Black acoustic guitars, are they rare?

[bohemian]

"Even a thin finish affects the tone in a negative way, only natural colored guitars for me!"

You can have a thick natural finish and a thin black finish.

I do not understand this choice.

[GSM]

Originally Posted by bohemian

"Even a thin finish affects the tone in a negative way, only natural colored guitars for me!"

You can have a thick natural finish and a thin black finish.

I do not understand this choice.

Oh, my bad. I figured paint + clear would be inherently thicker than just clear.

[GSM]

It's interesting how this little poll seems to correspond with the market. The majority of the guitars, aren't black, because the majority of the people don't want 'em. Makes perfect sense. I'm the minority, as usual. Once I went black, I just couldn't go back. (and black don't crack! just kidding)

I chose my most recent purchase BECAUSE it was black, and didn't see any black Taylors above the 200 series. I would have preferred a US-built black Taylor, but whatever.

[jt1]

Here's the Fretboard Journal article about my black, "scrap," Kim Walker guitar:



As for finish thickness and opaque finishes, my Black Walker features impossible thin, black-tinted varnish (Kim uses only varnish in his guitar finishes).

A couple of more pics:

[HD28CTB]

That Black Walker is a knockout!

Is there a link to the whole article?
I'd love to see more.

[Greg Rappleye]

That is a beauty!



Greg Rappleye

[Earl49]

Love that "sonar ping" spherical fretboard inlay!

[brucefulton]

Tip - no need to spend extra money on AAAAA grade sets.

[brucefulton]

It's a Martin D-35. All three of the back pieces were black. See https://www.martinguitar.com/model/i...hnny-cash.html

[bohemian]

"Even a thin finish affects the tone in a negative way, only natural colored guitars for me!"

You can have a thick natural finish and a thin black finish.

I do not understand this choice.

[bohemian]

"Oh, my bad. I figured paint + clear would be inherently thicker than just clear"

Not "bad".

Tint the lacquer/finish..

Like a sunburst minus the burst : ).

[stepchildusmc]

Originally Posted by GSM

It's interesting how this little poll seems to correspond with the market. The majority of the guitars, aren't black, because the majority of the people don't want 'em. Makes perfect sense. I'm the minority, as usual. Once I went black, I just couldn't go back. (and black don't crack! just kidding)

I chose my most recent purchase BECAUSE it was black, and didn't see any black Taylors above the 200 series. I would have preferred a US-built black Taylor, but whatever.

I have a black 600 series( well it's a 2008 ga Hot Rod. ltd NAMM edition). the 600 series is available in black.
https://reverb-res.cloudinary.com/im...og2c4urqfr.jpg

[Jim]

I'm with Wade. Black guitars are nice to imagine but they are absolutely impossible to have looking good for more than about 60 seconds after you clean and polish them. They are total fingerprint, smudge and smear magnets. On stage under the lights they wind up looking like you have been eating a melting ice cream cone and getting it all over your guitar.

As for there being no high end makers of black acoustics that is not accurate. As stepchildusmc just mentioned, Taylor's 600 series is available in a number of colors, including black. Here is a photo of a black 614 that appears to have been cleaned and polished just seconds before this photo was taken.




On the other hand, I do like the 600 series in transparent blue which does not show fingerprints, smudges and smears Here is a photo of one of these with the limited edition koi inlays:

[Kilgore Trout]

Obviously nothing wrong with a black guitar, but I like the look of wood better.

[Oldguy64]

I have a black to grey sunburst finish on my Alvarez 5013.
I have Cherry Cherryburst on my Ovation.

The real reason yo can't find them, is the durn things are fingerprint magnets.
My 5013 can be beautiful. Or it can be played. It is near impossible to play it and keep it clean.
The Ovation isn't as bad. But it too holds onto, and shows the prints of everyone that touches it.