How did sunburst become the "default" Fender colour?

[2F/2F]

I was looking at Fenders today and it dawned on me that it was sort of odd that their default colour, so to speak, is sunburst. Does anyone know how it became their default colour over more conventional colours?

This makes no sense.

It’s not odd at all. It was a traditional guitar finish before Fender existed.

And you actually just asked how the most standard finish became the standard finish over more standard finishes.

 

[bbao]

I've always thought of sunburst as the old school/traditional.
Nothing wrong with that though.
I like the look but I would never buy an instrument with sunburst just because so many people have it nowadays.

 

[SkylineFiver]

I was looking at Fenders today and it dawned on me that it was sort of odd that their default colour, so to speak, is sunburst. Does anyone know how it became their default colour over more conventional colours?

Prove this.

 

[MegaSwing]

Painted Sunburst mimics the wear pattern of French polish. The bright part is under and around the strings, where most of the action is, and somewhat on the back, where it rubs against a player’s clothing. The edges get dark because there is less wear and abrasion in those areas.

 

[JuanB]

to all of us (even if not technically boomers) taking offense (myself included), just popping in with a reminder that post-Gen X/Z folks use "boomer" quite liberally and condescendingly. But consider how much crap millennials have taken for no good reason. I can't blame them for giving it back to us. #avocadotoast

I find it interesting that so many here seem to have such strong emotions about the color of other people's basses. Judgement sure is addictive, isn't it?

Guys like to rag on each other and the internet makes it easy to do to strangers. Not saying it’s good, but it is what it is.

 

[SB300]

Because my 1957 Strat that I bought in 1970 looks cool in sunburst, I bought my 2020 Fender Performer Precision in sunburst because it too looked cool. BTW, I am a Boomer. You folks can enjoy your foo-foo colors and I won't mind at all.

 

[blastoff99]

Sometimes a post is an obvious rule violation, and it gets removed and the user receives a warning. The thread then continues. In this case, there's enough minor serial violation of Rule 1 and Rule 3 that it adds up to......