Royal Blue

[hugh_s]

So, I have had a CU24 for a very long time; it is a '95. Anyhow, 19 years ago, the finish was much brighter. It has darkened up a LOT and I've gotta ask: is there a way to reverse this? Do other finishes get that dark?

For Royal Blue, the guitar has no faux binding, the whole thing is a solid blue color. The darkening has hidden the flame somewhat, even.

 

[markie]

Royal Blue will typically hide nearly all the flame because the color is so dark. It has been my experience that the older PRS blues would fade, rather than darken. You should pull a P-up cover. This will tell you what the current shade of the finish vs original is. Take a photo please & post it. I would be interested in seeing if that blue finish has actually darkened!

 

[László]

The very brilliant colors on PRSes are probably produced by dyes, which are organic in nature, but allow the grain of the wood to show through best. Inorganic stains are more resistant to fading over time, but don't allow the wood to show through as well, so there's a tradeoff.

Blue dyes are probably the most photosensitive of all dyes. In addition to the dye reacting to light, as the maple on the guitar ages it tends to change a bit and become yellower or darker.

The only way to change the color back is to have the guitar refinished. It isn't a matter of polishing, because the dye, and not the clear coat, is the culprit. These things are affected by whether the guitar is cased when not in use, and thus not exposed to light, or if you play outdoors a lot, etc. But ultimately over time a guitar's color is going to change.

 

[hugh_s]

I can't find the PU hole pictures. RB was actually pretty bright - sort of had a glow, even - when the guitar was fresher. Now it's just dark! I've only really played indoor gigs over the years, the guitar is rarely exposed to sunlight.

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[woodbury]

I feel that my CE24 Royal Blue got brighten up a bit over the time. I rarely kept it in a case but it didn't get exposed directly to sunlight either. Mine is 10 years younger than yours though.

It's actually even lighter in person with some hint of yellow than in the pic:

 

[hugh_s]

Yeah, that's definitely lighter than mine. Maybe I need to get mine out for a sun tan!