First sunburst finish

[Payit Forward]

I am curious as to the origins of the sunburst finish. When was it first done, and by whom? I've seen a photo of a Gibson mandolin from 1907 with a sunburst finish. Was Gibson the first? Were any other instruments (guitars?) done earlier?

I assume it was first done as an attempt to look like a well played instrument with some of the finish worn down.

I don't know if this has been discussed here before. Thanks in advance for any information you have.

[mandolooter]

I always thought it was done to hide imperfections around the edges/ joints where things weren't perfect. I'll be fun to get the real story tho!

[Jason Kessler]

I, too, was under the impression that a sunburst was supposed to make the instrument look old and played in (the first appearance of distressing?). As hard as it is for me to picture someone pinpointing the "first" burst, there's a level of expertise lounging and lurking on the board that's bound to surprise me!

[Bob A]

My impression of the sunburst is that it is an attempt to replicate on some level the sort of wear that was found on old violins, especially the Cremona fiddles of Stradivari, the Amatis and Guarneris.
My recollection is that it appeared on Gibson instruments in the late teens. The Gibson company was always aware that "classical" music had, well, class. And at that time it was also rather more a part of the life and musical experience of the entire population, rather than the somewhat elitist aura it seems to have developed over the years. The early ads that equated Gibson mandolins with the great violins was particularly strident at the time, and filled with the sort of hype that takes our breath away when we read it today.

That's my best guess, and I'm sticking to it.

BTW, I think it's a great question, and hope to hear more, especially if it proves me right.

I suspect it was used, and perhaps overused, inlater periods to cover cosmetic flaws, but that's another story. I can say that while my '21 F4 has a burst, careful examination leads me to believe that the quality of the underlying wood was excellent.

[Darryl Wolfe]

I have been reading this with interest and think it is a good topic. I really have not formulated an opinion yet, but I tend to agree with Bob. There is some violin connection, and some connection to "blended finish color is better" without the cover flaws mentality that was enacted much much later. Gibson obviously utilized black and A3 white finishes for that purpose at some earlier point in time.

[Payit Forward]

I keep wondering about this topic. I've been researching this online to the best of my limited abilities and this is what I've found:

The wonderful Mandolin Archive is one of the few, and probably the best, source of information with images out there.

The first sunbursts from Gibson seem to have been done around 1913 based on what's in the archive. There are some earlier ones, but I think there may be questions as to whether the finish is original, or was redone at a later time.

There seem to be a good number of sunbursts beginning in 1915. Perhaps those few done in 1913/1914 were kind of done on a trial basis and found to be successful?

Many of these earlier sunburst are very subtle in shading from light to dark, so it's doubtful that they were trying to hide any flaws in the edge or binding workmanship.

This 1915 F4 shows the subtle shading, and the edges are still quite visible. Nothing to hide there.

http://www.mandolinarchive.com/perl/show_mando.pl?3489

I think it was meant to be a "classy" finish which obviously was a success, even to today.

Of course all of this is mostly speculation on my part, based on limited research. I would love to hear from anyone in the know with more and better information.

[Bill Halsey]

The notion of highlighting raised areas of finished wooden details certainly could have been modestly influenced in its origins by earlier bowed instruments. However, from what I've gathered about Gibson, my impression is that it probably had more to do with the furniture industry during the early 20th century than anything else. With the much larger "Furniture City" of Grand Rapids to the near north, connected to the boom town of Kalamazoo by both commercial and dedicated interurban passenger railways, it seems quite likely that at least a few of the many skilled wood carvers, joiners and finishers might have found their way to the Gibson factory to pursue an interesting career and lend their talents to this then young company.

[Duc Vu]

1906 F-4 from Frets.com http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Museum/Mandolin/Gibson/3PtF4/3ptf4.html

[Gail Hester]

You don’t have to look very hard this time of year to see lots of inspiration for the sunburst color scheme. I see mandolins everywhere. Here’s Jimmy Martin’s famous F4 and a nice “22” Loar F5.

[Bill Halsey]

Brilliant illustration, Gail!

[Timbofood]

Point of interest, there is a brilliant stand of Maples not far from the old factory site. "Back in the day" I would bet there were even more stands of "'burst inspiration." Nice example indeedGail!