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  #16  
Old 10-17-2020, 06:04 AM
ruger9 ruger9 is offline
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The Ovation in my signature is black. I do feel like the black isn't quite "as black" as it was when new (if that's possible? IDK what the clear coat on the older Ovations is). But at first I thought maybe it just needed cleaned/polished, but then I just didn't care. It's still a beauty, sounds great, plays great.

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  #17  
Old 10-17-2020, 06:07 AM
rstaight rstaight is offline
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I think there isn't a prettier vehicle then black when it's clean. Same with guitars.

But I'm not one to be constantly cleaning. Much rather be riding, driving, or playing.
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  #18  
Old 10-17-2020, 08:02 AM
Picking Moose Picking Moose is offline
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I have a black Ovation too but THE black guitar in my collection is this Ibanez.
Signs of age? Of course. The picture is of last year.. the guitar dates 1982 so you're looking at a nearly 40 years old guitar which has been touring around Europe more than once.
Marks, scratches, bumps.. they are all there but none of theme detracts from the beauty of the instrument (according to me).

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Last edited by Picking Moose; 10-17-2020 at 08:07 AM. Reason: added text
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  #19  
Old 10-17-2020, 08:17 AM
jazzereh jazzereh is offline
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I had a black Takamine some time back and never thought fingerprints were an issue. Didn't have any dings so it looked great and played great plugged in but since I don't play plugged much, sold it.

And, just to keep the tone of this thread going, I've owned two black cars and didn't have any problems with cleaning and dings and such but our roads, while potholes are a major issue, aren't too bad compared to descriptions others have noted. The main reason I don't buy black cars now is that I was told by a very good body shop when I needed some work done was that black is the worst colour for them to match. Driving white now.
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  #20  
Old 10-17-2020, 09:08 AM
Daveyo Daveyo is offline
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I had a black guild D 25 for many years
It looked and sounded fantastic
I only sold it when I fell with it and put a big gash in it
It was still a mistake I still should’ve kept the guitar
Love the way black looks on a guitar
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  #21  
Old 10-17-2020, 09:18 AM
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I think they can be gorgeous and the black color can really make abalone or even a brown wood binding really jump. I have an OO built by Ben Wilborn, an amazing luthier and player. The top is Redwood, but we put a really dark finish on it via chemicals, not a burst. That is snakewood for the binding, which is one of my favs! We called it the Black Lion.

It does show smudges more and dust, but that just makes me clean it a little more which in the end is probably a good thing!

black lion.jpg black liona.jpg

black lionb.jpg
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  #22  
Old 10-17-2020, 12:26 PM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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In wood I’ve only had one - a Taylor 615ce that sold last year. But there are several all black carbon fiber guitars in my arsenal. Black looks sharp and really makes binding and inlay “pop”. I like them. But they do show fingerprints and smudges, and can be harder to sell. Sometimes a builder chooses an opaque color to allow for using a structurally fine but cosmetically challenged pieces of wood to be used.
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  #23  
Old 10-17-2020, 12:33 PM
Earl49 Earl49 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Wade Hampton View Post
.....Ask former Alaskan and Anchorite “Earl 49” if you doubt me on this.
Absolutely correct. The best color for a vehicle in Alaska is.... dirt. If your car matches the omnipresent dirt, dust, and mud then it never looks all that bad. Gravel and sand are put down on icy roads for traction all winter, leaving quite a mess by breakup (spring to Lower 48’ers). And not all roads are paved.....
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  #24  
Old 10-17-2020, 12:39 PM
SpruceTop SpruceTop is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ruger9 View Post
The Ovation in my signature is black. I do feel like the black isn't quite "as black" as it was when new (if that's possible? IDK what the clear coat on the older Ovations is). But at first I thought maybe it just needed cleaned/polished, but then I just didn't care. It's still a beauty, sounds great, plays great.

