Fender Color Chart Project: Updates

[James]

It's perhaps 'British Racing Green' but I can't remember if that was ever an official colour. It could also be a refinish, it's difficult to tell from those pictures.

[Buck99]

It's perhaps 'British Racing Green' but I can't remember if that was ever an official colour. It could also be a refinish, it's difficult to tell from those pictures.

I called Fender and got a bit of help, other than I expected. First, the serial # wasn't in the database which goes back to '93. I was told that means the guitar is a '90 since they had mistakenly dated some '90 models starting with N 9 instead of N 0. He (Matt) suggested searching for Bahama Blue which he thought was a good bet. That's pretty but too light. I somehow came across Blue Pearl Dust and I believe this is the color. Here are a couple links:

http://www.xhefriguitars.com/page2.html (about 1/4 down the page at De Bodies - on the left. And:
http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... c8846af3c9 (bottom few shots on the page).

I notice you had mentioned this color and that finding one color sometimes turns up two more. I'm still trying to track down more pics. It seems 98% of the time they are in poor light which makes it difficult. I saw an Ocean Turquoise that seemed similar but it too was shot in low light.

[Buck99]

OK, I found a much better pic of Blue Pearl Dust and also a Silver Pearl Dust here (near halfway down):

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/show ... p?t=183801

Now I can see what the pearl dust series are like and mine is not a reverse burst like that. Now I start over... I'll take some pics of mine and post.

[robroe]

this guy has a telecaster very similar to the blue esquier that i just sold Norrie. he calls it Surf Blue Metallic

http://xhefriguitars.com/page8.html




i know the esquier isn't lake placid blue or agave blue....its in between it might be Aqua Marine Metallic

[Buck99]

this guy has a telecaster very similar to the blue esquier that i just sold Norrie. he calls it Surf Blue Metallic

http://xhefriguitars.com/page8.html




i know the esquier isn't lake placid blue or agave blue....its in between it might be Aqua Marine Metallic

I'll have to take mine out in the sunlight and see if it can look that bright and pretty. The mix of blue and green is right though. The pics Noirie posted of the lead singer from Bombay bicycle club also looks like that one could be it. Again, indirect lighting makes it impossible to tell.

I've been trying to find out what Ultra Marine Blue looks like. If it's like aquamarine, only darker, it could be it too.

[Buck99]

Now I'm very close to convinced it's this gun metal blue, said to be uncommon and undocumented:

http://xhefriguitars.com/page3.html



and here: http://www.xhefriguitars.com/page2.html

[James]

I've never heard of Bahama Blue as a Fender colour. Looking quickly it looks like it was a Gibson colour (seemingly just for flying Vs). It's possible Fender did use it and it's rare, the late 80s/early 90s are full of limited run colours.

I notice you had mentioned this color and that finding one color sometimes turns up two more. I'm still trying to track down more pics. It seems 98% of the time they are in poor light which makes it difficult. I saw an Ocean Turquoise that seemed similar but it too was shot in low light.

That describes the difficulties of this project quite well. Add to that that some people will create names for colours if they don't know the official one. Lake Placid Blue becomes Electric Metallic Blue and I've come across dozens of others. For the particularly rare colours it's a completely pain in the arse.

I'll have a quick look in my saved pictures for Aqua Marine Metallic and Ultra Marine Blue. From memory Aqua.. is like the pic robroe posted and Ultra.. is a navy blue (used on the Will Ray tele posted a page or two back with the gold leaf design on top).

[James]

Aqua Marine Blue


Gun Metal Blue on the Japanese Jaguar HH.




If yours is GMB the American colour is different. That guy's site is quite reliable and it's just a shame he only uses small images like that. I've had to take quite a few from it as I've not found them elsewhere. From the Japanese guitar I would say that this isn't your colour, but from those pictures I would say it is and the American version of the colour is different. That's quite a common thing, and is noticeable with Lake Placid Blue, vintage whites and others.

[James]

this guy has a telecaster very similar to the blue esquier that i just sold Norrie. he calls it Surf Blue Metallic

He mentions it being a custom finish so he might mean refinish. It looks close to Caribean Mist but not green enough.

[Buck99]

If yours is GMB the American colour is different. That guy's site is quite reliable and it's just a shame he only uses small images like that. I've had to take quite a few from it as I've not found them elsewhere. From the Japanese guitar I would say that this isn't your colour, but from those pictures I would say it is and the American version of the colour is different. That's quite a common thing, and is noticeable with Lake Placid Blue, vintage whites and others.

I think you're right and I may have looked at the Japanese GMB before and ruled that color out. The two GMB Metallic strats on Xhefri's site show the hint of green and since mine has the mint green pickguard and backplate, I think that brings out the green a bit more. Here's another one and now I'm 100% sure:

http://theguitarweb.com/1988fendergmbusastrat.htm


Thanks guys!

[James]

If you could take some clear pictures along the lines of the ones in the colour chart and of course in daylight, that'd be much appreciated.

Full guitar, face on, minimal fussy background. That sort of thing.

[Buck99]

If you could take some clear pictures along the lines of the ones in the colour chart and of course in daylight, that'd be much appreciated.

Full guitar, face on, minimal fussy background. That sort of thing.

I setup a sheet of white fiberglassed plywood on a couple sawhorses and took some shots. It was s'posed to be clear and sunny here today but it's been kind of hazy all day so I may not have captured the blue and green metallic very well. I have to be gone till 9pm and then I'll see what I got. I noticed Xhefri mentioned a black with blue and green sparkles. I plan to ask him if that is sparkle as in metallic or larger metalflake type sparkle.

[Buck99]

This is what I got, so far. If I get some to turn out better, I'll edit and replace these:

[Mo Law-ka]

I don't know if this one has been mentioned yet, but here's "Razz Berry"

[jcyphe]

A custom shop color I never heard of called Surf Green Metallic.