Is Whale Blue supposed to be so dark?

[bodia]

Hope the Mrs is ok!

Congrats on bringing one back home!

I still have deep regret over selling one (ok, more than one) of mine....

Oh good, I was almost gonna feel guilty.

Hope your girl is okay!

Yay! And nice one CME!

Hope Mrs B is ok?

Thanks! Nothing too serious. Nothing a weeks worth of antibiotics won't take care of.

 

[Alnus Rubra]

Thanks! Nothing too serious. Nothing a weeks worth of antibiotics won't take care of.

Do you always need them after a guitar purchase?!

 

[68reissue]

Mine is actually a bit greenish under normal light. In bright light, it looks like my profile photo, which is the pic of my guitar from the original listing at Dave’s.

 

[Gorlag]

My s2 custom 24 is whale blue. In actual light it is a beautiful blue with a great flame top. In darker light it looks back. The back in the light has a green tint to it. The more I play and as it ages I think it will brighten in color. I love this guitar.

 

[Tony M.]

Wow, I'm way late to this party.
It's about blue guitars, right?
I have a blue guitar too!
See.

 

[Gorlag]

Wow, I'm way late to this party.
It's about blue guitars, right?
I have a blue guitar too!
See.

Blue guitar > red guitar

 

[Andrew Paul]

My S2 Custom 24 (Whale Blue) looks just like this one:

Except I have Zebra pickups, because mine is from the Guitar Center build (2015).

Looks right to me. Like the original Whale blue. For a while the shade was getting brighter.

 

[Andrew Paul]

Here’s my 1990 Whale blue. Quite dark.

 

[Black Plaid]

Here's my whale blue in really bright natural light. They are quite dark, normally looks like solid dark blue from a couple of meters away.

 

[rickcard71]

Whale Blue is dark. To me it only looks good with direct light. It does look close to black with low light. I bought a Whale Blue on a SC245 based on the pictures from direct light and it looked beautiful, but I agree, too dark. I sold it eventually because I like traditional colors or odd colors. What l have noticed with this color sellers show pictures with it under a lot of light, in normal light it is way too dark for me. Hate Whale Blue, faded Whale Blue is better, but I still don’t like it. They should remove that color IMO.

 

[Aahzz]

I really dislike Whale Blue because of the darkness - I've had 2 guitars in the color after convincing myself they were good deals and I like it in bright bright light, but then it just makes me sad and looks black.

 

[dogrocketp]

If I had a choice, every one of my guitars would be whale blue. Aside from loving blue to begin with, the color of the guitar is for me. I have an amazing S2 Custom 24 with a katalox fingerboard in moss green. I considered having it refinished blue, but decided it was wasting money. I play it out anyway. I’d rather have people tell me they enjoy what I play than comment on the color of my guitar. We have to have what we like, but it’s still a tool. I won’t sell it if I like the sound but not the color.

 

[Aahzz]

If I had a choice, every one of my guitars would be whale blue. Aside from loving blue to begin with, the color of the guitar is for me. I have an amazing S2 Custom 24 with a katalox fingerboard in moss green. I considered having it refinished blue, but decided it was wasting money. I play it out anyway. I’d rather have people tell me they enjoy what I play than comment on the color of my guitar. We have to have what we like, but it’s still a tool. I won’t sell it if I like the sound but not the color.

I fully agree with you on not selling it if I really like the sound/playability. Neither of the 2 whale blue guitars I sold were standouts from other guitars I had at the time. If either had been spectacular I'd still have them.

 

[P90s]

Hey all! So I've wanted a PRS guitar for so long and I finally bought one... a new SE 245 in Whale Blue. I just got it yesterday (had to have it shipped since nobody near me had an SE 245) and the finish is so dark. It almost looks black. It looks nothing like any pictures I've seen. Is this normal? I really like the Whale Blue in the pictures but mine basically looks like a black guitar (and I already have 2 black guitars and don't want another one) and you can only see the flame top when looking really close under good light.

I'm going to be returning it because it also looks like the Les Paul style shape is just not for me. Unlike my strat I've had for years, it doesn't balance well when sitting. I feel like it's going to fall on the floor every time I let go. So, I'll probably exchange it for an SE Custom 24 instead but no stores near me have the colors I'd pick in stock. I'm tempted to order Whale Blue again and hope it's not so dark.

Thoughts?

I have found that this color looks AMAZING in on-line pix, but in person, rather dark and lackluster.

 

[jxe]

Here’s my 1990 Whale blue. Quite dark.

i like this so much i tried to like it twice.

 

[merciful-evans]

Look, you just need to train a spotlight on it!

 

[Andrew Paul]

i like this so much i tried to like it twice.

My old trusty

 

[vchizzle]

My S2 Custom 24 (Whale Blue) looks just like this one:

Except I have Zebra pickups, because mine is from the Guitar Center build (2015).

This is a pretty good representation of what the color looked like way back in the 90’s.

 

[vchizzle]

This was in direct light right by my patio door.

I don’t recall there being much variation back in the day unless it faded. PRS introduced faded whale blue several years back. Seemed sometime after this, I started seeing pictures with variations.

 

[peterrooter]

Looking at getting a whale blue 35th anniversary CU24. Are the new models still coming out a bit dark or have the got a bit better? I don't want one that is almost black like some have mentioned.