Beautiful Ovation Custom Legend! I had the Natural-top model back in 1978, back then a non-cutaway.
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  #25  
Old 10-17-2020, 12:43 PM
Kerbie Kerbie is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TomB'sox View Post
I think they can be gorgeous and the black color can really make abalone or even a brown wood binding really jump. I have an OO built by Ben Wilborn, an amazing luthier and player. The top is Redwood, but we put a really dark finish on it via chemicals, not a burst. That is snakewood for the binding, which is one of my favs! We called it the Black Lion.

It does show smudges more and dust, but that just makes me clean it a little more which in the end is probably a good thing!
Wow, that's pretty, Tom!
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  #26  
Old 10-17-2020, 01:13 PM
Birchtop Birchtop is offline
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I’ve got 5-6 black guitars, all electrics. They are the hardest to keep clean for sure.
Besides the fingerprints magically appearing, they are also dust magnets.

I seen the LL16D in black, and you’re right, it does looks sharp with all the abalone inlay. Unfortunately the whole guitar is black. Maybe if just the top was painted black?? I just couldn’t see covering that gorgeous rosewood and the beautifully done 5 ply neck.

Needles to say, I chose the one in natural.



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  #27  
Old 10-17-2020, 03:38 PM
jt1 jt1 is offline
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Black guitars sound 7.583 percent better than guitars with any other finish.

In addition, black, of course, covers visual flaws. Hence my idea a few years ago to ask Kim Walker to build me a black guitar with bits of great-sounding, but visually challenged wood that his customers wouldn't accept after waiting 9 years--Kim shortly thereafter stopped taking orders because, well, waiting a decade after putting down a deposit seems kinda crazy--for their instruments.

So, as Kim worked through his orders, when he found a great sounding but visually marred bit of wood, he tossed it into the JT pile. When he had enough bits to build a guitar for me, he did indeed build it.

Given the blank, backdrop of black varnish--Kim only uses varnish for his finishes--I decided to embrace my inner, well, and outer, too, let's go big or go home mantra. So, we embraced many of my favorite art periods, from the Elizabithan script logo, to the art deco Century of Progress peghead, to the Op-Art binding--the last bit of original Rickenbacker checkerboard binding on the planet, to the post-modern spiral fingerboard inlays. It's a guitar whose visuals my friends either love or hate. No one who has ever played it or hear it hates it. It's a Nick Lucas design, which is a deep body L-00 shape, with ancient Honduran mahogany back and sides and European spruce top that was cut for cellos more than 100 years before Kim built me this crazy masterpiece.

A few pics, beginning with its star turn in Fretboard Journal.




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  #28  
Old 10-17-2020, 05:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kerbie View Post
Wow, that's pretty, Tom!
Thank you, it is one of my faves and I think Ben really thought a lot of this guitar and recorded a song with it as well before sending it to me.
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  #29  
Old 10-17-2020, 07:19 PM
Mycroft Mycroft is offline
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Les Paul "Black Beauty." Smudge magnet. At one point, I just stopped worrying about it.
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  #30  
Old 10-17-2020, 07:37 PM
Mycroft Mycroft is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Earl49 View Post
Absolutely correct. The best color for a vehicle in Alaska is.... dirt. If your car matches the omnipresent dirt, dust, and mud then it never looks all that bad. Gravel and sand are put down on icy roads for traction all winter, leaving quite a mess by breakup (spring to Lower 48’ers). And not all roads are paved.....
Also a good idea to have a color that does not show the rust very readily. In Anchorage they salt the snot out of the road over the winter for the ice. And in case no one has noticed, the winters there are a might bit... long. Every vehicle that I owned there over two decades eventually shows some rust.

The worst was the 1976 Chevy Blazer that I had for about 10 years , a vehicle a bit known for wheel well rust to begin with. Brown, thank the Great Magnet. Toward the end of its life I would take some of that spray-on expanding insulation in a can and fill in the expanding rust holes in the wells and floorboards. Had a photo in the Whale Fat Follies slide show of it. Expanding spray on foam. Right up there with other Alaskan standbys like Duct Tape and Blue Tarps.
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