Black or Burst?

[howserx]

Transparent black for me if we can cheat... Otherwise sunburst. Then again, depending on the pickguard colour I could be tempted by black. My Bass is solid black and the second I even think of picking it up It's covered in fingerprints. On that note my youngest has starting playing bass! He's learing one song and He's chosen a second that he wants to play. Both old punk songs, fine by me but *******, the tempo of these songs! I tried song number two last night and my pick had was throbing by the end.

 

[Lanaka]

On Strats, which color is more ubiquitous- black, or sunburst? And, of the two, choosing only one, which would you rather have?

I like both, but IF I had to take ONLY ONE, then it'd be black. I have 17 black guitars, 17 red*, and 10 bursts (each one being unique in some way in my herd).

It's a coincidence that I have the same number of black and red guitars, I wasn't counting when I bought them, LOL!

 

[Lanaka]

are there other colors than black ?

Like you'd take anything other than black?

 

[Lanaka]

I read a couple articles online, one from Fender is 2016. It said that at the time sunburst was the most popular finish while black was in third place.

Second place? Somewhat of a surprise to me but white came in second.

I'm not surprised that burst and black are in the top three. What I AM surprised is that white is #2!

I don't see many white guitars, and VERY rarely see any old white guitars. That's why I love collecting old white guitars too, because, like bursts, they are individually unique.

Burst are almost always hand made, which means there can be variations amongst the same guitars made on the same day, on the same shift by the same guy in a factory.

While white guitars are not as subject to any variations out of the factory, over the years different exposures to the elements results in varying degrees of changes in the darkening of the clear coat to change the appearance of a white guitar from just off-white to any shades of brown.

Come to think of it similar thing happens to a burst too, with the ambers/yellows darkening, and the reds fading (altho in my case, my burst's red are also darkening too, probably for same reason as the white guitars).

 

[JurnyWannaBe]

I'm covered either way

 

[Lanaka]

Me too I have all 3 of the top Strat colors... none of which are Squiers.

Burst: 2000±5 Austin AU-731 Strat.


White: 1980s Stage CS-327 Strat.


Black: 2010 Fender Japan Standard Stratocaster 1H.


Oh wait, I just remembered, I DO have a white Squier Strat!

White: 2003 Squier SE Stratocaster


My bad!

 

[Paulsomeone]

Another vote for black burst. I have a Godin Session in black burst. Does Fender do one?

 

[the_dude]

If I had to choose....

If it is a strat, I would say burst. If it was a tele, then black (although I would prefer TV Yellow). Les Paul.... I would say black beauty.

Then I already have each (except a Tele) in both....

 

[DougMen]

Boring, boring, boring! CAR, LPB, BM, Surf and Foam green, Sonic and Daphne blue, Fiesta Red, Sherwood Green, and other classic custom colors all go for way more among those that can afford to actually collect guitars from the 50s and 60s, because those colors are all way cooler than boring white, blond, black, and sunburst. As for newer colors, my favorite Fender color is a wine red metallic, which has been known as Midnight Wine, Oxblood, and Aubergine, but all three look nearly identical to me, although I think Oxblood is the darkest, and Aubergine the lightest, with Midnight Wine somewhere between those two. Also, the color called Mocha Burst that they use on the Ultra Strat is really gorgeous in person, although it looks bland in pics, because you can't see that it's a metallic gold and metallic chocolate color. Of course, in typical Fender fashion, that color only comes on a maple neck Strat, since it would look WAY better on a rosewood one.

 

[OOMTOM]

Variety is the Spice of Life. So as many colour choices as possible please.
But to answer the question I give you the one and only Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones .............
PAINT IT BLACK.

 

[HighwayStar106]

Black Strats didn’t seem to become particularly common until the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, whereas sunburst was the standard finish right from the start. Therefore, I’d say sunburst is the most ubiquitous.

Sunburst would also be my preference. Nothing wrong with black really, but it’s a bit dull.

 

[Davis Sharp]

black, not burnt toast burst

 

[Lanaka]

Black Strats didn’t seem to become particularly common until the late ‘60s/early ‘70s, whereas sunburst was the standard finish right from the start. Therefore, I’d say sunburst is the most ubiquitous.

Sunburst would also be my preference. Nothing wrong with black really, but it’s a bit dull.

I like bursts for their variety, generally no two burst guitars are identical. I have 10 different burst guitars and they all look different, even tho I could group them into 3 3-tone bursts (on Strat/Tele types), 4 2-tone bursts (on LP types), 2 black bursts (on an RG and a vintage offset, ...I guess I COULD lump these two into the black group) and a blue burst on a 338. And they all look different, even the individual examples in a group all look different from the rest in their group.

I would beg to differ. Black guitars can have a lot of variety too: gloss blacks, flat blacks, satin blacks, transparent blacks (of varying grades of transparency), black pearls/metallics/flakes, iridescent blacks (blacks that can reflect different colors, think oil on water), etc. And then there's black guitars that can be accented with a touch of other colors, red, yellow, white, and others including my favorite: iridescent abalone or other shells and mother-of-pearls. And also I have a black to clear (aged to amber) burst and a black to dark gray on a quilted maple top burst.

And then there's @Paruwi. LOL

 

[wraub]

Thanks, all. The guitar will stay as a burst for now. I still have the black body though...

 

[Azureglo]

Thorough investigation has proved conclusively that the Sunbursts are dominant in Dorset:

 

[brians]

Thorough investigation has proved conclusively that the Sunbursts are dominant in Dorset:

Where's Dorset ?

 

[Azureglo]

Where's Dorset ?

Earth. Milky Way.

 

[SoundDesign]

You've convinced me the burst is probably more ubiquitous. Also, burst please.

 

[painter33]

Earlier Squiers, at least, were predominantly black, but more recently, bursts and other colors have dominated. Note: my ‘97 purchased new was black poly but under that was a burst. I stripped it to repaint after converting it to a hardtail. It was unlikely that the conversion could have been buried under a redone burst, so…Surf Green! Fender Strats are a slightly different animal: more bursts.

 

[Kranix]

Not a fan of bursts and I maybe bias as my first guitar was a black squier affinity(which is now white) so black for me.

This just thread reminded me of the spinal tap scene with album cover.