If the objective is to try to restore to the initial color, I think you should try the polishing compound like some previously suggested. As Ceri suggested discoloration is also caused by UV rays, but since there is so much build-up of black matter on top of the screws I think there might be a good chance that the discoloration is caused by smoke or a very dirty environment. The pickguard may also have protected the rest of the body in that case. I think it's worth a try. You might firt try buffing it with wax and if that does not work with a very fine compound like scratch X for instance, which is used in the final finishing stages of the guitar...

Dan

OK Now that I can relate to. My very first post on the forum was about me asking if anyone would know why my Jeff Beck Strat which is Surf Green was becoming two different colors, and since I still dont know how to put up a picture here we have the same thing with Shortys guitar.

That is nothing compared to my Beck which is just about two toned as the lower bottom half where I rest my picking arm is totally a different color then the top half. ZzDoc, Nikininja Ceri,or Cvilleira I am sure at least one if not all would remember. I remember guys saying maybe I had to much acid or maybe you could buff it out as no one ever seen anything like it before. Well here it is in a very mild form as I also have it around the edges and spots on the back.

I even asked Mike Eldred if he had ever seen anything like it and he said no and asked me for some pics. Well since I still have not figured that out yet lol Shortymcsteve I wish you would post it on his page. I guess it must have something to do with Surf Green paint and would bet anything that there are more out there that this has happened to. To be honest it has given my guitar a really cool vibe but it did me no favor in the resale value.lol But that is my number one ax so it is not going anywhere and is the guitar my son uses now. But I will be damned that it has to do with the color Surf Green as I have a few guitars with more mileage especially my 62 reissue tele and that never happened to any of them. My Strat is an 03 though the neck has never come off I wonder if it was the batch of paint they were using at the time as yours is late 02 and I know I bought mine early in the year in 03. Some bugged out $@!& here, but I would love to here what Mike Eldreds thought on it. And it happened real fast with mine about 2 years tops as I was playing everyday and then one day it looked like someone took a spray paint can to it. Wild !

Thanks Ceri, you've been a great help and im sure you helped me out before too with a few others i recognize in here, helping me out again!

I shall try out the lighter fluid and see what happens, along with what other users have suggested on the paint.
When i got the guitar i dont remember seeing the paint like this for a while.. but i never noticed it at all until randomly it caught my eye.
See, for a while i sat it in my living room with the sun coming in the window each day so i do think it might have caused the problem a little bit but then again i think it may have come from the previous owner but i cant say for sure because i really just cant remember seeing it like that until randomly on that day when i had a closer look after it caught my eye!

I have a worry of using certain cleaning products, Dan72 thanks for the suggestions il be sure to give them a shot also!
I just worry some producta might damage the paint further and thats the last thing i want!
I seen this happen to me on a replica Strat when i used some guitar cleaning product i have, the paint was black and after giving it a good clean i took away some paint to reveal a dark red color so now when i use it i use very little, just enough to give it a great shine.




Thats funny! haha. Personally i love to keep things in original condition, i even hate when things get scratched so as i love my guitars those the the things i wish to maintain most.
I understand people love to have that vintage look, and feel like the have something more 'original' but i think if you take care of your instrument your going to have it last a lot longer and in the end, it should serve you well.

I dont know if you remember of not posting in the topic i made about my dads old Strat reissue that turned out to be a tokai! For the age of that guitar, it looks like its never left the factory, never mind the shop!
Im not sure if you remember the pictures..

Oh also, about those pictures i posted in this topic, im sorry they are so big but i upload straight from my camera, i thought it would be good so you could see as much detail as possible if needed to.

straycat113, thanks for posting in here! its good to know im not alone with this problem.. well i wish i was for your sake but you say you like the look of it, so..

Have you ever managed to clean it up at all?
Hmm, i see what your saying about the dates of our guitars being so close, is the Jeff Beck Mexican made? it could be something to do with the paint being rather funny.. if you bought your guitar in early 03 it could have been produced in late 02 at the same time as mine.
In fact, the may even be the same body? who knows.. i don't know the specs of your guitar.

Il make a post in the section for Mike Eldred, does he respond very often?


_________________________________________

Its a shame you never knew how to post pictures in here so il explain how!
Im surprised after over 1000 posts no one has explained yet.

Okay, first you upload the picture to a website that hosts photographs for you, i suggest using http://photobucket.com. Just make an account and your good to go!
Once you have uploaded the picture it should actually give you the codes on how to post a picture on certain websites, on here (phpbb forum) we use bbcode so select that.

