A Near Mint Very Early 1963 Shoreline Gold Fender Stratocaster

1963 Fender Stratocaster

This exceptionally rare and near mint pre-CBS custom-color Shoreline Gold Metallic Stratocaster weighs just 7.60 lbs. Solid alder body, contoured on back and lower bass bout. One-piece maple neck with a comfortable nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 25 1/2 inches and that wonderful 1963 profile - rising from 0.81 at the first fret, 0.84 at the third, 0.89 at the fifth and then rising gently from 0.91 at the seventh to 1.00 inch at the twelfth. Brazilian 'veneer' rosewood fretboard with 21 original thin frets and clay dot position markers. Small headstock with decal with "Fender" 'Spaghetti' logo in gold with black trim, "Stratocaster" in black beside it, and "With Synchronized Tremolo" and three patent numbers "2,573,254"  "2,741,146" & "2,960,900" in black below. Single "butterfly" string tree with large metal spacer. Individual "single-line" Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons, each stamped on the underside "D-169400/Patent No." The neck is dated "2 JAN 63 B". Four-bolt neck plate with the serial number "94797" between the top two screws. Neck pocket with original gray neck shim. Three black-bottom white plastic-covered single-coil pickups with staggered polepieces and outputs of 6.37k, 6.12k & 5.96k. Three-layer "Minty" celluloid nitrate pickguard with eleven screws. Three controls (one volume, two tone) plus original 'CRL' three-way pickup selector switch, all on pickguard. The three potentiometers are all stamped "304 6306" (Stackpole February 1963). The electronics are 100% original with none of the original solder joints ever touched. 'Stratocaster' white plastic control knobs with green lettering. Jack socket in body face secured by two screws. Fender "Synchronized Tremolo" combined bridge/tailpiece with all five original springs. The Shoreline Gold finish is bright and vivid and shows none of the usual fade associated with this color. This fifty-eight year old super-rare custom-color Stratocaster is in near mint (9.25) condition with just a tiny cigarette burn on the face of the headstock by the low 'E' tuner, some minor varnish wear to the treble side of the neck and some minimal fret-wear. There is some very minor superficial belt buckle wear on the back, a small indentation (the size of a match-head) and a few other tiny insignificant surface marks or chips on the back and the sides. The top of the guitar has a few very small and also insignificant surface marks and dents, all of which are also superficial. This most certainly the finest example of this impossible to find color that we have ever seen. It came from a private collection in Europe where it had safely resided for sixteen years and then from us to another private collection in the US for the past thirteen years. Complete with the original tremolo arm and bridge cover. Housed in it's original Fender tan hardshell case with brown leather ends and dark orange plush lining (9.00).

This guitar is listed in James D. Werner's List (p.30)  "94797  Feb 63  Strat  Gold"

This actual guitar also appears in the color photograph on page 38 of The Fender Stratocaster by A.R. Duchossoir.

Shoreline Gold Metallic (Lucite 2935-L) was used on the Pontiac Catalina between 1959 and 1960. Fender used this color on their guitars between 1960 and 1965. It was replaced with Firemist Gold Metallic (a Cadillac color) from 1965 through 1971.

"Fender had several official pre-CBS "Custom Colors," but things get confusing when we consider that the same paint might take on different looks when sprayed over different undercoats, or when exposed to differing levels of sunlight, cigarette smoke, and other environmental factors, or when its top yellows a little, or a lot, over time. In fact, an aged finish might have "migrated" so far from its original hue that it actually looks more like a different Custom Color, such as when a light blue guitar fades into an off-white. Some of the guitars pictured here pre-date the first official chart that helped standardize Fender colors, but in any case, taking these qualifications into consideration, what we have here is a septet of original-spec Strats in (up front) Surf Green and Burgundy Mist, and (back from left) Cimarron/Dakota Red, Daphne Blue (the middle blue between the robin's-egg Sonic and the much darker Lake Placid), blonde with gold hardware, the very rare Inca Silver, and Shoreline Gold." (Tom Wheeler).