At home on any guitar from the Fender family, Dakota only works for those who play what they mean and mean what they play. With these fourteen unforgettable colors, Fender joined forces with the American car industry to infuse the American heart with new hope. While consulting the table, consider: 1) The name of a color may apply to different shades and distinct paint formulas. Buy from: This Cadillac color found a fine home on Fender guitars in the early 60s, offering players a liquid beauty that suggests something out of reach. Here we aim to furnish you with a good handful of that demystifying knowledge. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience. In 65, this bias was somewhat mitigated as four new metallic colors came from Ford, but Cadillac continued to reign supreme with six. It's a blend of red, orange, and pink. This one is definitely the new finish of the bunch that pops to the eye the most. The transparency of blonde finishes can vary considerably, and in extreme cases they are sometimes mistaken for the opaque Olympic White custom color. This original two-tone nitrocellulose lacquer sunburst consists of an outer layer of Dark Salem brown graduating into Canary Yellow. Any finish may or may not be custom, depending on the make/model. Best ZOOM R8 tutorial bookhighly rated, get recording quick! Rod Brakes Copyright 2022 True Vintage Guitar Wed love to stay in touch, sign up for The Pick team to contact you with great news, content and offers. Well, you don't have to wait. Powered by Shopify. Despite the inferior rep of these finishes, countless players managed to change the course of music history perfectly well with a poly-finish guitar, including Jimi Hendrix. Even as America emerged as a truly non-monochrome land, Fender knew one hue was timeless. Regardless of the reason, custom colors are nowadays an essential (and sometimes highly valued) feature of many classical instruments, although their origins are not always properly documented. You can also customise your preferences through the Cookie Settings option, where you can disable the cookies you do not want, except those that are essential to protect your privacy or identify you. Throughout the 50s, Fender occasionally obliged customer requests for unusual finishes and, in 1957, its catalogue officially offered custom colors for Stratocasters, Telecasters and Esquires at an additional five percent cost.. From a guitarists point of view, a custom finish does not necessarily mean a colorful finish, but a non-standard finish on a given model. Below are the original fender color charts and letters from the car companies of the time. Some colors are better than other for Fender guitar offerings, and these are 7 of the best they have. Nobody can say if the selection of colors was based on previous customers choices or Fender insiders own preferences. Fiesta's red aggression is offset by the slightest orange, giving it a none-too-serious ease that fit rockabilly, blues, and surf shows from the bar to the beach. I'm always a vintageFender guitar buyer but I especially love the Fender guitars from the 1960s and 1970s with factory custom color options finishes. Throughout these changes, sunbursts were applied by hand and, therefore, naturally vary in appearance. Here's a very cool factory finished Candy Apple Red Metallic Fender Telecaster from 1968! If you put a bunch of Fender guitars side-by-side next to each other and one of them happens to be in Burgundy Mist Metallic, that's the one that will get looked at first. This all-gold paint job will definitely serve a major purpose on stage to those bass players who might want a little something to help them stand out from the band. You also have the option to opt out of these cookies. All rights reserved. Representing the true iridescence of instrumentation, LPB is for everyone with a big imagination. This is a list of Casio watches that are small wrist friendly, and includes a few G-SHOCK models. If you agree, click "Accept". That said, Fender instruments with a genuine custom color finish other than the Blonde remained quite rare in the 50s. By late 1957, George Fullerton came up with the idea of standardized custom color finishes. Car manufacturers frequently change their name, but without necessarily altering their color significantly. Visit our corporate site (opens in new tab). Nothing captures a magic stage sensation like Lake Placid Blue Metallic. Fender Mustang 90, Burgundy Mist Metallic. It is also impossible to determine if a customer specifically required a certain color or if it was actually chosen by Fender to match a request for, for example, a red or green guitar. Either way, they're both related to turquoise, and we're all the better for it. Chevrolet, Ford, Cadillac, and other major car manufacturers aimed their attention beyond technological advancement to aesthetic advancement, and began offering brilliant custom colors still sought after by vintage car connoisseurs. If Buttercream is a yellow that's too intense and you want it toned down a bit, you go for Olympic White instead. Heres why you can trust us. The original chart was amended in 1963, and replaced Shell Pink with the now-ubiquitous Candy Apple Red finish. Fender sensed the music changing, and though they had been offering custom color guitars at the buyer's request (for an extra 5% on the sale price), they knew it was time to standardize the vibrant vibes a color Telecaster or Stratocaster could bring to the world. along with five DuPont Lucite (acrylic) shades, namely Olympic White, Lake Placid Blue Metallic, Shoreline Gold Metallic, Burgundy Mist Metallic and Inca Silver Metallic. Two-tone sunbursts continued until 1958, when Fender began blending in a Cherry Red to create three-tone sunbursts. In 72, four more were eliminated as natural finishing instruments became increasingly fashionable. In an attempt to clear the (lacquer-saturated) air on the topic, we offer a look at the custom-color finishes offered by Fender in the 60s, including an aide for easy reference and a reminder of the debt guitar builders owe to the automotive industry. The transparency of blonde finishes can vary considerably, and in extreme cases they are sometimes mistaken for the opaque Olympic White custom color. Special thanks to Phil Laverne for helping with automotive paints. This creamy, eggnog type color is definitely fitting to the sound of the Jazz bass. Sign up for our Newsletter and be the first to hear about new and incoming inventory, as well as upcoming events and all of the latest Walt Grace happenings! You can contact me here to sell a Fender guitar.. This was a top tier model electric Epiphone was making in the early 2010s, and it's still great. Guitar Center | Musicians Friend. BA1 1UA. The new Ice Blue color option provides a refreshing look to the Jazzmaster, especially when offset by the classic dark brown, marble pickguard. Gen X folk are now at the age where they're going after the guitars of their dreams. He is also a lifelong musician. Custom colors were reduced to six in 1974, the 3-Color Sunburst and the Blond (which went out of catalog in 1979) included, and eliminating, the following year, the difference between custom and standard color. This guitar is cool but some of the design decisions are questionable. Fender robbed Cadillac blind when it made off with, May 06, 2021 However, silver doesnt necessarily mean bad! 2) Conversely, a given color defined by a specific paint formula may be used under different names on different cars. The possibility of having a DuPont Ducco color at the buyers choice at an additional cost of 5% appeared by First time on the Stratocaster and Precision Bass spec sheets around 56, but customer requests for non-standard finishes actually date back to the early 50s. The pre-CBS Fender Fine Electric Instruments color chart! Beyond the luxurious interiors, switches and buttons, one of the key elements of the surge in the popularity of the car was its painting. Cool blue is somewhat simple to pull offcool green, on the other hand, needs a real killer. Are you looking for help identifying your Fender guitar? Finally, the Vintage White 70s Jazz Bass caps off Fenders list of new American Original Series colors. For example, in the 50s, the blonde finish was standard on Fenders Telecaster and Esquire, but it became a custom option on the Stratocaster (in which the normal finish was Sunburst). Regardless of the rationale or reasoning, custom colors are today an essential (and sometimes highly valued) feature of many vintage instruments, though their origins and specificity are not always adequately documented. Or if you're looking for help with Fender guitar dating, check out these blog posts: The color chart changed throughout its availability from late 1961 until about the mid 1970s. It would take about a decade before the introduction of vintage reissues rekindled the fashion and propelled custom colors to unprecedented levels. Once again leaning into its California roots, Fender offered Shoreline Gold Metallic as a glittering take on inspired guitar-making. Luckily, car companies were already doing the major legwork when it came to mixing fresh colorsand giving them fresh names. The difference in shades can be very subtle which can make it difficult to determine. Seeing a vintage Telecaster in Inca Silver is enough to suggest that silver doesn't always count for second best. However, the line where science meets art can often get blurry, so the subject remains full of conflicting facts and opinions from the top down. Traditionally applied to ash-bodied Fender guitars, blonde was the standard transparent finish on Fenders first solidbody electric models released in 1950, the Esquire and Broadcaster (renamed the Telecaster in 1951). A quick guide on how to set the time, date and a few other tips and tricks. The company took the trouble to specify the actual paint code of each color as referenced by its preferred supplier, DuPont, although the same car paints were actually available from other suppliers such as PPG / Ditzler or ACME / Rogers. Thank you for signing up to The Pick. These days, many of us can appreciate the silky, driftwood-like feel of a decades-old nitro neck thats been worn matt smooth by countless hours of playing, but back in the pre-vintage/pre-relic era of the late 60s, trying to keep the ever-more numerous customers happy with hardier, more roadworthy music gear was the order of the day (lighter fluid notwithstanding). By The original Fender color chart, released in 1960, included fourteen chromatic offerings that played directly off the colors being used in the automotive industry, which made for a lot of beautiful photos of a Tele riding shotgun in a Bel-Air. As a sample, Sonic seems unassuming enough, but once it's double-coating a vintage Fender Mustang, the energy is undeniable. The color choice a player makes, whether it be on their first guitar or their fiftieth, is a big one. It can look different in different lighting. No one can say whether the