What colour is my strat?

bandmaster188

hi folks, I’ve only owned this strat for approx 25 years and never really known what colour it is.
one recently popped up in the classifieds advertised as ocean turquoise which looks very close to mine, but when I googled ocean turquoise, none of the photos really looked anything like mine.
i was in a shop today and they had a strat in lake placid which again was close but not quite the same and the online pics vary massively too.
any ideas people?
its an 88 standard if that’s any help.
cheers!
pics don’t quite show its true colour which isn’t greatly helpful I know.
https://i.imgur.com/FyxZJUN.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/GW8Dm4K.jpg

revsorg

I'm no expert but this page makes me think it might be 68 Gun Metal Blue

Or maybe 90 Blue Pearl Burst (Dust)

ICBM

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's Gun Metal Blue. A friend of mine has one, which looks just like that - although blues and some greens are notoriously hard to photograph. Ocean Turquoise is greener, and Lake Placid blue is less grey.

Philly_Q

I agree, Gun Metal Blue.

I had an '88 or '89 Strat Plus Deluxe in that colour, and I liked it so much I ordered my custom shop '70s hardtail in the same colour - although it turned out rather darker.

bandmaster188

revsorg said:

I'm no expert but this page makes me think it might be 68 Gun Metal Blue

Or maybe 90 Blue Pearl Burst (Dust)

ICBM said:

Yes, I'm pretty sure that's Gun Metal Blue. A friend of mine has one, which looks just like that - although blues and some greens are notoriously hard to photograph. Ocean Turquoise is greener, and Lake Placid blue is less grey.

Many thanks chaps. Just googled the gun metal blue and it’s bang on. I’d not heard of this colour before. I used to have a fender catalogue with colour chart and don’t ever remember seeing it in there.
i can sleep easy now!

Blaendulais

The Motorcycle Boy says its black and White?

Philly_Q

I could be wrong, but I think that late '80s to early '90s period is the only time that particular Fender colour has been available. 

They had quite a lot of unusual colours in those days, but then they reverted to the familiar old '50s and '60s custom colours.

The nearest equivalent now is the Mercedes Blue they use on some of the Clapton sig models.

ICBM

Philly_Q said:

I could be wrong, but I think that late '80s to early '90s period is the only time that particular Fender colour has been available. 

They had quite a lot of unusual colours in those days, but then they reverted to the familiar old '50s and '60s custom colours.

The best for me is 'Firestorm' - an extremely rare finish. I was offered one in the mid-90s for about the same price as a normal USA Std Strat, when they were about as unfashionable as they could possibly be, and stupidly turned it down... they're now quite sought-after.

bandmaster188

Philly_Q said:

I could be wrong, but I think that late '80s to early '90s period is the only time that particular Fender colour has been available. 

Not 100% on this but I remember on the front cover of guitarist magazine they had an old beat up 60’s strat in the same colour.  Although it could have been one of the aforementioned colours that had darkened down with age.

bandmaster188

ICBM said:

Philly_Q said:

I could be wrong, but I think that late '80s to early '90s period is the only time that particular Fender colour has been available. 

They had quite a lot of unusual colours in those days, but then they reverted to the familiar old '50s and '60s custom colours.

The best for me is 'Firestorm' - an extremely rare finish. I was offered one in the mid-90s for about the same price as a normal USA Std Strat, when they were about as unfashionable as they could possibly be, and stupidly turned it down... they're now quite sought-after.

that’s a little bit lairy for my tastes. At least they didn’t put a tortoise shell guard on it!

bluechargeboy

Yes, Gun Metal Blue just like my 89/90 Strat Plus!

mudslide73

Blaendulais said:

The Motorcycle Boy says its black and White?

Rusty James can see it though? 

bbill335

bandmaster188 said:

Philly_Q said:

I could be wrong, but I think that late '80s to early '90s period is the only time that particular Fender colour has been available. 

Not 100% on this but I remember on the front cover of guitarist magazine they had an old beat up 60’s strat in the same colour.  Although it could have been one of the aforementioned colours that had darkened down with age.

The pic in the OP looks like the charcoal frost I just got from MJT, which is less blue than the one in @bluechargeboy 's pic. 

bandmaster188

bbill335 said:

bandmaster188 said:

Philly_Q said:

I could be wrong, but I think that late '80s to early '90s period is the only time that particular Fender colour has been available. 

Not 100% on this but I remember on the front cover of guitarist magazine they had an old beat up 60’s strat in the same colour.  Although it could have been one of the aforementioned colours that had darkened down with age.

The pic in the OP looks like the charcoal frost I just got from MJT, which is less blue than the one in @bluechargeboy 's pic. 

Yeah that also looks very similar too. I’m gonna add another pic tomorrow and take it outside to see how it comes up in natural light.
cheers for that!

bandmaster188

Daylight pic. 
I’m leaning more towards gunmetal blue than charcoal frost.
https://i.imgur.com/hNZIKzd.jpg

Philly_Q

It's Gun Metal Blue!

I've got an old Fender catalogue at home, if I can find it I'll see what the available colours were.  It might be '89 or '90 though, possibly slightly different from the '88 options.

57Deluxe

Midnight?

ICBM

It's Gun Metal Blue.

It's the same as my friend's one, which is also an '88 or '89. She bought it new so she's certain about the colour name.

Philly_Q

I found a Fender price list dated 1 October 1988. 

Colour options for both the American Standard Strat and Strat Plus included....Gun Metal Blue.

The other available colours for the American Standard that year were:  Black, Brown Sunburst, Pewter, Torino Red, Graffiti Yellow and Arctic White.  And the guitar would've cost you $649.99.

bandmaster188

Cheers for that folks.

robgilmo

Yellow.