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How about a little vintage Fender love?

Xpensive Wino

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 3, 2012
Messages
6,079
Hi all,

My first post here. I`m mainly a Fender player, so thanks to the LPF for opening up the Fender section. I see lots of great guitars in this thread. Wow!

I want to share a couple pics of my '55 Strat. I bought her from the family of the owner who acquired her in 1960. I was blown away when I first saw the grain pattern. Sort of a tiger striped effect. It`s been nice being her caretaker. She`s a good one. :peace2

IMG_1957_zps2e88fcb4.jpg


IMG_1964_zps90247717.jpg


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Unbound Dot Neck

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 14, 2004
Messages
1,623
Wow !!!
nice first post , :salude



Hi all,

My first post here. I`m mainly a Fender player, so thanks to the LPF for opening up the Fender section. I see lots of great guitars in this thread. Wow!

I want to share a couple pics of my '55 Strat. I bought her from the family of the owner who acquired her in 1960. I was blown away when I first saw the grain pattern. Sort of a tiger striped effect. It`s been nice being her caretaker. She`s a good one. :peace2

IMG_1957_zps2e88fcb4.jpg


IMG_1964_zps90247717.jpg
 

DMartini

New member
Joined
Sep 17, 2014
Messages
593
+1 with what Unbound Dot Neck said, what a first post :salude that's the guitar Fender should borrow to take the blueprint for the CS 55 RI relics for sure, stunner :peace2
 

Formvar

Member
Joined
Jan 29, 2015
Messages
41
Thanks for all the kind words everyone. Yes, she is a sweet one. Bakelite is in the best condition i`ve ever seen. Pickups are super strong. The thing with this one is that she plays extremely well! I have found many Maple Neck Strats hard to play because the frets are too low from use. Owners want to refret but are afraid to affect value. This one has so much fret to hang onto, even in the cowboy chord position. I`m grateful to experience such a wonderful instrument.

2be424da-d78f-490b-a1ce-b37c38eb6005_zpsda2e94d6.jpg
 
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flameburst

Member
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
313
I'm head overheels with your '54 Three33. That is one very special looking guitar. Is yours that same 'Cimmarron Red' that Leo used for Pee Wee Crayton and Bill Carson?

My favorite Fender:

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bramley

Member
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
408
'67 Custom . Transitional with maple fingerboard & no skunk stripe. No, I didn't sand the finish off , previous owner ( 70s guitar God who should've known better) did. I've had it since '72.
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Three13

Member
Joined
May 7, 2011
Messages
852
I'm head overheels with your '54 Three33. That is one very special looking guitar. Is yours that same 'Cimmarron Red' that Leo used for Pee Wee Crayton and Bill Carson?

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):

cimmaronside_zpsfm9obk5w.jpg

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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:

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And of course there's the coolest 1954 ever - Eldon Shamblin's Strat:

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roadrunner

Active member
Joined
Aug 25, 2001
Messages
6,835
Great post Three-13! "Cimarron Red"... that just sounds like the '50's doesn't it?! :dude: The Leon steel, man... what an iconic instrument! I have all the Tiffany's Transcriptions, of the Wills band from '46 and '47, and I love Leon's playing so much... although I think his tenure, with Bob's band, was later than the '40's? Not totally sure.

Those '50's custom color Fenders were true custom colors... any color, that could be picked up at the auto body shop, was available and it seems like they improvised just about every other application of the paint. Definitely no rhyme or reason to the way they did custom colors in the '50's. It's alway a pretty mind blowing thing to see an original one from that era.

Thanks again!
 

Joseph Palmer

New member
Joined
Apr 19, 2008
Messages
94
She came to me as a basket case - disassembled and stripped of the original Pelham blue and the aftermarket Krylon purple.
I cleaned it up and gave it a clear coat. That was in the mid 70s, and it's been with me ever since.
I've lately had to replace the pick-guard because the original shrank so much that nothing fit anymore. (Yes, I kept the original) Also got a new vibrato arm to take with when I gig - I don't want to lose the original.

JP_Strat.jpg


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63FRED

New member
Joined
Nov 27, 2008
Messages
73
My 62 Fiesta Red Strat, 61 Olympic White Jazzmaster, 64 Strat and my latest purchase a 1962 Jazz Bass in Fiesta Red.

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chuckNC

New member
Joined
Apr 24, 2012
Messages
1,261
Woah, nice group there! :salude

I used to own a Fiesta Red '61 Jazzmaster that would have looked great hangin with that bunch. Tort guard, though, but that same lovely pinkish shade of faded.
 

stevechilders

Active member
Joined
Aug 29, 2006
Messages
1,218
What a bunch of great shots! Thanks to all that posted.

Charlie,

That shoreline gold strat is just incredible... I can only imagine how she sounds.
 

blewsbreaker

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 29, 2003
Messages
1,113
Hi all,

My first post here. I`m mainly a Fender player, so thanks to the LPF for opening up the Fender section. I see lots of great guitars in this thread. Wow!

I want to share a couple pics of my '55 Strat. I bought her from the family of the owner who acquired her in 1960. I was blown away when I first saw the grain pattern. Sort of a tiger striped effect. It`s been nice being her caretaker. She`s a good one. :peace2

IMG_1957_zps2e88fcb4.jpg


IMG_1964_zps90247717.jpg

That is one gorgeous strat!
:dude:
 
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