Fender Stratocaster - Reissue Strat Colors

Fullerton era (1982-1984) Strat Colors
All American Vintage Reissue Strats are finished in nitrocellulose laquer.  The '57 AVRI strat came standard in 2-Color Sunburst while the '62 AVRI strat came standard in 3-Color Sunburst.  From 1982-1984 both the '57 and '62 AVRI strats were available in a number of custom order colors including Lake Placid Blue, Fiesta Red, Vintage White, Candy Apple Red, and Black.  From our experience, only about 5-7% of these early reissue strats were finished in one of these custom colors.  Finding a custom color fullerton era strat is very rare.  If they do happen to come to market, they usually demand a premium over sunburst finishes.  The most common custom colors during the Fullerton era are Black and Vintage white, wheras the rarest are Lake Placid Blue, Fiesta Red, and Candy Apple Red. 

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  Custom color '57 reissue strats
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  Two early custom color reissue strats
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  1982 '57 reissue strat in 2-sunburst
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  1983 '62 reissue strat in 3-sunburst
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  1982 '57 reissue strat in Fiesta Red
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  1984 '62 reissue strat in Fiesta Red
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  1982 '57 reissue strat in Vintage White
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  1983 '62 reissue strat in Vintage White
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  1983 '57 reissue strat in Black
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  1983 '62 reissue strat in Black
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  1984 '57 reissue strat in Candy Apple Red
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  1984 '62 reissue strat in Candy Apple Red
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  1984 '57 reissue strat in Lake Placid Blue
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  1984 '62 reissue strat in Lake Placid Blue

Corona era (1985-present) Strat Colors
The opening of the Corona plant in 1985 marked the addition of a few new custom colors.  All of the original custom colors were available with the addition of Surf Green (some call this Seafoam Green), Sonic Blue, and a special "Mary Kay" see-through Blonde with gold hardware.  From our experience, custom colors among Corona factory guitars are more common than the earlier Fullerton factory reissues.  Some estimate that nearly 50% of Corona built guitars are finished in one of these custom colors.  Custom color Corona factory reissues usually sell at a small premium over their sunburst counterparts.  It was not until 1990-1991 that other custom colors such as Ocean Turquise became available.

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  1987 '62 reissue strat in Seafoam Green
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  1988 '57 reissue strat in Sonic Blue

Finish checking
Due to the relatively thin nitrocellulose finishes these guitars are susceptible to finish checking.  This typically occurs with a rapid change in finish temperature, such as going from a trunk of a car in winter to a warm location without letting the guitar slowly warm-up within its case.  Many AVRI strats, particularly the early ones, have at least some finish checking, although it is not uncommon to find near mint examples with zero checking.  Since the necks were also finished in nitrocellulose many have finished checking on the front and back of the headstock.  

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  Nitrocellulose finish with finish checking
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  Vintage White Nitro finish with checking