Showmaster/HM Heavy Metal, BEST FAVORITE FEATURES COMPARISON

Toppscore · **Joined:** Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am **Posts:** 2337

I'm looking at both the Fender Showmaster made in Korea (1998-2009), and
the Fender HM Heavy Metal made in Japan/USA (1988-1992)
* Both have 24 Frets.
* Both offer different combinations of humbuckers & single coil pickups.

MY QUESTION(S) ARE:
Regarding mfg/production quality of both guitars (NOT COUNTING THE PICKUPS) . . . .
which is the better made guitar, the Showmaster from Korea or the HM from Japan/USA
My areas of interest are: the body wood, neck/fretboard, tuners, bridge/tremolo,
wiring/potentiometers and the paint/finish qualtiy.
Is one guitar better made from the factory or is a higher level "product line" than the other
Does one guitar use better wood or get the "Fender Custom Shop treatment" better than the other???

IMHO, pickups can always be changed, but guitar build quality, component selection & guitar reputation is critical to me.
Please share what you like or dislike regarding either guitar.
Would you purchase another HM or Showmaster if yours was lost

Does anyone know a link that compares these two Fender guitars side-by-side???

Thanks for giving your opinions.
I've searched the forum, Wiki and some Internet sources.
Am seeking opinions & experiences from our Fender forum users of the HM or Showmaster.
Toppscore

Some Wiki notes:
The Fender HM Heavy Metal Strat is a discontinued model of electric guitar produced by Fender Musical Instruments from 1988 until 1992, (although some sources say production started as early as 1986). The Fender HM (Heavy metal) strat was originally produced in Japan and subsequently, in 1990, in the United States. Some evidence indicates that assembly in the USA with some components imported from Japan may have begun as early as 1987. The USA HM series stratocasters were produced about three years after the Fender Contemporary Stratocaster Japan series in 1990 (possibly late 1988 with Japanese sourced components) and included the Strat 10-3200 (i.e. cont. strat, HSS), 10-2100 (HSS), 10-2102 (HSS), 10-2200 (1 silver sensor, H 10-2300 (HH) and 10-2400 (H) models.

Some Wiki notes:
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 (some Team Built one-off Showmasters came with the original Floyd Rose locking system and featured a lightweight ash body and a translucent Amber finish). Later, it appeared as a U.S. Special/Highway 1 model, retaining the set maple neck, Fender Enforcer humbuckers, a special "kill" switch and its traditional Stratocaster headstock (with Showmaster label, respectively), equipped with a Floyd Rose licensed vibrato and a 2-octave rosewood fingerboard. Some later Showmasters—such as the Elite and the Flat Head—were produced in Korea, followed by Squier variants (formerly known as Stagemasters) featuring a sleek basswood body, a reverse headstock, Floyd Rose licensed locking systems and Duncan Designed humbucking pickups.

Toppscore · **Joined:** Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am **Posts:** 2337

Anybody own or play or sell or bought or borrowed
either of these two guitars?

Fender HM Heavy Metal w/24 Frets from 1988-1992
Fender Showmaster w/24 Frets from 1999-2009

Thanks for any thoughts. Toppscore

93greenstrat · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2012 2:41 pm

I have a good friend who owns something like 7 HM Strats (and no, his name isn't Greg Howe). They are definitely in the Super Strat vein and are high-quality guitars. I don't have any Experience with the Fender Showmasters, but when I saw the Highway1/American Special version of it, the first thought that came to mind is that they effectively reissued the HM (like how they effectively reissued the Big Apple Strat via the Blacktop Strat). I've played a few Squier Showmasters in the store and they actually weren't bad....wish I had gotten one.

(edited to add): My bad, the Squier model was called the "Stagemaster".

John C · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2012 5:28 pm

Toppscore,

I saw your PM but I'm not going to be much help on this one; I don't have much experience with the HM Strats, and I don't have any experience with the Showmasters at all.

I was pretty interested in the HMs when they first came out in 1988 - but that was also I period in my life when I had pretty much stopped playing. I did play them a bit and found they have a very unusual neck - it's really wide (1.700" if I'm remembering correctly), thin depth, and a shorter 25.1" scale.

Sorry, not much help there.

Toppscore · **Joined:** Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am **Posts:** 2337

93greenstrat wrote:

I have a good friend who owns something like 7 HM Strats (and no, his name isn't Greg Howe). They are definitely in the Super Strat vein and are high-quality guitars. I don't have any Experience with the Fender Showmasters, but when I saw the Highway1/American Special version of it, the first thought that came to mind is that they effectively reissued the HM (like how they effectively reissued the Big Apple Strat via the Blacktop Strat). I've played a few Squier Showmasters in the store and they actually weren't bad....wish I had gotten one.
(edited to add): My bad, the Squier model was called the "Stagemaster".

