"Cresting Wave" design

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

He had impeccable taste in design as well as style; how dapper does he look in either a suit, or shirtsleeves?!

interesting how he's working on that guitar neck in pant suit and shirt...maybe they was having a party at the factory and mr. hall wanted to get some pics after everyone had a few drinks !!!

[coolhandjjl]

I think everyone worked looking like like that back then. Anything else and you were branded a subversive.

[ricaddic]

Well bottom line for me is how the guitar or bass plays sounds and feels, I personally like the body shape of the Precision bass and to say it is a dud, I think not, I also not only love the shape of the Telecaster, although im mainly a bass player and only dabble with the guitar, the Telecaster is my favorite guitar and my second favorite is the Les Paul, and yes I also love the crested wave look of Ric's, my personal favorite and most distictive bass and design, is hands down the Ampeg AUB fretless bass with the F holes and the upright looking neck and the upright bass headstock . but thats just my personal fav,Instruments are like Ice cream , just like flavors of ice cream , there are many varieties of basses and guitars shapes and sounds. not everybody likes the same flavor of ice cream, life would be very drab and boring if there were only one flavor of ice cream and only one type of instrument.

[haw]

Well bottom line for me is how the guitar or bass plays sounds and feels, I personally like the body shape of the Precision bass and to say it is a dud, I think not, I also not only love the shape of the Telecaster, although im mainly a bass player and only dabble with the guitar, the Telecaster is my favorite guitar and my second favorite is the Les Paul, and yes I also love the crested wave look of Ric's, my personal favorite and most distictive bass and design, is hands down the Ampeg AUB fretless bass with the F holes and the upright looking neck and the upright bass headstock . but thats just my personal fav,Instruments are like Ice cream , just like flavors of ice cream , there are many varieties of basses and guitars shapes and sounds. not everybody likes the same flavor of ice cream, life would be very drab and boring if there were only one flavor of ice cream and only one type of instrument.

Great post.

[BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS]

we must all agree the p-bass was a utility instrument to bridge the gap in freeing the upright player to something easier and more comfortable to play and above all else, be heard...just like the jump from large body acoustic/electric to solid body guitar. having said that, there was more a function of playability, than style at first. we owe that to leo fender,bar none. then as ideas evolve, can they take the time to say...hey, now that we have a piece of wood that has strings and pickups on it, how can we make it more pleasing to the eye, yet still have function ? enter a dapper deutscher mann with some design of flair ! could we ever imagine what radio-tel's instruments would have evolved into without rossmeisl's designs ? i know i can't. and that mr. hall may not have changed his company's name to rickenbacker without those designs in hand ? we owe a lot to fender for putting the bass on the map, but we owe rossmeisl for adding style and coolness to the instrument, something gibson never attained. like the car companies...they were "the big three !"

[paul_yan]

Totally agreed!

[ram]

All those early dude were amazing....Leo, Les..... and quite a few others. While not my cup of tea almost all of the major players make pretty good instruments - I just happen to swear by Ric's. Well put Angelo & Ron.

[woodyng]

i love the look of gibson thunderbird basses(reverse and nonreverse),but the rick 4000 series is just classic , with great balance and feel and still one of the most elegant bass guitar designs ever. i think most all of leo's basses are great,albeit in a more practical way-i even like the music man sub bass for being a distillation of a good design,and have had an ongoing "thing" for jazz basses over the years.....