Is there a way to restore a Pearloid Finish??

I bought my Pantera X300 off flea-bay and its quite a bit yellow.....started out as Pearloid back in the day...
is there a way to RESTORE a Pearloid finish? (Short of a total body refinish???)

GtrGeorge

No, not really. Could try a good fine rubbing compound and take a micron off the lacquer, might help a bit. Wouldn't harm it.

Personally I like the yellowed effect. Have a Thunder II that's yellowed. Gives it a nice 'warm' look.

What Damian said.
Most folks seem to like the mellow yellow look over the white. Gives it some character methinks.

...I dunno....

my x300 looks a little to much like URINE-Yellow, ya know?

GtrGeorge

a mild diluted bleach, wipe on with a clean cloth, wash off.
this technique cleaned all the yellow off one of my old pearloid guitars, came up beautifully.
or failing that you could just use a mild detergent and lots of elbow grease, but that yellowed look on pearloid is rather nice, my Sunn Mustang has it and I wouldnt remove it.

Keep in mind that this finish is catalyzed polyurethane, not your average polyethylene type "plastic". Bleach might help with surface brightening but it likely will not penetrate. If the discolouration is deeper, you'll need to follow Damian's advice.

Im a thinkin about the bleach.

Test in an inconspicuous areas first, obviously. Can't wait to see what happens! Take detailed pics for the good of the group.

GtrGeorge! wrote:Im a thinkin about the bleach.

Well, if it doesn't work, at least it's "sanitized for your protection".

Urine! Now that's a bloody brilliant name for a guitar and so much better than Patsy or Angela or Priscilla! Like everybody seems to favour. I for one kinda like it. I'dd live with it play some stinky guitar!

who the hell names their guitars these days? I thought that palarva stopped with BB King!
calling a guitar URINE is just taking the piss!

Bleach, the new guitar polish!

i've been looking for ways to restore a pearloid finish. good thing i read this thread

Thank you for your recommendations

I tried windex...no results at all. I tried bleach on a rag...no results at all.
Apparently the yellowing happened to the paint under the laquer..so its permanent unless I want to refinish this guitar.

I may just heavily modify this guitar anyway...making it into a TrevRabin Sig...
although thats a HEAVY lift.
George

Unless I'm wildly mistaken (hey, it's been known to happen!) the colour should be solid throughout the finish--catalyzed polyethylene ("Imron").

Uncle Mats didn't use a sealer (lacquer) over a colour in his gits, which is the reason for the recommendation above to use a fine rubbing compound. You may still find it's yellowed through, but at least that's the more correct approach.