Mica says Vermillion turns 'brick red'.
 
Anyone have an picture of on older model with a Vermillion top?

I dont have any pictures but my Prometeus basses had Padauk necks - and yes it does go very red in colour with age!
 
Its a very very hard, nice sounding wood but not usually highly figured!
 
John.

This is suppose to be 500 years old..

Hmmm, 500 year old pickup cover. What's the rest of the guitar look like? :-)

My ol' '80 Series 1 supposedly had a Vermillion top but I'll be damned if there was anthing RED about it!

That is where I am confused.
 
Will it turn dark red (Which I would like) or will it turn dark brown?

It's definitely a browning process. So it gets darker by getting more brown. Under the older finished that yellowed significantly, the color looked even more brown. But even then, at least I could tell that it was a slightly reddish brown. My husband says it's the girl color thing. He would probably call it brown. At some point the color would bloom exactly to the shade you would want, then later it would get darker and more brown.  
 
If you're really after a stable red, choose Bloodwood, which seems to brown out at a fraction of the rate of other woods.

What kind of tone does Bloodwood impart?

Bloodwood, to my ears, like Paduk is in the Mohogany neighborhood. Interestly, Rickenbacker fingerboards where/are Paduk and don't oxidize as quickly either. Maybe it's the lacquer slowing it down?

I also had been thinking that it was West African Padauk (pterocarpus soyauxii), b/c of the really vivid red color w/ black and white veins of the fretboard wood of my 4001C64, but John Hall and some others insisted on RIC not having used anything but Bubinga.
 
And, as I also found, Bubinga is said to display quite some color variation ranging from the brown known from W*rw*ck Thumb NTff via red to even purple. Also may have veins.
 
Fading of color as I understand partly is due to exposure to UV radiation. I guess a lacquer containing some sun blocker may then be helpful.
 
But using bloodwood indeed is a nice idea...

Padauk is much much harder than Mahogany and resonates as such. The attack is far greater and the tone not as warm!
 
John.

Thank you John

Hi Heike; welcome to the board!

Google Nuno Bettencourt Padauk you will see his pics of a Washburn guitar made of this wood. This is the most well known example I can think of.

Thank you