Fender Showmaster

The Fender Showmaster is a model of electric guitar made by Fender, and is characteristic of a superstrat.

History

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. Fender had already made several attempts at the superstrat market, with models such as the Performer, HM Strat and the Prodigy. However, none were especially successful. The Showmaster is hence its most recent foray into the superstrat niche, and was introduced in 1998. Gene Baker, the Senior Master Builder of Fender's Custom Shop at the time, was responsible for the creation of this set-neck, carved top instrument. Early Showmaster models (prototypes) were originally labeled as Stratocasters on their headstocks and are very rare.

Construction

:"Note: In descriptions of pickup configurations, H refers to humbuckers and S refers to single-coils."

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 timbres 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. Later, it appeared as a U.S. Special/Highway 1 model, retaining the set maple neck, Fender Enforcer humbucking pickups and its traditional Stratocaster headstock (with Showmaster label, respectively), equipped with a Floyd Rose licensed vibrato and a 2-octave rosewood fingerboard. All Showmaster models are absent of a pickguard. Showmasters all came with a choice of bridges, abalone-inlaid rosewood fretboards with 24 frets, Seymour Duncan humbucking pickups, locking machine heads and an LSR roller nut. 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 even included a shortlived 7-string version with a stop-tail bridge that had been introduced around 1999/2000 and discontinued two years later.

Currently, the Fender Showmaster is a line of electric guitar of its own under Fender's production, meeting a varying success in competing with other companies like Fernandes, Yamaha, Aria, Ibanez, Schecter, Carvin and ESP.