Strat Avenger
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What year did Fender start offering Strats in "Vintage White" (yellow)??
Question for Fender Gurus...
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Cagey
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I'm not sure there ever was a "Vintage White" formulation/recipe/color code back in time. Wouldn't have made sense, as there were very few "vintage" guitars to speak of. It later became a description of what happened to white after it aged. Fender offered "Olympic White" in the '50s (which was a pretty bright white) and moving forward, which yellowed up fairly fast because back then they were using real nitrocellulose lacquers, which didn't age well. "Vintage White" then was an attempt to reproduce that aged color for the cheaters of the time. The more modern finishes don't suffer the passage of time like the old stuff did, so if you wanted an "old-looking" white, you had to mix it yourself to make it look that way.
Neo Fender
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Many of Fender’s custom colors that they began to offer in the late ‘50s were based on then current car colors (e.g. Daphne Blue, 1958 Cadillac - Fender began offering it in 1960; Fiesta Red, 1956 Thunderbird – also from Fender in 1960) I don’t think Vintage White was one of these but instead, it evolved from white guitars that (as Cagey stated) yellowed to a shade that became desirable enough for Fender to capitalize upon.
Strat Avenger
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I'm thinking of the color of Yngwie Malmsteen's famous '72 Strat.
The color I want to paint my new Strat build will be a 1968 GM color called "Butternut Yellow".
I was just curious if between '54 and '72, Fender offered a soft yellow as a color option. Obviously it would have been automotive paint if they did.
It's hard to imagine that Yngwie's old CBS Strat could have yellowed that much from white.
The color I want to paint my new Strat build will be a 1968 GM color called "Butternut Yellow".
I was just curious if between '54 and '72, Fender offered a soft yellow as a color option. Obviously it would have been automotive paint if they did.
It's hard to imagine that Yngwie's old CBS Strat could have yellowed that much from white.
stratamania
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Yngwie's strat known as the duck was originally Olympic White, but with smoke, dirt and the fury unleashed it's turned the colour it is today.
In my icon is a YJM strat, with the cream colour and I often think it would look better rather than being a paint that is that colour if it was white and had gained a faded look etc.
In my icon is a YJM strat, with the cream colour and I often think it would look better rather than being a paint that is that colour if it was white and had gained a faded look etc.
Strat Avenger
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So was it after FMIC bought took ownership from CBS that they started offering "Vintage White" as a color option. I used to see that color offered in the late '80s/early '90s .
Cagey
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That's probably about right. Prior to the '80s, not many guitars were described as "vintage". Wasn't any money in it. We just called them "used" or "old", and they were priced accordingly unless there was something super-special about them, like Jimi Hendrix used to own it or something.
Now, if you want ancient yellowed Strat, you color it that way to begin with since modern finishes don't fail like the old ones did. Last summer I did an old Warmoth PRS-style VIP in what some might call a "vintage white"...
You try to create an amber more than a yellow, which means a drop or two of red over the yellow in a white base. I didn't really pull it off, but it's gonna look good with a Rosewood neck. Still haven't finish sanded/buffed/polished it yet - it's just been hanging in the storage room waiting for some ambition.
Now, if you want ancient yellowed Strat, you color it that way to begin with since modern finishes don't fail like the old ones did. Last summer I did an old Warmoth PRS-style VIP in what some might call a "vintage white"...
You try to create an amber more than a yellow, which means a drop or two of red over the yellow in a white base. I didn't really pull it off, but it's gonna look good with a Rosewood neck. Still haven't finish sanded/buffed/polished it yet - it's just been hanging in the storage room waiting for some ambition.
Strat Avenger
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Cagey said:That's probably about right. Prior to the '80s, not many guitars were described as "vintage". Wasn't any money in it. We just called them "used" or "old", and they were priced accordingly unless there was something super-special about them, like Jimi Hendrix used to own it or something.
Now, if you want ancient yellowed Strat, you color it that way to begin with since modern finishes don't fail like the old ones did. Last summer I did an old Warmoth PRS-style VIP in what some might call a "vintage white"...
You try to create an amber more than a yellow, which means a drop or two of red over the yellow in a white base. I didn't really pull it off, but it's gonna look good with a Rosewood neck. Still haven't finish sanded/buffed/polished it yet - it's just been hanging in the storage room waiting for some ambition.
That looks really good.
stratamania
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In the 70s when I left school I managed to buy a new Strat, natural ash and a hardtail. I didn't want a second hand thing from the 60s that may have saved me some cash. And besides the new one had a bullet headstock... Anyway long gone, the notes choked out and then it was the eighties and super Strats arrived.
Having digressed slightly after posting in the thread yesterday I took a look at my late 80s Hamer Chapparal Custom, which I have had since it was new and pristine. I gigged with it a lot in the late 80s and early 90s. Then it was the only guitar I kept for years after focussing on non music stuff.
The Hamer was a pearlescent white! but over the years it faded! cracked! gained chips and so on... Also smoke and sunlight takes its toll on the finish, and on the back the paint wore through first the primer and then to the mahogany. And in places it does have a yellowish look. Virtually no where can you see the original pearlescent look.
So long and short older paints will fade and change, and wear with use. The duck must have seen a lot more abuse/use travel than my Hamer.
How to take an Olympic White nitro, which may be the easiest one to age and do a John Cruz type job on it I don't know. Yet :icon_smile:
I am in accord with Cagey, there wasn't really a vintage market. No one obsessed over six screw tremelos having great tone, we just looked at ways to make improvements etc.
Having digressed slightly after posting in the thread yesterday I took a look at my late 80s Hamer Chapparal Custom, which I have had since it was new and pristine. I gigged with it a lot in the late 80s and early 90s. Then it was the only guitar I kept for years after focussing on non music stuff.
The Hamer was a pearlescent white! but over the years it faded! cracked! gained chips and so on... Also smoke and sunlight takes its toll on the finish, and on the back the paint wore through first the primer and then to the mahogany. And in places it does have a yellowish look. Virtually no where can you see the original pearlescent look.
So long and short older paints will fade and change, and wear with use. The duck must have seen a lot more abuse/use travel than my Hamer.
How to take an Olympic White nitro, which may be the easiest one to age and do a John Cruz type job on it I don't know. Yet :icon_smile:
I am in accord with Cagey, there wasn't really a vintage market. No one obsessed over six screw tremelos having great tone, we just looked at ways to make improvements etc.
Cagey
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Good memory. Yes, it has a solid figured Maple top over Mahogany. But, not really prime pieces. Fought for probably a month doing a midnight blue burst, but it just didn't look good. Couldn't get happy with it. Finally decided the best thing to do was cover it. Everything was already sanded/sealed, and I've got a Rosewood neck that looked killer against a "vintage white" Tele I had here for a while, so I decided to go that route.
Seems like a waste, but when I post the build thread you might come to the same conclusion I did.
Seems like a waste, but when I post the build thread you might come to the same conclusion I did.
