The Steel Guitar Forum

I found this Stringmaster style Fender Deluxe 8 for sale. Was salmon pink an original Fender color. NR

Very popular with Salmon, but Catfish never seemed atracted to it.

No, I don't think it was a "factory color"...Let's ask the Duke of Tweed, he knows all, see's all, hears all...the great guru of Fender, JODY.

It's true, Jody does know all.
I bet he'll say it's not a factory finish.

BUT beneath all that pinkness, there beats a heart of purest swamp ash . .

Nope, not on steels. Later '60's Strat or Tele custom order maybe.

I LOVE IT!!!!

It's the same color as our family kitchen appliances were in the 50's.

The Reranch site carries an "original" Fender custom color they call coral, but they claim Fender never used it. The speculation is that coral strats were actually faded Fiesta Red.

Lynn

Thank you George and to Rick as well, This was a color that L.F had made up by Sherwin Williams and it was used on a few strats, but then the color was "canned". Leo was an avid fisherman,he had a beautiful boat he named the AquaFen,That's the answer. Seems fishy to me

So it was never used on a lap steel?

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Lynn Oliver


<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Lynn Oliver on 15 October 2006 at 01:57 PM.]</p></FONT>

I'm now the, er, proud new owner of the pink dlx 8. One look and I can tell you that the pink finish is not original, as it was quite a sloppy job. Unfortunately the pink paint also covers the inside of the tuner cavity, hiding any date notation there.

She'll be going in soon for a professional refinish back to the original white.

Even dressed in pink she sounds marvelous.

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Lynn Oliver
<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Lynn Oliver on 20 October 2006 at 10:54 AM.]</p></FONT>

Concerning the matter of ash bodies, didn't only the early Stringer's come in ash?

It'll be interesting to see if the penciled date can be resurrected.
Keep us informed!

Consulting with Rick Alexander we think it is most likely an early 56 model. I think that would indicate the body is made from swamp ash, right?

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Lynn Oliver

At '56, that would probably put it on the cusp of transition from ash.
But, my knowledge on these exact matters is sketchy.

You'll know for sure when the paint is removed, as ash has a distintive graining.

Supposedly, the ash bodies are better sounding than the latter made.

That's a nice lookin' salmon you got there Lynn - very appropriate here in the PacNW.

I'm curious about the re-finish work and if you'll take it all the way down to the bare wood? (and then re-apply a new white finish)?

Nice purchase - let's get together and jam!

-mt

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--
Mark Tomlinson
mark@careytomlinson.org
www.careytomlinson.org

Mark I considered doing it myself and spent some time checking out the Reranch site. It turns out that the difference in cost between doing it myself and having it done professionally is only about $150, assuming I screw up at least once (not a bad assumption).

I'd rather use the time to practice--Orville seems to have stepped up the pace a bit lately.

I suspect they will have to take it down to bare wood unless the original finish was perfect when the pink finish was (mis)-applied.



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Lynn Oliver

The original finish might still be there under the salmon pink. I got lucky with this eBay buy; under the Brown paint was the original Blond finish. I know it looks really beat, but I like it, and probably doubled its value!
Brownie before...



After removing the paint, the guitar formally know as "Brownie"...

<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Garry Vanderlinde on 21 October 2006 at 08:51 PM.]</p></FONT>

What year was that guitar made?...(the guitar formerly known as brownie).

1954, Brownie has "7/54" written on body under tuner tray and "Virginia 8-12-54" written on masking tape in control cavity.

What did you use to remove the brown paint?

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Lynn Oliver

It was removed with a combination of gentle scraping and careful applications of denatured alcohol.

I'll give that a try. Perhaps I'll be able to recover the date marking if nothing else.

One more question: how did you remove the round-headed brads that hold the fingerboard and logo plate?

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Lynn Oliver

It's worth a try! But be warned…your final result depends on how the new paint interacted with the original finish, if it is even there at all. I also have a Champ that was painted black but it had to be completely refinished because there was no original finish to be found.

There are a number of different chemicals that you can experiment with to see what works best (lacquer thinner, naphtha, mineral spirits, etc.) but denatured alcohol was the first one we tried and it worked so well we never got around to trying the others. With the alcohol, the brown coat came off beautifully in one or two passes when scrapped with a razor blade.

To get the fretboard off use a wide thin flat blade knife like a putty knife and pry ever so gently under the metal board between the fretboard and the wood body and not directly on the nails. Be careful and take your time.

BTW, the work on Brownie was done by David at String Theory string instrument repair in Boca Raton, Fl. I can't praise his work high enough!

Lynn, what are your pot codes? That's another way to determine its age.

Tone: EP4989 1MEG 0521
Volume: EP???? 250K 06?? (obscured by solder)
Blend: 450S 2770 0616 CTS

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Lynn Oliver



<font size="1" color="#8e236b"><p align="center">[This message was edited by Lynn Oliver on 22 October 2006 at 11:44 AM.]</p></FONT>

Is there a set of six numbers that start with either 137 or 304? example; 137612 would be a CTS pot dated the 12th week of 1956, a 304223 would be a Stackpole pot dated the 23rd week of 1952. Both the CTS and Stackplole pots are very common in these Fenders.