leo did a white steel in 54 for bob wills steel player, they all stopped in ther'e tour bus to see Leo and all got white instruments that day including earl finley.I'm 95% certain that the only Cimmaron Red guitar that I have seen (at least in color) is Leon McAuliffe's Fender Quad (which is a 1955, according to its owner):
The story I've heard is that there was some paint left after McAuliffe's steel was finished and Carson used it for his personal guitar, which may be the one used in Fender promo pictures (or maybe not - that guitar looks like a '56, based on the string tree, but the neck may have been swapped out). The Pee Wee Crayton guitar is a much brighter red than McAuliffe's - possibly Cadillac's Aztec Red or GMC Pimpernel Scarlet.
My guitar was painted gold, layered with clear nitro that was tinted with red printer's ink - sort of a proto Candy Apple Red. The paint was laid on gold/red/gold/red. The layers are pretty apparent if you look closely at the pictures. Interestingly, the bronzing powder in the gold paint oxidized (just like you see on a gold top or Eldon Shamblin's gold Strat) in spots where a lot of sweat got on the guitar; however, the oxidation reads black through the red top coat - there's a small area where it got scraped off and you can see the green underneath.
There's a green early '55 in the Galaxy of Strats that was painted this way, and Cal Green's '54 Strat (color unknown at this point) also appears to have a metallic sheen:
And of course there's the coolest 1954 ever - Eldon Shamblin's Strat:
i have one of mcauliffs 3 necks, its never been played since it left his estate, he always added switches and stuff. i,m waiting to let jerry douglas or cindy cashdollar take it for a spin. it still is kind of in tune!
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