I am looking at purchasing a 50th anniversary Stratocaster...I am sure that it is a 50th anniversary Stratocaster..What i'm not sure if it is the original finish..It is a grayish silver finish..What has me concerned is there is two small chips one on each horn on the face of the guitar were the finish has been chipped away...Underneath is a pinkish red color .
I used to make a living painting cars and i know with some finishes you will paint a base color underneath the final color to get the proper final finish and im wondering if this is the case with this guitar..
Or if it has been re finished...The finish is very slick with no bad spots or orange peel or any flaws whats so ever so it makes me believe it is factory finish..It always seems to me that no matter how good you are as a finisher there is always something that will give it away as being refinished but i can find nothing...
I would really like to buy this guitar it is in a pawn shop and other than that it is in great shape and they will take $500 for the guitar which is a great price here in St Louis for an American standard so if some one can tell me if Fender used a red/Pinkish primer or first coat it would be greatly appreciated..Thanks CC

I don't know about that particular color, but I know some colors have other colors under the basecoat. Like the lipstick red had a silver coat underneath it.

So I could see them doing a reddish coat under a Silver coat to get a certain finish.

What makes you sure this is a 50th Anniversary? What is the serial number?

Well this Strat certainly isn't one of the special '50th Anniversary Strats' that came out in 2004 for the 50th anniversary of the Stratocaster since those were only made in 2-color sunburst. If the pawnshop is trying to sell it as that model, they are lying. All American Series Strats in 2004 had the same anniversary neckplate, but if it's not 2-color sunburst, maple fretboard, and 1-ply pickguard then it's just a plain ol' American Series from 2004.

Maybe this is from the 50th Anniversary of Fender as a company in 1996. Did the guitar you look at have something like a '50th Anniversary 1946-1996' label on the back of the headstock? Every guitar in 1996 had that label. From your description I'm thinking it's Pewter or Inca Silver, whatever Fender was calling silver back in 1996. But the pink spots underneath are baffling. I'm withholding judgement until I see a pic.

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Obligatory gear list: Fender, Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch, Vox, Martin, and more Fender.

My mistake yes it is a 50th anniversary of Fender not the 50th anniversary strat..Sorry for not making that clear...It is the 1996 50th Fender anniversary model which is printed in the headstock....