Aesthetics

I suppose aesthetics is officially defined as “the philosophy of beauty”, in my book it’s more along the line of “what I consider attractive, regardless of function or practicality”.   The particular application is regard to items which I think have some inherent beauty, at least in my own subjective opinion.

Guns.  I managed to acquire a Springfield Armory Saint, which is a very recent issue of the ever-popular AR15.  The AR15 is the civilian, semi-automatic version of the US military’s famous M16.   Over the years, since its introduction in the early 60’s in our controversial war in Vietnam, the military’s version has undergone several different models.

The original M16 was full auto and had a triangular handguard, that plastic thing in between the magazine (thing which carries all the ammo) and the end of the rifle.  The M16 had various problems, one of which was that the military couldn’t leave Stoner’s original design alone, and these problems were mostly fixed in the first change, the M16A1.   This model still had a triangular handguard.  Both fired full automatic, meaning automatic so long as the trigger is held.  It had a semi-automatic mode  as well.

Eventually the Army realized that soldiers were wasting ammo firing full auto and changed the gun to fire three round bursts.  This was the M16A2.  This model has a cylindrical handguard. 

Eventually they shortened it and gave it a pistol grip under the handguard, and named this the M16A4. 

Back in the early 90s I purchased an AR15, which I later sold.  This one looked exactly like an M16A2, with a 20” barrel and cylindrical handguard.   My Saint has a 16” barrel and a newfangled handguard which actually looks pretty cool.

The “aesthetic” angle comes in here, insofar as I consider both the M16/M16A1 attractive, as I do the M16A2 and the Saint.  One thing I can’t stand is this:  many current AR15s have a weird handguard that looks like it belongs on Playstation or XBOX.  Not sure where they came up with that, but Springfield fixed that problem.  All of these guns fire exactly the same, the aesthetics making no practical difference.   But I can leave my Saint out in the open and love the way it looks, without even firing it.

Mausers.  These are the most famous bolt-actions.   The original Gewehr 98, introduced in time for the Germans to get nasty against the Chinese in the Boxer Rebellion, then serving as the standard rifle of the Imperial German Army during WWI, is relatively long and has a straight bolt.  It’s an attractive gun.   The carbine I felt looks too short.   In 1935 the Germans split the difference between the two with the Kar98K, which served as the main infantry weapon of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS during WWII.   In addition to being shorter than the Gewehr 98 and longer than the carbine, it has a turned down bolt.  I purchased one in the 90s and still have it.  That’s another gun I could simply look at and admire without even shooting, though the picture above is a Gewehr 98. 

I also love the look of the Russian PPSh submachinegun with its wood stock, drum magazine and square holed barrel shroud.  These faced the Nazis in WWII but then faced us in Korea when the Chinese and North Koreans used them.  According to my cousin, my uncle tried using one – during his service in 1950-53 (not with a M*A*S*H unit!) - until he attracted friendly fire from neighboring US units.  Oops. 

Cars.   Recently I posted pictures of the ’71-74 AMC Javelin.  That’s the nicest looking AMC there is.  The ’68-70 Dodge Charger is another non-GM looker.  But for all around best looks, Pontiac gets it done.  The ’88-92 Firebird Formula, the ’67-68 Firebird 400, and many of the ’70-81 Formulas and Trans Ams, especially with the ’73-78 simpler pattern Screaming Chicken, are my favorites.   The best would be a ’74 Trans Am SD455 in dark blue with the hood bird.  Dream on.   Again, not all these cars are necessarily fast – a 305-equipped Formula looks just as nice, though isn’t nearly as fast, as its 350-equipped brother, and after 1975 with the introduction of emissions and catalytic converters killing the power, the later second generation Firebirds are slower than their beauty would indicate.   These 70s Firebirds, usually the Trans Ams, also have aluminum dashes.   If I ever get around to restoring my ’76 Esprit, I’ll see about upgrading the dash, as it has the faux-wood dash which was standard on non-Trans Ams. 

Oh, and Rally II wheels are by far my favorite, well over the honeycomb wheels I can’t stand.

Guitars.  I have the good fortune to have collected several guitars:  4 Gibsons (SG, Les Paul, Explorer and Firebird V) and a Stratocaster.  With the exception of the Les Paul, which is in Black Cherry Pearl, the rest of the guitars are in black, or as Gibson calls it, “ebony”.   All of them have rosewood fretboards, including the Stratocaster – I can’t stand maple.  I switched out the Explorer’s white pickguard for a mirror pickguard, and the Firebird’s white pickguard for a black one with the Firebird on it.  I kept the black pickguards on the SG, LP and Stratocaster.  The Stratocaster has the large, ’68-82 headstock typical of ‘70s Stratocasters – Robin Trower and Ritchie Blackmore are most often seen with those.   The SG is a 2013 Standard in ebony, the ’13 Standards being very popular as they are almost identical to the ‘61/62 reissue models.  In fact, I traded my ’89 ’62 Reissue in cherry for the current one, and while cherry was tolerable, ebony is MUCH better.   

Aesthetically I like the smaller pickguard and don’t like the ’67-70 larger one which surrounds the pickups.   Also, whether it’s on a Strat or a Les Paul, I am NOT a fan of sunburst finishes, least of all tobacco or cherry.  Finally, I love the Les Paul script on the headstock, which ruled out a Custom with its inlaid diamond. 

None of these preferences have anything to do with how well the guitar plays or sounds, and the wrong color, pickguard, or a maple neck won’t compromise anyone’s ability to extract heavenly tones with the right amp.   

But some things are nice to look at too, and I keep my guitars out on stands.  They certainly sound nice – either through the Marshall 1x12” Jubilee combo I bought new in 1990, or through the condo-neighbor-annoying half stack (Marshall 100 watt 4100 Dual Reverb through 4x12” 1960AV).