What Color Is Fiesta Red?

[MMP]

According to Tom Wheeler's book and the Fender site......this is Fiesta Red.


but according to everything I've ever read, Fiesta Red is that orange/pink tomato soup kind of color. Like Hank M arvin's Strat. I've also read that the first red sometimes fades to coral, but hank got his guitar new. So Which is correct?

Hank Marvin & Strat


ps. my California series body is the same color as Hanks.

[Camoradi]

Fiesta Red is the tomato soupy colour from the '56 T'Bird, but it can glow a much brighter red under artificial lights, so the picture could be accurate for that. The riginal Marvin guitar was refinished by the UK Fender importers before he got it, and their guess at Fiesta Red came out as salmony 'pink'. But again, the photo you show is a newer/contemporary guitar, and more likely to be the proper Fiesta Red.

If you want the full lowdown on Fiesta Red and the fabled 'Salmon Pink', plus paint codes, try here

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html

[G.g.]

Check this link:

http://www.provide.net/~cfh/fenderc.html

The English "Salmon Pink" Story and Nail Holes and Sunbursts.


In the early 1960s, due to the popularity of Hank Marvin of the band the Shadows, the Stratocaster was THE guitar to own in the United Kingdom. In 1961, Fender was imported by Jennings (the makers of Vox amps), and in 1962 Fender was also imported by Selmer. Both Jennings and Selmer gave way to Arbiters as the sole UK distributor in the Summer of 1965 (perhaps because Fender didn't like having their products distributed by successful UK amp makers). But all the importers seemed to have brought Fender guitars into the UK *without* cases, probably because local cases were available for less money than the Tolex Fender cases (the Canadian Fender importers did the same thing). This in turn increased the possibility of damaged finishes as the guitar were imported into England, which helps lend itself to the following story.
Urban legand has it that English guitar shops found it easier to sell guitars that looked like Hank Marvin's Fiesta Red Stratocaster, than the standard sunburst finished Strat. Therefore, a lot of Fender Strats were rumored to be refinished from Sunburst to red on arrival in the UK to match Hank Marvin's guitar. The resulting color used by the Fender UK importers was not as red as Fender's factory "Fiesta Red", and was more of a "Salmon Pink" color. This of course added more to the confusion about what exactly Fiesta Red was, and the Salmon Pink color rumor.

Most of the red UK painted Strats where done right over the original sunburst. Also the UK painters did not seem to use the "nail hole" method of painting these guitars (lucky for us). Hence these 1960s refinished-when-new UK Strats will usually have painted nail holes, red-over-sunbuarst, and non-Tolex/weird cases. Therefore they are pretty easy to identify.

So is this "English refinished Fiesta Red" story rumor or fact? I personally tend to believe the story, as I received an email from an english gentlemen that claimed he worked for Selmer in the UK, and he in fact did some of the refinish work. I also owned a red-over-sunburst 1961 Strat in a Selmer case. But that's the only real proof I have that the story is true. Otherwise the jury is still out on this. But if the story is true, regardless, these English-refinished-red Strats are *not* factory original Fiesta Red guitars, and hence must be considered a "refin". Now if the nail holes are clear and present, I would consider it "original". But if there's no nail holes (or painted nail holes), by definition it's refinished and not original.

[Marcondo]

This is Fiesta Red.

[AlienQuiksilver]

Ahhh, Eric Johnson was playing an orangy pink Strat with a rosewood fingerboard on tour last year. I was thinking "what the heck is that?"

Now I know. Good topic!!

[MMP]

Kinda like this?


Marcondo, yours looks more orangey than mine. Whenever I take a pic of this guitar, it always looks pink. ????????

[Tele00]

http://clubs.hemmings.com/clubsites/...a%20t-bird.jpg

[Camoradi]

So is this "English refinished Fiesta Red" story rumor or fact? I personally tend to believe the story, as I received an email from an english gentlemen that claimed he worked for Selmer in the UK, and he in fact did some of the refinish work. I also owned a red-over-sunburst 1961 Strat in a Selmer case. But that's the only real proof I have that the story is true.

I think you are confusing two stories in your transposition from the 'Custom Colours' web page. I wouldn't look on repainting Strats as a British passtime for want of something better to do. It was only for the first few months when the colour options were limited. There is no credence to the idea it was a wide practice, particularly as anybody who drooled over Marvins refinished Strat soon discovered they couldn't afford a Strat anyway, and hence Burns stepped in with their much cheaper version of a 'Strat style' guitar in mock 'Fiesta Red'.

[Marcondo]

Kinda like this?


Marcondo, yours looks more orangey than mine. Whenever I take a pic of this guitar, it always looks pink. ????????

Yours looks right. I think the lining on the case adds to the orange look of that one.

Yours looks perfect to me.