Paisley USA Custom Shop Masterbuilt Telecaster!

[apollo]

message deleted by apollo

[axmaker]

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

omg, that bass.......

[FredDairy]

I came across Elliot's Paisley today at work. I don't care, I still think the import paisley looks cool.

http://www.rarestarguitars.com/elliot_easton.php

[jwells393]

Fred ............. it appears Elliot's Paisley is also an import. I got the picture from the website you linked to. Cropped and enlarged it a little.

......

The silver backing differs from the current Custom Shop model and also differs from my CIJ model.

......

[TerryOz]

Interesting that this does seem to be different than the current imported stuff, but it is still quite different than the old US Paisley...The outlines, in fact all the drawn lines are much thinner, the colours, still way brighter and the pattern itself is quite different and seemingly more "uniform" (if that makes any sense), there's more of the Silver area, therefore less Paisley as well...Remember Fred, my thoughts are that this isn't about whether your guitar looks cool, I think it does, but what I was trying to do when this one kicked off, was to find out whether Fender in fact do have some Paisley backing that is the same as the original batch as claimed...I want to order one of these guitars with confidence....I appreciate all of the "good oil" that has come up in this thread, but still no answer to that original question...

[FredDairy]

Hey Terry, you're right no answer to your original question, but it's become a great post regarding all things paisley.

The other night at work I was going through the archives at the FDP and I wish I could find this now but it was a from a few years ago and some had asked how Fender puts on the paisley print and an actual Fender employee responded that the Custom Shop does it the same way Japan does it, and they even got their wallpaper from Japan. I realize these newer custom shops are supposed to have a different brand of wall paper all together, but I found it interesting that Fender was using the same wall paper on their custom shop models that Fender Japan was. I've never actually seen a Custom Shop Paisley from a few years back but it would be interesting to see one now.

[e-merlin]

Originally Posted by TerryOz

Remember Fred, my thoughts are that this isn't about whether your guitar looks cool, I think it does, but what I was trying to do when this one kicked off, was to find out whether Fender in fact do have some Paisley backing that is the same as the original batch as claimed...I want to order one of these guitars with confidence....I appreciate all of the "good oil" that has come up in this thread, but still no answer to that original question...

I don't think you're going to find a definitive answer, Terry. Fender says it is, but how does one go about proving it? The only way to get a real answer is for you to go ahead and order one, then take pictures of it and your original side by side and post them here. Then, we can pick 'em apart.

Honestly, just do it so we can all know for sure! You won't lose much if you resell it!

[Buckocaster51]

It's here!

"It" being what has been described as a piece of 40 year old Paisley Paper as used by Fender.

Pictures to follow.

This is will be fun.

[kylef]

Exciting stuff!! :D

[Buckocaster51]

Here's a little teaser



Here are some immediate observations

The piece of stuff laying on my desk looks 40 years old

it definitely is not "wallpaper" as the border goes around all four sides. This stuff, at least this sheet of this stuff, was not produced in rolls.

it is printed on fairly heavy paper - maybe 40-50 lb

the "embossing" of the silver is deep enough to feel

the embossing definitely extends under the paisleys...but is much less visible

it looks more like the MiJ and CiJ colors than I thought it would. On my monitor the colors are a close match to what I see in real life

if this paper were attached to a body without and wrinkles or bumps, it would not take an enormous amount of clear to cover it. For instance it is MUCH smoother than the sparkles I have been playing with.

the pattern appears to repeat in groups of four

definitely one piece. Sort of. The silver/aluminum/mylar is attached to the paper and the ink is on top of the silver. Red, two shades of pink, and the green. Four colors.

The embossing can not be felt or seen on the backside

Is this the real stuff?

I'm betting it is.

But remember, I makes this stuff up as I go along!

[Colt W. Knight]

Bucko, where did you acquire such material. Did I miss it, or are you keeping secrets?

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

Bucko, where did you acquire such material. Did I miss it, or are you keeping secrets?

Somebody posted a link to it on eBay a few weeks ago.

I put in a ridiculously large number.

Abracadrabra!

It shows up in my mailbox today.

It is simple when you have a credit card!

