History & Technical Info on Blue (Including Replicas & Backups)

[tfowl81]

On 3/13/2020 at 9:26 PM, foxborohottub said:

 

that guitar still exists. all the others were destroyed or turned into other guitars

 

-Bill

Really amazing to see this guitar! If you look at the sticker on the upper horn of the guitar, just underneath the black tape, it's a very faded 'One Man Army' sticker. I made that sticker at home with a Sharpie and handed it to Billie from the front row of the London Astoria gig, Feb 1st 1998, along with an orange 'Hi-Fives' sticker. I remember him dropping it on the stage after he took it from me. I had no Idea that he stuck it on one of his guitars! I guess he must have picked it up after the gig. If you watch the video of the gig, he takes the stickers from me during the extended outro to 'When I Come Around' (timestamp 1hr 11mins 17secs into the vid)👍

Edited June 18, 2022 by tfowl81
Inserting timestamp

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

On 6/18/2022 at 6:06 PM, tfowl81 said:

Really amazing to see this guitar! If you look at the sticker on the upper horn of the guitar, just underneath the black tape, it's a very faded 'One Man Army' sticker. I made that sticker at home with a Sharpie and handed it to Billie from the front row of the London Astoria gig, Feb 1st 1998, along with an orange 'Hi-Fives' sticker. I remember him dropping it on the stage after he took it from me. I had no Idea that he stuck it on one of his guitars! I guess he must have picked it up after the gig. If you watch the video of the gig, he takes the stickers from me during the extended outro to 'When I Come Around' (timestamp 1hr 11mins 17secs into the vid)👍

Wow, this is a great story! Thanks so much for sharing! I went back to watch the video this morning at the timestamp, I see the interaction with you and Billie during the When I Come Around frenzy, haha. Its cool to see he stuck it on his main Blue guitar tuned to E for the nimrod songs, so your sticker was seen by lot of people! I've attached a few images from that time with a clear shot of your DIY One Man Army sticker. Did you add the extra details around the lettering? 

Another conversation, but this is one of many examples why Green Day will always be punk 🤘

Edited June 5 by Drink Coffee And Destroy

[tfowl81]

On 6/19/2022 at 7:07 PM, Drink Coffee And Destroy said:

Wow, this is a great story! Thanks so much for sharing! I went back to watch the video this morning at the timestamp, I see the interaction with you and Billie during the When I Come Around frenzy, haha. Its cool to see he stuck it on his main Blue guitar tuned to E for the nimrod songs, so your sticker was seen by lot of people! I've attached a few images from that time with a clear shot of your DIY One Man Army sticker. Did you add the extra details around the lettering? 

Another conversation, but this is one of many examples why Green Day will always be punk 🤘

Thanks for the pics! 

The sticker I made was very basic, just a white square with the band name in capitals. On this guitar, it's been stuck over another sticker with that pattern on it. In the current photo of the guitar, you can make out the original shape of my sticker from the brown residue/adhesive that remains. Weird to think that I was 17 when I made it and handed it to Billie at the gig. I love how on the present day photo of the guitar, you can see how corroded by sweat/playing it is now. Not much left of it.

I also gave him some stickers at the Astoria gig in September 1997. You can see the moment in the video of the gig on YouTube. I'll post timestamps later.One was a red 'Squirtgun' sticker and one was a black 'Groovie Ghoulies' sticker, which he stuck on the original 'Blue' during the gig and can be seen in the video, covering up the 'The Muffs' sticker. I guess he decided he didn't like it there, as it was removed at the next gig I saw (Feb '98) 👍

Edited June 21, 2022 by tfowl81

[Travis.]

Curious if anyone wants to weigh in on the actual color of Blue. This catalog should confirm that its actually Sonic Blue. Havent found any info of the Fernandes coming in Daphne Blue, but I'd love to hear any other info that anyone has. 

http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/fernandes/1982/en_02.html

That is assuming SOB stands for Sonic Blue

[alienlifeform]

Blue replica is still around!!!

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqg-wXONxVs/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

[Hammie Stein]

21 minutes ago, Alf said:

Blue replica is still around!!!

