What to finish a strat with?

muttley600

muttley600

Banned
The last week or so I've been building an Ash bodied strat for some one and as I don't own a strat style and need something to test out my strat pickups on I decided to double up and build one for moi...

Trouble is I cant decide what color or burst to put on it. I've never really been a strat guy so I don't have a start point of go to favorite style like I do with other guitars...

Not gonna be a solid colour as this has some crazy figure in the ash...

Suggestions? Also what scratchplate and fittings might look the biz on it for any future strat commissions?

strat2.jpg

strat1.jpg
 
I've never seen a straight darker stained strat... they always have a burst on them - that might be interesting and a little unusual. Not too dark, but several shades darker than blonde - no red, just brown.

And I like the "mother of pearl" (ie. plastic) pickguards on strats... unless you've got a rare albino turtle rambling around the back of the shop that it's time to turn into soup... but that may not work with a darker stain...:thumbs up:
 
Man, that's a can o' worms to open. Anything from straight black to white to tobacco sunburst would look good with the cream on white you've got going. Just avoid metallic on strats. I've seen a few and always hated the way they look. Matching finish on the headstock?
Personal opinion would be a high gloss black with gold hardware and tuners...if it were mine. :)
 
BroKen_H said:
Man, that's a can o' worms to open. Anything from straight black to white to tobacco sunburst would look good with the cream on white you've got going. Just avoid metallic on strats. I've seen a few and always hated the way they look. Matching finish on the headstock?
Personal opinion would be a high gloss black with gold hardware and tuners...if it were mine. :)
Click to expand...

It's not going to be a solid finish. The wood needs to show through. There is a lot of figure on the upper edge so a burst is probably not the way I'm gonna go and black stain always looks a bit meh to me..
 
Armistice said:
I've never seen a straight darker stained strat... they always have a burst on them - that might be interesting and a little unusual. Not too dark, but several shades darker than blonde - no red, just brown.

And I like the "mother of pearl" (ie. plastic) pickguards on strats... unless you've got a rare albino turtle rambling around the back of the shop that it's time to turn into soup... but that may not work with a darker stain...:thumbs up:
Click to expand...

I was leaning towards a coloured even stain and gloss finish.

Thing is as I've been building these two I have been thinking over it and normally a piece of wood will tell you as you go what it wants finish wise. I don't know if it's my lack of love for strats or the wood in general but I've flip flopped on ideas for this from the get go. It's sister that is being sold is going to be clear gloss...

I'm with you on the pickguard thing. I like the perloid too... with open bobbins and black knobs.
 
I think that with that dark-colored fretboard, a tobacco burst would look very nice. I'm used to seeing maple fretboards on Strats, and those seem to pair nicely with lighter colors. But with that ebony or rosewood, I'd want a dark color. A burst would be a good way to have a dark color but still have it contain light enough colors for the figure to show through.
 
I saw a very nice LP Studio that I was thinking of getting once... it was just a straight darker stain, no burst, nice slab of wood... but it had gold hardware which looked nice but I don't really like, so I passed it up.

Sort of this colour, a medium brown, but not "faded" and with a gloss finish...

Might look nice on a strat... hard to say...
 
Armistice said:
I saw a very nice LP Studio that I was thinking of getting once... it was just a straight darker stain, no burst, nice slab of wood... but it had gold hardware which looked nice but I don't really like, so I passed it up.

Sort of this colour, a medium brown, but not "faded" and with a gloss finish...

Might look nice on a strat... hard to say...
Click to expand...

I really like that idea. Great looking color. In gloss it would look sweet with the cream pickups and controls.
 
amber.jpg

This color with cream pickups + pick guard and gold hardware would look pretty sweet.
 
Not sure I'm sold on the brown finish.... I'd have to see a few more examples., I'm gonna try and do a few test pieces over the next few days. I have another build which I've got to start so I'll try and do some tests in between.

Keep the inspiration coming...:)
 
muttley600 said:
Amber is a go to guitar colour and and for a good reason. I'm tempted to use it as the start point...
Click to expand...

But would it mesh well with a rosewood or ebony fretboard? I'm always a little weirded out when I see a strat with a dark fretboard. And I suck at picking colors so I'm just flailing about here...
 
Burnt Umber - a la Monterey.
Personally: solid Lake Placid Blue to commemorate Buddy Holly's final landing.
 
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