Pre CBS custom colours

[NickD]

I’ve been pondering refinishing my Jazzmaster to a more age appropriate colour. It’s a 64 that I bought 10 years ago and it was already white when I got it, with an overspray on the back of the neck, probably because the nitro had worn through.

It’s been in this country for a very long time, possibly from new and it looks like all the parts are original, pickguard included. So that means it must have been a custom colour of some kind, as it would be a tortoiseshell guard if it was sunburst. The finish is original on the face of the neck too, so whatever finish it was it didn’t have a matching headstock.

There are some pictures below from when I bought it, and you can see that it was black at one point too, although I believe Fender were using a paint stick by 64 so that’s likely an earlier refin. There are also a few red marks on the guard, perhaps marks from the original finish? Or just pen marks from the factory?

Anyway, here are the pics, and the custom colours from 64 that it could have been.

[Gavin]

I think you should go with Dakota Red.

[plopswagon]

Lake Placid Blue or Sherwood Green.

[NickD]

Lake Placid Blue or Sherwood Green.

Sherwood Green is a lovely colour.

[Thom]

Lake Placid Blue or Sherwood Green.

Aged LPB would be amazing, with a bit of a green tinge to it. Sherwood is v nice too.

[sunshiner]

Fiesta Red to have the reddest guitar ever

[benecol]

Came in to recommend Ocean Turquoise as it does a lot of the things mentioned above, but just learned Fender didn't start using it til 1965.

(I don't think you should let this stop you)

[Nick]

Came in to recommend Ocean Turquoise as it does a lot of the things mentioned above, but just learned Fender didn't start using it til 1965.

(I don't think you should let this stop you)

I would probably try some experiments with LPB and a tinted clear to yellow it a bit...OTM would be like an aged LPB looking closer to Sherwood Green, it could even be applied just slightly unevenly to give a deeper/aged effect.

[rahbro]

Just from a strictly economic resale POV, sherwood green on a jaguar is the rarest color going right now. Squier just flat out never made one period, so there's like 15 years worth of jaguars going there. And Fender made the Johnny Marr one in a very limited run of that color and from there you gotta go back to the 2000s AVRIs or Thin Skins which were also a limited run.

So to get a sherwood green jag now of any kind its either a $2000+ used guitar. No one is refinninishing squiers in sherwood green either because you will never make your money back flipping it.

Back in the early 2000s it was Fiesta Red when I got my AVRI....then after I got it they started painting all kinds of shit in Fiesta Red, so like you can't predict the future with sherwood green.

[BoringPostcards]

Sherwood Green is great and somewhat rare, as Rob mentioned.

[NickD]

It’s probably my favourite of the colours on that chart, perhaps equal with LPB.

[Doog]

From the Five Watt World JM video:

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No surprise that black-tort is a fave, but for my money, black-white looks sick, as does Dakota red, that sand-black colourway, and whatever that magenta colour is.. a very saturated Burgundy Mist? Looks amazing, although needs a white guard. A well-established fact here, but this ad was a crucial landmark in my guitar-based youth:

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Given that it's a custom redo, when it's fun to make it a bit more novel, I reckon the Shoreline Gold would look mint with the right guard; how about gold-on-gold for that 'evil supervillian' vibe?

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[NickS]

I must say, none of those with gold scratchplates look good to me. I can see it on burgundy or CAR but I don't like it on any of those.

[Doog]

I hear you; seems like the shade of gold makes all the difference, and none look too appealing in those pics (DO kinda like the stealthy gold one still tho).

To be honest, the more I stare at the burgundy mist, the less I like it. It only really seems to work for me with a parchment/yellowed guard (or at least a photo with yellow white balance):

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The one in that ad is darker (in shadow, I guess) and the balance is a bit more luxurious looking.

[NickD]

The mint guard is original and is going to stay, so whatever colour I go for will have to go with that. Lovely as burgundy mist is, I’m not sure it will.

I do like the gold on gold, but not for this.

[Bacchus]

The mint guard is original and is going to stay, so whatever colour I go for will have to go with that. Lovely as burgundy mist is, I’m not sure it will.

I do like the gold on gold, but not for this.

BMM with mint guard looks great on the CV strats...

[sunshiner]

Fender doesn't do revolutions but seems to grind slowly towards bringing back custom colours in small batches while dragging the whole thing across a decade or two. So colors that looked desirable 10-15 years ago while not being common aren't really anything out of the ordinary today. Moreover, people have built so many custom colored guitars over at and boutique companies have Fender custom colors in such a heavy rotation there's basically no color that still feels fresh anymore.

[plopswagon]

I thought that said BMW mint green

[Hurb]

Dakota red.

[NickS]

Dakota red.

What, this red?

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