Fiesta Red

[Ask the bass]

Decloaking briefly.  I have a thing for Fiesta Red Precisions.

 

One the left a GB Spitfire with a P bass pickup.

 

In the middle a 1962 Fender Precision

 

On the right a 1981 Fender Precision 1957 Fullerton reissue.  These have very wide necks!

[Schnozzalee]

Gimme the GB

[Mrbigstuff]

25 minutes ago, Schnozzalee said:

Gimme the GB

Oh well if it’s a giveaway I will have the 62 please 😂

[HeadlessBassist]

You're not the PinkBassMan, are you? Oh no, sorry - he's in America   

[PaulThePlug]

Not usually in favour of the far right but... i can make an exception.

[Schnozzalee]

Now we have your Fiesta Reds, you can have an Ashbory in blue/purple for your trip to the monastery - Renounce it when you get there.

[Ask the bass]

3 hours ago, Schnozzalee said:

Now we have your Fiesta Reds, you can have an Ashbory in blue/purple for your trip to the monastery - Renounce it when you get there.

Sorry cant help you with that.  But I do have this, it is purple/blue/green depending on the light, I dinged it the first time I took it out so it stays on the wall now 🙄

[wavemaker]

Fiesta Red. What a weird colour.

 

I‘m really surprised by the amount of instruments manufactured and, apparently, being sold in this shade of red. Is it the Pino effect? I don’t know. 

 

What surprises me so much about it being so readily available across various price points is not only that it is a deeply weird colour, in my opinion: Is it red? pink? orange? tomato soup? Well … yes, all of the above! 

But really, in this day and age of buying online based on pictures, there‘s still one problem with digital photography: To accurately capture a particular shade of red is actually really hard for most cameras, at least without careful correction / editing afterwards. Because of this, I‘d assume at least part of the Fiesta Red online buying public might expect a bright red instrument in the mail, only to receive some weird pinkish tomato by courier. 

 

I remember aeons ago when I was playing skinny strings, I had a beautifully playing Strat-type with a lovely flamed maple neck and a P90 in the bridge position. Finished, of all things, in Fiesta Red. I abhorred that colour, ultimately let the instrument go because of it and soon after, all other tenors in my collection.

So in a way, Fiesta Red might be the catalyst for me growing into my role as a bassist. Possibly. 

 

Which makes somewhat a circle with my latest acquisition: A Music Man (US) Classic Sterling in EBMM‘s take on Fiesta, that is Coral Red.

 

(I don’t know if they are the exact same shade of red but they certainly are close siblings.)

 

I bought this bass primarily to switch its maple neck onto my natural Classic Sterling (with a rosewood board), but even after successful surgery, I can’t seem to let it go: That bass, and that colour, are simply too much fun.

 

And you know something else? I actually like tomato soup. 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 12:59 by wavemaker

[Ask the bass]

There are a lot of shades of Fiesta Red.  It became very popular in the UK because of The Shadows.  Hank Marvin had a Fiesta Red Strat and Jet Harris had a sunburst P Bass - the first in the UK.  Later all The Shadows sported Fiesta Red guitars, and they were so popular that the UK distributer started respraying UK basses Fiesta Red, usually over Sunburst as Fiesta Red was a custom colour and thus more expensive. This accounts for the variation in shade for UK 60's basses.

 

My 62 is a factory finish not resprayed.

[Schnozzalee]

I like 'Fullerton Red' best - Bit more orangey.

[SuperSeagull]

On 26/07/2025 at 18:35, Ask the bass said:

There are a lot of shades of Fiesta Red.  It became very popular in the UK because of The Shadows.  Hank Marvin had a Fiesta Red Strat and Jet Harris had a sunburst P Bass - the first in the UK.  Later all The Shadows sported Fiesta Red guitars, and they were so popular that the UK distributer started respraying UK basses Fiesta Red, usually over Sunburst as Fiesta Red was a custom colour and thus more expensive. This accounts for the variation in shade for UK 60's basses.

 

My 62 is a factory finish not resprayed.

I see you are in Sussex, like me. It’s my birthday soon (ish) and I was born in 1962 if you were thinking of something to get me 🙄.

[sPiKi]

Just to add to the colour complexity, my Fender Japan Tomomi jazz is trans fiesta red. I love the colour! As Wavemaker explained above, trying to accurately capture this colour is almost impossible. 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by sPiKi