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I just read this comment on a another website where Beatle anoraks dwell and debate occurs about colours in old photos...wondering whether the comment is valid and that use of filters back then affects visual perception of Hank's first Strat etc?

quote:

In the days of B&W film photography, photographers would often use colored filters over their lenses to improve contrast. This can affect which colors appear lighter and darker. For example, with a red filter, red-colored objects would appear light, but with a yellow filter they would appear dark.

And colour films of this time were not perfectly accurate, and stage lighting can also alter colour perception...

I have seen Hank's first Strat at the Paris Olympia, this was late 1960 or early 1961, and for me it looked fiesta red...

Didier

I saw a Fender Stratocaster described as Fiesta Red and then it said fades to Salmon Pink does the paint on Sratocasters fade?

I've had my strat for nearly 20 years and it is still fiesta red, it hasn't faded at all (yet!).

Well red does seem to fade faster than any other colour but it does depend on what dyes were used in the paint originally and how much exposure it has had to ultra-violet light since then. Witness 3-colour sunburst Strats on which the red fades out reducing it to a 2-colour burst, and 'unburst' Les Pauls where the red has disappeared.

I read somewhere that after about 1960, Gibson stopped using aniline dyes in its reds to prevent the fading, but when I bought my Les Paul in 1996 I looked under the pickguard and couldn't believe the difference. And it was only 7 years old then.

White guitars go yellow with age especially if they have spent years gigging in smoky clubs.

Yes, I like the creamy tint on an Olympic White Strat! This is because the clearcoat yellows with age; it actually affects all colours (blue guitars have been known to turn green for example) but it's most pronounced with white of course. Some refinishers tint the clearcoat because many players prefer the 'old' look.

However Fender were a bit haphazard in the early years and if they were a bit rushed in the paint shop, some guitars didn't get a clearcoat. Strictly speaking, solid colours don't really need one; it's on metallics that a clearcoat is essential, or the little aluminium flakes soon tarnish.

My 58 f red is without clear coat.

Cheers Rob

After what must be a five-year absence from these boards I could not subdue the impulse I had to pass comment once again upon this colour issue. So, I shall say this again, and hopefully settle this argument once and for all. As a photographer I deal with images, light and colours every day. Take it from me, when viewing any item or image, the colour you see will always depend on the light in which you see it and, in the case of print or on-screen media, the material upon which you are viewing it.

Firstly, let me deal with colour temperature. The whiteness, or brightness of light is described in terms of temperature. On a very bright, blue sky sunny day, the colour temperature of light can be as high as 7,000 degrees K. When the sun is rising or setting, the temperature can be as low as 3,000 or 4,000 degrees K. It’s like a red hot poker .. the hotter it is, the brighter or lighter the colour gets. This is why we landscape photographers go out in the ‘Golden Hours’ - an hour either side of dusk and dawn. The light is warmer and the colours of the countryside are very different and more interesting than those that are seen at, say, midday.

It therefore follows that when you see a coloured item in say bright white daylight, or even bright white fluorescent light, it will appear different to when you see it in a yellow light, say that of a lightbulb in a house.

So, in the case of a Fiesta Red Stratocaster, the colour will appear different depending upon in which light you are viewing it. That’s why under some stage lighting Hank’s Strat will look pink, whilst under other lighting it will look pillar box red - or even yellower.

When images are captured on film, the recorded colour will often depend on the light sensitive qualities of the film itself. Most films have some kind of colour bias, towards green. blue or red. The older the film, most likely the worse the problem. Then there is the issue of converting a colour negative into a colour print. Once again the printed image from a negative will depend on the paper used but also the way the printing technician chooses to set his filters when making the print. He can introduce a colour bias and he can remove it in the print process also.

The same issues arise with digital cameras. All files in all digital cameras have some kind of bias and these are usually adjusted for at the digital development stage. However, not everyone knows how to do this, so images which retain that colour bias are often published on the internet.

Finally, anything produced as a print on a sheet of paper or viewed on a screen can have colour bias, depending upon the quality of the print and the quality and set up of the computer screen.

So, in summary, NEVER EVER judge the colour of an object based on an image you have seen in print or on a screen. There are too many ways it could have been mis-represented.

Personally, I do not believe one jot in the ‘Flamingo Pink’ or ’Salmon Pink’ theories. Your traditional Fiesta Red Stratocaster can look so very different depending on how and where you look at it. And I believe that this was what happened when Hank first saw his first Stratocaster. He probably opened the case in a room with a particular type of lighting and the coloured lining of the case would also have reflected onto the guitar to affect its apparent colour. His first impressions could well have been that the guitar looked pink .. but those first impressions might have been different if he had opened the case in a different location.

Finally, if you don’t believe any of this, then type Fiesta Red Stratocaster into Google Images and go and have a look at all the pictures that come into view. Just look at how many variations you can see of ‘Fiesta Red’ there are. Everyone has been produced through some kind of digital print process and you can see just what a variety of results you can achieve.

thanks joe that clears it up for me, but I doubt if its the last we hear on the subject. peter