Actual color of Limited Edition "Vintage White" Stratocaster?

[TrapDoorSpider]

Has anyone actually seen or purchased one of the Limited Edition Vintage White Stratocasters from Sweetwater? On the Sweetwater guitar gallery, the guitars currently available all look kinda beige. Maybe a slightly "tan" version of Fender's "Olympic White."

But on a few other websites that show actual guitars, this model looks quite yellow — almost the color of a Post-It Note. But they also have an 11-hole pickguard, and the Sweetwater version has an eight-hole.

So, are the Sweetwater versions (since they apparently have slightly different features), also a slightly different color?

In the pictures below, the Strat on the left is from the Sweetwater gallery, the one on the right is from another seller. See the difference?

Thanks,
Michael

[R Whittington]

HI TrapDoorSpider.
Our photograph is a very accurate representation of the actual color of the guitar. We've painstakingly designed the room, background and especially the lighting conditions where we photograph the instruments for Guitar Gallery, so when you receive a guitar it appears just as you see on the site. From the second picture you post...it looks like the lighting is quite a bit different in that picture. As for the 8 screw pickguard...If it's a 50s reproduction strat like the one one the left (ours)...all 50s style Strat pickguards will have 8 screws instead of 11. The 11 hole pickguards were implemented in the very early 60s. That is a really strange pickguard on the right...I'm not sure I've ever seen an 11 hole guard that wasn't also a 3 ply (white/black/white).

[TrapDoorSpider]

HI TrapDoorSpider.
Our photograph is a very accurate representation of the actual color of the guitar. We've painstakingly designed the room, background and especially the lighting conditions where we photograph the instruments for Guitar Gallery, so when you receive a guitar it appears just as you see on the site. From the second picture you post...it looks like the lighting is quite a bit different in that picture. As for the 8 screw pickguard...If it's a 50s reproduction strat like the one on the left (ours)...all 50s style Strat pickguards will have 8 screws instead of 11. The 11 hole pickguards were implemented in the very early 60s. That is a really strange pickguard on the right...I'm not sure I've ever seen an 11 hole guard that wasn't also a 3 ply (white/black/white).

So what you're saying is that the Sweetwater versions are not quite as yellow?

The photo on the right (above) is actually a very accurate depiction of the "Fender Special Run Stratocaster - Vintage White" that I purchased from a music store in Indiana. It is also the exact same color match a "Vintage White" guitar that I examined at a store in Memphis. Both are PALE YELLOW. And both have an 11-hole one-ply pickguard, and a standard "Fender Corona California" neckplate.

Your "Vintage White" Stratocaster has a different pickguard and neckplate, but what I'm really curious/concerned about is the color. I like the yellow color on the one I already have, and wouldn't mind having a "spare" -- but your guitar seems to be a different color entirely. It's not quite as yellow. And it doesn't even seem to be the same color as the one you posted a few weeks ago on your website (see below). So did Fender change the color a bit with this new run?

[R Whittington]

What I'm saying is our picture accurately represents the guitar that we currently have in stock. I can't accurately compare and contrast it to the one you have pictured. There is no "Sweetwater version" of this guitar. What we have in inventory is the same guitar that was shipped everywhere. The picture you most recently posted is a stock Fender photo that we put on the site when we run out of inventory. Once new inventory comes in we photograph the actual guitar and put those pix up to choose from. Another thing to consider could potentially be age of the guitar/finish and also sun exposure. Both of these factors contribute in yellowing on a white guitar. To the best of my knowledge Fender hasn't changed the color of these.

[TrapDoorSpider]

There is no "Sweetwater version" of this guitar. What we have in inventory is the same guitar that was shipped everywhere. ... To the best of my knowledge Fender hasn't changed the color of these.

There may not be a "Sweetwater" version, but there are definitely two slightly different versions of the "FSR" guitar that Fender is calling a "Fender American Standard Stratocaster - Vintage White." The 2010 one I have, which I purchased brand-new last week from Roxy Music in LaPorte, Indiana, has a "Vintage White" finish (according to the spec sheet) that is certainly more yellow than yours. It also has a one-ply white pickguard with ELEVEN holes and a one-ply tremolo cover. The neckplate just says "Fender Corona California". My guitar is identical to the guitar for sale at Martin Music in Memphis, as well as several other places I've located online. All these sell for $999, by the way.

In other words, they are basically American Standard Stratocasters, painted on unusual color, with an odd one-ply pickguard.

Sweetwater and an online seller called Leitz Music sell a version that is a slightly different color, has an EIGHT-hole one-ply white pickguard, and they have a "LIMITED EDITION" neckplate. The prices for this model range from $1049 to $1099.

(I never understood why Fender put a "vintage" pickguard on these, but nothing else — tuners, for example — is vintage-looking.)

I'm not saying one version is better or "more authentic" than the others. All I'm saying is that Fender has put out two practically identical versions of the same guitar, and boy it sure makes it confusing for buyers.

[zabreeds]

my friend has black one.. but i don't know if he customized it or not. i will ask him soon.

[beckmeister1@charter.net]

I have a 2010 Limited Edition Stratocaster in "vintage white" that appears light yellow - much like banana pudding or custard in appearance. Could never figure out why it was termed "white." I paid a great deal more than $1100 for it new but I must say - having 12 Strats - it is the best playing Stratocaster I have - it became my number 1 very shortly after I got it - even beat out my white blond Eric Johnson model which is fabulous and my red Hot Rod Vintage '57 which is also superb! Glad to hear I haven't developed some sort of color blindness with this white thing. RB