Also the best way to do it is to right click on the image and then click 'Copy Image Location' once you have done this post the link in here, make sure the link ends in .jpg .gif .png ...ect as this is the image file type.

Then the last thing you wish to do is as the BB code into the URL.
This is easy! just highlight the url in the edit window and then click 'img' up the top along where it says 'B' (bold) 'U' (underline) 'Quote' and so on..

This should add these tags like this:




Hope you understand that & if not, send me a personal message and il explain further.

shortymcsteve when I say I like it let me just say I wish it was the way it was supposed to be and I learned to like it.lol The guitar is my #1 player so it does not matter as it looks like what it is a work horse. The one thing I can tell you is that it is not going to come out no matter if you buff it or sandblast it. I hang out in a music store and everything was tried at first and the only thing I know is that the discoloration is showing up in different areas. Now I have areas on the back and along the edge of the body.

My son is in Europe with school and will be back on the 21st and has the camera. When he gets back I will post some pics and we will show Mike Eldred together as yours is very mild compared to mine. I really believe it has to do with the color Surf Green and maybe the time period, as maybe something was wrong with that batch of paint. Dont let it really bum you out. If the guitar is a keeper and good player then that is all that matters. Just think if you were famous and they were making an artist series of your ax, they would be hard at work trying to discolor it.lol KEEP ON ROCKIN.

Just to put my 2 cents in here... could the discoloration be caused by smoke as well? Like heavy cig smoke? Have you ever seen what it does to the inside of a car window? Just a thought.

Edit. Many posts since mine. I see someone else brought up the idea of smoke.

_________________
-Kirk

GUITARS
'12 Sonoran Acoustic - black (dated 10/31/12)
'13 Standard Strat
AMP
Vox ac4c1-bl
PEDALS
Compressor
Big Muff
Vox Stomplab 1G
Carbon Copy Delay

Now I do smoke but that had nothing to do with it as I had a tele I played ten years straight everyday and the color looks the same from when I bought it. I have 7 other Fenders that all have gotten there share of playing and nada. The bottom half where my picking arm rubs against has changed a whole shade darker and to disprove any coming through my skin theories the back has three big spots that turned and I always where a shirt so that goes out the window.

The thing that is odd is both guitars are Surf Green made in the same time period. I dont know where all these smoking stories pop up from but just about every great player I have ever seen smokes or smoked and if you go back into the 70s and 80s every arena was a big cloud.lol

Well, i dont smoke and no one in my household does and ive never took this thing to a show, just to a few rare practice rooms so most of the time it was sitting around my house, and for a while i was always putting it back in a hard case after using it.
For a while i did have it near a window so it could be due to the sun but im not convinced of that exactly.. now i just leave it on a guitar stand in another room where i record music so as its my main guitar im always picking it up and playing.

I love this guitar a lot, im never getting rid of it.. infact i don't think i could give up any of my guitars, i would love to collect a bunch some day, maybe when i have more money and finish being a student..

straycat113, if i was lucky enough to ever become a good enough/famous artist i couldn't use this guitar anyway since it is an artist model, i just don't think it would feel right playing 'someone else' guitar on stage but i could imagine people trying to get that discoloration, haha


I made a post yesterday for Mike, so i hope he answers!

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... hp?t=30015

I have a MIM standard and the code number inside the body does not match the serial number on the neck. I'm pretty sure this is normal for MIM strats. Oh yeah, I have the 3 alignment holes also.

_________________

I posted this pic in another topic:



However this guitar is a 1984, I really like the aging of it. The neck has aged into a nice orange color as well. it's pretty awesome to see in person. Pics don't do it justice.

_________________

HaleAmano- House Of Sharks (Now On iTunes)
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shortymcsteve, could you check under your pickguard, and see if the pickup is indeed a neck position invader, rather than a bridge position. That's what the wiring diagram states. Thanks. Btw, I dig the discoloration on your guitar, too, its pretty vintage-ish.

Hey there Shorty.

I appreciate that you may be a little sensitive because of your Dad's Tokai Strat, but it seems you may be obsessing a bit. Can't you just enjoy it for what it is rather than trying to understand it's ageing process down to the molecular level?

It looks like a damn nice gtr to me. For what it's worth, UV light is a highly effective bleaching agent. Hardware screws can blacken as a result of oxidisation, and this can be aggravated by the amount of acidity in your hand sweat - some people have hand oils that can tarnish or even strip chrome finishing over time.

Can I respectfully suggest you just relax a bit?

All the best..

_________________
Fender Highway & Classic 60s Strats, Fender Toronado, Telecaster, Gretsch Projet, Charvel 3, PRS SE Soapbar II & Custom 24, Burns Batwing and many others!