As a side note, what I'm calling sunburst (as RJ defined it), La Fondation de la Haute Horologerie refers to as
sunray brushing, which would seem to be a more accurate description of it. However, I thought it was fairly common to refer to it as sunburst. This thread is the first time I've seen a color gradient referred to as a sunburst pattern (I didn't know it was the name of a color pattern on a Strat). That's what was confusing me, and why I asked for clarification.
Personally, I love sunburst (or sunray) brushing on a watch dial. A gradient...not so much, so I'm with Pete on this one, although I won't rule out the possibility that I might warm up to it.