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The Fender Showmaster is a discontinued model of electric guitar made by Fender, and is characteristic of a superstrat. Also see the badge change of Stagemaster due to legal reasons.
During the 1980s, superstrats were becoming popular amongst the many hard rock and metal guitarists, who needed the modifications to suit their individual playing styles. Soon, many guitar manufacturers began producing instruments with these modifications as standard. Most notable were the manufacturers Ibanez, Jackson/Charvel, Carvin and Yamaha. However, Fender itself had limited success thereabout. This was partially due to Fender's previous CBS ownership, which caused a drastic loss in Fender's quality and market share. The Showmaster was hence its most recent foray into the superstrat niche, and was introduced in 1998. Gene Baker, a master builder of Fender's Custom Shop at the time, was responsible for the creation of this set-neck, carved top version. Early Showmaster models (prototypes) were originally labeled as Stratocasters on their headstocks and are very rare. The Custom Shop Showmaster perimeter was a design supplied by John Suhr, another Senior master builder during that era. It started out as a US version of the Contemporary Stratocaster [1] and featured two Fender Texas Special pickups in the neck and middle positions, a Seymour Duncan '59 Jeff Beck Trembucker in the lead position, a white pearloid pickguard and a deluxe locking tremolo bridge. Later after Suhr left it was turned into a back-routed carved set neck by Gene Baker. Suhr's new company Suhr Guitars actually cut the first 100 bodies for Fender.
The Fender Showmaster initially started as a Custom Shop model. It featured a carved maple top with hand scraped edges and cream binding, a set-neck maple neck (bolt-on on some models), a sleek mahogany body (many Showmaster guitars are made from basswood or alder; later models such as the Showmaster Elite, employ more exotic woods such as lacewood and spalted maple for the top and back), HSS or HH pickup configurations which consisted of Seymour Duncan '59 Trembucker humbucking pickups coupled with a pair of Fender Custom Shop Fat '50s single-coils. Other features included a rosewood or maple fingerboard with abalone inlays and 22 frets, as well as a choice of deluxe locking tremolo bridge, deluxe 2-point synchronized bridge with pop-in tremolo arm and stop-tail bridge (some Team Built one-off Showmasters came with the original Floyd Rose locking system and featured a lightweight ash body and a translucent Amber finish). Later, it appeared as a U.S. Special/Highway 1 model, retaining the set maple neck, Fender Enforcer humbuckers, a special "kill" switch and its traditional Stratocaster headstock (with Showmaster label, respectively), equipped with a Floyd Rose licensed vibrato and a 2-octave rosewood fingerboard. Some later Showmasters—such as the Elite—were produced in Korea, followed by Squier variants (formerly known as Stagemasters) featuring a basswood body, a reverse headstock, Floyd Rose licensed locking systems and Duncan Designed humbucking pickups.
All Showmaster carved top models featured back-routed controls like most superstrats and came with a choice of bridges, abalone-inlaid rosewood fretboards with 24 frets, Seymour Duncan pickups, locking machine heads, and an LSR roller nut. The Blackout version came with a graphite nut, no fretboard inlays and Fender humbuckers instead of Seymour Duncan on some variants.
The main distinguishing feature of Fender Showmasters—with the exception of the Flat Head—from other superstrats is the luxurious carved (quilted and flamed) maple top with the hand-scraped edges and cream binding. The Showmaster series also included a short-lived 7-string version with a stop-tail bridge that had been introduced around 1999/2000 and discontinued two years later. The most distinct feature of the Showmaster Elites was the inclusion of a black-painted Telecaster-shaped headstock with pearloid tuner buttons.
In 2009, all Showmaster models were discontinued.
Squier, Fender's budget marque, also produced the Showmaster. Most Squier Showmasters were made in China and retailed for $499. The line included a Jason Ellis signature model. [2] There were Squier Showmasters marked "Crafted in Indonesia" as well (specs: HSS, 22 frets, rosewood fretboard, standard 2-point vibrato).
A few Korean made Squier neck-thru V4 Stagemasters were re-branded Squier Showmasters in 2002 when Fender dropped the Stagemaster name due to a trademark claim by Kramer. It is not known exactly how many V4 neck-thrus were made with the Showmaster brand.
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously manufactured the Stratocaster since 1954. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top "horn" shape for balance. "Stratocaster" and "Strat" are trademark terms belonging to Fender. Guitars that duplicate the Stratocaster by other manufacturers are sometimes called S-Type or ST-type guitars. Many prominent rock musicians have been associated with the Stratocaster for use in studio recording and live performances, most notably Eric Clapton, Buddy Holly, David Gilmour, Mark Knopfler, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Mark Speer and George Harrison.
The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Convention, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in the early 1960s. Its appearance is similar to the Fender Jaguar, though it is tonally and physically different in many technical ways, including pickup design, scale length and controls.
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar by Fender Musical Instruments characterized by an offset-waist body, a relatively unusual switching system with two separate circuits for lead and rhythm, and a short-scale 24" neck. Owing some roots to the Jazzmaster, it was introduced in 1962 as Fender's feature-laden top-of-the-line model, designed to lure players from Gibson. During its initial 13-year production run, the Jaguar did not sell as well as the less expensive Stratocaster and Telecaster, and achieved its most noticeable popularity in the surf music scene. After the Jaguar was taken out of production in 1975, vintage Jaguars became popular first with American punk rock players, and then more so during the alternative rock, shoegazing and indie rock movements of the 1980s and 1990s. Fender began making a version in Japan in the mid-1980s, and then introduced a USA-made reissue in 1999. Since then, Fender has made a variety of Jaguars in America, Mexico, Indonesia and China under both the Fender and Squier labels. Original vintage Jaguars sell for many times their original price.
