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My gibson les paul changed color from white to cream


mbengs1

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I'd like to ask if there is a way to restore it to white color. I put it under the sun for 30 minutes and it did not work. It still looks like vintage white/cream color. Any suggestions on how to bring it back to the original color.

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Its typical for finishes to yellow with uv exposure. You may expect a bleaching effect, but thats not what happens.

 

I know I said the same ,but for the purpose of more confusion read this old thread

https://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/forum/guitar/acapella-41/31820742-keeping-a-white-guitar-from-turning-yellow-proof-that-sunlight-bleaches-the-finish

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Nah, but the service agent is always some human from India who will only hand you excerpts from the bill of sale. Any thing else - like WTF is the problem?; they won't touch. Microsoft is like that too. You mail them two specific paragraphs about an issue and some guy from Bombay gets back to you and goes, I understand you are having difficulty with our product. How can I help you?

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I'd like to ask if there is a way to restore it to white color. I put it under the sun for 30 minutes and it did not work. It still looks like vintage white/cream color. Any suggestions on how to bring it back to the original color.

 

Your guitar is acquiring MOJO, leave that guitar alone.....

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I'd like to ask if there is a way to restore it to white color. I put it under the sun for 30 minutes and it did not work. It still looks like vintage white/cream color. Any suggestions on how to bring it back to the original color.

Is that Cream or Heavy Cream

Cream-Heavy-Cream.jpg

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Sun (UV light) exposure is typically going to yellow any clear or white colored nitrocellulose lacquer finish. It doesn't usually happen to a noticeable degree with just a few hours of exposure, but over time, UV exposure will cause the finish to yellow. It's really noticeable if you have a pickguard or other area that's usually always tightly covered - remove that and look underneath it, and you'll usually see a much whiter color that hasn't yellowed nearly as much. You can always pull up a pickup ring (Les Paul) or pickguard (Fender) and check underneath to see if the guitar has "bleached" or yellowed due to sun / UV exposure.

 

I used to have an old early 70's Fender that was originally white, but that had yellowed to a soft yellow banana pudding shade that was really cool. Under the pickguard, it was still fairly bright white. The yellowing of the clear nitro top coats also gives older seafoam green paint jobs a more greenish appearance - when new, they look bluer than they do as they age.

 

Other finishes besides lacquer may respond to sunlight / UV exposure differently, but many white guitars tend to yellow over time, regardless of the type of finish.

 

One really famous issue with guitar paint jobs is how red lacquer finishes tend to soften and fade over time. Look at old three-color sunburst Fenders and vintage Les Paul Standards - the red areas of the 'bursts are often faded and in some cases, are pretty much gone, but you still retain the browns and golden / yellow shades. Some Candy Apple Red finishes become more "copper" or more silvery looking as they age because the clear red top coat (which is sprayed over a opaque silver or gold metal flake paint) fades as it ages, and the undercoat begins to have more influence on the guitar's appearance.

 

If that's a real Gibson Les Paul Custom, then it's got a nitrocellulose lacquer finish. I wouldn't recommend putting it out in the sun if you're trying to keep it from yellowing. I wouldn't expect the sun to "bleach" it, but to have the exact opposite effect over time and to cause it to yellow faster.

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Yellowing give ya more tone, and who doesn't want more tone.:D

 

Personally, I think this is awesome, but my SG's are in Cherry.

 

 

 

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My 92 Les Paul Anniversary model is Ebony and had white binding. The lacquer over the binding has turned more then yellow. Its taken on an orange color compare to what it used to be. Looks great with the instruments gold hardware.

 

A guitar gets yellowed only one way. With age and being exposed to light.

Why anyone would want the guitar to look white again baffles me. It typically takes decades to make a guitar look vintage. Yellowing is like a sun tan. As far as I'm concerned it makes the instrument look as cool as can possibly be besides when it begins to check.

 

I guess the persons skill playing the instrument aged along with the finish or are they still trying to catch up to the guitars finish when it comes to looking mellow.

 

Allot of people spend allot of money trying to make their instruments look older then they are including a yellowed finish. Maybe you should just trade it in if you don't appreciate the look of its natural aging.

 

The answer to your question by the way is, No, there is nothing you can do besides refinishing the instrument to get back its original color.

 

If you wanted to maintain a white color you would need a guitar with a Poly finish that doesn't change color as it ages. Lacquer is a resin that never completely hardens, at least not till its so dry it turns into a powder. The color changes yellow as it ages and there is nothing going to stop that besides replacing the finish. On painted guitars the paint bleaches yellow too. Typically the paint remains original under pickguards and covers where the sunlight and air cant get to it.

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A guitar gets yellowed only one way. With age and being exposed to light.

 

Exposure to environmental pollutants (smog, cigarette smoke, etc.) can also contribute to a guitar finish yellowing, but I think that light (both natural sunlight, and from fluorescent lights) are probably the biggest contributors to finish yellowing.

 

 

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Exposure to environmental pollutants (smog, cigarette smoke, etc.) can also contribute to a guitar finish yellowing, but I think that light (both natural sunlight, and from fluorescent lights) are probably the biggest contributors to finish yellowing.

 

 

Makes sense to me. As I said, Finishes do tend to remain lighter in color under a pickguard.

 

The question is however, How much does that have to do with the light and how much does it have to do with exposure to air.

Most manufacturers say its both air and light. Lacquer is an evaporative finish which continues to dry as it ages until it shrinks to the point of cracking.

 

I believe a good deal of the yellowing is the result of the shrinkage and less to do with the sunlight. My folks were experts in antique restoration and there was little I hadn't been exposed to at an early age in the 60's including most methods of finishing fine woods. My father was especially knowledgeable, having owned a paint store and an antique sales business. His parents owned an antique store as well. and I was recruited to do allot of that work from a very young age.

 

One thing you do come across is how those chemicals react over time. Very long times with the antiques.

My folks always had all kinds of Finishes and paints in their work shop. It wasn't uncommon for me to open old cans of lacquer which had been half empty and find the contents had dried up. What was once clear lacquer looked more like molasses in thickness and color as it dried up until there was nothing left but semi transparent brown colored cracked chips of hard resin.

 

How did the lacquer darken in a metal can without being exposed to light? The can was opened for a short time to dump some out then resealed. It was the air that had gotten in and allowed the resin to cure. All the alcohol had eventually evaporated out and it condensed down to nothing but the resin which is darker in color.

 

I'm not saying sunlight doesn't speed the effects. With many guitars, its not just the clear coat that yellows. The lacquered paints can definitely change colors too. Many paints will lighten in color however, not darken. Anyone whose refinished enough instruments can verify that. next time you remove a pick guard from an old instrument, check the color below.

 

On a natural finish the wood and finish exposed yellows.

 

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On a painted instrument the paint can change color.

 

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This one looks to have either yellowed a whole lot to turn blue green or its yellowed and faded.

 

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One other item we missed is the wax applied to a guitar. Many polished have carnauba wax, mineral oils and silicones which can accelerate the finish evaporation and even stain the lacquer with its own coloration.

 

As I said, I see the yellowing as part of the instrument being more mature. The finish yellows, wood is much less green and typically sounds more resonant then a new instrument with green wood and loads of moisture absorbing the vibrations.

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