How to fade plastic?

[Mystic]

What kind of light do I need to get plastic to fade? UVa, UVb ?

[Spence]

What type of plastic? Some fade really well but others don't.

[Mystic]

I have no Idea what kind of plastic. I was going to try to get these guitarusa bobbins to fade to a little lighter color. Where I work they use UV inks, I think I'll see if they can leave a bobbin under the UV light for six or eight hours. If it's going to fade that should show some change.

[Spence]

The color of those bobbins is truely bad. What were they thinking? I don't think they'll fade but it's worth a try.

[DoctorX]

how to fade plastic?

you might have to use the kind of UV light that you find in a tanning bed, but that's just a guess...

Has anyone tried to match a good creme bobbin color against a Pantone matching system book? If you get a really close match with a Pantone number, it will be easier to specify the color the bobbins should be.

I matched a batch of plastic colorant recently used by a Large East Coast Manufacturer of pickups, but the color they are using looks more like peach than anything else. Maybe there is a slight color shift during the melt. I will find out.

The other thing is that maybe the color balance of the picture is off, and the bobbins aren't really banana yellow. With an extra cutout at the end of the bobbin.

The big guys are laughing at our struggles now, but not for too much longer.

DoctorX

[DoctorX]

ooops

The picture I was referring to is in the thread titled "Guitar Parts USA fyi".

sorry.

[Joe Gwinn]

What kind of light do I need to get plastic to fade? UVa, UVb ?

Along with fading often comes weakening and embrittlement.

[Sweetfinger]

Probably not gonna happen

UV light usually yellows and darkens plastics and finish topcoats. Unless the pigment in the plastic is very unstable and fugitive, which it probably isn't, that plastic is going to stay that color. Hello nickel covers!

[Ruel]

The color of those bobbins is truely bad.

I wonder...if Gibson used this "cream" color in their in their very first humbucker bobbins, would you still feel the same about them? Just thinking aloud.

[Spence]

I wonder...if Gibson used this "cream" color in their in their very first humbucker bobbins, would you still feel the same about them? Just thinking aloud.

If Gibson's bobbins were this color then I would feel all warm and cosy about these Guitar Parts USA bobbins being an accurate copy. I knew they would have some differences but I hoped that the photos of them would be a true representation of the color.
Incidentally, I have quite a lot of these bobbins and I feel I am fully qualified to tell you that the color is neither cream nor pleasant on the eye.

[Ruel]

If Gibson's bobbins were this color then I would feel all warm and cosy about these Guitar Parts USA bobbins being an accurate copy. I knew they would have some differences but I hoped that the photos of them would be a true representation of the color.
Incidentally, I have quite a lot of these bobbins and I feel I am fully qualified to tell you that the color is neither cream nor pleasant on the eye.

I know what you mean. I got the same color bobbins from StewMac. At first, I thought the color of the bobbins were off in the photos. Then, I got the shock of my life when they arrived and I saw the "cream" color. Mick is right. They look kind of like the color of the plastic used in dolls. Now, I am thinking of making my own cream bobbin using scrap plastic from a discarded HP printer. They ought to look better than what Guitar Parts USA or StewMac is offering.