Speaking of guitar colours

[Rog]

For those who have guitars/basses more than a couple of years old - have you taken the pickguard off and compared the original colour? If you haven't got a pickguard, you can often see the difference under the pups, bridge or controls cover.

Although I shouldn't be surprised - I am when I see how colours have changed with time and in guitars which don't normally see sunlight.

My Arctic White Jazz Bass has 'mellowed' in just 7 years. My Vintage White Strat has changed even more) I hated the colour at first, it was too creamy custardy - but its mellowed also.

I had a Fiesta Red bass which faded to a soft pinky, salmonly sort of colour. In fact, if you look at pictures of The Shadows, you'd swear they were playing pink guitars, but research show they were Fiesta Red.

Of course, those of us with cars know that red fades quicker than any other colour in the sun, and a lot of Fender's colours were actually car paint...

I had a diplomat bass in the '60s which was black, but under black light (common in those days), went a rather nice sort of green-grey colour.

Anyone else compared their colours?

[Gelato]

I had the pickguard off my strat a few weeks ago (sonic blue, they call it), and the difference was huge. The guitar has obviously had a hard life playing in smoky bars, which had yellowed it quite a lot.

[ash]

My tele, which I finished 12 years ago in nitrocellulose lacquer already shows significant aging. It looks two or three times its real age, just like some of you chaps

Speaking of smoky bars, I got the lap steel back today for some fine tuning. I smells like bar carpet after just a month!!

[Tsuken]

From memory the last time I had the pickguard off my Samick (black) - which was only a couple of months ago, there wasn't any discernable fading. I bought it in 1986 or 87, and it's seen a lot of playing, around a lot of smoke (not that much tobacco smoke, but still ).