'55 Thinskin observation and question

[UncleJarmo]

Hi,

I've posted a few times about my '55 Thinskin tele that I bought used last spring. It's just a great guitar and I like it more all the time. It's light, well balanced, plays like a dream and has a nice crisp lively tone (sounds like a telecaster )

Anyway, this model tele is very white, and when I first got it I was almost a little disappointed that the grain didn't show as much as I thought it would. But, after only about 6-7 months after I've had it the grain seems to be showing quite a lot more. I'm a little surprised since it's from late 2007 so it seems like it hadn't changed much in about a year and a half but in the last 6 months the finish might be starting cure into the wood as people have said. I really like that and I hope it continues. If so, it will be worth doing some more pictures to post but, at this point I'm not sure if the change will show up in pictures.
My question is this.
Does that fact that I leave it out of the case on a stand so I can grab it and play it quickly anytime perhaps make the finish cure faster than if it were cased all the time? Maybe they original owner kept it cased and that's why it hadn't "aged" much when I bought it.

Here's the picture of it from last spring that I post once in a while so you a point of reference.

[boris bubbanov]

I've noticed on the CS stuff, that you can get a sense of the grain 2 ways at once.

1) What you see in the 2 dimensional picture. Impressions of darker grain;

2) As the finish offgasses and shrinks differentially into the ash, there's a 3d effect.

Between the 2 of them, you get a stronger sense of the ash.

Also, maybe you've become better accustomed to your guitar and its looks.

I see the grain. Looks great. May I recommend a Parchment pick guard?

[valiant]

A mate has a Larivee acoustic and they are awesome and represent true greatness....it is an incredible instrument.Anyway following an email to the great man himself the advice was when it is safe to do so to leave the guitar out of the case not just to enjoy playing and looking at the guitar but to give the guitar air because this will let the wood
age and lets the instrument grow to maturity......old violins were said only to be ready after such time of growth and playing in.
Like the White/Olympic White and perhaps it would look less clinical white with a parchment or mint green whatever it is called scratch.....still looks cool with the black
....two-tone.
Is that Top Hat amp a handwired Vox sounding number....cool set up man.

[UncleJarmo]

Yes, you may definitely suggest a parchment pickguard. It came with the single ply white that looked pretty good, IMO, but when I showed it to my son, drummer, and my wife with the black guard they all said it looked a lot better. I'm considering going back to white but parchment would be good.

Thanks for the input on the finish. Gives me another excuse to keep it out on the stand.

The Top Hat Club Royale is a handwired Vox/Marshall sounding amp. The mid control works so that if it's about 1/2 way up it's voxy sounding and with the mid knob all the way up it's more like a 20w Marshall sound. I bought the amp new in 2006 right after TH started using a bigger transformer and an EZ81 reticfier tube on this model. It has just the right amount of power to keep up with a band but still work hard enough to break up. It sounds so alive with this guitar.