Faded paint problem

[LITTLEWING]

This may be a tad long winded, but someone out there may have a solution. I acquired a Fender Strat (I know it's not a bass!) in a cream colour and there is evidence of (I assume) a circular sticker which has left a lighter patch about three inches across. I don't know if the finish has aged darker before this was removed or if it was in the sun for a period of time 'tanning' the colour just as we do in the sun. Or would the sun fade colour?? My way of thinking is to cut a circle out of a piece of card and carefully 'burn' the light patch in gradually on a sunny day to match the rest. (or would I be going in the wrong direction and make the patch even whiter??) Help!!

[Bloodaxe]

That [i]might[/i] work, but could result in

1) A very long wait (it's not a 5-minute process)
2) A mark that looks like the ring left by a cup unless you get it spot on.

It's probably not the cream that's discoloured, but the clearcoat. Generally, pigments fade under UV but varnishes & lacquers tend to yellow. If you take the scratchplate off, I'd bet that there's a similar colour change where the lacquer has been protected.

You could try T-Cutting the body to see if that reduces the effect.

[ikay]

Here's a pic of my 72 P showing the original olympic white under the pickguard. The body has aged to a rich honey blonde over 40 years of use and exposure to - well just about everything I guess! I don't know how much lighter the patch on your strat is to the main colour but using the method you suggest to burn it in would probably take you several years, or maybe decades!!

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