- Style: Pre-CBS Body for Fender Telecaster
- Wood: Two-piece Swamp Ash (American) or Two-piece Alder (Japanese).
- Finish: Candy Apple Red with Silver Undercoat Nitrocellulose (worn)
- Routing: Standard Telecaster two-pickup
- Weight: approx. 4lbs (1.8kg)
Candy Apple Red was introduced as a Fender custom colour at the very beginning of the '60s and was offered as an option for ten years, from 1963 until 1973. Allegedly this was Leo Fender's favourite custom Stratocaster colour and as a result was extremely popular at the time.
Candy Apple Red was unique in that it wasn't simply an automotive paint applied to a guitar body (as Lake Placid Blue originally was) but instead a true custom colour of Leo's own concoction, as well as extremely difficult to apply as it involved three individual finishing steps (compared to the normal two steps used at the time):
- metallic base coat (silver was used until 1965 with gold being used after this);
- translucent red clear coats;
- clear coat.
As a comparison, Fender's guitars are usually finished in one process now, and with metallic paints the the colour mixed together prior to application rather than directly onto the body. It is believed this was originally done to save time and avoid the paints going off (with a shorter shelf life after mixing) but also resulted in a much deeper and vivid metallic appearance.
Although Candy Apple Red on Telecasters is relatively unusual, it was still a very popular custom option for jazz and country guitarists during the 1960s who wanted the 'flash' of a metallic finish but without surrendering the Telecaster sound their music had become dependant on. As a result we are pleased to be able to offer a very accurate incarnation of these original 1950s and 1960s bodies with genuine nitrocellulose, finished in the exact same fashion as the originals were, then reliced to reveal the metallic finish beneath again. Available in either two-piece alder or swamp ash these bodies are contoured and shaped precisely for the vintage.
