Below is a cool video I made with some of the Custom Color Original Fender Strats I have in my shop now...For sale...
This is the Mother Load Folks!
1963 PRE CBS Custom Color Lake Placid Blue Fender Stratocaster
You want to Step out of the "Norm" Sunburst Color and have a Collector/Player Custom Color PRE CBS Fender Stratocaster in your Gig before you pass away? Here is "YOUR BABY"
Has Pro Dunlop 6100 Med Jumbo refret, Stainless Frets
7.25" Radius
Has a 5 way installed. ALL Else is Original. It come with Orig 3 way, Back Cover with screws, and Orig Case
The Black lite pictures show it next to a custom shop blue body. as you see UNDER Black Lite, ONLY Orig OLD Nitro Finish Glows. LOOK under neck plate and back of body
Look at solder
ALL Orig but 5 way
Fender used paint stick in 1963. As you see Fender did funky solder gun markings on Custom Colors, as shown in Fender book. (See pictures). I seen this before and have owned and sold Custom Color Strat's as this. Now you can say factory refin, I say NO, they marked the neck and body with same #'s, as not to loose the neck and body. The RR stands for Restore and Re Finish. But Fender would have a number after it for the books and match neck with body. I seen this in a 100% Lake Placid Blue 1 owner I sold, but RR was in neck pocket. Basically Fender used a body and made it a Custom Color special ordered Strat back in sometime 1963. We got Dec 1962 Neck Date, 1959-1962 Green Pickguard, 2nd week 1963 pot dates, No nail holes like Fender repainted this in a factory refin. So I say 1 time Orig Paint. I feel 100% in this, if you do not, then that is your choice( The black Lite don't lie)
Call (218) 879-3796 Central time zone if have any questions.
It plays and Sounds Out Standing. Just down right KOOL. 62-63 Rare Color Strats are 38-55k, and I play the guitar, do you? Great Player/ Collector here, with 5 way, and dead on set up with new age killer nut!
Note about early Fender factory finishes
There has been much interest and controversy over Fender factory Custom Color finishes and Fender factory re-finishes. I would like to point out that from the late 1950s to the mid 1960s, when a customer ordered a Custom Color finish from Fender, in many cases the factory would mark the body under the pickguard with a series of letters and /or numbers representing the requested finish. An example would be LPB for Lake Placid Blue or CAR for Candy Apple Red, etc. In this case the neck was not marked as the body would just get a neck at the time of final assembly. I personally love to get my hands on these properly marked Custom Color guitars as it is an indication the guitar is most likely an authentic Fender finish, if all other dating components check out.
Likewise, a set of large block numbers were often stamped into the body and neck heel to indicate a guitar returned by a customer for a color re-finish. The large stamped numbers would give the factory a way to track the neck and body so they could be returned together to their rightful owner after the new finish was applied. When Fender was running behind it was sometimes quicker to buy a sunburst Stratocaster at a local store and have it sent back for a Custom Color finish, getting the re-finished guitar back in a couple of weeks, versus waiting perhaps several months for one to be built and then finished in the color of choice.
I think we should value these special order factory Custom Color re-fins as we would any original Fender Custom Color guitar. It shouldn't really matter if the final finish was applied at the time of first assembly or applied by the Fender factory after sale. This is just one of the great unique practices that made these old Fenders what they are today - individual, hand-made guitars with their own character.
Mark McCann owner of StratCollector.com
THE LAST 3 PICTURES I GOT SHOWING YOU, THESE NUTS ARE EASY TO GO BACK TO ORIGINAL NUT. They are Better for Intonation, String Angle after the Nut, and Strat plays easier, and stays in Tune Better!
The Guitar is Great As is, So I left As is..
