libratune wrote:I think Blueburst is the most revolutionary and distinctive of the experimental COY finishes that RIC has tried. Monte Brown is very attractive, but it's been done -- there's some great examples in the Walnut and Autumnglo finishes of the late '70s to early '80s. There's good MB back in the '50s, too. Burgundyglo? It's a great finish color that was done very well in the late '60s and intermittently since then. The finishes on the 2002-04 era BGs are not especially different from their predecessors.
The solid colors are interesting trip to Custom Color-land but not challenging and, of course, don't reveal the quality of the wood. I'm talking SG, DG, BB. And I'd include the old standbys TUR and MID in that category as well. Each has its own aesthetic quality, but I am looking for something more.
A trans blue burst on natural wood -- that's a challenge. That was pretty daring to do on a large scale, over a variety of instrument models, but RIC pulled it off. IMO there are some extremely attractive BBR instruments out there that will never be duplicated. Further, because of the combination of wood grain and trans blue burst, each (well, almost each) instrument is unique in character.
Amber FG -- cool, but basically a tint job that doesn't make those large fretboard inlays look very appealing. That's the price paid for a uniform tinting of the entire instrument (except for the TRC and 'guards) to amber out those pink Fireglo centers on the body. The later AFGs also benefitted from the new, improved, darker FG bursting that became the norm two years ago.
So I'd go with Blueburst, thank you. To my way of thinking, BBR is the best RIC has done in the COY series.
+100%
Brilliant post, Ron! Couldn't agree more!
