RARE Post - CBS 1985 Fender Performer Solidbody Electric Guitar MIJ FujiGen HSC
Item History & Price
All right! Up for auction is a RARE 1985 Fender Performer solidbody electric guitardesigned by John Page and made in Japan, with a nice Charvel tweed hardshellcase. This is the Performer that was featured ayear or so ago in my Vintage Guitar Magazine column. If you’re into vintage orcollectable guitars, you’re probably familiar with “Pre-CBS” and “CBS” inregard to Fender guitars, the former being owned by Leo Fender and the latter signifying post-1965, when... Leo soldthe company to CBS. For most of us, the“Post-CBS” years are a little fuzzier, but CBS got tired of being in the guitarbusiness and in 1984 put Fender up for sale. In 1985William Schultz (ex-Yamaha USA) and some otherinvestors bought Fender and the next era began. The trick is that the saledid not include the actual factory. Throughout the year of 1985, maybestretching into early1986, Fender did nothave its own factory while building a newone. During that period, all “Fender” guitars werebuilt in Japan by the legendary FujiGen Gakki factory. FujiGen, arguably one of the bestguitar-makers in the world, had shown its prowess in making Greco and otherFender copies that were better than their American made counterparts. FujiGen also made most Ibanez guitars. FujiGen would later enter into the joint venture that was “Fender Japan, ”largely based on this experience. These included traditionalstyle Fender models as well as some of the really fine Contemporary Stratocasters and otherguitars. I’ll be putting one of those upwhen I get to it. Prior to the CBS sale ofFender, Heavy Metal had taken the pop music world by storm. For those of you who remember, this was theera of Spandex, Hair Bands, and wild light shows, plus guitar pyrotechnics. Many of those hot guitarists liked weird shaped guitars. (Many of those guitars I will be listing overthe next year or so.) Fender, understandably, wanted to cash in on the contemporary guitar craze and back in around 1983 tasked its chief designerJohn Page to come up with some new designs for the Metal market. One of Page’s creations was the FenderPerformer. Basically, this was aStratocaster-meets-B.C. Rich. Fender was sold before this guitar could go intoproduction, so it became one of the first to be made in Japan by FujiGen Gakki.
This is an amazing guitar, even besides the coollooks. Light in weight, it has a 2-octave fingerboard, twosuper-wound humbuckerswith a notched tone filter on the tone control. Thismeans that “normal” is in the center, turn clockwise to cut bassand jack up trebles, turn counter-clockwise to cut trebles, boosting the bass. There’s a coil tap so you can go into single-coil mode. These are super hot pickups, which were favored at the time. You can go from fat jazz to almost a wirey Tele sound, depending on howyou tweak the settings. This is pretty flexible, especially if you lovetwin-humbucker guitars. This has adouble locking vibrato, with the original pop-in arm. A thin, fast neck. SPECIFICATONS Made in Japan by FujiGenGakki in 1985 (SN E 523535)Alder body with a sunburstfinishBolt-on figured maple neckFlat-radius 24-fretrosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlaysTwo angled humbuckingpickups (middle and lead)Coil tap for single-coilsMaster volume andcenter-notched tone filter that cuts bass or treble on either side of the notchThreeway pickup selectDouble-locking vibratosystem (reportedly by Schaller)Chrome hardwareSealed mini-tuners marked“Fender Japan” (probably Gotohs)Vibrato cover on back; theother cover is for accessto the jackNon-original Charvel tweedrectangle case that fits perfectly and is in really good shape CONDITION Excellent overall cosmetic andplaying conditionAll original parts (exceptreplacement hard case)Pots and switches weresprayed with cleaner and work perfectlyMajor flaw is about 3/8” chip throughfinish on front lowerbout edge near the strap button (see pictures)Two very minor nicks on theedge of the lower waist near the treble horn (see pics)Tiny dent (not throughfinish) on edge of lower bout rear near control plate (see pics)The picture seems to showdullness on that same edge, but that’s just camera artifactSomeone cut out the “inJapan” from the Made in Japan decal on the front, a pretty stupid move, but there it isClean neck except about 1/4"x 1/64” teeny tiny dent up near the octave that looks to be fromleaning this against something onceCase in excellent+conditionBasically nothing else I don’t know how many ofthese were made, but they only produced for 1 year, from early 1985 to early1986. Fender sales had declined precipitously in the yearspreceding the CBS sale, so I can’t imagine these are plentiful. Look around on ebay and you’ll find ahandful. Compare the asking prices of the few others for sale; they start above a grand and go higher. COMBINED SHIPPING Since musical instrumentsare big and heavy, I cannot combine shippingon instruments. However, I will be happyto combine shipping if you win another smaller item that can fit in thebox. In that case, PLEASE DO NOT PAY RIGHT AWAY. Please WAIT FOR ME TO SEND YOU AN INVOICE that will combine the auction amounts withshipping for the correct weight and postage. Shipping is for LOWER 48STATES ONLY. Hawaii, Alaska, and International buyers please inquire beforebidding; postage may beprohibitive. Also, please note that atthe end of 2018 there wasa substantial increase in postal rates among all major carriers. Provenance is available forinstitutional buyers; please inquire. I’ve been conservative andaccurate in my detailed descriptions of the item’s exact condition, includingpictures, so youshould know what you’re getting. If youfind that I’ve missed something, please contact me first rather than leavingnuclear feedback. We can work out asolution. Please feel free to askquestions in advance. I have never been a musicalinstrument dealer, just a musician, collector and historian. I’ve collected guitars, banjos and other instruments for many years, researched their histories, and published them in my monthly Vintage Guitar Magazine columns, in other music periodicals, in my Guitar Stories book series, and in manyother books over the years. I am not an antiques orcommercial dealer, just a collector with many interests who collects and doesn’t like to get rid of things. Everything I’m selling is “stuff” I’veaccumulated, not something“picked” for resale on eBay. It’s justtime to start letting go…and make my wife happy. Please see my other auction items, whichwill include some other vintage instruments. Thank you and happy bidding!
