Sunburst is a style of finishing for musical instruments such as electric and acoustic guitars and electric basses. At the center of a sunburst-finished surface is an area of lighter color (often showing the wood grain underneath) that darkens gradually towards the edges before hitting a dark rim. Among the best known examples of a sunburst finish are the

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typica ...

guitars and the

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuous ...

. It was originally intended to imitate an aged German finish, as applied to classical string instruments such as violins, as well as to enable the use of wood with less attractive edge grain on high-end instruments. Some vintage mandolins made by Gibson actually had a burst style finish achieved with stain that was wiped on to the top of the instrument and sometimes the back as well but sprayed tinted nitrocellulose lacquer later proved to be a faster way to achieve a burst finish. There are various types of sunburst finishes. Some common types include "vintage sunburst", which is golden yellow in the very center and black around the edges, "cherry sunburst" - which is a golden yellow at the very center and cherry red towards the edges, "tobacco sunburst", which is golden yellow in the very center and brown around the edges, and "three-color sunburst," which fades from golden yellow at the center through a layer of red and finally to black around the edges. The finish is often transparent in order to show, and accentuate, attractively-patterned wood or wood veneers such as

flame maple Flame maple (tiger maple), also known as ''flamed maple'', ''curly maple'', ''ripple maple'', ''fiddleback'' or ''tiger stripe'', is a feature of maple in which the growth of the wood fibers is distorted in an undulating chatoyant pattern, produ ...

, but may be opaque where the wood is not strongly figured, such as

basswood ''Tilia americana'' is a species of tree in the family Malvaceae, native to eastern North America, from southeast Manitoba east to New Brunswick, southwest to northeast Oklahoma, southeast to South Carolina, and west along the Niobrara River ...

alder Alders are trees comprising the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus comprises about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few sp ...

. Other sunburst varieties over the years included "Sienna Sunburst" and "Blue Burst", first introduced by Harmon in the late '70s and mid '80s. The American Series Strat HSS and the Strat Plus guitars are examples. The British Burns company use greenburst finishes on a number of their guitars, such as the Steer and Scorpion. There are also aged variants of sunburst finishes which are usually found on high-end boutique instruments from Fender, Suhr,

Tom Anderson Thomas Anderson (born November 8, 1970) is an American technology entrepreneur and co-founder of the social networking website Myspace, which he founded in 2003 with Chris DeWolfe. He was later president of Myspace and a strategic adviser ...

, Melancon, Don Grosh and James Tyler, such as Aged Cherry Burst, Fireburst, Lightburst and Antique Tobacco Sunburst. These aged sunburst finishes are mostly suited for quilted, spalted and flamed maple tops, as well with other highly figured woods such as

swamp ash Swamp ash is a common name for several North American trees in the genus '' Fraxinus'' which may grow in swamps and other wetlands. The wood of swamp ashes is relatively low in density and is used in the construction of musical instruments, partic ...

and

koa KOA (short for Kampgrounds of America) is an American franchise of privately owned campgrounds. Having more than 500 locations across the United States and Canada, it is the world's largest system of privately owned campgrounds. It was founded in ...

References

Woodworking Lutherie {{guitar-stub