The Fender Precision Bass is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument usually equipped with a single split-coil humbucking pickup and a one-piece, 20-fret maple neck with rosewood or maple fingerboard.
The Fender Jazz Bass is the second model of electric bass created by Leo Fender. It is distinct from the Precision Bass in that its tone is brighter and richer in the midrange and treble with less emphasis on the fundamental frequency. The body shape is also different from the Precision Bass, in that the Precision Bass has a symmetrical lower bout on the body, designed after the Telecaster and Stratocaster lines of guitars, while the Jazz Bass has an offset lower bout, mimicking the design aesthetic of the Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitars.
Superstrat is a name for an electric guitar design that resembles a Fender Stratocaster but with differences that clearly distinguish it from a standard Stratocaster, usually to cater to a different playing style. Differences typically include more pointed, aggressive-looking body and neck shapes with increased cutaways to facilitate access to the higher frets, an increased number of frets on the fingerboard, a contoured heel at the neck joint facilitating easier higher fret access, the usage of humbucking pickups, and locking vibrato systems, most commonly the Floyd Rose.
The Squier Jagmaster is an electric guitar marketed by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under their Squier budget brand. It is based on the design of the classic Fender Jazzmaster and Fender Jaguar, but with several significant differences reflecting the tastes of modern guitarists, including much simplified electronics, humbucking pickups, a standard Stratocaster-style tremolo bridge, and, on Vista Series versions, a short-scale, 24-inch neck.
The King V is an electric guitar model made by Jackson Guitars.
The Jackson Soloist is an electric guitar model introduced by Jackson Guitars in 1984, although prototypes were available before then. The design is a typical "superstrat"; it varies from a typical Stratocaster because of its neck-thru design; tremolo: Floyd Rose or similar, Kahler; or a fixed Tune-O-Matic; premium woods; a deeper cutaway at the lower horn for better access to the higher frets, and a sharper body with squared-off edges.
The Jackson Dinky is a Superstrat-style double-cutaway electric guitar built by Jackson Guitars. The "Dinky" is named for its slightly smaller than normal (7/8) body size. Usually fitted with a two humbucker pickup configuration, some models also include single-coil pickups and/or just one bridge humbucker. The fretboard can be made out of ebony, rosewood and more recently maple, or rock maple, with 24 jumbo frets and is always built with a bolt-on neck. Most of the guitars have a Floyd Rose original or licensed tremolo, and a locking nut to help maintain stable tuning. Some Dinkys have hardtail, or String-Thru bridges. The Jackson Dinky is usually preferred by players of hard rock and heavy metal.
The Fender Jaguar Bass is an electric bass guitar currently manufactured in Mexico by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.
The Fender Katana is an electric guitar built by Fender. It was designed by marketing director Dan Smith in 1985. The Katana was designed to compete with the unconventionally-shaped guitars of the era, such as the Jackson Randy Rhoads, and to satisfy Fender dealers who were suffering from the competition those instruments offered. The Katana did not sell as well as Fender hoped, and it was discontinued in 1986 before being reissued as a Masterbuilt Custom Shop model as part of the Prestige collection three decades later.
The Jackson Rhoads is a model of electric guitar, originally commissioned by guitarist Randy Rhoads and produced by Jackson Guitars.
The Fender Bullet was an electric guitar originally designed by John Page and manufactured and marketed by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. It was first introduced as a line of "student" guitars to replace the outgoing Mustang and Musicmaster models.
The Fender Prodigy is a discontinued model of electric guitar produced by Fender from 1991 to 1993. It is one of Fender's attempts to compete with the superstrat-style guitars produced by Ibanez, Jackson/Charvel, Carvin Corporation and Yamaha. Since the Prodigy series was discontinued after about 2+1⁄2 years of production without a clear reason, it is considered one of Fender's rare models because of its limited production. Fender also produced a Prodigy Bass based on the Precision Bass Plus Deluxe featuring a P/J pickup layout (P as in Fender Precision Bass and J as in Fender Jazz Bass), 2-band active circuitry and a "fine-tuner" Schaller Elite bridge assembly.
The Fender American Deluxe Series was a line of electric guitars and basses introduced by Fender in 1995 and discontinued in 2016. It was upgraded in 2004 and 2010 before being replaced by the American Elite series in 2016.
Starcaster by Fender is a range of instruments and accessories aimed at students and beginners, marketed by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation from the early 2000s until at least 2011. As of April 2018, no products were being marketed under this brand.
The Fender Elite Stratocaster is an electric solid body guitar that was manufactured by Fender in 1983 and 1984. The name was revived from 2016 to 2019 with the Fender American Elite Stratocaster Series.
The Yamaha Corporation is a multinational corporation and conglomerate based in Japan with a wide range of products and services, predominantly musical instruments, motorcycles, power sports equipment and electronics.
The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele, is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful solid-body electric guitar. Its simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music. Many prominent rock musicians have been associated with the Telecaster for use in studio recording and live performances, most notably Bruce Springsteen, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Keith Richards and George Harrison.