What colour should I have my guitar painted?

Grangousier

Another guitar on the go with Feline - I popped in last week to visit. It's assembled now, and just needs sending off for paint, but I'm unsure what to do with it. I was slightly surprised (in a very good way) by the grain on it, and would like to do the best by it, but I'm not sure what that would be. 

I took some photos when I was there, and dropped one of them into Photoshop and played with various options, from the minimal (basically just clear-coat) to bright colours via a slight yellow tint and dodgy sunburst and the closest I could get to a lemonburst (I'm fully expecting that a real painter will be much better at that than me). Personally, because I'm a bit dull and boring, and I'm expecting this to be one that gets used a lot (so I don't know that I want it shouting out) I'm tending towards the first couple (though I do like the quasi-lemonburst, especially if it could be knocked back more to what an actual paint job would look like), but is there something I've missed?

(Changed the thread title. It's still a terrible thread title, but I have to get back to work.)

ThePrettyDamned

I'll always say blue or pink on a top like that, because I'm cheap and have no class.

But it does look good... 

Philly_Q

Blue, but a bit more turquoisey with a slightly darker burst.

Actually I have a Warmoth thinline body in exactly that colour, somewhere.

Bennyboy-UK

ThePrettyDamned said:

I'll always say blue or pink on a top like that, because I'm cheap and have no class.

But it does look good... 

I totally agree with this - Blue or Pink!

Whitecat

I like the natural and the cherryburst options...

Alex2678

That orange/red burst looks best to me. If it was mine I’d do it transparent blonde so you only saw it up close, little treat for those that care enough to look 

RocknRollDave

2nd one down, for me...but then I am very conservative in my tastes.


That said, if it were me, I'd go for a solid colour, despite that lovely figuring.

enjo

Alex2678 said:

That orange/red burst looks best to me. If it was mine I’d do it transparent blonde so you only saw it up close, little treat for those that care enough to look 

That ^

stickyfiddle

Black metallic flake.

WezV

With the CC pickup i learn towards the tobacco burst or tinted natural

Grangousier

(Thanks! This is all excellent! Even if I disagree, it's very useful to know that I disagree. I'll update the PSD later.)

KKJale

A warm Mary Kaye white, just transparent enough to let the grain peek through. 

rlw

kentuckyklira

Where´s the pink option?

DrumBob

I like the orange/red sunburst and the blue, but the purple Feline is amazing. 

BillDL

I chose the colour for my first guitar build based on the colour of the stain on the old Pizzaland tables.  They were darker hardwood like sapele and had a deep green stain that I liked.  The same depth of stain would hide a lot of the wood figuring on your guitar, but a translucent green of roughly the same shade might work.  How about this?  (sorry, I don't have photoshop and the colour tampering has caused some colouration of the metal parts)

https://imgur.com/a/KMcPDRE

Grangousier

Interesting... Probably not me, but interesting. 

RocknRollDave

Grangousier said:

Interesting... Probably not me, but interesting. 

White scratchplate...go the whole Francis Rossi

Boromedic

I'd say two tone sunburst, but with a narrow band of brown and a brighter yellow, kinda like Brownie. Or like my Strat:

Grangousier

While I have five minutes waiting for my boss, I've tried Pink, Mary Kaye and knocking back the red layers on the orange-burst. I'll try more later. 

Grangousier

The thing with the bright colours (and that purple, come to think of it) is that I worry they promise a degree of shred that I'd be unlikely to live up to.