Trans Red differences

[five7]

I just picked up a sterling 5H and am noticing a difference in the color. Sterling is an 08 and SR5 is 2000. I like both colors but side by side, quite the difference.

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

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It may be due to the use of different body woods. At one stage Alder was used for Trans Red which gave it a deeper darker finish. I don't know if that was the case in 2000. On the other hand it could be that the color just changed slightly over time.

 

[danny-79]

Don’t know. They look good together though so nice score! (The SR5 is doing nothing for my FL gas!)

 

[Golem]

Could be difference between Red and Crimson ? The SR30th looked dark and was Crimson.

I realize it was mahogany but even the back of the maple neck was dark enough that it was hard to see the birdseye.

 

[five7]

Golem, thanks for praising the piezo on fretless. I looked for a long time to find one.

 

[Golem]

Golem, thanks for praising the piezo on fretless. I looked for a long time to find one.

Apologies that you had some difficulty finding one. It’s partly my fault for hoarding them. Mea culpa.

 

[Golem]

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............................ On the other hand it could be that the color just changed slightly over time.

Maybe that. Could be what the astronomers call the “Red Shift” (nothing about politics).

 

[kevins]

I just picked up a sterling 5H and am noticing a difference in the color. Sterling is an 08 and SR5 is 2000. I like both colors but side by side, quite the difference.

I’m a painter, but if I had the pigment and the binder I could verify that for you for sure, but my guess is that it’s most likely the red pigment or the binder itself.

Since it’s a pigment in a guitar finish my guess would be wood differences etc, anything painted a transparent red obviously shouldn’t be placed in the sun as historically, lightfast transparent reds are hard to come by.

There’s a chance there’s a pigment variation or the company switched to a different supplier for the pigment and there’s a slight difference too!

Also with age sometimes a finish, especially a transparent finish will darken, if it’s an oil based polyester that musicman is using, then darkening is likely, funny thing about oil darkening is that you can bleach the darkening out by putting it in the sun! If it’s not an oil based polyester than darkening is possible though not super likely!

However the instrument you would be most likely to notice a shift on is the transparent ones! As those are usually using a highly staining dye based pigment or synthetic organic pigment. The transparency usually means more binder than pigment and therefore a more noticeable darkening if the binder darkens!

Transparent reds tend to be violet more than they tend to be orange, so if a binder yellowed the colour would get darker and more brown. If it were a orange red it would just appear more dark. Dark storage more than anything would likely cause that, and it makes sense, they’re stored in guitar cases free from all light when they’re not in use