“It started showing signs of the color changing… PRS brought it back to life”: This guitarist’s “baby” completely lost its finish – so PRS stepped in

Pre-relic’d guitars have seen a surge in popularity, but not all signs of wear and tear are welcome. So, when one player’s PRS guitar completely lost its finish, the firm stepped in.

Touring guitarist and YouTuber The Donut Doctor, who has just shy of 100,000 subscribers, is often seen playing his PRS Semi-Hollow II in his videos. However, he was surprised to see his guitar’s “extremely blue” Blue Fade finish take the latter half of its name a little too seriously. Over time, the color has been drained from it, leaving a very pale, yet distinctive, look in its place.

“This has been my main guitar for a very long time,” he says in a new video. “I guess I didn’t think that it would literally fade!”

“In 2019, it started showing signs of the color changing,” he reports. “I get it, blue dyes have a tendency not to be as vivid over time,” but there’s no denying the finish change has been dramatic. “It’s not what I ordered,” he says.

“It looks incredible,” he purrs after opening up the case to see his revived Blue Fade “baby.” PRS, he adds, “did an unreal job. It’s brought it back to life.”

But he also reveals they’ve gone the “extra 500 miles” removing its numerous scratches, and a rather gruesome-sounding gash on its bass-side horn after it fell off a guitar stand in Nashville.

“It’s literally a brand-new guitar, it’s absolutely stunning. It’s like getting old and then all of a sudden, your back problems go away” – just what the doctor ordered.

Guitar World reached out to PRS for comment, and PRS agreed that the finish shouldn’t have faded as much as it did, but reminded players that finishes can’t always stay the same forever.

“Guitars are living, breathing things, and they are prone to changes over time,” says PRS. “Finishes sometimes fade, no matter the manufacturer, due to UV exposure, high temperatures, natural factors of age, and other circumstances.

“We don’t see colors change like this often, but when something like this does come up, we take a close look at the instrument and work directly with the customer to find the right path forward. We’re glad we could help.”

A freelance writer with a penchant for music that gets weird, Phil is a regular contributor to Prog, Guitar World, and Total Guitar magazines and is especially keen on shining a light on unknown artists. Outside of the journalism realm, you can find him writing angular riffs in progressive metal band, Prognosis, in which he slings an 8-string Strandberg Boden Original, churning that low string through a variety of tunings. He’s also a published author and is currently penning his debut novel which chucks fantasy, mythology and humanity into a great big melting pot.