Paint or stain?

[DanDoulogos]

I've never really drooled over a guitar with a solid color painted body - at least not the way I have pined over certain rare "freaks of nature" in the figured wood + stain department.

Frankly, I think every guitar is different. I love me some classic combos - I have an all black Les Paul custom with gold hardware and white binding - which I think looks awesome. But I've seen some stained guitars that were perfect works of art. The figuring in the wood, somehow finding the perfect color and tone in the finish to complement the shape of the body, etc. There are all kinds of flamed and quilted maple - and in general they have a certain look, but every now and again you find a diamond in the rough - a combo of the right wood, body shape, finish, wood figuring, binding, hardware, etc. and suddenly, you have a guitar that rises above the others in it's aesthetic genre.

You don't see that as often (though it does happen) in solid colored bodies - at least not if you're looking with my (jaundiced?) eyes. I love me som o' dose classic combos, but it seems to me that they can't climb as high on the ladder as some stained guitars can go.

How about the rest of you? Anyone one else think guitars are not just for playing, but for looking awesome? What's you're take. What combo stands out (visually) for you - and why?

Interested in hearing and sharing on what I think is a fun topic.

[FZTNT]

This too has always been a funny quirk of mine. There have been figured wood and various odd looking wood used on guitars for many years. But, in my mind this was really taken to an art form when PRS started making guitars. I can remember wanting one from the first time I saw one just because it looked so cool. Didn't care if it played well, sounded good or even had strings on it. I wanted them as art. Since then I have seen a lot of flame, stripes, I love bird's eye maple, and also of course solid color guitars.

One of my favorite looking solid is one that Jos has in his collection. The black ASAT with the gold hardware just seems like it goes together and is a classic look that will never go out of style, like the little black dress. Of course there are other figured wood guitars that I would kill for such as the solid flame maple Interceptors. What better could you do.

As far as solid colors that I own, I really like my yellow Invaders in my avatar. I am kind of obsessed with this color G&L and am constantly on the look out for them.

My favorite stained guitar is the one-of-a-kind Legacy that I have with gold hardware and veneer matched headstock. It's an '87 which is several years after they offered gold hardware but this one was built for some country music guy that was an endorser of G&Ls. I kind of bought it for its beauty rather than "I Like Legacy's". But you know, I never have owned a PRS to this day.

Here's a couple pics.



Tom

[DanDoulogos]

Not that the body looks bad - but the neck on the stained Legacy - *whistles* nice. Ties it all together sweetly.

[FZTNT]

Not that the body looks bad - but the neck on the stained Legacy - *whistles* nice. Ties it all together sweetly.

You should see the entire neck, front and back. An awesome piece of Bird's Eye Maple with the MOP dots, Gun oil tint and smooth as silk.

Tom

[FZTNT]

OK, I'll show you more Guitar porn...I know you want to see it...

Now this is the headstock with supposedly never before seen matching tiger stripe veneer. No matching paint headstock, matching veneer. I love it. Here's the back.



And finally, the neck, oh, what a neck...



What a beauty she is,

Tom

[DanDoulogos]

Wow! She delivers!

That striping on the headstock just seems impossible with the (abundant!) dotting on the flip side. THAT is the kind of thing that (for me) lifts a guitar above the pack.

[FZTNT]

It's veneer on the headstock front so you wouldn't see any of the "Eyes" from the rest of the neck. That's why it's so rare, you don't see many veneered headstocks and as far as I can tell this is one of the only one G&L made like this. At least Craig and a few other long timers mentioned that they had never seen one and if you search the registry in the "other features" section none come up but this one. So, if you had one I would think you would mention it in the description. With 20,000 or so registered guitars I feel confident there aren't many like this.

Tom

[DanDoulogos]

I thought it could be veneer, but the truss rod opening makes it look like the access hole was drilled straight into the neck, so I dismissed the possibility. Still striking, no matter how you look at it..

That's a keeper friend.

[neutralomen]

Solid colors all the way, IMO. For one, it accentuates the design of the guitar itself, rather than distracting from it with a bunch of noise.

I find transparent finishes to look cheap, which is ironic because they tend to be the more upscale finishes. It looks like someone just carved a guitar out of a coffee table or something.

While they work sometimes, I find quilted and flame tops to be kind of cheesy and tacky.

Gimme a daphne blue jaguar with rosewood and binding, baby!

[mutts]

I'm pretty flexible about finishes and find solids and bursts are both appealing.
I'm a little less drawn to natural finishes.

I'm also the type that doesn't care for flame, quilted etc...
I end up feeling like the look is too ornate.

[JagInTheBag]

I do think it comes down to the style of guitar. G&L is a T-Style heavy company and as such, many have great grains and figured tops. They actually struggle selling solid colors and good tone woods that don't have a strong grain because a figured top is SO desirable and also sets them apart from the big F as well as others. This is why you see so many programs that feature "special editions" that a solid body colors.

I think the Fallout has been great for them because it is a fetching shape and pick guard design, most transparent finishes are simply a distraction. IMHO, if they wanted to move more Alder and build on Fallout's in-roads, then they would offer a larger offset Jag style body shape with a pick guard that accentuates the lines. Those players are found at a slightly lower price point and also prefer a solid body color. My $0.02

[DanDoulogos]

For the first 25 years of my playing, I didn't think much of the T-style look, but that's changed a lot in the last five years. I think if one likes the "road worn" aesthetic, solid colors work better for that. Even though I find a few of those attractive, in general I don't care for the look. It is one thing to find an old beauty that has been the victim of poor stewardship in the past, and to see it nursed back into health in spite of the ready scars of former abuses - that gives a guitar real character. It's not the same when a guitar is purposely "relic'd" like that. I know it is just an aesthetic - but I can't get past the knowledge that this ins't real character I'm seeing, it is an artistically created, but ultimately sanitized rendition of what an instrument would look like if it had suffered for the art.

But that's just my own quirky thinking. I got nothing relic'd guitars, I'd feel like a "faker" playing one, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy one myself if the price was right, and the guitar was great. Same thing with a solid color. It wouldn't stop me from buying an otherwise great guitar - it just isn't my preference when it comes to finish. Each instrument is unique enough that preferences are really just a rule of thumb - and that is a rule that is broken often enough for exceptional guitars.