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqg-wXONxVs/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Interesting! Glad to see its out and about. It would be great to see it reunited with its original Birdseye neck but either way I love that its in the public eye again. Cool to see they replaced the initials on it too.

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

15 hours ago, Alf said:

Blue replica is still around!!!

Nice! I just saw that yesterday. Really cool to see it getting some love. And as Hammie said, it was given a fresh set of initials. Still one of my favorite Billie Joe guitars.

[Insomniac90]

17 hours ago, Alf said:

Blue replica is still around!!!

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cqg-wXONxVs/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Is this from the Punkrock Museum? Thought Green Day didn‘t want a part of it? Or what was Mike from NOFX talking about?

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

1 hour ago, Insomniac90 said:

Is this from the Punkrock Museum? Thought Green Day didn‘t want a part of it? Or what was Mike from NOFX talking about?

Yes this is the museum Fat Mike put together. I personally wasn’t aware or didn’t read anything that Green Day didn’t want to participate. Either way, it’s pretty cool because it’s the Blue guitar that got the most use that’s not the original. 

[jengd]

Thought there was something about GD not wanting to be involved in the running of it, guess that doesn’t mean they can’t lend exhibits.

[pacejunkie punk]

2 hours ago, Insomniac90 said:

Is this from the Punkrock Museum? Thought Green Day didn‘t want a part of it? Or what was Mike from NOFX talking about?

They have a smaller exhibit because they didn’t want to be involved in creating it

[pcj]

On 1/13/2022 at 3:46 PM, Flashback said:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/articles/features/story_of_cheap_guitar_that_launched_green_day_frontman_billie_joe_armstrongs_career-102803?utm_campaign=trueanthem&utm_medium=trueanthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR3j1E6LT0VlfCX0KtrTqN5Cjdda_pIfqZ9rtveJ3987b4YbYzF0DaUUl-E
 

interesting article about Blue!

Thanks for this. Yet another treasure trove topic on this awesome site. I never cease to be gobsmacked. What an amazing journey of 'Blue's" history. Thanks to everyone for sharing, especially @Liam for the intro detailed info, much appreciated.

I've got this visual doc, you've probably already seen, but could not see on here. Hope its ok to share on here for anyone who may not have seen it.

 

[Hammie Stein]

Salmon Pink/Red Offset Guitar (1995)
Seen as a back up for Blue at Stabler Arena, Bethlehem (11/11/1995)

- Used on She after Blue broke a string on Basket C.ase
- Model details unknown

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

On 1/29/2023 at 5:04 PM, Travis. said:

Curious if anyone wants to weigh in on the actual color of Blue. This catalog should confirm that its actually Sonic Blue. Havent found any info of the Fernandes coming in Daphne Blue, but I'd love to hear any other info that anyone has. 

http://brochures.yokochou.com/guitar-and-amp/fernandes/1982/en_02.html

That is assuming SOB stands for Sonic Blue

Chiming in on this a year later as I've just ordered the Blue body for my replica. I've had many discussions with other players and some luthiers/techs about this over the years.

Doing some research on this myself, I also found a Fernandes catalog prior to this one, 1981: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i6w61lfyv8si3ut/1981 Fernandes Catalog %26 Price list Vol.2 v1.pdf?e=1&dl=0

It appears that at a certain point it was officially referred to just as "Blue". I don't think Fernandes was particular about the colors, less so than flying under the radar until Fender caught on to what they were doing. That being said, the main thing to look at is how either color ages overtime. Daphne ages to more of a green, while Sonic goes grey with age. Billie's Blue has definitely aged of the green persuasion looking at photos in more recent times.

Another factor to consider as well is unfortunately for the historians, Daphne and Sonic blue have never been consistently produced over the years. Fender and all the big companies just make the paint batches, then say 'that's sonic' and 'thats Daphne' at various points in time. Based on how the Fernandes catalogs are laid out, they took the same approach. Truly a strange phenomenon, lol. I also feel it adds a bit of fun to the lore for the replica makers as we all perceive colors differently as people. I went with Daphne Blue for my build, someone else may pick Sonic because it's what they see.

