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Always wondered about this, as we know 34346 was a strat straight out of the fender catalogue fiesta red birds, eye maple neck and gold hardware. Why has no one ever come across one the same built in 57 or 58 even 59? I know there are a few out there fiesta red with rosewood necks from early 60's and obviously hanks fiesta red start from 58 but that only has chrome hardware and a standard neck, anyone have any ideas or views?

Just found this apparently the first guitar to be sprayed fiesta red

http://www.buffalobrosguitars.com/fullerton.html

Found this as well, an apparently original fiesta red strat from 1956 but again normal neck and chrome hardware

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikeballini/2375077042/

Many original custom colour Fender guitars were vandalised in the second half of the sixties by a variety of methods. Tremolo arms were removed and lost, likewise bridge covers. The worst part, though, was the stripping back of finish (to be fair, often chipped and cracked) to be replaced by less unfashionable liveries. Thus, Fiesta Red, Sonic Blue and (to a lesser extent) sunburst, were abandoned in favour of black (horrible!), non-proprietary whites and - perhaps worst of all - transparent lacquer on top of unstained wood - which Fender even eventually emulated with the so-called natural finish.

Good luck with finding an original 1960s Stratocaster in its original custom colour. Many (perhaps most) of the claimed originals at sky-high retail are re-finishes from after custom colours had come back into fashion.

JimN wrote:Many original custom colour Fender guitars were vandalised in the second half of the sixties by a variety of methods. Tremolo arms were removed and lost, likewise bridge covers. The worst part, though, was the stripping back of finish (to be fair, often chipped and cracked) to be replaced by less unfashionable liveries. Thus, Fiesta Red, Sonic Blue and (to a lesser extent) sunburst, were abandoned in favour of black (horrible!), non-proprietary whites and - perhaps worst of all - transparent lacquer on top of unstained wood - which Fender even eventually emulated with the so-called natural finish.

Good luck with finding an original 1960s Stratocaster in its original custom colour. Many (perhaps most) of the claimed originals at sky-high retail are re-finishes from after custom colours had come back into fashion.

If players had known how collectable those "unfashionable" colours would become I suspect that they'd have left them alone. A resprayed 50s'/early60s'vintage Strat is worth a lot less than one with a very distressed original finish. If only we could see into the future.......

Well, the difference then was that people actually used these guitars to play music, they were not seen then as part of an asset investment portfolio or auctioned on e-Bay or hoarded by collectors who seldom if ever played them etc

In about 1970/71 my mate had a beat up Fiesta red 1962 Strat which our drummer stripped and had repainted black for him, I had a 1963 sunburst Fender Esquire, and we used them on gigs playing hard and loud in rowdy pubs with jugs of beer being thrown around...other guys butchered their old Strats and fitted different pickups etc

We sometimes reminisce, and speculate about how much they would be worth nowadays, but...that was then and this is now..

I know that that was then and this is now, but black (with a white scratchplate and especially with a rosewood fretboard) looks terrible on a Stratocaster. No matter how well it might play and sound, it looks like a cheap copy.

JN

Jim, I think we'll agree to disagree- looks alone are too subjective.

And back then, as my mate says, a Fender was a Fender, and when you bought a Fender, you actually got a Fender...there weren't the excellent copies and cheaper versions available in more recent times.

If you played and/or owned a horrible looking (to you!) black Strat with a white scratchplate and rosewood fingerboard back then, it was still a genuine Fender Strat...in fact that is exactly what my mate's Strat looked like after it was resprayed black! It was very beat up Fiesta Red before that! I've never heard another Strat sound as good as that though!

I read the original query as referring to the highly figured neck and gold hardware on 34346 and why there don't seem to be vintage Strats with those features, regardless of color.

It does seem that Fender did make special guitars back then, judging from 34346 and also the rosewood-fingerboard Strat held by Hank and shown in the "When was the First Time" thread. Look at the tiger stripe headstock. I've never seen that on the vintage Strats I've seen, but admittedly I haven't seen many.

Andy

In the past 35 years I lost count how much pre-cbs gits I handled
Some of them had nicely figured maple,or occasionly a very dark rosewood board,that looks like ebony....
Also some horrible samples,build like a wet newspaper.
My two 60's slabboards have just a few months between,but they sound, weight and feel very diffrent.
When you encounter a genuine vintage guitar,in the its best sundays cloths and it is all original.... they are most of the time not the best sounding ones....
A good sounding guitar,is most of the time a played one!
Sometimes I handled a prestine sample and it sounded like @#!p
I only saw twice a genuine pre-cbs golden hardware strat(except the 34346).
A few times genuine old hardware that was re-pleted in gold.
I genuie believe that the 34346 is re-plated a few times aswel.....it's played more then 45 years,restrung 100's of times.
So all of this reflect on the condition of the guitars hardware,I reckon??

Thin hat in place