Interesting co-inkidink!!! I just spent $300 buying lighting fixtures for my workbench, in attempting to find the most workable setup. I found similar issues with the yellow-cast light being a problem in working with small electronics components. It became very apparent to me, very quickly that ALL of the CFL lamps that I bought over the last two years were warmer on the color temperature scale and put a strain on my eyes-- I had to resort to using "cooler" halogen lamps, to get the clarity that I needed. But "cooler," of course only represents the more human definition of color warmth. On the Kelvin-based scale the higher the real number, the physically hotter, and more blue-white the light. In fact the halogens where much hotter in practice-- I actually singed my hair on the fixture twice (yes, I know, I probably shouldn't reproduce.) So I went out on a trek for a better light.... I found the following-- 1.) At least in the U.S., no one bothers selling high-end light fixtures anymore-- it's virtually all cheap Chinese crap. 2.) Halogens are increasingly harder to come by in the higher wattages (due to the fire risk.) 3.) There are scams everywhere, even in the consumer lighting market!
There was hope-- I found a newer manufacturer of lighting fixtures called "Ottlight." They offered moderately priced stuff in the $30-$250 range, and they only sold their stuff in large-chain craft stores, like the ones that sell sewing/knitting/fake plants and stuff. So I bought three in the range-- their highest end, one in the middle, and one at the lowest end of the price scale. Their claim to fame was the "full spectrum" light output, specifically suited for "crafting." Great! Unfortunately, when I brought it home I found that the design and build quality of the highest end-unit and the lowest end unit was unbearably bad-- the light would not stay aimed in where I would put it, or sag over time. But the biggest problem-- on the high end one-- it actually put out a shit-load of RFI-- my Rigol would see a continuous 1 Khz, 1mv shark-tooth signal, with the probe just sitting on the bench! Shorting the probe out would kill the signal-- it wasn't noise on the ground. So I returned the top and bottom end-unit, but kept the one with the magnifying lens built in-- I actually really like that one. But in general, Ottlight is a scam-- they add a 100% markup, and then have their retailers put it on sale every other month at what should be retail pricing. And IMHO, of all their dozens of models, only the "Jupiter" model with the magnifying lens is worth a damn.
So I went back to the halogens two weeks ago. I then found a new type of CFL for sale at the hardware store-- the package said "Full Spectrum, for CRAFTING" (from a company called TCP) and had to try it. It was 50% more expensive than a standard "daylight" CFL, but still only $10 U.S. for two. I also saw those cheap swing-arm lamps from my youth on sale for $15.99 U.S. so I bought one. And YES-- this turned out to be the ideal solution! The whitest light available, exactly where I needed it, and it only cost about $26.00 U.S. with a spare bulb! I went back and bought another lamp, but they were all out of the bulbs-- apparently they are VERY popular-- and I can see why.
See above where I said "virtually all cheap chinese crap?" My new swing arm lamps are made in China, and they're actually BETTER than the vintage 1970 one my dad had-- and it that one was my favorite lamp of all time. Just be cautious of the wide range of quality that you see out of China.
As for buying lamps off of eBay-- I would recommend against it-- everybody and their brother says that their CFL's are now "cooler temperature,' 'scientifically designed for 7 x 10^3 - 5/9 +40 degK, etc." but if you go to a reputable store, any buy the most expensive one there that says "True Color/full spectrum for Crafting" you should be okay-- if not, simply return it!
As a side note-- I also tried the ultra expensive high-powerered LED lights-- $35 U.S. for just the bulb-- the light is actually too cool (high on the K scale) and is incredibly harsh-- polar opposite extreme of the yellow incandescents /CFL's.
Yet another side note-- I got the 100W CFL for my lamp-- even though it's only rated for "60 WATT BULB" the actual power dissipation of a "100W" light output CFL is 23W. It takes about 1 minute to warm-up and produce a good amount of light, but I think you'll be impressed. And, no more singed hair!
-Trent