Fiesta Red???

[stagetech]

Bang on Didier.
Fender maintained a colour palette of 14 colours: These were all from the colours available at the time as used in the automotive industry. The only Pink listed by Fender up to 1964, was Shell Pink. and it was a Pale Pink. There never was a coral pink, or Flamingo pink. Leo Fender was once asked about a flame burst colour, he stated this: No such colour ever left our workshops. We had Tobacco at that time, and it was difficult to apply.
They used a mixture of Cellulose and Acrylic lacqures, depending on the application. Cellulose turnes yellow with time, in bright sunshine it can be just a few months. so a blue would look green, a white would look cream or Blonde. and a Red, which is most prone to UV light would become pink in hue.

The various Pinks or shades of Fiesta red that people refer to, are in fact reworked tobacco bodies where the yellow dye reacted with the new paint finish. Or a body painted with Cellulose lacqure affected by UV light. Those Fiesta red bodies that remained Fiesta red like 34346, had an Acrylic lacqure over the paint. It was introduced to the car industry because the Dupont colours of the time were changing colour too fast. The acrylic solved this problem.

The Guitars you saw them play Didier, are most likely reworked tobacco bodied guitars. They had large numbers of these available, and they were repainted to meet demands for certain colours. Fiesta Red was one of them. Many were repainted in europe where cellulose was the normal finish, acrylic had not been introduced in europe. Hence the colour variations.

I have all the research that was done on this, somewhere. + statements made by Leo and others, and the colour charts of the day. I will have to try and dig them out.
Ian.

[dave robinson]

Thanks for that Ian, so I can now take it that the original untouched '59 Strat owned by the son of my colleague and bought from Manny's Music in New York over ten years ago, previously owned by American blues guitarist Taj Mahal and used extensively on his albums as well as some of the recordings done by Paul Simon (Mother & Child Reunion) - is in fact the original Fiesta Red as the Americans know it. (Taj Mahal actually wants this guitar back, having realised that it is now worth a fortune)

As I have already described, it is a 1959 model with a Brazilian rosewood board, which was the standard fingerboard from then on for the next decade or more. The paint is untouched and if you look at our pictures in my photo album on this site, it does have a pinkish hue to it. Also, the identical shade and colour can be found on the USA '62 reissue Strats' owned by many members on this site.

We all know that there are scores of fiesta red variations, largely due to the situation described by Ian above, but can we settle on the original example as being THE ONE - and it does have a pinkish hue !

This makes me wonder about the colour of the Mark Knopfler Strat which looks vary close to fiesta red, but is described as Hot Rod red.

[leddo]

I was in Guitar Guitar in Glasgow this week and they have 2 Fiesta Red Mex Classic Strats that look quite pink and not unlike the shade of Fiesta Red in Dave's photos. Just to confuse the issue further here are some reds from the Fender stable. Two are Fiesta Red, one is Clapton red and the other two aren't red at all.

[51 Relic]

Love the blue one with the aged parts

[Didier]

The Guitars you saw them play Didier, are most likely reworked tobacco bodied guitars. They had large numbers of these available, and they were repainted to meet demands for certain colours. Fiesta Red was one of them. Many were repainted in europe where cellulose was the normal finish, acrylic had not been introduced in europe. Hence the colour variations.

In fact I never saw the Shad's rosewood neck Strats other than on pics. I only saw Hank's first Strat with maple neck at the Paris Olympia in 1961 before they got the ones with rosewood neck from JMI. Jet had a sunburst PB, and guess what : Bruce was playing a white Tele !
The next time I saw the Shadows, it was also at the Paris Olympia in 1964, but then they had the white Burns, no more fiesta red guitars in sight.
I remember I was very surprised, as I had never heard of these guitars before. I was close enough of the stage to read "Burns London" on their instruments, so I thought they had followed the "Buy British" slogan of this time.

As far as I can remember, the only Strats I saw in the Paris music shops at this time were sunburst (I could only look at them !).

Didier

[des mcneill]

Unlike Didier I only ever saw the rosewood fingerboard guitars so can't comment on the colour of the original. I don't think the first one ever came to Ireland,just the pink ones !

Des.

[51 Relic]

carimage.jpg (40.76 KiB) Viewed 8648 times

Hi Thought you might like to see this Fiat 500 thought it was a close match but is it pink or red ! oh and a guitar case (Burns or Fender) will not fit in the boot
(we own a yellow 500 ) LOL

[stagetech]

David.
I think it is safe to say your 59 strat is Definately Fiesta Red. Whatever shade it may be now.
Dakota red is so easy to recognise, its far Darker, and is the colour used on US Fire Trucks.

51Relic. If you can't fit a guitar in a car, what good is it?

Mark Knopfler wanted a guitar the same colour as Hanks, but did not know exactly what colour that was. His guitar was a Bitza, the neck was originally a rosewood job. But mark wanted one like Hanks, so the fretboard was replaced with a maple one. Hence no skunk stripe. The paint was the brightest red he could find at a car spares shop. So even he does not know what colour it is. Fenders version is based on his guitar, the paint is the closest match they could get.

Re Fiesta red guitars in shops, Take it out in the daylight, only then will you see its true colour. it will have a warm pink hue, but still look red. No other paint reacts the same. As David said before,studio lights, stage lights and shop lights all have a colour cast. So two identical guitars can look slightly different shades, sat next to each other on the shelf. Take it outside.

I hope this helps to clear some of the confusion surrounding this colour, its a pain for shads fans everywhere. But what if you you like a Surf Green guitar, is it surf green? or did it start out as sea foam green, or was it Blue? Harder for those guy's to know the genuine colour because of the number of greens and blues available, and they were all subject to similar UV problems. Many Guitars advertised as Shoreline Gold, were in fact Firemist Gold. It goes on, and on.

Ian.

[dave robinson]

Here's a picture of the old '59 Strat along side my 'USA '62 reissue, made in 1989. Photo taken on the window sill in daylight - not sunlight, I'd say they were identical in colour. Any takers ?
gallery/image_page.php?album_id=18&image_id=624

[leddo]

Love the blue one with the aged parts

Err, the blue one with the aged parts is actually a surf green Fender Custom Shop relic and the most expensive of the five in the photo!