[jwells393]

Is this the piece you bought?

......

[Buckocaster51]

Last year somebody put his 60s paisley on a scanner, shot a picture of it. I was lucky enough to get a nice print.

Here is a portion of it.



It is pretty much the same area of the paper as the sample I scanned.



First thing that I notice is that the embossing is DIFFERENT! Top one looks sort of "weaved" the bottom looks like a malaria germ. Uhmmmmm...

Second thing I notice is on the top one, the colors, especially the darker pink, was printed WAY out of registration. Even in the bottom sample you can see how that same color is slightly out of registration.

Sort of leads me to think that this stuff was probably screened by hand, one piece at a time.

Probably by hippies.

Probably living in a commune.

Probably ran out of one background pattern and switched to another. Maybe there is a paisley someplace that has one pattern on the front, another on the back.

Looks like there may be NO good answer to what the embossing should look like.

I wonder if some of the "gold" people see in the old ones could be a migration of the ink pigments in and through the clear coat? Paints and pigments that were used in the 60s were nowhere nearly as stable as the ones around today.

I had an uncle who's Chevrolet station wagon went from Fire Engine RED to a pale, tomato-soup dark pink that would rub off on your hand in just a few years.

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by jwells393

Is this the piece you bought?

Yes it is, and it is gorgeous.



There are lots of little things that lead me to think it is indeed old.

Little stains, wrinkles, and creases.

It just has an old patina about it.

[Buckocaster51]

Here is a closer look at the embossing



I am certainly not an expert* on screen printing, especially 1960s style screen printing, but I would expect to see little jagged things like this on thin lines.




*but since this is the Interent, I will go right ahead and pretend that I am.

[jwells393]

That embossing pattern looks similar to my 1999-2002 CIJ Paisley.

Boy you did pay a chunk of change but with your skills, I'm sure you'll quickly recover your costs when you start producing it and selling it to us ............. at a reasonable cost of course.

Here's the embossing on mine.

......

[Buckocaster51]

Originally Posted by jwells393

That embossing pattern looks similar to my 1999-2002 CIJ Paisley.

Boy you did pay a chunk of change but with your skills, I'm sure you'll quickly recover your costs when you start producing it and selling it to us ............. at a reasonable cost of course.
[/IMG]

Similar, but different. On this page alone there are what appears to be four (4) different embossing patterns. My guess is that somebody along the line just didn't think it was that big of deal.

re the $$$ - it was well under my $100/tool limit - and this is just another tool that I am using to build my little corner of Telecaster Nirvana.

Since we NEVER use the TDPRI to buy or sell anything, I am sure that anything that becomes available will be more than reasonable.

re the skills...thank you, but all I really have is a good computer, a decent scanner, and an old copy of Photoshop. (I used PS Elements v3 almost exclusively. I have all kinds of newer versions, but v3 does everything that needs doning, and seems to do it well. I really am a Luddite at heart.

Really.

If you know what I mean.

[kylef]

loves it!!!

it was me who posted the link that paper. i was watching it but forgot all about it and never put a bid in. now im glad i didnt, as at least you bucko will do something with it....i would have just stored it for another 40 years probably as i wouldnt do anything with it!!

looks good though. i think yur right with the embossing patterns....there are so many, i wonder if the builders didnt even think twice about it, or even think that users of a telecaster website in 40 years would be studying the art of the paisley wallpaper :)

[Buckocaster51]

Oh yeah, this is going to be so much fun.

For instance, on the "old stuff" there is only one color of green.

On Jacks's CiJ there are two. Of course one of them could be coming from printing a pink over the green. Or maybe even a bleed through.

I also notice that Jack's was printed with a much finer screen as it edges of the red lines are not nearly as "jagged."

In the lower right quadrant of Jack's there is a flower that does not have a red outline entirely around it. I wonder if that could be an artifact of some photographic reproduction process?

It looks like we have "weather" moving in, so I might spend the evening inside working at the scanner.

Or maybe not.

We'll just have to wait and see I guess.

[Buckocaster51]

Here is a segment of the back of my '85 MiJ





Similar to Jack's, but not the same. Embossing looks much more subdued.