Fading your finish

[fbloke]

Does anyone know if it's possible to accelerate the fading of the finish on your guitar's top?  I've got a heritage cherry sunburst Les Paul that I'd really like to mellow the reds and yellows out on.  How can this be achieved?

[Philly Q]

I believe it's UV that causes the fading, so leaving it exposed to daylight would do the trick.  Red seems to fade faster than other colours.

Don't leave it in a window in direct sunlight though, it can get pretty hot which won't do the guitar any good!

[Will]

Reading through the LP forum, they say something about it messing with the wax potting of your pickups.
Some of them over there put them on their (TEXAS!!!) roof all day long (just waiting for a bird to take aim)

[indysmith]

What about a UV light...?

[Philly Q]

Reading through the LP forum, they say something about it messing with the wax potting of your pickups.
Some of them over there put them on their (TEXAS!!!) roof all day long (just waiting for a bird to take aim)

I guess the metal covers (or even black open coils) could get hot enough to melt the wax - look how hot a car gets sitting in the sun on a warm day.

But isn't it possible to get a UV lamp which isn't necessarily hot?  Being as pale as a ghost it's not something I know much about.

As another way of mellowing the finish, I remember one of the guitarists from Kix used to hang his guitars in a shed with cigarettes burning on the floor under them - to simulate the nicotine-staining from years playing in smoky clubs.    

[CJ]

Reading through the LP forum, they say something about it messing with the wax potting of your pickups.
Some of them over there put them on their (TEXAS!!!) roof all day long (just waiting for a bird to take aim)

As another way of mellowing the finish, I remember one of the guitarists from Kix used to hang his guitars in a shed with cigarettes burning on the floor under them - to simulate the nicotine-staining from years playing in smoky clubs.    

it should get nice and faded when the whole shed burns down...

[indysmith]

Reading through the LP forum, they say something about it messing with the wax potting of your pickups.
Some of them over there put them on their (TEXAS!!!) roof all day long (just waiting for a bird to take aim)

As another way of mellowing the finish, I remember one of the guitarists from Kix used to hang his guitars in a shed with cigarettes burning on the floor under them - to simulate the nicotine-staining from years playing in smoky clubs.   

it should get nice and faded when the whole shed burns down...

Haha I'd love to hear him explaining that to the insurance man.

[Matt77]

But isn't it possible to get a UV lamp which isn't necessarily hot?  Being as pale as a ghost it's not something I know much about.

[/quote]

As an ex potato farmer I can say yes there is such a UV lamp. Farmers use them to get seed spuds to grow sprouts in preparation for planting.

I'm sure someone used to have a picture somewhere on that Les Paul forum of a guitar on a sunbed with a pair of shades on.

[Jonny]

You could position it in such a way that you get the late evening sun, so seeing as it's close to Winter you won't get extreme exposure but possibly enough?

[WezV]

the old ones with the most fading were usually the ones from the shop windows

[CJ]

i like this idea of the UV lights. you could even mark off areas with tape or something so that you could write things on your guitar without actually writing anything. or you could make different symbols, etc...

[TheDev01dOne]

Would it be like the UV lights at bowling aleys that make your socks glow? They aren't hot but I guess the UV is maybe enough on it's own to fade the finish..

Maybe dismantle the whole guitar and just stick the body/neck in a sunbed or something for hours.. No problems with the pickups or hardware then..

[CJ]

Would it be like the UV lights at bowling aleys that make your socks glow? They aren't hot but I guess the UV is maybe enough on it's own to fade the finish..

Maybe dismantle the whole guitar and just stick the body/neck in a sunbed or something for hours.. No problems with the pickups or hardware then..

that would just be a black light?

[TheDev01dOne]

Would it be like the UV lights at bowling aleys that make your socks glow? They aren't hot but I guess the UV is maybe enough on it's own to fade the finish..

Maybe dismantle the whole guitar and just stick the body/neck in a sunbed or something for hours.. No problems with the pickups or hardware then..

that would just be a black light?

Ah different thing then, I always figured they were UV lights for some reason.

[CJ]

Would it be like the UV lights at bowling aleys that make your socks glow? They aren't hot but I guess the UV is maybe enough on it's own to fade the finish..

Maybe dismantle the whole guitar and just stick the body/neck in a sunbed or something for hours.. No problems with the pickups or hardware then..

that would just be a black light?

Ah different thing then, I always figured they were UV lights for some reason.

i don't know, could be. i'm pretty sure they're just dark purple colored lights.