Guitar Colour

Bellycaster

The only Les Paul Burst I really dislike is Clownburst.

Oh, and that Jizzburst one.

thegummy

Bellycaster said:

The only Les Paul Burst I really dislike is Clownburst.

Oh, and that Jizzburst one.

That's a really niche refinisher you go to.

BillDL

My favourite acoustic finishes are plain spruce or cedar top and dark rosewood or mahogany body, OR the kind of sunburts on my Sigma and Yamaha acoustics.  My favourite finishes for electrics are plain or dark sunburst semi-acoustics, plain or butterscotch with black plastics for Tele style, and olympic white, buttercream or sea foam green for Strat style.

Although I love the look of natural wood, I am not a big fan of "spalted" wood on guitars.  I do get why they use it and why some people like it, but I actually find the appearance quite unsettling as though there are just too many imperfections on display.  For that same reason I really don't like most of the clever creations made by Ben Crowe of Crimson Guitars.  I am also beginning to go right off perfectly flamed maple tops.  They just seem so perfect that for me many of them are becoming characterless and clinical, but it all depends how they are finished and how else they are adorned I suppose.

The first electric guitar I made from scratch nearly 40 years ago had a thin veneer of very flamed sycamore on a mahogany body and I stained it a dark green to very dark green kind of sunburst.  This was offset by light natural maple bnack and front body binding.  The dark green was inspired from a visit to a Pizzaland restaurant (discontinued and bought by owners of Pizza Hut, I think).  They had varnished mahogany looking tables with dark green stain that showed the wood grain and I loved that effect.  My then fiancée got pissed off at me stroking the table throughout our meal.  That "Pizzaland Table Green" looked beautiful on the maogany back and sides and very striking on the flamed top.

Walking home from the pub through the town centre of my home town one night I needed a piss, so I nipped up a close in a tenement building between shops out to what would have been the old drying green for the houses that used to be above the shops.   I noticed that the plywood shuttering was hanging off the windows of a shop under renovation, and the light from the goods delivery area behind showed them to have a glossy and varnished top veneer of heavily flamed maple.  I returned to the shop during working ours and asked the workmen if I could have them.  They pulled them off and banged up some ordinary plywood.  They were pretty warped but I was able to remove the varnish, steam off a single piece of that top veneer large enough for a guitar body, and compress it between old kitchen worktops in my garage until dry.  I have no idea why those boards had been laquered on the figured sycamore side.  I wondered if they were waste from a guitar building company that made hollowbody archtops, but the plywood was way too thick.  Perhaps they were intended at one time for decorative counter tops or something.

The thing about that piece of veneer was that it looked very natural as one piece, and looked far less contrived than some of the hand-picked perfectly bookmatched flamed maple caps found on top line guitars these days, and the flame looked easily as deep even though it was only a thin veneer - like those thin 3-D plastic pictures you get.

dazzajl

I do also have a deep and impenetrable dislike for strats with 3 colour bursts, white guards and a maple board. I generally don’t like a red in a burst but the whole prejudice goes back to my very first guitar in about 84. A Kay P bass copy in the above scheme. The worst, most hateful, uninspiring, almost unplayable, made from substandard materials, cheap (though not in price) and nasty POS ever produced. 

Alex2678

I’ve got the brownest burst I could get on my strat. You’re welcome to like what you like though, I didn’t buy it for you. If i posted it on a public forum I wouldn’t be offended if someone didn’t like the colour 

ICBM

markblack said:

shell pink and sunburst - best of both   that's what I got to ease me away from 'brown'.



i have far too many brown guitars... I need a heavy flake sparkle something!

You could just have that awful mess refinished properly in heavy flake sparkle something and kill two birds with one stone .

Grumpyrocker

BillDL said:

Although I love the look of natural wood, I am not a big fan of "spalted" wood on guitars.  I do get why they use it and why some people like it, but I actually find the appearance quite unsettling as though there are just too many imperfections on display.  For that same reason I really don't like most of the clever creations made by Ben Crowe of Crimson Guitars.  I am also beginning to go right off perfectly flamed maple tops.  They just seem so perfect that for me many of them are becoming characterless and clinical, but it all depends how they are finished and how else they are adorned I suppose.

I've totally gone off super stripy flamed maple. Used to like it. But the sort of very defined stripes you see on Ten Top PRS guitars isn't my thing any more. Almost looks too perfectly 80s photo-flame, even though it isn't. 

I do like flames, but I like it to be a bit more subtle, not brought out so stridently by stains. My Les Paul (in my profile pic) is more to my taste. From some angles it looks like a plain top, others flames appear - but it's all quite subtle. I like the little imperfections like minerals and the like. The veneer on my Chapman (of all things!) is really nice and shows off this flame/no flame thing from different angles - it's nicer than the stripy veneer on my PRS SE 245.

I do like spalted tops. Really like burl too - as long as it's not bookmatched. I've got two guitars with burl veneers - a Schecter and a Cort and I love the patterns, imperfections and almost fractal-like geometry. One thing I particularly like about my Cort seven-string is that is has a very thing satin finish that means you can feel all imperfections in the burl. 

Mellish

That green Schecter... Wow! I  

MtB

@Dan_Halen is that my old one? Any more photos?

Dan_Halen

MtB said:

@Dan_Halen is that my old one? Any more photos?

Hi Mike, yes it is! Changed the pickguard, pickup covers (same pickups underneath) and knobs to ones that went with the paint job, but everything else is there. Really chuffed with it  I'll resurrect the thread I started for it and stick a couple of photos up.

paulmapp8306

Grumpyrocker said:

I can like any colour. What i don't like is solid finishes, i prefer to see the wood. 

This, except I wont touch black, or white guitars at all.    Just why. 

springhead

downbytheriver said:

Sea foam Green. Candy apple green. Sherwood green. Cadillac green on a gretsch. Pretty much green. Why are none of my guitars green? 

I'm with you.  Only ever had black, brown or sunburst guitars, wanted green.  Ideally Gretsch Cadillac green.  This is the result.

Anacharsis

I likewise have never cared for sunbursts. I like solid colors of various sorts and natural woods. And a nice sparkle. My St. Vincent HH in Charcoal Sparkle is a favorite.

tanihhiavlt

 Where is the burst?

Web browser scrolled past in a minute
on a stage?
hanging in your house?

Generally on a stage, I'm more interested in the atmosphere, at home I'm interested in weight, feel and sound and on a browser - well even some of my shittiest paint-jobs look great on Web browser... dripcaster being a great example.

Sunburst can live in a house quite easily, and have a history in musical instruments for centuries 

Seziertisch

I’m currently getting a burst debursted. It’s getting a solid ice blue metallic(ish) finish and the tailpiece post holes concealed under it (the guitar now has a Bigsby)

It has also been refretted with Jescar 58118s and is getting an Earvana (at the urging of the folk of this parish) so I’m looking forward to getting it back.

The finish is going to be the same as on the blue Dolmen SS-22 at the bottom of this page https://www.dolmencustom.com/gallery.html The guy mixes the colour himself so it doesn’t correspond to any off the shelf paint.

The burst isn’t getting stripped but rather sanded back and sprayed over, so it has some relicing potential down the line.