostson said:

LastMantra said:

Don't know why bird inlays have become so unfashionable. I always thought they were the most interesting bit about a prs. Sets them apart from all the others.

Me too. The bird inlays actually attract me to the guitars!

I don't mind one way or another, it's certainly not a deal breaker. I have quite a few PRS guitars and I was struggling to remember which inlays they had - I think I have more with moons or dots than I do with birds, but the birds are fine.

axisus · June 2023

I just want to apologise to everyone on the Fretboard. I have built 5 guitars thus far, and I appear to have committed a number of aesthetic sins along the way. In my defence I was left unsupervised.

timmypix · June 2023

Funkfingers said:

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.

@Funkfingers I'm sure I've seen this mentioned on here before (probably you, thinking about it!) but can't find mention of this theory anywhere else. Probably too many words that will pop up in other searches that clog it up, but can you expand on this/where you've found it? This Reverb article even suggests Ted and other employees recall seeing Moderne prototypes.

What you say makes a lot of sense given Gibson's approach to patents at the time ( eg misleading pat no on the pat no pickups), and I'd be curious to read an interview or article that can go into more on this.

I've always assumed the Futura was a prototype of the Explorer that then got reworked when approved for production.

skullfunkerry · June 2023

axisus said:

bluecat said:

I never really understood why makers produce guitars with reversed headstocks. Maybe the made too many left handed neck blanks and had to use them up somehow and put the side markers on like a right handed model. They always look very strange to me.

It's one of those wrong things that just feels right, like wearing your girlfriend's panties. And we've all done that right!

..... I said we've all done that right ...

hey, help me out someone ....

Not me, mate. I’ve never even met your girlfriend.

DartmoorHedgehog · June 2023

ICBM said:

Foster said:

I wish i could make a guitar from scratch, i'd love to incorporate all these hated design elements and combine them into a single disgusting guitar.

From going through the thread so far, it probably wouldn't look too much different from this .

Add PRS bird inlays or those ridiculous Vai-style "plants" and that's pretty much my perfect "guitar I would never want to own" (actually the Dimebag sig shape may be even worse).

I'm not much of a fan of headless or reverse-headstock guitars either. Or any kind of Strat.

DartmoorHedgehog · June 2023

Blueingreen said:

There are things I wouldn't choose to play myself, but honestly, vive la difference. My own tastes tend to the traditional, but I've more admiration for the guy who plays a Parker Fly or a garish PRS in a 60s soul band because it's his favourite guitar and he correctly does not give a fuck what anybody else thinks than I do for the nit pickers complaining that such and such a feature is "all wrong for that Tele/Strat/Les Paul".

I'm actually on your side on that one, but where's the fun in that? - this is a whinge thread

Funkfingers · June 2023

timmypix said:
This Reverb article even suggests Ted and other employees recall seeing Moderne prototypes.

For me, the most telling line in the Deke Dickerson article is, "I want to believe …"

My conclusion is founded on the complete absence of full-sized blueprints, photographs of completed prototypes or verified orders and/or shipping totals.

Talk is cheap. There are plenty of people who tell of being taken for a spin around the block by a green or grey lifeform in a shiny metallic conveyance. Doesn't mean that it actually happened.

The Erlewine mongrel could be constructed from genuine factory bin parts. A body is not the same as a completed guitar.

Philly_Q · June 2023

Funkfingers said:
Talk is cheap. There are plenty of people who tell of being taken for a spin around the block by a green or grey lifeform in a shiny metallic conveyance. Doesn't mean that it actually happened.

It's all true, I tell you...

https://blabbermouth.net/news/kings-xs-doug-pinnick-explains-why-he-is-convinced-he-was-abducted-by-an-alien-when-he-was-three-years-old

timmypix · June 2023

Funkfingers said:

timmypix said:
This Reverb article even suggests Ted and other employees recall seeing Moderne prototypes.

For me, the most telling line in the Deke Dickerson article is, "I want to believe …"

My conclusion is founded on the complete absence of full-sized blueprints, photographs of completed prototypes or verified orders and/or shipping totals.

Talk is cheap. There are plenty of people who tell of being taken for a spin around the block by a green or grey lifeform in a shiny metallic conveyance. Doesn't mean that it actually happened.

The Erlewine mongrel could be constructed from genuine factory bin parts. A body is not the same as a completed guitar.

Hmm.

It seems you've cherry-picked that (mis)quote, where the author says he believes a Moderne prototype will show up one day, as he's provided an argument to say why he thinks that might be possible, but also later on says, "Everything about the Moderne, from its value to its very existence, is purely conjecture." I don't think you can discredit the whole article on that (mis)quote when it's very much weighing up the for and against, and the against is of course that no one's verified that one exists, or has at least survived if it did once exist.

I do agree with your conclusion as a plausible theory - it seems like the kind of thing Ted McCarty might have done. But from the way you stated it as something definite, I thought you might have something juicier to back it up!

If the man himself says they existed, with no real reason to lie about it, I don't see any reason not to believe him. Bear in mind there's only one photo of the Futura prototype at the NAMM show, where it's very much a Futura and not yet an Explorer, and none of the Flying V prototype, so a lack of photo evidence doesn't count for much. Tony Bacon's got a good article on the Explorer/Futura containing said photo.

Svartmetall · June 2023

I forgot: the kind of truss road adjustment where it's at the body end of the neck, and there's a cutout in the end of the neck to access it. Yecchhh! Utterly hideous.

