Knock-Offs, Rip-Offs, and Just Plain UGLY!

lyle_from_minneapolis · Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:16 am

The $1000 paintjob...

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/msg/399168914.html

(I know this listing may not last...but that really is okay...truly...)

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:45 am

Nice color. Classless seller covers the back with a "GIT R DRUNK" sticker.

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 6:56 am

To bring back an old line I used to use:

He's got a lot of class. Problem is, it's all LOW!!

lyle_from_minneapolis · Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:27 am

See, without the message on the back of the bass, he might forget the mission.

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:44 am

One of the Normal Bros.

"Ab" and "Sub"...

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 7:59 am

I gotta get rid of this song filter in my head.

I immediately thought of "Twin Sons of Different Mothers"!

lyle_from_minneapolis · Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:14 am

Abby Normal?

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:31 am

What hump?

Anyway, here are some more vomitaceous, cretinous creations from a marketing director's cruellest nightmare:

charlyg · Post by **charlyg** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:41 am

And a famous one

Hover over the pic if you don't recognize.

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:43 am

These don't look much different than the 330 you did the Union Jack on. we all have our opinions...

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:34 pm

Gee, thanks, Dale! Kindness is always appreciated and returned.

beatlefreak · Post by **beatlefreak** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 12:41 pm

The bass looks like it's from the Sea of Monsters in Yellow Submarine.

dale_fortune · Post by **dale_fortune** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:43 pm

I'm not saying quality, because you do finish work 2nd to none... But the concept is no different...people want what they desire from their imagination....A Union Jack or a Sharks Mouth..I personally like the P-41 Flying Tiger on the Upright DBL. Bass..fits right in with a Rock-a-Billy Swing Band. JMHO

jingle_jangle · Post by **jingle_jangle** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 3:25 pm

Thanks for clarifying, Dale.

I draw a line between icons like the UJ and the Weller "WHAM!" on a guitar--which has precedents in both Brit Pop and Rickenbacker culture, and is to me therefore entirely appropriate, and badly-done (and overdone), copycat "art".

I won't get into a critique, because it would become long-winded to explain all the small points that make the images presented above, very bad graphics from a standpoint of both planning (design) and execution.

I say "copycat" because, as you know, Sara Ray has done (to my own knowledge) three very well-thought-out graphics which are also breathtakingly well-executed, on Gretsches. (Anyone not familiar with her art, google "Red Baron Gretsch".) Although they weren't the first of their kind, they are the best, and the difference between hers and the ones above, in both visuals and execution, is miles.

But you know what? Even her art guitars leave me cold in the end, because there's no connection between a guitar and war imagery.

I have a collection of books on WWII bomber nose art, and am a fan, BTW. Again, no connection with instruments that I can see or feel. To me, it's just inappropriate and can be seen as more cynical exploitation for $$$ if it's not well-done.

And that bass is the gawdawful ugliest thing I've ever seen, because it takes what was once a nice piece of wood and kills its dignity in the service of creating another piece of "cool cool daddyo, in crowd, past-that-never-was" flotsam. Terrible graphics, but no doubt a bunch of "rockabilly" (another after-the-fact musical term that's spawned a lot of mediocrity amidst the pure genius) people with less-than-astute critical sensibilities will bless it with their favorite adjective, "cool" , and think no more about it, because that's the ultimate and all-encompassing blessing word.

If an artist or craftsman is to give people what they want or their imagination desires, at least let him/her do something with thought behind it and quality invested. To do any less, cheapens the whole exercise and invites negativity, if we can tame our amazement and see this stuff for what it is.

johnallg · Post by **johnallg** » Fri Aug 17, 2007 5:38 pm

Paul, you are filtering with your vast background - somebody wants and buys these instruments and in the end, that's all that really matters. They mean something to the purchaser/user.