selection of colors was based on the choices of previous customers or on Fenders own preferences. Manufacturing techniques and materials have chopped, changed and evolved over time, along with the personal touches of those who were working in the factory, and it seems there have always been exceptions to the rules. The graphic was modified in 63, when Candy Apple Red replaced Shell Pink, and again in 65, when six new metallic tones were included. When the first chart was issued in 1960, only Olympic White and Shoreline Gold were still being offered on new cars. Sherwood Green Metallic has a royalty to it that might justify a Strat that asks you pay taxes. In 1960, the first year Fender published a color chart, he restricted the number of factory available colors to 14 shades (plus the Blonde). Fender has just announced plans to introduce a total of six new color finishes to its American Original Series guitars. In the post-war period, blonde was a popular choice of furniture finish, and in the early days before a spray technique was developed, Fender used furniture lacquers from McFadden and Sherwin-Williams and applied them by hand. That's a color that starts off as a little bit yellow and darkens over time. Shopify Theme Fender borrowed Foam from a Buick, and Surf from a Chevrolet to start selling guitars in these lovely coastal tones that just say paradise. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited. Olympic has remained a popular option for decades, in more than this earthly dimension. Fender brings six new color finishes to the American Original Series, NAMM 2021: PRS readies 10 new guitars, 3 amps, and more for the year ahead, Harley Benton brings a new CLD-60SMCE acoustic for late summer jams, Fender Tone Master series provides a lightweight option for two of Fenders most famous sounds. ) This was only the first change followed by others in 1965 with CBS takeover, but, until 1969, Fender retained 14 custom colors plus the blond and sunburst finish. This is completed with the classic white Strat pickguard laying on top, and no other changes to the layout. Rod Brakes is a music journalist with an expertise in guitars. From a guitarmakers standpoint, a custom finish does not necessarily mean a colorful finish, but rather a non-standard finish on a given model. Here, we get a new take of color on the classic Jazzmaster body. These vibrant, contrasting three-tone finishes are sometimes referred to as target sunbursts. List of 24.75" scale length guitars and other shorter models, How to stop a Stratocaster from making spring noises, Guild Surfliner - odd decisions were made here, 1992, the awkward year when glam metal truly died, Fender Cyclone II (it exists today as a Squier), The reissue nobody knew was a reissue, Epiphone Genesis. Black aside, Fenders 1960 color chart reflects a strong trend toward GM, with 10 colors of 13, and particularly Cadillac, with five colors. I received this rare bit of Fender paper with a 1964 Fender Jaguar that was factory finished in super rare Black! There is no new black. Bath Get all the latest reviews straight to your inbox. Like light hitting water, the variety of color textures and refraction to found in a vintage LPB are endless. There was a problem. All blog comments are checked prior to publishing. More information on our. Teles were the baseline standard full scale solid body electric so they were less commonly ordered special. This one definitely sits on the list as another of our biggest favorites of these new colors. Custom color finishes appeared on Fender instruments long before the companys first color chart was published in 1960. Lake Placid Blue Metallic especially fades significantly to a green color. Borrowed from Chrysler, this finish can be both playful and provocativenot to mention extremely valuable, should you find a true Shell Pink vintage Fender guitar. The guitar makers took advantage of that pull to capitalize on the cult of the car (and its many colors). Click the red Contact Me button in the lower right corner of your browser. Guitar World is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Automobile manufacturers frequently change names and colors, albeit without necessarily altering their shade significantly. It is difficult to identify precisely what colors were used on Fender instruments before 1960, partly because of the large number of car paint colors available at that time, but also because of the effect of aging on these colors. This color chart is from 1964. If this is a style youve been looking for from Fender for a while, then youre definitely in luck. Please refresh the page and try again. And perhaps when plugged in, this bass will give us the jolt we needed. Competing manufacturers to offer a wide range of colors available. In name and shade, it calls to mind mythical beach trips to Rockaway, summers of love in the decade of rock 'n roll, surf runs on the high E-string. With the brown, marble style pickguard resting on top, we are reminded of mixing our morning coffee. Somehow conveying depth and playfulness at the same time, Burgundy originally met the world on an Oldsmobile, but when Fender started dressing up electric guitars, the real show started. Both finishes were topped with a nitrocellulose clearcoat. In 1952, the metallic gold of the Les Paul was standard at Gibson, but to get one on a Telecaster would have required a custom order. For example, Foam Green and Seafoam Green are not the same shade; Fender used only the former, contrary to popular belief.