Thanks again for all your input! Xhefri - please tell me how to attach photos as you have done in your posts.

The color chart on the Fender website is for current production only, not 20 year old guitars.

Thanks for the e-mail suggestion also...however I have sent FOUR e-mails to Fender Consumer Relations and received either inaccurate or incomplete replies. Yes, I included photos and serial number!

This particular guitar may be the result of someone at the factory deciding he/she wanted to take a break from the countless black and burst bodies being painted that day, but the color must have a name.

I will try one more time with Fender CR, but their track record isn't good.

Thanks again to all!...............CTC

One has to have a place to host the pictures, like photobucket or something. I have my own website so I just upload to it and then copy image location. If you want, email me some picts and I will upload them. xhefri@gmail.com

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Thanks, Xhefri....on the way to you.........CTC

If anyone from Fender is monitoring this, serial # is N1 030122.

This looks like Pewter to me but really hard to tell under the lighting this was shot under. Does look like a silvery, greenish, pinkish, metallic, silverish, kind of color.....

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This looks like Pewter to me but really hard to tell under the lighting this was shot under. Does look like a silvery, greenish, pinkish, metallic, silverish, kind of color.....

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I agree, looks like pewter to me. Pewter was available as early as 82-83. After almost 20 years, the finish on this one could have taken on a different tone, exposure to UV, etc. I also talked to Fender, they said that the serial number records only went back to about 1993, but they remember looking at the pics of this guitar and their thoughts were pewter also. I believe that the OP said Fender told him Pewter to begin with, but for some reason he couldn't accept this, he thought that pewter wasn't available in 91, but it actually was.

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Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

I think your on to something. In have owned a number of Strat Plus' from 87 to 92 that yellowed really bad. There have been some when you take off the pickguard it is like, what the heck???? Totally different colors. So the next thing to do is to lift the hood on this baby and see what color the paint is under the pickguard (where it has not been exposed to UV). I have seen Surf Green that had a strong yellow hue and Vintage White that that looked deep cream colored, all because the clear coat turned yellow.

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Good idea, under the PG usually will show more what the original color looks like, if there has been any "aging". I think that there have been so many changes in finishes, undercoats, sealers, laquer, polyurethane, polyester......on and on with the differences in finishes on Strats. Each combination of finish/under/over coats will age in various ways, some drastic and others subtle. Remember the very first 25th ann strats that were some kind of white finish that almost immediately started checking and coming off? Fender quickly recalled those, and changed to the silver/gray? finish. Here is an interesting read about finishes (among other things) on Strats. It is more about vintage finishes, but the pattern of constantly trying new finishes has been the same with Fender for a long time, sometimes they have no choice, supplies of certain kinds run out.

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

I have a couple of Strat books that show the colors offered by Fender in each year (A.R. Duchossoir), but hard to find elsewhere. And am I safe in the presumption that the OP is the original owner and that it isn't possible that the guitar was refinished?

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

My guess is Sage Green



Heres another shot of a sage green that matches the pics you sent the Xefri better:



BTW if it is that colour then good on ya! great looking green, I love it.

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Looks Pewter to me also. Here's a pic of mine from the Strat Plus thread

Thanks for all the replies! I guess I stand corrected...my research showed that pewter was used during that time only on the Plus Strats, not the Standards like this one. As you can all see, this one has developed a definite greenish tint, maybe the result of the poly clear coat yellowing, maybe something else.

Other pewters I have seen maintain that grey/ not green look.

Xhefri - thanks much for helping with the photos!

I am not the original owner and have not had the pickguard off yet...will do that next time I change strings. This guitar obviously has some aftermarket pieces on it...polished stainless pickguard, Rio Grande bridge pickup. It plays beautifully and if I keep it I will either return it to original appearance or try to upgrade its look. Haven't decided yet...I really like the way it plays, but I just took on a "basket case" Shoreline Gold (I know that color!) Strat, so this one may be sold.

I'm still fascinated by how these colors are affected by age...as someone else mentioned, older Oly Whites are now all creams as one example.

Thanks again.......CTC

Hi there folks,
Well, hmmmm....kinda strange cause it doesnt look like Pewter to me. Even aged pewter. My recollection......and i AM getting old....is that Pewter was not available until Post CBS (85) although we did have a color with pewter IN it in our Stratoburst colors on the 83/84 Elite series. Started pewter at the butt and burst into black towards the horns....but i digress!
By the serial number given it appears to be a 91 Strat. It IS true that we dont have a serial# look up beyond about 93 :O(. And....though we don't have a color chart by year that I'm aware of....we DO have price lists handy that we can scout out. Soooo...if we call it a 91 Am Std (which i'm not sure it is) The colors on that model for 91 were- Black, Brown Sunburst, Pewter, Gun Metal Blue, Midnight Blue, Midnight Wine, Frost Red, and Arctic White.

Chris- my apologies if our folks werent helpful to you. At the same time, I don't see a color match with anything we painted around the time the Serial number seems to point at. Perhaps the old owner also had it refinished....guess guess guess...! I'd love to have a definitive answer for ya, but it doesn't appear to be one from what i can see.
Best regards to all,
rob

AHAAA!!!!! I (mis) spoke too soon. We DID indeed have pewter finish in 83 on the Elite Series. The Stratobursts were listed as "custom" colors.
I stand and sit corrected.....and happy that I corrected my own self.
:O)

Cheers,
rob

Thanks much for entering the discussion, Rob.

It sure seems to be greener than pewter, but there don't seem to be any other choices. In real life, it appears closer to JasonSD's Plus pictured above. I guess I'll refer to it as Fender "aged pewter". Still not sure how aging would give it a green tint....this is a poly finish, not nitrocellulose.

PS - I really wish Fender had more definitive production records for these older (but not yet vintage) models, now that they are entering the collectible/sought after range.

Thanks again...............CTC

The thing about Fender finishes as they age is that no 2 Pewter finished Strats -say from 85-will fade or change hue the same as they are exposed to different levels of UV rays and environmental factors.The only way to get a fair idea of the original colour is to pull the pickguard as at least that hasn't been exposed to UV rays.

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'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.