The man The voice The guitar
I agree, it is unclear from 1986 interview what happened to each guitar. Chris tells in this article he actually uses 2 strats (not mentioning the colour) when speaking about Pinky. He also points out that, after trying various guitars, he got stuck to 2 strats at that moment, but does not mention which ones exactly. He also tells about a "really hard blue strat he just acquired" and I suspect he speaks about the dark-blue one he first played in 1985. It seems that he must be talking 'bout Bluey and Pinky there, after all, especially if the dark-blue strat really is Bluey.tobi777 wrote:I've also read the '86 interview you provided the link for and was even more confused. In his excellent video that came with his signature guitar from Fender he talked about this incident but said that it was the very guitar he is still playing. No mention of a second pink one that was also affected.
So either both pink guitars were exposed to water and only one survived - the one he is still playing today - or they were able to save "Pinky" and he stopped using the second one at osme point.
Thank you for this deep insight on model years and colour line-ups! Yes, Chris may be wrong in defining the color, he often tends to be inaccurate in his memories, so either building year (1962) is incorrect (which I doubt) or the original color is slightly different, but I do believe it was not pink originally and the bright red colour faded with time. BTW, that is why I assume dark-blue guitar is Bluey - it also lost its bright color at some point (but was not repainted).toby777 wrote:Another interesting thing: Chris said that "Pinky" was originally more of a Candy Apple Red than pinkish but in '62 CAR was not listed an optional colour and it would have sparkled, too. So he must be wrong.
I can hardly recall anything like that, but I strongly suspect it was 1999 CR Signature strat that was put on that auction, or just another new built strat in a suitable colour (that Chris might use for a while).toby777 wrote:If I remember correctly some years ago I saw pictures from an official auction in which Chris gave away one of his pink Stratocasters (can't find it anymore).
Hi again,tobi777 wrote:If I remember correctly some years ago I saw pictures from an official auction in which Chris gave away one of his pink Stratocasters (can't find it anymore).
That would explain why the dark blue colour never looked "right" to me - regarding the Fender colour charts. But the black tape he put on the light blue guitar after 2000 after his illness - and at that time the guitar had been light blue already.It appears to have been BLACK originally, but seems Chris to get it in Lake Placid Blue, just like Ry Cooder's '62 strat he admired. So it really seems that Lake Placid Blue coloured strat later become light-coloured Bluey, always used for standard tuning.
This is the easiest part of the puzzle - I find it quite evident he simply replaced some parts of the old battered Bluey, including its neck. He said not once that the frets almost lived their days away and the overall neck may not stand a full concert cone day, so that he did not play it much and used the brown strat instead. Now that he finally decided to exchange/renew the neck of the Bluey.tobi777 wrote:On the Facebook group page (Chris Rea fans) is a pic of Chris with "Bluey" and you can clearly see that the logo and other parts of the the headstock decal are nearly gone. On newer pics the headstock looks complete and nearly good as new. Maybe he changed the neck or there are different "Blueys"?
In this case I cannot tell for sure - whether Chris got this guitar in black and made it repainted being its new owner, or he was told that it was once black and Chris bought it as he liked its Ry Cooder-ish colour.tobi777 wrote:It appears to have been BLACK originally, but seems Chris to get it in Lake Placid Blue, just like Ry Cooder's '62 strat he admired. That would explain why the dark blue colour never looked "right" to me - regarding the Fender colour charts.
Yes, of course, Bluey had been light blue before being wrapped in black vinyl in 2000-2001. It was also light blue again in 2004, and in 2002-2003 Chris seems to have not used Bluey at all. Please correct me if my memory does not serve well.tobi777 wrote:But the black tape he put on the light blue guitar after 2000 after his illness - and at that time the guitar had been light blue already.
Thanks again for the notice about the colour charts and their changes with time, I really lack this knowledge. Yes, this really puzzles me. First I thought the change in colour was due to the flood in Chris's studio, but it was early 1986 and the guitar was still dark-blue in late 1986. I assume Chris got it refurnished after 1986 as he considered it looking too new, not bluesy enough, as he points out in 2001 Guitarist interview.tobi777 wrote:I don't believe that the Lake Placid Blue faded into the light blue that fast - in just one year from '86 to '87! Additionally it would be very unusual because fading is always irregular and Lake Placid Blue tends to get more greenish - and also only after many years of exposure to sunlight etc. - but it never gets that light colour.
After all I still tend to stick to the point that there has always been one single Bluey in different appearances.tobi777 wrote:So either it was really refinished and that explains why "Bluey" still looks good after all these years - or we are talking about two different guitars and "old Bluey" hasn't been played in public since '87. Maybe he traded it against the other guitar.
Well, asking Chris himself is guite an unbelievalu thing to do, but we can try to get to his old guitar tech, Tommi Willis, he must know the answer and give even more precise information than Chris, as Chris is always VERY inaccurate when recalling things and events from his distant past.tobi777 wrote:I guess it is even more confusing. We need high quality pics of both blue guitars and we should ask CR himself.