An ultra-rare Fender Performer from 1985 – perhaps the only one its kind to feature a maple fingerboard – has emerged, and it’s headed to the auction block.
Looking like something that would be right at home among a modern day prog metaller’s electric guitar arsenal, the Performer (not to be confused with today’s American Performer series) is one of the most peculiar Fenders ever made – but this one is even stranger still.
For a brief history lesson, the Performer was made for one year and one year only, and was designed by former Custom Shop Master Builder John Page, who now heads up his own company.
Reportedly, the model was masterminded as an attempt to tap into the Superstrat market, which had begun to flourish throughout the 1980s in line with a burgeoning heavy metal music movement that saw standard Strat popularity decline.
Such an objective can be seen from the visuals of the instrument itself: the angular double-cut body is paired with a Katana-style headstock, and comes equipped with two slanted covered humbuckers.
One key point to note about the Performer, though, was that it arrived with a rosewood fingerboard. Indeed, a quick Google will bring up a swathe of snaps that all feature dark wood ‘boards.
That’s what makes this particular Performer, which was spotted by MusicRadar, so intriguing: it has a maple fretboard.
According to Gardiner Houlgate (the auction house responsible for the sale of the Performer who reached out to Page), such an appointment points to the possibility that this example is a prototype – perhaps one of its kind – made as a sample product before the Japanese-made production model formally arrived.
Despite the unique ‘board, it looks to otherwise be a standard Performer, complete with a Fender System I tremolo system and a super-sleek Emerald Mist colorway.
The reemergence of the model itself also poses another question: will Fender ever bring the Performer back?
After all, similarly styled instruments are already favored by today’s most prominent prog players, and we imagine it would sit nicely alongside the likes of the Ernie Ball Music Man Kaizen, an Abasi Concepts Larada, or maybe even a Strandberg Boden.
In fact, this extends into the other Japanese-made Fenders that have garnered new legions of fans in recent years, from the resurrected Katana bass guitar to the highly alluring Elemental Series.
With all that in mind, in the age of futuristic guitar design and boundary-pushing guitar music, a revamped take on the Performer – and its spiritual siblings – would be right at home.
The Performer in question is set to go up for auction in September. Head over to Gardiner Houlgate to keep up to date, or visit Guitar Auctions at Gardiner Houlgate on Instagram to browse the rest of the firm's catalog.
