Fauxbursts
11/8/2008 Copyright © 2008 James William Shine, Jr.
A little known style of sunburst finish Fender experimented with between 1966-1969 was what I call a 'faux burst'. The body of the guitar is generally made up of 4-6 pieces of wood, veneered on the face and back, sealed with Fullerplast, primered white, glazed to simulate wood grain, then sunburst finished. Fender first experimented with this type of finish in the early 60's on Musicmaster guitars with mahogany wood bodies.
Click on thumbnails below to see examples of this finish on a Strat.
1969 Fauxburst Strat
Click on thumbnails below to look at the pathetic butch block wood found under a faux burst finish.
The Musicmaster above features an early version of this finishing method. The body base coat is actually Desert Sand. Transparent yellow was applied over this with no glazing. This body was mahogany wood. So thank Leo for the start of this system. Few Musicmaster family guitars received this treatment, but they are not super rare.