Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

The bass world has far fewer gimmicks than the guitar world has (especially when it comes to amps), but some of them make me laugh.

Just wanted people to post their favorite (least favorite) gimmicks in bass, guitar or amps.

I'll start with the easy target... "vintage reissues" are not a gimmick at all to me, "artist series" are a minor gimmick (how many artist series strats are there that are all the same?), and Fender "relic" finishes are just silly.

There's a lot of differentiation in the various Fender artist series instruments.

How about those goofy new Fender Rumble amps with the red flashing light underneath the speaker?

I was thinking of those when I was writing this. But then it could be useful... just as a backup to let you know you are playing.

The ric lightshow was a huge gimmick... but then it is a gimmic that I would love to own.

Lightshows, converter combs, slanted frets, rednecks, blackstars, tuxedos - all gimmicks.

Daisy Rock guitars?...well, I guess to pre teen girls, they are cool.

I would say most modern bass specific effects. The aged strat thing is just stupid to me. Paying 2k for a brand new instrument that is already messed up just seems a bit strange.

"and Fender 'relic' finishes are just silly"

Tell that to the Fender Custom Shop. They have a hard time supplying the demand. To each their own, I guess... I happen to think it's a great idea. You get the best of both worlds. You get a "broken in" feel, like old slippers, like stonewashed jeans. But you get that without someone else's goo. It's a brand new instrument that welcomes you like you've played it since you were 16. I like the concept.

Historically speaking, burst finishes are an early form of "relic'ing". The dark brown sunburst finish started as an attempt to replicate old violins, where the lacquer gets darker near the edges.

But what do I know... I still think that the low B string is a fad.

The worst guitar gimmick IMHO is the cutout carrying handle in Steve Vai's Ibanezes.

i'm pretty neutral about these relic "pre aged" guitars - but I'd LOVE to be the bloke at the end of the production line with the hammer... what a way to get in the mood for the weekend....

LOL!

Got to say I like the relic idea. I'm not a big fan of instruments that look or feel "new". The worst thing to me is something absolutely spotless; it just has no character. Particularly if it's a Fender; they only look right to me when they're really worn (like Jaco's Jazz). So I agree with Ilan completely, a broken in feel, a cool look (I actually prefer wear on my instruments), but (hopefully) no structural/electrical issues/problems. Of course I'd prefer a blinding original, but you can't always find them. Or you have to pay through the nose...although of course the relics aren't cheap.

To be honest, flatwounds, roundwounds, even Ricks, they've all been in and out of popularity. The electric bass was considered a fad once...

Actually, it's not a gimmick as such, but the thing that annoys me most is cabs with tweeters which you can't adjust/turn off or on...

Wanna see some extreme "relic'ing"? click here and scroll down. Some of their work looks pretty convincing.

gimmick - 1 a : a mechanical device for secretly and dishonestly controlling gambling apparatus b : an ingenious or novel mechanical device : GADGET
2 a : an important feature that is not immediately apparent : CATCH b : an ingenious and usually new scheme or angle

"converter combs"

Wait, are those those thingies that are on 12-string guitars that dampen the octave strings so that it's basically a 6-string? How on earth is that a gimmick? I was under the impression that a gimmick was a feature or quality of a product that looks cool/gets people to notice but is, in actuality, pretty much useless. Gimmicks are things that exist pretty much only to make people notice. Sure you could probably carry the Steve Vai guitar by that handle-thing, but it's really only there because it looks weird and different.

A converter comb, if it is what I think it is, seems to me to be an incredibly practical feature, and therefore, the opposite of a gimmick. It's like calling a Hipshot drop-tuner a gimmick.

For me, the only gimmicks that annoy me are "relic" finishes, i.e. guitars and basses that are beat up out of the factory. To me, that's not like buying pre-faded jeans; it's buying pre-RIPPED jeans. Fender have hit a goldmine there because they know there are hundreds and thousands of people who think that peeling finishes, dents, haphazard screw holes and rusty hardware equal a better instrument. Sorry, but, when I see an instrument that looks like that, my first impression is not, "Wow, can you feel the mojo?" or "Wow, that must be a great instrument!" It's "Wow, whoever owned that obviously didn't care about it very much." And even then, there's a big difference between a guitar that has been played so much that it's worn, and a guitar that has never been played but is in fact strategically designed to LOOK like you've played it for years. One of them was consciously chosen as something be played and played hard. The other is a brand new instrument with the cost jacked up because it's beat up in the factory.

One word = Gimmick. Smart business, but, I feel, hardly respectable.

The Acoustic 360 Bass Amp has an "electronic tuning fork" built in that is continuously variable, with no detents on the knob and no indication of what frequency it was producing. Absolutely useless ... unless you crank up the amp's other gimmick -- a built in fuzz --- and go gonzo with the tuning fork knob during a solo. Then it sounds like a Moog!