What happened to.....

Strat54

There's so many refin old Strat's about with owners claiming them to be original its quite laughable. A high profile British Youtuber was showing off his collection all over FB last week after he was featured in a magazine....OMG his 'custom colour' 60's Strat was a dreadful refin.....an old refin but still a refin....but there he is an 'expert' claiming it to be original and the sort of guy he is you wouldn't even bother trying to educate him otherwise. He is just one of many, can't quite work out if they know and are just bullshitting, in denial or just they are truly ignorant. 

ICBM

I've seen loads of them as well. I'd actually go as far as saying I'm not certain I've ever seen a pre-CBS custom colour Strat that was definitely original, in person. Even the ones that have looked convincing from the outside had evidence of refinishing once you look inside.

I have no idea what happened to that one I posted above either - it was for a customer, I didn't do the refinishing, and that's only the first coat which he sent me a pic of to show how well it had covered the outline of the patch - I'm pretty sure he was honest, but if it's been sold on, who knows whether a subsequent owner or dealer has 'forgotten' that part of the description...

impmann

Theres a reason why so many "original" 1960s Strats seem to appear in Custom Colours, despite them being very rare in the day...

That said, I did see a 1960s Fender Strat body in a bin behind a well-known music shop in London in the early 90s - cut in half. It had the remains of a bad routing for buckers and Kahler tone-robber. I was trying to rescue it when the owner of said shop chased me off. Can't imagine what he was trying to hide...

ICBM

impmann said:

Theres a reason why so many "original" 1960s Strats seem to appear in Custom Colours, despite them being very rare in the day...

That said, I did see a 1960s Fender Strat body in a bin behind a well-known music shop in London in the early 90s - cut in half. It had the remains of a bad routing for buckers and Kahler tone-robber. I was trying to rescue it when the owner of said shop chased me off. Can't imagine what he was trying to hide...

If you think about it, it would actually be a clever thing to do - an all-original custom-colour pre-CBS Strat is very difficult to fake perfectly, and would attract a lot of expert attention so is likely to be called out. But one that purports to be an original that's been routed, filled and refinished is far more believable, the finish doesn't have to be convincing because it's *meant* to be a refin, and at today's prices is still well worth faking if you're not starting with a genuine Fender body...

It used to be that "no-one would fake a player grade example if they have the skills to make an all-original" but I suspect that's no longer the case when you factor in the much greater chance of getting away with it.

p90fool

True, and it is a question of supply and demand. There's probably a bigger market for eight grand "player's grade" Strats than there is for £25k pristine ones, so somebody will be knocking them together on demand.

In the early '80s the holy grail of rare custom colour Strats was Salmon Pink, and there seemed to be quite a few floating around, plus a lot of debate in well-regarded guitar magazines as to how many were originally that colour and how many were just faded Fiesta Red.

Fast forward a decade and a half into the internet era with a load of shared research and information, and "Salmon Pink" has never been mentioned as a Fender colour since.   

I suspect a lot of people made a killing by spreading that little myth then finishing guitars to suit the demand. 

guitars4you

I'm so amazed how many claim to have a 'Selmer' refin

A) it is still a refin, so not sure why a Selmer version should acquire any more 'wow' status, than a Clive Brown or other good refin - But asking prices do tend to be higher  if it is an old refin I think some try to hide behind this Selmer refin tag, as nothing to confirm it is or it isn't - Just hearsay 

koneguitarist

I bought a 63 Jazz bass that I had known to be a custom colour dark green finish on it since about 1980-81. I eventually bought it sometime in late 90s. But owner had painted it black, including neck. 

I had a pro refinish done on it to take it back to the green. However the green was over a sunburst. So I made decision to go back to sunburst. 

This is where it’s tricky as refinishing were done at Fender factory straight over SB finishes to custom order and also once in UK by Selmer. It would be very difficult to work out how many custom colour fenders were originally shipped to UK, but I think the UK has more than USA made. 

monquixote

My 1980 "The Strat" was the classic with a hot rails and a kahler when I bought it in the 90's for something like £250.

Luckily it was the two point version which didn't require routing so I was able to change to to something more sensible.

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/uploads/editor/be/p9t2kk2p5pk7.jpg

koneguitarist

Sold one like that in my shop in Yeovil. 

SPECTRUM001

On a related topic, for a while I have been pondering where all the old guitars go (excluding Harry Seven (!) and they guy who just had his vintage collection stolen) ?

You can’t chuck them in the bin, and there must have been millions made since sales really took off in the sixties. 

And each year, even more are being sold.

Where are they all ???

HarrySeven

monquixote said:

https://www.thefretboard.co.uk/uploads/editor/be/p9t2kk2p5pk7.jpg

That’s a bit nice...