Fender Stringmaster - Custom colors

[Patrick Bailey]

I've got a Stringmaster D8, it says '63 under the tuners. Whoever had this guitar previously stripped off all of the finish. Looking to paint it one of Fender's custom colors.. kinda thinking surf green or desert sand.

Anyway I was just curious, when this guitar was new, did Fender offer it in their custom colors?

[Glenn Wilde]

Desert sand was standard on Champ steels, Custom colors were exactly that, so I'm sure you could order any guitar they made in any color you wanted to, if you had the connections.
I honestly haven't ever seen a confirmed original custom colored steel though, and only one or two standard guitars, I'm talking '50s here, I've seen plenty from the '60s, black, oly white, candy apple red, Lake Placid blue, by plenty I mean two or three of each

[Doug Beaumier]

…when this guitar was new, did Fender offer it in their custom colors?

No, according to the late Jody Carver, who worked for Fender in the 50s and 60s, Fender never did custom colors on their steel guitars. Jody was very adamant about that. Stringmasters were either blonde or walnut. By the mid-70s black was an option.

[Andy Volk]

[Doug Beaumier]

Just to be clear… the chart above is from 1964 and those custom colors were available on Fender guitars, not on the steel guitars.

[Nathan Laudenbach]

A Dual 8 Professional in Burgundy Mist or Sherwood Green Metallic would have been flippin bonkers!

[Jack Hanson]

Edgar: Here's something you don't see everyday, Chauncey.

Chauncey: What's that, Edgar?

Edgar: A Gibson lap steel (Century Deluxe) in a Fender Custom Color (Lake Placid Blue).

[Erv Niehaus]

I once heard that when Leo Fender wanted a custom color he went down the street to an auto parts store.