Surfs Up!

I was actually undecided about this one. The thing that clinched it for me was the fact that, because of the reflectivity of the gold pickguard and nameplate, in the wide-shot below the two don't appear to be exactly the same color. This is an illusion, of course, and possibly not one that you would see in real life -- camera distortion or something.

It brings to my attention something I haven't mentioned before, though: why is it that certain color schemes not in themselves offensive, or even ones not offensive as colors for guitars specifically, are so jarring when we see them on a Rickenbacker?

I would totally play a Strat that looked like this. I would actually love a P-Bass that had this going on, especially if it had the white binding with the fake stitching on it, which I like quite a bit. The gold plastic I could do without, especially since it looks really weird with the chrome, but you can't replace the chrome with gold or black, because these are never excusable colors for the metal hardware on any guitar.  I can really see a cool Tele in here, though, too: with a black plastic and chrome metal.

The principle here is, I guess, the same as the one that applies to cheese. It's good on its own, and it's good on Italian food. You can't put it on Chinese food, even though Chinese food is also, in itself, good. Cheese suddenly becomes an abomination on General Tso's Chicken. Why is that? Nobody knows.

I'm willing to be proved wrong about this one, though.