I'm sure a few of you might've read this already, but GreenDayFM talked to Billie and Mike's teacher George Cole in 2021. Naturally, Blue got brought up in the conversation and is overall a really cool conversation: https://greenday.fm/news/george-cole-reflects-on-teaching-green-day-his-old-blue-guitar/

[TedRogers]

Here are some photos of Billie's other guitars from 1998, from an old magazine

Edited May 21 by 27thAveSuffle

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

2 hours ago, TedRogers said:

Here are some photos of Billie's other guitars from 1998, from an old magazine

These are probably the best photos we have of the Nimrod tour guitars. Thank you so much for sharing these! Do you recall what magazine these came out of? 

[TedRogers]

11 hours ago, Drink Coffee And Destroy said:

These are probably the best photos we have of the Nimrod tour guitars. Thank you so much for sharing these! Do you recall what magazine these came out of? 

No worries  They're from a Japanese magazine called Cool Guitar - Modern Rock. I think it may have been a special edition

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

26 minutes ago, TedRogers said:

No worries  They're from a Japanese magazine called Cool Guitar - Modern Rock. I think it may have been a special edition

Very cool, thank you for confirming! Those Japanese guitar magazines have always been really good about capturing clear photos of artists gear and these are no exception! On the Fernandes LE-1 (third from the right), you can see where Bill Schneider rounded the headstock over removing the sharp edge. It's also visible that he took off the Fernandes logo too. 

Among other details, the pink Strat has the most random stickers on it. North American Fishing Club and Quasar (the electronics company) among others. The sticker on the pickguard is a Bouncing Souls piece. Underneath the "ASS" it says "Bouncing Souls East Coast Fuck You", which is one of their songs. There's at least one Souls sticker on each Strat Billie played on the nimrod tour, including the original Blue. The black Strat on the right was for Timmy Chunks, Billie's first long term tech (and hardcore legend). When they played King For A Day (and Platypus if it was in the set), that was his guitar to play. There's a Souls sticker on his guitar too, just the self-titled album cover.

Fun fact: Prior to the Souls touring with Green Day in 2000, Timmy has been lifelong friends with the band. So it makes complete sense their stickers are all over GD's gear.

Edited May 21 by Drink Coffee And Destroy

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

On 12/17/2018 at 4:04 AM, Hammie Stein said:

Its possible that it could be this guitar. I thought it might be his Fender that was used during the Nimrod tour but the initials are slightly different, as well as the neck having completely different figuring in the wood itself.

I cant seem to find any videos of this being used so perhaps it was just the backup for the E tuned fender?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-xz3xO7JY8Tc/Tv8GeUXrJmI/AAAAAAAABi0/VLdHgx0I-j4/s1600/scan0004-1.jpg

Just found recent photos of this guitar. Signed by the band and Timmy Chunks ("blank rulz"). I always wondered where this one resided these days.

[Hammie Stein]

7 hours ago, Drink Coffee And Destroy said:

Just found recent photos of this guitar. Signed by the band and Timmy Chunks ("blank rulz"). I always wondered where this one resided these days.

Super cool! Even though I was mistaken all those years ago about what is was, its cool to see that its still around even though it wasnt one of Billies

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

3 hours ago, Hammie Stein said:

Super cool! Even though I was mistaken all those years ago about what is was, its cool to see that its still around even though it wasnt one of Billies

Absolutely! I also thought it was a lost backup guitar for the longest time. Glad we got this one figured out!

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

Wanted to share this although it just sold today. Simply just showing that these still pop up every now and again: https://reverb.com/item/71449888-fernandes-rst-50-1981-sonic-blue

I would've leaped on it ASAP if I wasn't committed to making my Blue Fender replica. Whoever got it now owns a really cool guitar and paid a great price for it.

[Hammie Stein]

12 hours ago, Drink Coffee And Destroy said:

Wanted to share this although it just sold today. Simply just showing that these still pop up every now and again: https://reverb.com/item/71449888-fernandes-rst-50-1981-sonic-blue

I would've leaped on it ASAP if I wasn't committed to making my Blue Fender replica. Whoever got it now owns a really cool guitar and paid a great price for it.

