Custom Colour

thegummy

What would be the best way to get an instrument (Fender Precision) in a specific colour that hasn't been available for a while?

I really want an Antigua P Bass and the obvious way would be to buy a second hand one but it's quite a rare finish so rarely comes up for sale. Even if a vintage one came up for sale that would be too expensive for me.

Would it be better/cheaper to buy a P Bass of another colour and have someone refinish it? Since it's Antigua, would someone who refinishes guitars be able to do the pickguard no problem?

Or is it a better option to make a parts bass and buy an unfinished body to have someone paint?

Or is there even anywhere that sells Antigua P Bass bodies?

Just a note on the refinishing options, it's the colour I'm after rather than a nitro finish or anything. Do the refinish people do poly finishes too or just nitro? Anyone know if Antigua is usually done with nitro or poly?

ICBM

They did one in the FSR series not long ago, shouldn’t be impossible to find or that expensive.

A proper Antigua finish would be polyurethane.

WezV

I don't think it makes much difference if you build from scratch or not, certainly not in price..  If you know how to put a guitar together  its a fun way to go.   If you are less confident it may make more sense to start with a known quantity of a bass you like.  

One thing to consider is whether the existing finish would need to be stripped, as that will add a bit to the cost of the refinish

Fender did a run about 10 years ago.  You can bet one will appear for sale as soon as you start to make one

on finish type, i guess its up to you and the price you want to pay.   Most resprayers doing vintage style finishes will be using nitro for most things.... speak to some of them.  Not sure if originals are poly or nitro.  The period suggests poly, the discoloration you see on a lot of them would be easier to recreate in nitro

The guard can be sprayed, but like the originals it may suffer from chipping

Funkfingers

ICBM said:

A proper Antigua finish would be poo.

FTFY

Seriously, there is something strangely yucky about the shade of mushroom grey-brown used in the original Fender Antigua finish that no re-issue has successfully captured.

thegummy said:

I really want an Antigua P Bass ... the obvious way would be to buy a second hand one ... if a vintage one came up for sale, that would be too expensive for me.

Plus, you would need to register with a gym to build enough muscle strength to wear the thing on a strap.