This is a unique piece of Fender History and a amazing sounding guitar, the ultimate coolest addition to any serious Fender Collection!
This amazing guitar is a fantastic piece of Fender history, and just came out of one of the oldest “vintage guitars” collection here in Italy, after a 30 plus years span ownership by its second owner, which can be seen in the last picture here, while holding his two beloved guitars, a December 1965, first "large head" Blue Metallic Strat and the amazing November 1965 Gold & Red one.
I know that this particular guitar may just appear as a regular “candy apple red color” but it’s not quite and it explains a lot about Fender spraying procedure, in relationship to orders and sales.
THE BODY COLOR
Why I call this one a “rare double custom color” ? Because this body has particular features that date it to late 64/early 1965 production, such as nail holes technique (abandoned in spring 1965), larger, typical Pre Cbs “worm route” channel, “Quality Check” marks in the neck pocket, Body contours.
You will say “Shoreline Gold was no longer offered by 1965”, right! And infact this late ’64 body has been sprayed Shoreline gold over the typical white primer, and fully finished with clear lacquer.
Fender used to spray colors in large batches, to have them ready to be mounted to please the orders. If some of these colored bodies wouldn’t sell throughout the year, they would simply spray them over with another color, a darker one in case of pastels was typical, or with a see through red lacquer over a metallic base coat to achieve the "Candy" finish.
This was exactly the way that “Candy Apple Red” color was “created” in late 1963, using the cherry see through red lacquer (used for the rare mahogany body telecaster and esquire, offered between late 63 and 1964), applied over the leftover inventory of “inca silver” and “shoreline gold” unsold bodies. This was a very typical procedure in those days.
So, this very guitar was completed in December 1965, with a light, washed “cherry red” coat sprayed over the Shoreline gold body. Infact both the pickups (11-11-65) and the neck (NOV 65) have a date of November, while the pots, CTS original matched set, dates to 49th week of 1965 (December).
IMPORTANT NOTES:
This guitar still retains all its original parts and factory solder joints, the electric harness is totally factory and unmolested, and the neckplate has matching paint with the body. The only modification ever done to it is a professional refret with the same, large fretwire that this neck had in 1965.
This is a unique piece of Fender History and a amazing sounding guitar, the ultimate coolest addition to any serious Fender Collection!
