by BluesHawk » Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:31 am
Below is a reasonable reply I got from Daniel at Chicago Music Exchange. It's my understanding that the finish black light test is an accepted vintage-industry method for assessment. I replied with encouragement that in the future they include verification when their ads make extraordinary claims.
Cheers,
Doug
Hello Doug,
Thanks for the inquiry and interest. Fender made a hand full of one-off sparkle colors in the '60's. Typically they were reserved for trade show displays or special orders. Based on several references, it seems that the sparkle finishes were usually done by a local auto shop down the street from the Fender factory, and often times, on top of the already existing Fender finish. In this case, the finish seems to have been applied on top of Daphne Blue, which was a standard color for these guitars at the time. The finish black lights very old and this looks very much like several of the original sparkle finish Fenders we've owned.
Regards, Daniel, Chicago Music Exchange
Cheers,
Doug