This is an amazing guitar, even besides the coollooks. Light in weight, it has a 2-octave fingerboard, twosuper-wound humbuckerswith a notched tone filter on the tone control. Thismeans that “normal” is in the center, turn clockwise to cut bassand jack up trebles, turn counter-clockwise to cut trebles, boosting the bass. There’s a coil tap so you can go into single-coil mode. These are super hot pickups, which were favored at the time. You can go from fat jazz to almost a wirey Tele sound, depending on howyou tweak the settings. This is pretty flexible, especially if you lovetwin-humbucker guitars. This has adouble locking vibrato, with the original pop-in arm. A thin, fast neck. SPECIFICATONS Made in Japan by FujiGenGakki in 1985 (SN E 523535)Alder body with a sunburstfinishBolt-on figured maple neckFlat-radius 24-fretrosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlaysTwo angled humbuckingpickups (middle and lead)Coil tap for single-coilsMaster volume andcenter-notched tone filter that cuts bass or treble on either side of the notchThreeway pickup selectDouble-locking vibratosystem (reportedly by Schaller)Chrome hardwareSealed mini-tuners marked“Fender Japan” (probably Gotohs)Vibrato cover on back; theother cover is for accessto the jackNon-original Charvel tweedrectangle case that fits perfectly and is in really good shape CONDITION Excellent overall cosmetic andplaying conditionAll original parts (exceptreplacement hard case)Pots and switches weresprayed with cleaner and work perfectlyMajor flaw is about 3/8” chip throughfinish on front lowerbout edge near the strap button (see pictures)Two very minor nicks on theedge of the lower waist near the treble horn (see pics)Tiny dent (not throughfinish) on edge of lower bout rear near control plate (see pics)The picture seems to showdullness on that same edge, but that’s just camera artifactSomeone cut out the “inJapan” from the Made in Japan decal on the front, a pretty stupid move, but there it isClean neck except about 1/4"x 1/64” teeny tiny dent up near the octave that looks to be fromleaning this against something onceCase in excellent+conditionBasically nothing else I don’t know how many ofthese were made, but they only produced for 1 year, from early 1985 to early1986. Fender sales had declined precipitously in the yearspreceding the CBS sale, so I can’t imagine these are plentiful. Look around on ebay and you’ll find ahandful. Compare the asking prices of the few others for sale; they start above a grand and go higher. COMBINED SHIPPING Since musical instrumentsare big and heavy, I cannot combine shippingon instruments. However, I will be happyto combine shipping if you win another smaller item that can fit in thebox. In that case, PLEASE DO NOT PAY RIGHT AWAY. Please WAIT FOR ME TO SEND YOU AN INVOICE that will combine the auction amounts withshipping for the correct weight and postage. Shipping is for LOWER 48STATES ONLY. Hawaii, Alaska, and International buyers please inquire beforebidding; postage may beprohibitive. Also, please note that atthe end of 2018 there wasa substantial increase in postal rates among all major carriers. Provenance is available forinstitutional buyers; please inquire. I’ve been conservative andaccurate in my detailed descriptions of the item’s exact condition, includingpictures, so youshould know what you’re getting. If youfind that I’ve missed something, please contact me first rather than leavingnuclear feedback. We can work out asolution. Please feel free to askquestions in advance. I have never been a musicalinstrument dealer, just a musician, collector and historian. I’ve collected guitars, banjos and other instruments for many years, researched their histories, and published them in my monthly Vintage Guitar Magazine columns, in other music periodicals, in my Guitar Stories book series, and in manyother books over the years. I am not an antiques orcommercial dealer, just a collector with many interests who collects and doesn’t like to get rid of things. Everything I’m selling is “stuff” I’veaccumulated, not something“picked” for resale on eBay. It’s justtime to start letting go…and make my wife happy. Please see my other auction items, whichwill include some other vintage instruments. Thank you and happy bidding!
