Fender "Snail" Performer VERY RARE mid-80's Japanese

The Performer was first introduced in 1985 as a Fender made 'Metal Guitar" and was assembled in Japan. It was introduced in the transition from the -owned Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company to the new privately owned Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, and it was discontinued after only one year.

The tuning machines are found on the upper edge of the triangular headstock. The rosewood fretboard has 24 jumbo frets and features a locking nut. The bridge is a floating System I tremolo. The controls have inset rubber grips, the tuning heads have fully enclosed gears, and the jack socket is an enclosed, not 'skeleton', type, in contrast to many other Fender products with 'economy' hardware. A variety of metallic poly finishes were available including a sunburst pattern (non-metallic).

There are two single and one double custom humbucker pickup.The guitar features a volume knob, a tone knob, a 3-way pickup selector switch, and a coil splitting switch. The tone knob used stacked 250k and 1M pots with center detent.

Many years after the introduction of the instrument, it came to be recognized as a versatile rock instrument of fine quality. Recent eBay auctions (as of 2018) have seen Fender Performers command prices as much as US$3,900 and higher.