I'm trying to restore a strat that had a home made relic job done...About all they accomplished was screwing up the original midnight wine finish that i love...I bought this guitar body for next to nothing and would really like to restore it to the original Midnight wine...I do not intend to strip the body all the way down just to feather edge out the bad sanding and repaint...I have worked as an automotive painter for several years and have done a few guitars although this will be my first restore job all the rest have been new wood....I believe this guitar has the poly finish so i cannot use the nitrocellulose paint so i must use the poly which is what im having problems finding..Any help on this would be greatly appreciated......

You can try here. I have bought paint a few times from them. Most times I use stock colors.
http://www.touchupspraypaint.com/products.php?cat=39

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

Hi Invader.CC: I'm going to be surprised - and very impressed - if you manage to exactly match that color without just respraying the whole guitar, with or without stripping.

I'm sure lots of us here would love to see before and after (and during) photos if you care to post them...

Cheers - C

Check this place out:

http://www.reranch.com/

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You dig?

Take your guitar to a big cosmetics place.

There is likely a nail varnish which matches any colour you can think of to fix chips. And have girls help; they can see a lot more variations in visible spectrum than the average guy.

And they make for most excellent, "eye candy" too!

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You dig?

I think you all may be missing the point the person who owned this before me took a sander to the guitar body about were you would place your four arm and about 4 inches each way then about 3 inches towards the pickups and once again on the back were buckle rash would occur...He took it threw the paint and primer and sealer but did it to were it looks like a great big buckeye...
I don't plan on trying a spot repair i want to shoot the whole body without stripping it down to bare wood ...Im not trying to blend the paint im just wanting to use the same paint code that Fender uses so i will have an original color and not an aftermarket color....

Hi again, Invader.CC: as I expect you know, Fender don't give auto type color codes on their paint chart, even for the colors that were originally made for the automotive industry:

http://www.fender.com/resources/colors/

In see they list Midnight Wine as #75 - which don't get us very far.

I'm sure you've tried searching auto color databases for that color and come up blank. I've been trying and had no luck. If Midnight Wine was originally developed as a car color I can't find out which one it is - and by the sound of it you know how to do that better than me and have not found it either.

The only remaining option is to ask Fender themselves for a paint code for the color:

consumerrelations@fender.com

However, I have a strong idea they don't give out that information. I guess you could also post a question on the Forum here of Mike Eldred (of the Fender Custom Shop) and ask him if he knows the code for that paint. Maybe he'll tell you and maybe he won't...

http://www.fender.com/community/forums/ ... m.php?f=22

Failing all that, then from your experience painting cars I guess you stand a better chance than most of sourcing a standard color that is at least close to Fender's paint.

Good luck - C

I think i have come up with a solution my early description of how far the previous owner had sanded on the front of the guitar was somewhat smaller then i expected when i saw it in person ..Maybe only an inch onto the front of the guitar the rest is on the edges and back ..
So here is what i'm now planing on doing and i hope it works but what the hell i only have $35 dollars into the body with the roller rocker saddles and neck plate so here is my plan...Im going to leave the existing Midnight wine paint on the front of the guitar alone lightly sanding it then in the area towards the edges of the guitar i will prep it for paint then using black paint feather the black into the midnight wine creating a blend to solid black one the edges and back.Then buff out the whole paint job to bring out the luster in the original Midnight wine.
Hopefully it will turn out like a midnight wine and black sunburst finish..If not i will have to start all over again with plan number two which i haven't figured out what that is just yet...If it works i will post pictures if it doesn't i still will post pics ....

Hello! Unfortunately, I am in a similar situation. I have a 1993 Fender American Standard Stratocaster in the Midnight Wine finish that I would like to have the headstock painted body-color. I started a thread on Stratocaster-Talk ( http://www.stratocastertalk.com/showthread.php?t=1412 ) which did produce some helpful responses, but I still have not honed in on a color chip that looks promising. I never realized there were so many reds in existence (...duh...!?!)! Anyway, If anyone has a suggestion on where I can go next (I did contact Fender Consumer Relations, no response yet), it would be much appreciated. Thank you! Best regards, Dana

Just take to a auto supply that mixes automotive paint and find a chip there and have them mix you some or they may already have a matching color. Chroma base

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

The problem with using Chroma base is that Chroma base is a poly urethane were the midnight wine is a Nitro Cellulose..Which in the automotive world is lacquer which is harder and harder to find now days..It used to be for me anyway when i did custom paint jobs on cars and motorcycles it was always 6 coats of hand rubbed lacquer followed by a poly clear but times have changed ...

I have a Midnight Wine Strat which has a matte finish, the finish where I rest my arm on the cut away section of the body is starting to turn gloss. I emailed Fender with some Qs about this although I am sure it is normal. I would have prefered a guitar with paint that doesn't change for that matter or a nice wood finish, but what do you do.

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Fender Highway One HSS Stratocaster '09
Modified Fender Champ600
Honer Special20 Harmonica

Hello! Just as a follow-up to the Midnight Wine discussion, I did hear back from Fender regarding the color. Jeff Krause provided the EL-3118 (Base) and EL-3021 (Top) numbers, which I have not been able to have directly correspond to any known codes. Any thoughts? Best regards, Dana