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Post subject: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 7:27 am
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I was reading about surf green strats at another forum, and I saw a fellow mentioning that he had mounted a guitar with a 70s CBS headstock (the bigger one) maple neck on a surf green body, because he wanted a unique guitar, and that later Fender began offering that exact combination as a version of the Am Special...

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I am wondering if such a guitar would be indeed as unique as he wanted, as surf green strats have been made since the 50s, Fender used the same paint as Chevrolet, and I never really thought a CBS/maple neck surf green strat was any rare at all in the 70s... Butas a matter of fact I've never actually seen such a guitar, I always see surf greens with rosewood fingerboards and small headstocks.


Anyone knows for sure?

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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 11:45 am
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By the late '60s, Fender moved away from the colors of the '50s and early '60s. I can find out exactly when Fender stopped using Seafoam Green on their Strats, but it will take me a day. I do know that by the '70s all of the soft Fender colors, except sonic blue, were pretty much gone. By the late '70s, the colors were pretty bland: black, white, blonde, sunburst, natural finish, wine red, and brown (for a limited time Antigua Burst, the international colors and the anniversary white and silver). Long gone were the traditional colors, so I'd say a seafoam green strat would be pretty unique.


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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 12:16 pm
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First of all, Surf Green and Seafoam Green are two different colors on the Fender color chart.

And, Surf Green didn't vanish totally in the seventies - the Strat Plus, for example, had SG as one of its color options.

But Surf Green, big headstock and maple fretboard - not sure, but I'll take a wild guess: rare but not unique :wink:


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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2015 12:25 pm
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Thanks guys!

I appreciate any accurate answers, I am very much into Fender history.

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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:23 am
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jmattis wrote:
First of all, Surf Green and Seafoam Green are two different colors on the Fender color chart.

And, Surf Green didn't vanish totally in the seventies - the Strat Plus, for example, had SG as one of its color options.

But Surf Green, big headstock and maple fretboard - not sure, but I'll take a wild guess: rare but not unique :wink:


Sorry for the mix up. For some reason, I thought we were talking about sea foam green. By ’65 surf green is gone; and by ’70 sea foam Green is removed. In 1970 the only “soft” Fender color left for the early years is Sonic Blue. From ’65 – ’69, there was an Ocean Turquois, but that looks pretty blue to me. From '74 until '79, we were stuck with a pretty limited selection of colors to choose from. When the International Colors were introduced in '80, it was a nice addition, but even many of those colors were not that nice; really, Sahara Taupe? Who chose that color? Someone at Fender really thought a drab tan color would look great on a Stratocaster. (2014 Vintage Guitar Guide)

It wasn’t until late 1986, when Fender began regularly producing guitar in the US again. For a brief time in the mid-‘80s, Fender didn’t have American factory. The owners had a name, some parts and machines, but not place to make guitars. (The Stratocaster Chronicals and http://xhefriguitars.com/page2.html)

With the introduction of the American Std Strat (1986) and Stat Plus (1987), Fender reintroduced and introduced a wide range of colors. Some were pretty far out, like a reverse metallic blue burst, graffiti yellow, firestorm red and ice storm blue. My ’87 Strat Plus was originally gunmetal blue. (The Stratocaster Chronicals and http://xhefriguitars.com/page2.html)

I'm guessing this would be a pretty rare color for a big headstock Stat. I'm sure there are plenty small headstock Strats in surf green, but not big heastock. There isn’t anything really unique about having a surf green big headstock Strat (except that it didn't exist during the CBS '60s and '70s), but it is interesting.


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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 4:45 pm
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Ok, I think the matter is now fully settled:

I emailed Fender about this and they kindly answered. Fender stopped making Surf Green finishes in 1965, but still offered it as a custom color until 1975. Large headstocks began to be made by 1968, so that leaves a small time lapse of Surf Green/large headstock Strats, which weren't in standard production but could be bought as a custom instrument...

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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:31 pm
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de Melo wrote:
Ok, I think the matter is now fully settled:

I emailed Fender about this and they kindly answered. Fender stopped making Surf Green finishes in 1965, but still offered it as a custom color until 1975. Large headstocks began to be made by 1968, so that leaves a small time lapse of Surf Green/large headstock Strats, which weren't in standard production but could be bought as a custom instrument...


Thanks for that info. I suspect that very few people would know that. Most of us get our information from books and reputable websites, none of which every mention about the custom ordering thing. This might explain why there is a '79/'80 Paisley Strat out there (there is a photo of this guitar in a few Fender books).

Before you contacted Fender, if someone came to me with a '70s era Strat in surf green, I would thinking it was refinished.


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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 5:35 pm
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Oh and you would possibly be right.

Since Strats are modular and probably the most interchangeable guitar ever, besides the fact that the body is often painted (except for sunbursts and blondes), people re-painted it and switched necks all the time.

But, there's the custom colors issue, as they most kindly reminded me.

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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2015 8:54 pm
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de Melo wrote:
Large headstocks began to be made by 1968...


WTF?

The large (ie: "CBS era") headstock was introduced to the Stratocaster production line in late December of 1965.

My 100% all-original '66 Strat with a neck date of March was so equipped.

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Post subject: Re: Fender History: Surf Green and CBS headstock?
Posted: Wed Apr 08, 2015 5:15 am
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Well, that's what the Company told me. Could have been a typo in the email they sent me, I don't know...

Anyway what color is that strat?

Edit: I emailed them again. It was indeed a mistake, the year is 65 all right...

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