Sunburst is a type of finish 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 examples of a sunburst finish are Gibson Les Paul

Gibson Les Paul

The Gibson Les Paul was the result of a design collaboration between Gibson Guitar Corporation and the late jazz guitarist and electronics inventor Les Paul. In 1950, with the introduction of the Fender Telecaster to the musical market, electric guitars became a public craze. In reaction, Gibson...

 guitars and some Fender instruments. It was originally intended to imitate an aged French polish

French polish

French polishing is a wood finishing technique that results in a very high gloss surface, with a deep colour and chatoyancy. French polishing consists of applying many thin coats of shellac dissolved in alcohol using a rubbing pad lubricated with oil...

 finish, as applied to classical string instruments such as violins.

There are various types of sunburst finishes. Common types include "tobacco 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 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

Flame 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, producing wavy lines known as "flames"...

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

Alder

Alder is the common name of a genus of flowering plants belonging to the birch family . The genus comprises about 30 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, few reaching large size, distributed throughout the North Temperate Zone and in the Americas along the Andes southwards to...

.

Other sunburst varieties over the years included "Sienna Sunburst" and "Blue Burst", first introduced by Fender in the late '70s and mid '80s. The American Series Strat HSS and the Strat Plus

Strat Plus

The Strat Plus is a series of electric guitars made by Fender from 1987 to 1999. It is also the name of a specific guitar model made by the same company. The guitars are a variation of the Fender Stratocaster model...

 guitars are fine 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

Suhr Guitars

Suhr Guitars is an American company that manufactures electric guitars and basses, guitar amplifiers, and effect units...

, Tom Anderson

Tom Anderson Guitarworks

Tom Anderson Guitarworks is an American guitar manufacturer based in Newbury Park, California. Due to their high quality models, use of specific tone woods, low volume production and being highly sought after by professional musicians, Tom Anderson Guitarworks is generally considered to be a...

, Melancon, Don Grosh and James Tyler

James Tyler Guitars

James Tyler Guitars is a manufacturer of boutique electric guitars. The company is located near Van Nuys, California and was established in 1972. It was long regarded as LA studio musicians' "business secret", and consequently reached the public eye through studio musicians like Dan Huff, Michael...

, such as Aged Cherry Burst, Fireburst, Lightburst and Antique Tobacco Sunburst. These aged sunburst finishes are mostly suited for quilted, spalted and figured maple tops, as well with other highly figured woods such as swamp ash

Ash tree

Fraxinus is a genus flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45-65 species of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The tree's common English name, ash, goes back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name...

 and koa

Koa

Acacia koa is a species of flowering tree in the pea family, Fabaceae. It is endemic to the Hawaiian Islands, where it is the second most common tree. The highest populations are on Hawaii, Maui and Oahu...

.