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Fading the colour finish of a bass...


mcnach
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Anybody tried that?

I recently bought a bass finished in metallic blue... It's actually a greenish shade of blue, which is greener on the headstock while totally blue under the pickguard. It looks like it was kept somewhere where the sun could hit the headstock regularly. Not Scotland, then, obviously :)
I had something like that happen with a white guitar. Within a year the side of the headstock where the sun hit it had turned creamy, there rest of the bass was white as originally.

I like the greenish tinge, so I'll try to help it by leaving it on the table by the window during the day... and I am going to use a strong UV lamp on it during the night, to see what happens. I suspect the process will be so slow that I'll get bored before anything noticeable happens...

I wonder if anybody has ever tried anything like this...

(I should really be practicing the new stuff I've got to learn instead of thinking about the colours, eh? :rolleyes:)

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[quote name='mcnach' post='937681' date='Aug 26 2010, 11:38 PM']Anybody tried that?

I recently bought a bass finished in metallic blue... It's actually a greenish shade of blue, which is greener on the headstock while totally blue under the pickguard. It looks like it was kept somewhere where the sun could hit the headstock regularly. Not Scotland, then, obviously :)
I had something like that happen with a white guitar. Within a year the side of the headstock where the sun hit it had turned creamy, there rest of the bass was white as originally.

I like the greenish tinge, so I'll try to help it by leaving it on the table by the window during the day... and I am going to use a strong UV lamp on it during the night, to see what happens. I suspect the process will be so slow that I'll get bored before anything noticeable happens...

I wonder if anybody has ever tried anything like this...

(I should really be practicing the new stuff I've got to learn instead of thinking about the colours, eh? :rolleyes:)[/quote]

Do you know if its a nitro or poly finish? Im no expert but presumably nitro will 'age' and fade much easier whereas the poly may not.

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[quote name='absolutpepper' post='937906' date='Aug 27 2010, 10:48 AM']Do you know if its a nitro or poly finish? Im no expert but presumably nitro will 'age' and fade much easier whereas the poly may not.[/quote]


definitely not nitro...
but the fading will be in the pigment itself under the clear coat, I'm not talking about the yellowing of the nitro, but more of a fading of (mostly red?) pigments under sunlight.

Edited by mcnach
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get your sister to take it to the sunbed with her. Some pigments & dyes have a lot less light stability than others. I recall PRS had a disaster with some dark blue/black stains that went an entirely different colour after 3 months. They ended up withdrawing that finish from the range and now the affected guitars are much sought after.

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