Grunfeld · June 2023

Sporky said:

I'm pretty sure @Grunfeld played Blitzkrieg Bop on an Ibanez RG at one GasFest, and it was ace.

I think the RG may have been brightly coloured, but I'm less sure about that.

@Sporky ; neon pink!

Svartmetall · June 2023

Pink RGs are made of pure win.

FelineGuitars · June 2023

Grunfeld said:

Sporky said:

I'm pretty sure @Grunfeld played Blitzkrieg Bop on an Ibanez RG at one GasFest, and it was ace.

I think the RG may have been brightly coloured, but I'm less sure about that.

@Sporky ; neon pink!

I remember that guitar !

Philly_Q · June 2023

^ That actually doesn't look inappropriate at all!

CarbonCopy · June 2023

None.

I've read through everything that people don't like and I would be happy to have any of those features on a guitar as long as it played and sounded good.

themeinside · June 2023

That Epiphone Les Paul lower horn... I can deal with the headstock (especially on the newer ones), but it looks so... bulbous and unformed. Such a shame.

BigPaulie · June 2023

CarbonCopy said:

None.

I've read through everything that people don't like and I would be happy to have any of those features on a guitar as long as it played and sounded good.

What? Even the Eastman SB headstock?

Philly_Q · June 2023

CarbonCopy said:

None.

I've read through everything that people don't like and I would be happy to have any of those features on a guitar as long as it played and sounded good.

Well... I'm looking to sell this, if you're interested...?

Image: https://live.staticflickr.com/5018/5466201563_cb540562d3.jpg

WezV · June 2023

timmypix said:

Funkfingers said:

timmypix said:
This Reverb article even suggests Ted and other employees recall seeing Moderne prototypes.

For me, the most telling line in the Deke Dickerson article is, "I want to believe …"

My conclusion is founded on the complete absence of full-sized blueprints, photographs of completed prototypes or verified orders and/or shipping totals.

Talk is cheap. There are plenty of people who tell of being taken for a spin around the block by a green or grey lifeform in a shiny metallic conveyance. Doesn't mean that it actually happened.

The Erlewine mongrel could be constructed from genuine factory bin parts. A body is not the same as a completed guitar.

Hmm.

It seems you've cherry-picked that (mis)quote, where the author says he believes a Moderne prototype will show up one day, as he's provided an argument to say why he thinks that might be possible, but also later on says, "Everything about the Moderne, from its value to its very existence, is purely conjecture." I don't think you can discredit the whole article on that (mis)quote when it's very much weighing up the for and against, and the against is of course that no one's verified that one exists, or has at least survived if it did once exist.

I do agree with your conclusion as a plausible theory - it seems like the kind of thing Ted McCarty might have done. But from the way you stated it as something definite, I thought you might have something juicier to back it up!

If the man himself says they existed, with no real reason to lie about it, I don't see any reason not to believe him. Bear in mind there's only one photo of the Futura prototype at the NAMM show, where it's very much a Futura and not yet an Explorer, and none of the Flying V prototype, so a lack of photo evidence doesn't count for much. Tony Bacon's got a good article on the Explorer/Futura containing said photo.

For me, the argument that Gibson was just making crazy patents to throw off the competition does not stack up.

It doesn't stack up because the Flying V and Explorer were definitely made, and they would have been no less ridiculous in 1958 than the Moderne. I guess they simply made a choice to focus on 2 crazy designs rather than 3. The story doesn't need to be more convoluted than that

God knows if they actually made any. If they did it likely had a larger plate than the 83 version. It may or may not have received the headstock seen. it's worth noting these were ideas Gibson was playing with at this stage... compare the jan 58 patent for the explorer (Futura at this point) to the final design. The shape is very different, none of the guitars are finalized. most explorers as we know them didn't appear for almost another year after the first Futura

Image: https://images.fineartamerica.com/images/artworkimages/mediumlarge/1/gibson-guitar-patents-1958-mark-rogan.jpg

if only they had put a slim V headstock on the Moderne, things may have gone differently. This is my version.... surprisingly ergonomic

Sassafras · June 2023

Monkey grips.
They look like they were made by Fischer-Price.

markarkark · June 2023

CarbonCopy · June 2023

BigPaulie said:

CarbonCopy said:

None.

I've read through everything that people don't like and I would be happy to have any of those features on a guitar as long as it played and sounded good.

What? Even the Eastman SB headstock?

I've just had a look at them and am not really sure what's not to like about them. Is it because it doesn't look identical to a Gibson headstock?

CarbonCopy · June 2023

Philly_Q said:

CarbonCopy said:

None.

I've read through everything that people don't like and I would be happy to have any of those features on a guitar as long as it played and sounded good.

Well... I'm looking to sell this, if you're interested...?

It is an interesting looking guitar and certainly would be a talking point. I prefer guitars on the lighter side and ones that would fit into a normal size guitar case so it may be impractical for my needs.

Thanks for the offer though!

fretfinder · June 2023

CarbonCopy said:

None.

I've read through everything that people don't like and I would be happy to have any of those features on a guitar as long as it played and sounded good.

‘Happy’? Are you sure you’re on the right forum?

Howdy, Stranger!

Categories

In this Discussion

Become a Subscriber!

Guitar design elements that make your eye twitch uncomfortably?

Comments