Hmm, good question! My guess would be no, most light bulbs won't fade a guitar finish - I think the UV rays are what fade colors, and most bulbs don't emit nearly as much UV as something would get from the sun. Although apparently fluorescent bulbs have the potential to emit a lot of UV if their internal coating is damaged. I would grab some LED bulbs and not sweat it.
Andy,
that looks awesome! One thing I'm interested in doing, but curious about... I want to shine a light on each of my guitars, but I don't want any fading. Do light bulbs fade colors (especially stains like PRS) like natural sunlight does?
Actually, some photosensitive dyes used in stains are indeed subject to fading or discoloration and may react to any artificial light - this is partly because every type of light source produces some UV light, though I’m told that LEDs create the least (or maybe none!). However, I’m told by my artist brother who works with pigments that some are more sensitive to any light than others.
In other words, photosensitivity works with both kinds of light, but how much fading or color change there will be depends on the exact dyes and stains used.
However, a guitar doesn’t have to be in direct UV light to fade; a room with windows will get some UV light from the windows. Obviously, the amount of UV that will hit anything hanging far from the window will be less than the UV if placed directly in front of a window, or on the opposite wall. But fading can occur on the far wall, as long as any light is received. Which of course, it will be if a room has a window. Whether that’s an issue or not isn’t for me to judge.
The best way to prevent color fading is to keep the guitar in a dark place - like a case! Also, the case buffers a guitar from the constant temperature and humidity changes a room experiences over the course of a 24 hour period, and the usual amount of dust and cooking detritus that floats around a house will affect the pots and switches.
So there are advantages to hanging the guitars, like not having to open the case, or eyeballing the guitars, but there are advantages to keeping them cased when not in use, like buffering humidity/temp changes, less dust and gunk buildup in pots and switches, and of course, it’s hard to ding a guitar in a case with a vacuum cleaner.
Be aware also that humidity is higher near the ceiling of a basement, but drier near the ceiling of an upstairs room, so you don’t want to hang guitars too close to the ceiling in either location.
untitled-2-6 by Ray, on Flickr
