I have recently become very interested in the Fender Showmaster guitars which were made up to a few years ago. They look nice and I really like the 24 fret models with Duncan humbuckers. I might sell my Ibanez and Schecter for two of these since I've seen some used for only around $400 - $600. Do they play and sound as good as they look?

Also, I have read that most of these are basswood body/maple top, maple set neck, which is great, but I also read that some were made with mahogany body and neck. Are the mahogany models rare or hard to find used? Can they be spotted by looking for "special edition" or something? I've heard that basswood body w/maple cap has a good and balanced tone for rock and metal but I think maybe the mahog would have a thicker and warmer tone? Anyone with experience on this? Thanks.

These Showmasters were made in Korea. Some used spalted maple, lacewood and other fancy timbres for their top.

The Showmaster Elite has a mahogany neck with Tele-shaped headstock, an ebony fretboard with fancy tribal sun inlays, 22 medium-jumbo frets, 12" radius and a pair of Seymour Duncan humbucking pickups.

That's a really nice guitar. However, I talked to a guy with one for sale (not a custom shop) who swore his was all mahogany, and from the picture, it was not that Elite model you displayed since it had 24 frets, dot inlays, and strat not tele headstock. He said it was a "Special Edition", and he only wanted $550, but maybe he was full of BS?

From the pic, it looks a lot like an Ibanez RG series guitar. Very pretty.

Whew - I'd buy that! But I don't know how to say "no."

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Dennis in CR
Rockin' since 1963

Yeah, I really want to try one out soon to see how they play and sound. I've heard that they are hard beat for a mid priced guitar, and they sure look nice.

I bought a quilt top Showmaster in almost mint condition for$320. They are very nice guitars. The thing that kept it from being mint is that the smoke chrome discolors, so look for that when you purchase. Also, parts are hard to come by. I couldn't find a replacement trem plate, so had to use one made for a Strat.

what i found in my old 2005 fender paper catalog is this:

showmaster elite as shown from chromeface.

showmaster (with strat head stock) set neck fmt lt:

alder body, marple top, set neck marple neck, rosewood fretboard, choice: fender locking trem or wilkinson stop tail peace, colors cherry burst, antique burst, teal green transparent, bing cherry transparent, cobalt blue transparant

set neck fmt ht:

alder body, marple neck, marple or rosewood fretbaord, deluxe 2-point synchronized trem with pop arm. color as above.

showmaster standard:

alder body, marple or rosewood fretboard, trem as fmt, colors black, crimson transp., frost gold, bright sapphire metallic.

specs for all: lsr roller nut, 22 medium jumbo frets, 2 fat 50's sc's, 1 sd 59' trembucker hb, special 5-way switching, master volume, tone control.

no info about made in...or mahagony body.

i hope that helps you a bit.

cheers

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"Made in USA".

The Showmasters you mentioned in your post were Custom Shop models. Subsequently, they're all American-made.

These guitars were available with either a deluxe 2-point trem, stop-tailpiece or "Mini-Floyd" locking bridge assembly - except for the Teambuilt "one-offs" which came with an original recessed Floyd Rose locking tremolo.

Yeah, those custom shop models are really cool but unfortunately I don't have the funds for those. After more research, I think the models I'm looking at were made in Korea (which I've had good experience with) and were basswood/quilt maple, 2 point trem, locking tuners (I think), Duncan humbuckers, 24 frets (my preference as a shreader), and set maple neck w/rosewood fretboard. Here are a pics of the main two models I've mostly seen.

The Showmaster series, as well with their Squier variants, are no longer in production.

The last Showmaster I saw was made in 2009.

You can find a NOS Showmaster in mint condition on eBay.

I had a SquierII Showmaster HSS in the 90s. It was very nice. Compared to any MIA Fender I've ever played.

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There wasn't a Squier Showmaster in the 1990s.

These early Squier Showmasters were called Stagemasters. The series was first introduced in 1999.

The Stagemaster in its original form was a downsized Squier Stratocaster with a 22-fret neck, Floyd Rose licensed locking trem, reverse headstock and the choice of HSS, HH, HSH and HHH configurations.



In 2002, the Stagemaster series was redesigned with a more aggressive but stylish look: sleekier body shapes, 24 frets, flatter fingerboards, Duncan Designed humbucking pickups and a variety of bridges were the most common features of these superstrats, which also included a 7-string model.



A couple of months later Fender changed the Stagemaster name to Showmaster. This change coincided with the introduction of the Jason Ellis, Rally Stripes and Subsonic models the following years. Fender discontinued the series in 2009.

Wow that is one sweet looking piece.

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He who dies with the most Strats wins.