The Formerly White Guitar...

[dboy66]

Is the gradual yellowing of an original white finish an inevitability on a vintage guitar? I've had a couple and it just drives me bonkers. Fortunately one of them was just released to the wild with no impact on market price, but I have a very favorite Graphic Special that's starting to look so cruddy, I can hardly look at it. Short of a refined I'm fairly certain there nothing I can do about this tragedy, but is there anything preventative that I should be doing?

TY!

dboy66

[dboy66]

5 hours ago, tomteriffic said:

Mine was a bit more distressed.  But I wasn't.

Noice. Where is that batboy these days?

[gorch]

Eventually, lock the guitar in a dry dark room. It‘s the sun that‘s guilty here. 

[tomteriffic]

On 11/11/2020 at 5:25 PM, dboy66 said:

Noice. Where is that batboy these days?

Last I heard it was in eastern Canada.  Sold it to a former member here, but I forget the name.  He had a whole bunch of graphic Specials, including a couple of white on black ones.

[chromium]

On 11/2/2020 at 10:15 AM, hamerhead said:

....but when gray yellows, ewwwww:

 

^ That somehow "just works" for me.  One of my all time favorite Specials...

[tbonesullivan]

On 11/1/2020 at 10:25 AM, dboy66 said:

Is the gradual yellowing of an original white finish an inevitability on a vintage guitar? I've had a couple and it just drives me bonkers. Fortunately one of them was just released to the wild with no impact on market price, but I have a very favorite Graphic Special that's starting to look so cruddy, I can hardly look at it. Short of a refined I'm fairly certain there nothing I can do about this tragedy, but is there anything preventative that I should be doing?

TY!

dboy66

It depends on the clear coat.  Nitro really doesn't "cure" and is pretty chemically unstable, so it slowly degrades over time. There really isn't much to do.  Keeping it out of the light / sun helps, but eventually it happens.  Polyurethane also yellows over time due to UV exposure.  Polyester might not?

Either way, just like wrinkles, they happen. You can worry about them, or you can play Slow Ride by Foghat loud as hell. You know which the better choice is.