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dave robinson wrote:What I can prove, is that the USA fiesta red as we know it existed in 1959 because I had access of an untampered 1959 that when placed side by side with my fiesta red USA reissue was identical in colour. That tells me that Fender were spraying that colour at that time and haven't forgotten it some thirty years down the line when mine was made.

In fact, it was first used at least as early as 1958, when a FR Jazzmaster was created as George Fullerton's personal guitar. That guitar is now in the possession of Fender and is on display at the Corona facility Visitor Center [sic].

Here's my photo taken at Corona in 2011.

AFAIK, the Fiesta Red was first used on a custom colour Strat for US r'n'b guitarist/vocalist Pee Wee Crayton, around 1956..

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=pee+ ... 09#imgrc=_

Great stuff, that shows that the colour existed and had the name fiesta red at that time then. Possibly/probably one of the Dupont shades that were available as custom finishes. I'm still intrigued about this slightly darker red though, it has surfaced on quite a few instruments over the years, notably, Knopfler and Clapton Strats.
The story about Cliff ordering the Strat for Hank is very vague and that it was asked for in 'red'. So where did that Oasis 'red' come from, cos it ain't fiesta red ?

Certainly Cimarron Red has the Salmon Pink effect as seen here.
Was there not some discussion a while back on how the air/ drying out process of
the spray painting could alter the dried colour?
Maybe ask The Great British Bake Off lot!!!!

Mike

A few years ago the Shadows fans within our band took a photo on stage of all our carefully-acquired Fiesta Red guitars. Each guitarist had a main Strat and a spare while I had my P-bass (and an unrelated spare). 5 Fiesta Red instruments. Five different shades of red!

We had red faces too after that!

I took this pic in 2013 at the Buddy Holly Centre. It was a separate exhibition featuring guitars from West Texas Musicians and this one was loaned by Sonny Curtis. It had been given to the Crickets by Leo Fender for the 1962 Bobby Vee Tour. Interesting] colour!!

I was just reading a brochure on the Hank Strats. Apparently the OASIS model was made from how Hank & Bruce remembered it.

What exactly is 'pink'- actually as an artist who paints and also an ex colour printer, 'pink' is red with white added to create a tint. This results in the colour Fender have been painting their MIM 50s Strat. Now, women have a habit of calling a cool red (which has blue added) 'pink'- they also call magenta 'pink', which according to my earlier definition is NOT really pink, but a cool red which actually is the colour of the original Strat. The original Strat is definitely NOT 'pink', ladies may erroneously call it pink but the paint does not have 'white' added. Flamingo Red or 'Pink' is a medium red with blue added to give a cooler looking red. If you look at one of the earliest colour photos of Hank with his new Strat as a centrefold in "Boyfriend' magazine you can see its not pink, i.e. not the same colour that is being used on some recent bodies like the previously mentioned Fender 50s MIM which is most definitely pink. Whilst its not really possible to reproduce every colour accurately in 4 colour repro you can tell from the 'Boyfriend' picture the guitar is quite a cool red and especially as the photo has an overall yellow cast this is probably making the colour of the body look slightly less 'blue' than it actually was. Fiesta Red, whatever that's meant to be is generally a red with a component of yellow added to a lessor or greater degree, which results in some bodies almost looking orangey.
IMO, as many people have been calling Hank's old guitar 'pink' this explains why you actually see some manufacturers actually literally painting their bodies pink which of course is not how it originally was, reason being that the term 'pink' has been misunderstood.

Incidentally, I can see how similar the Oasis Strat is to the original, colourwise. If you compare the colour of the warmer red plush lining of the case to the cooler red of the body you can see the essential difference in the two types of 'red'.

On the left a 1997 HM sign. ( CIJ ) in FR, on the right a 2000 1957 RI ( CIJ ) in FR !
Different colours. But not in any way an orange shimmer. My 1991 Squier HM sign.
has this little touch of orange !

Is it at all possible that there has been some historical confusion or faulty memories about Hank's first Strat, and memories and photos of the later one(s) he used before the white Strats and the Burns Marvins?

I always thought that his original Strat was a vivid red (as per the photo of the 57 re-issue immediately before this post ) whereas the replacement rosewood fingerboard models always looked like a lighter red tone with a pink/orange sort of colour...as is known, some of the later red Strats imported into the UK at that time were resprayed over sunburst?