andrew m Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Hi all. I recently had the chance to compare my 20+ year old Spector ns 2 bass against a new model one and noticed my bass seems to be losing its colour ( so to speak).Even though mine has spent a good portion of its life in its case, I noticed that the once impressive deep blue stain seems to be showing a "slight greening" colour. Is it my eyes or is this really happening?A few people have told me that "stage lights" could have initiated the change. Not too sure I believe this, Although I have seen a once bright fuscia SS 1 fade to a dullish pink. any insight.
crunchee Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Hi all. I recently had the chance to compare my 20+ year old Spector ns 2 bass against a new model one and noticed my bass seems to be losing its colour ( so to speak).Even though mine has spent a good portion of its life in its case, I noticed that the once impressive deep blue stain seems to be showing a "slight greening" colour. Is it my eyes or is this really happening?A few people have told me that "stage lights" could have initiated the change. Not too sure I believe this, Although I have seen a once bright fuscia SS 1 fade to a dullish pink. any insight.I'm definitely no expert, but this online article might be helpful, even though it pertains to Gibson colors:http://home.provide.net/~cfh/gibsonc.htmlIt may be a case of the clear coat yellowing, this article mentions that blue (base color) + yellow (yellowed clearcoat) = green. Hope this helps!
cmatthes Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 It is also possible that the blue dye/stain itself wasn't very stable and is fading. Several companies have had issues with blues turning green years ago - PRS and Hamer both come to mind. Both have since corrected the issue.
Armitage Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 MusicMan has has a terrible time with their finishes fading.
andrew m Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 Crunchee ---- Thanks for the link. I Never thought that the clear coat might be the culprit.Cmathes--- Thanks for your insight. First I heard that the actual stain might be crap. Always respected your knowledge.Armitage ----- interesting that you mention Musicman, I have seen numerous exampes of different degrees of fading/discolouration of the years.Thanks to all for all the info.
Stike Posted January 12, 2010 Posted January 12, 2010 Those Spectors were a polyester finish which isn't exactly water clear to begin with and it can yelow over time like nitrocellulose lacquer. Add the possibility of unstable dyes like Chris mentioned. Is yours one of the Kramer built Spectors?One thing to consider is that in 20 years things on the production end change-employees, materials, techniques. etc. The chances of guitars in the same color built 20 years apart looking exactly the same are slim, especially dyed/stained woods.
andrew m Posted January 12, 2010 Author Posted January 12, 2010 Those Spectors were a polyester finish which isn't exactly water clear to begin with and it can yelow over time like nitrocellulose lacquer. Add the possibility of unstable dyes like Chris mentioned. Is yours one of the Kramer built Spectors?One thing to consider is that in 20 years things on the production end change-employees, materials, techniques. etc. The chances of guitars in the same color built 20 years apart looking exactly the same are slim, especially dyed/stained woods.Yes, mine is from the kramer era. I mentioned the comparison because it made it more evident on the changing of the colour. I know fading does happen to a degree (and you cannot really fairly compare one era's finish to the other), But I never knew how bad it did to mine.Thanks again for giving me more info.
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