First offered publicly in 1956, Fender guitars in custom color finishes command a king’s ransom on today’s vintage market.
BY DAVE HUNTER
BEAUTY MAY BE no more than skin deep, but that radiant, thin layer of paint on a Fender guitar that was sprayed at the factory in one of the official custom-color finishes of the late 1950s and ’60s adds a level of desirability that runs right through the instrument. Not only does the look of a custom color appeal to many players and collectors, but the presence of this alternative finish — when original — adds considerable value to any vintage Fender that carries it.
And yet the concept of custom colors came along pretty casually at Fender. It was little more than a brief, almost throwaway mention at the bottom of Fender’s 1956 sales sheet for the Stratocaster, which was then still relatively new: “Stratocaster guitars are available in Du-Pont Duco colors of the player’s choice at an additional 5% cost.” Prior to that, some artists had directly requested special colors, resulting in Bill Carson’s Cimarron Red and Eldon Shamblin’s Gold Stratocasters, both made in 1954 soon after the model’s introduction, but there was no official system prior to that time.
Leo Fender’s longtime associate George Fullerton told author and guitar historian A.R. Duchossoir (as recounted in his book The Fender Stratocaster) that he initiated the idea of formally offering custom colors, and many accounts have similarly credited him. “One day, I went down to a local paint store and I started to explain to the man what I had in mind,” Fullerton explained. “I had him mix some paint there on the spot, and finally we came up with a red color… Fiesta Red! I would say probably late 1957/early 1958. The custom colors came out about the time the Jazzmaster just came out. The reason I know that is because I had the color red put over one of the early manufactured Jazzmasters.” It’s worth pointing out that Fullerton didn’t invent Fiesta Red; the color appeared by that name on official Ford color charts at least as early as 1956.
The custom-color phenomenon picked up speed in the late ’50s and into the ’60s, when a range of finish options were presented in an official list, and even supported with a Fender color chart. Published in 1960, Fender’s first formal custom-color chart included 14 official paint options: Lake Placid Blue Metallic, Daphne Blue, Sonic Blue, Shoreline Gold Metallic, Olympic White, Burgundy Mist Metallic, Black, Sherwood Green Metallic, Foam Green, Surf Green, Inca Silver Metallic, Fi
