Back in December of 1984, I got my hands on a brand-new Fender American Vintage '62 Stratocaster, built at the legendary Fullerton plant. It was the Fiesta Red version—a color made famous by the great Hank Marvin. But before I could even enjoy playing it, things got interesting. The Strat had been shipped up to Mosjøen in the freezing cold, sitting in a freight rail wagon for days. Naturally, the moment we cracked open the case, the finish started crackling. In those first few years, large pieces of it began to flake off, revealing a surprise: underneath the Fiesta Red finish was a Sunburst layer! As it turns out, Fender had a practice in the '60s of overpainting Sunburst guitars that didn’t meet cosmetic standards with solid finishes, and they carried this tradition into the early '80s reissues.
At the time, I wasn’t thinking about preserving the guitar’s value or vintage authenticity—I was on a mission to turn it into a “super-strat.” This was before humbuckers and Floyd Rose tremolos were common in off-the-shelf guitars, so I took matters into my own hands. Almost immediately after getting the guitar, I bought a DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker and, armed with a chisel and hammer, I carved out a bigger cavity for the pickup. I broke the pickguard in the process (naturally), but after seeing Eddie Van Halen’s DIY-style guitars, I wasn’t too bothered. I threw on a partial pickguard and called it good.
Over the years, I continued to tweak and upgrade the Strat. In 1987, I added a Gibson PAF humbucker I picked up during a trip to London, and by then I had replaced the pickguard with a proper black one. A few years later, I installed an Ibanez Edge tremolo system. I also had a luthier swap out the frets for jumbo frets and flatten the fretboard radius a bit, further customizing it to my liking.
This guitar evolved from a stock Fender reissue into my own custom-built super-strat—an evolution that mirrors my journey as a guitarist. While I love its versatility, there's something about its history and original craftsmanship that still inspires me every time I pick it up. Sure, it’s been modified and dinged up over the years, but that only adds to its character, much like Fender’s tradition of overpainting guitars and leaving a Sunburst finish hidden underneath.
If you’re into vintage guitars with stories to tell, this 1983 Fiesta Red Strat is proof that imperfections and modifications are what make an instrument truly your own.
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