People have compared this "new" finish with their 20 or 30 year old guitars and saying it's the same color. And for the moment it is but the interesting thing will be what's discussed 20 years from now when this finish ages to something very different indeed. My best guess is that it will resemble the "black blood" finish that a couple of our older Fireglos have turned to, but at a much younger age.
“I say in speeches that a plausible mission of artists is to make people appreciate being alive at least a little bit. I am then asked if I know of any artists who pulled that off. I reply, 'The Beatles did.”
― Kurt Vonnegut
I'm sure with a thread this long it's already been said. So much of what could be referred to as amber shading on an old axe is due as much to photo repro and printing factors as it is due to what an actual old guitar looks like in the flesh and how it has aged. I swear in one of the pictures of Harrison's first 12 string, a picture that he took and was reproduced in Guitar Player Magazine in '87, the guitar looks to have no amber hue whatsoever, 24 years after it was built. It just looks like a perfect combination of red to maple, like they're in the music stores.