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Post subject: custom colors 1966
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 8:20 am
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I have a question on custom colors and their pickguards in 1966
Which custom colors where matched to a tort guard and which colors where matched to a white guard?
And where there colors on which you as customer could choose on what color guard would be installed?
For example a black bass would it be delivered whith a tort guard or would it be delivered whith a white one.
On pics of vintage basses I've seen black basses whith both white as tort guards, does this depend on year or is this customer related?
And what about matching headstocks? some basses have'm and some don't.
Was fiesta red matched to white or tort guard?
Quiet a couple of questions no?
Who has all the answers?
Cheers Jelle(Netherlands)


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Post subject: Re: custom colors 1966
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 9:01 am
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No mention of pickguard color is made in the 1966 catalog. If there were a choice to be offered, it may have been made at the local (dealer) level at the time a customer ordered the instrument. The same situation seems to apply regarding matching headstock finishes. However I have no documentation to support this supposition -- I posit only speculation.

Arjay

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Post subject: Re: custom colors 1966
Posted: Wed Jun 26, 2013 1:51 pm
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I am going to try to answer this very simply.
In my opinion, in 1966 all custom colors came with white pick guards.

Occasionally you would see a Precision bass in white with a tortoise guard, but this was even exceptional. Even white Precision basses came with white guards.

The notion that there were lots of custom colors, like Lake Placid Blue and candy apple red and other colors paired with tortoise guards is exaggerated by what has come out of the Custom shop in recent years.

Trust me- back in 1966 that color combo was considered ugly and those basses came with pure white pick guards. Even black basses came with white guards.
There may have been some exceptions to this and the fact that all sunburst basses came with tortoise guards made tortoise very available for swapping at the shop when the clerks got bored, but most custom color basses came with white guards.

Matching head stocks were more common on Jazz Basses than Precisions and the availability of them may have changed by model over the years but I don't really know if that is true. Most custom color basses I saw were already available because I grew up near the most active Fender dealer on the East Coast of the USA. Washington Music Center and they always had basses in stock. You didn't have to order when there was one in the basement!


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Post subject: Re: custom colors 1966
Posted: Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:41 am
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Thank you guys for your valuable info.
Glad to hear from people with a lot of experienc.
Jelle


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Post subject: Re: custom colors 1966
Posted: Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:22 am
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As applied to Fender Basses, Split_Pickup may be correct. Every custom-color bass shown in the 66-67 catalog has a white 3-ply pickguard. And the only custom-finished guitar shown in the catalog that year not to be thus fitted is the Jazzmaster (the standard tortoise guard was photographed on an Olympic White instrument). Not sure if this solves your dilemma but it may help you make a decision. When I built a pair of '66 clone Jazz Basses some time ago I used the tortoise shell on a sunburst body and white MOP on a Lake Placid Blue body (both of them with unpainted headstocks). They turned out swell IMO and look the part of a vintage instrument.

Arjay

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