Lake placid blue Precision bass

[Hubert Lawhorn]

I am a sucker for blue and I have considered buying a Precision Bass in that beautiful color. I’m thinking about one from 60’s or 70’s. My question is…what’s up with the color hue. The ones I’ve seen that look correct are a nice middle tone color of blue but some are much darker, almost what I would call royal blue, even the Franklin reissues don’t look correct. What information can anyone provide to help clear that up. Thanks

 

[fretno]

The color does indeed vary as do most metallic paints. Starting on the way it’s mixed and how many things are painted with that batch. It also changes color from the clear coat. If its nitro that ages yellow and the whole thing goes green. It’s actually tricky to distinguish vintage LPB from OTM sometimes. This happens to nitro Sonic blue too , it can be mistaken for Seafoam or Surf. Ice blue turned green as well. I think anything in that metallic blue can be called LPB. LPB was originally a late 50’s Cadillac color that Fender used

My refin’d Schecter LPB by Pat Wilkins

 

[Ghastly]

To my eyes neither example shown is LPB or even close. Even with age. When I've seen LPB, especially on older instruments, it tends to go green, similar to sherwood green. If those are LBP above, it must be the lighting throwing off the color.

 

[micguy]

The bass on the left looks like Lake Placid Blue, which has some green in it to start with. Over time, depending on how much sun a bass gets, the color will change, sometimes markedly - they can look quite green in some cases. The bass on the right is not Lake Placid Blue - it looks like it's a refin - I'm not entirely certain, but it looks like it has a bit of overspray on the bridge. The question there is not whether or not it's Lake Placid Blue - it's whether it's Krylon or Rustoleum.

 

[jd56hawk]

Never saw a Lake Placid Blue that shade of blue, too vibrant...looks more like Mystic Blue.
LPB is usually much lighter...of course, the clear coat yellows over time.

 

[ukulelelab]

here are 2 late '65 p basses both in original LPB.
Serial # are close but different life and clear coat exposure to UV