They certainly are still out there! However, I am thinking that blue is an RST-80 rather than an RST-50 after looking into it a little bit. All records I have come across suggest that the 'FSO' marking in the Pickup route was on the RST-80, and FSP on RST-50. Hans has posted a photo of blue showing FSO leading me to think RST-80 is what we should really be looking for.

FSO in blue: https://www.instagram.com/p/BY1iAXInAy9/

Hans has also said that Blue has a hint of V in the neck carve, which also seems consistent with RST-80, whereas the RST-50 seems to be more of a C shape according to online posts.

[Drink Coffee And Destroy]

2 hours ago, Hammie Stein said:

They certainly are still out there! However, I am thinking that blue is an RST-80 rather than an RST-50 after looking into it a little bit. All records I have come across suggest that the 'FSO' marking in the Pickup route was on the RST-80, and FSP on RST-50. Hans has posted a photo of blue showing FSO leading me to think RST-80 is what we should really be looking for.

FSO in blue: https://www.instagram.com/p/BY1iAXInAy9/

Hans has also said that Blue has a hint of V in the neck carve, which also seems consistent with RST-80, whereas the RST-50 seems to be more of a C shape according to online posts.

Great catch! It’s been a minute since I’ve looked into the esoteric details of the Fernandes guitars. I added Hans to my feed around that time the photo of the cavity was shared, not sure how I missed it.

Considering those neck profile differences, I would concur that Blue is an RST-80 as well. I actually didn’t know the RST-50’s had a more C profile to them, so good to know moving forward.

Since Blue at its core is a 1:1 replica of a 1950’s Fender Strat, that makes sense it has a V profile. It also lines up with the birdseye maple neck from the ‘97 Blue Fender that @alfredenormalowns, as he described it as a V shape. To my understanding, that neck is supposed to be a precise reproduction of the Fernandes neck specifications. 

I love how all of this is falling into place now. I also got work to out some more details regarding the Blue Fender researching it for my replica, definitely will make a fresh thread when that’s ready!

[TedRogers]

On 6/26/2024 at 10:43 PM, Drink Coffee And Destroy said:

Great catch! It’s been a minute since I’ve looked into the esoteric details of the Fernandes guitars. I added Hans to my feed around that time the photo of the cavity was shared, not sure how I missed it.

Considering those neck profile differences, I would concur that Blue is an RST-80 as well. I actually didn’t know the RST-50’s had a more C profile to them, so good to know moving forward.

Since Blue at its core is a 1:1 replica of a 1950’s Fender Strat, that makes sense it has a V profile. It also lines up with the birdseye maple neck from the ‘97 Blue Fender that @alfredenormalowns, as he described it as a V shape. To my understanding, that neck is supposed to be a precise reproduction of the Fernandes neck specifications. 

I love how all of this is falling into place now. I also got work to out some more details regarding the Blue Fender researching it for my replica, definitely will make a fresh thread when that’s ready!

yeah I'm 100% certain Blue is an RST-80.

Here's an article from a Japanese magazine called 'Guitar Breakers' where they went in to a lot of detail working out it's most likely an RST-80 - if you run this through Google translate it does a pretty good job 😁

The RST-80's were top of the line, so had a Nitro body finish (the neck's would have still been Poly according to this http://www.music-trade.co.jp/fenandeshistory2.html). As well as the V profile, something else that differs from the RST-50 to the RST-80 is that the RST-80 had the classic round string tree. A second was added at some point, but if you look at really early photos of Blue you can see it has the single round string tree.

I've got an RST-50, and it's an awesome guitar - but it's a Poly finish, with a C shaped neck. I've also got a Fender Vintera Road Worn 50s strat, which is a great option if you want something very similar to Blue - Nitro Sonic Blue finish, with a soft V neck. They've been discontinued now, but there still seem to be a few floating around, e.g. https://reverb.com/au/item/69428613-fender-limited-edition-de-vintera-road-worn-50s-stratocaster-hss-sonic-blue