Thanks. Without much comment, I will probably get an HM first,
and keep the inquiry going. Greg Howe is a big HM fan? ~ good to know.
Related to Steve Howe via a mixed marriage? :wink:

Toppscore · **Joined:** Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am **Posts:** 2337

John C wrote:

Toppscore, I saw your PM but I'm not going to be much help on this one; I don't have much experience with the HM Strats, and I don't have any experience with the Showmasters at all. I was pretty interested in the HMs when they first came out in 1988 - but that was also I period in my life when I had pretty much stopped playing. I did play them a bit and found they have a very unusual neck - it's really wide (1.700" if I'm remembering correctly), thin depth, and a shorter 25.1" scale.
Sorry, not much help there.

Thanks for communicating. Toppscore

chromeface · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2012 7:46 pm

Only the Korean and US Highway 1 Showmasters came with a full 2-octave fretboard. The Squier versions sported a wide variety of pickup configurations, a reverse headstock and a licensed Floyd Rose vibrato (all, except the Showmaster NLT).

The USA Custom Shop Showmasters were presented with 22 frets.

Toppscore · **Joined:** Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am **Posts:** 2337

chromeface wrote:

Only the Korean and US Highway 1 Showmasters came with a full 2-octave fretboard. The Squier versions sported a wide variety of pickup configurations, a reverse headstock and a licensed Floyd Rose vibrato (all, except the Showmaster NLT).

The USA Custom Shop Showmasters were presented with 22 frets.

Thanks, Chrome.
From what I can tell, the Showmans look good, but seem to be not
priced as a quality line of guitars with quality components.
If Fender shipped the Showmaster from 1998-2009,
do you know which years were the Korean 24 fret years (vs) the USA 22 fret years?

And, any chance you might know how the 1988-1992 Fender HMs fared within
Fender's lineup of guitars? How close to custom shop were they?

My Wiki notes mention that Showmaster guitars started out as "near custom shop" quality.
Were these the Korean MIK Showmasters?

Toppscore

93greenstrat · **Posted:** Sun Aug 26, 2012 8:02 pm

Toppscore wrote:

Thanks. Without much comment, I will probably get an HM first,
and keep the inquiry going. Greg Howe is a big HM fan? ~ good to know.
Related to Steve Howe via a mixed marriage? :wink:

At the time, Greg had an endorsement deal with Fender and played the HM's almost exclusively. A few years ago, he had two custom Fenders (one Strat and one Tele; both seem to embody elements of the HM series), but he favors Laguna Guitars nowadays.

Toppscore · **Joined:** Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am **Posts:** 2337

93greenstrat wrote:

Toppscore wrote:

Thanks. Without much comment, I will probably get an HM first,
and keep the inquiry going. Greg Howe is a big HM fan? ~ good to know.
Related to Steve Howe via a mixed marriage? :wink:

At the time, Greg had an endorsement deal with Fender and played the HM's almost exclusively. A few years ago, he had two custom Fenders (one Strat and one Tele; both seem to embody elements of the HM series), but he favors Laguna Guitars nowadays.

Is he still doing the "Van Halen" impersonation?
Or, at least incorporate some shredding into his act or recordings?
Toppscore

CRGuitarMan · **Joined:** Sat Sep 08, 2007 9:46 pm **Posts:** 2041

Korean Showmaster - solid mahogany body with 24-fret mahogany set neck, smoked hardware, locking tuners.

This is the version that came stock with Seymour-Duncan Vintage '59 at the neck and a Seymour-Duncan Pearly Gates at the bridge.

Toppscore · **Joined:** Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am **Posts:** 2337

CRGuitarMan wrote:

Korean Showmaster - solid mahogany body with 24-fret mahogany set neck, smoked hardware, locking tuners. This is the version that came stock with Seymour-Duncan Vintage '59 at the neck and a Seymour-Duncan Pearly Gates at the bridge.

CRG ~ any personal or any known or any experienced or links or anything
to compare the Showmaster with the HM Heavy Metal guitars.
Thanks. Toppscore

Toronado · **Joined:** Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:05 pm **Posts:** 2333

Hi Toppscore,

I just wanted to point out that the original post being entirely bolded, with multiple colours, etc, is hard on the eyes. Perhaps some might find it easy to read, but I am not so lucky. I might even be the only one knit-picky enough to bring something like this up.

Just something to consider. Thank you

Toppscore · **Joined:** Sun Nov 20, 2011 3:16 am **Posts:** 2337

Toronado wrote:

Hi Toppscore, I just wanted to point out that the original post being entirely bolded, with multiple colours, etc, is hard on the eyes. Perhaps some might find it easy to read, but I am not so lucky. I might even be the only one knit-picky enough to bring something like this up. Just something to consider. Thank you

You are Tornado :shock:

But, no problem sharing your thoughts :idea:

Bold is incredibly awesome for me.
The dull gray text on a dirty white background is very hard on my eyes.

But, I have been in a personal debate regarding color.
Looking at the first post, IMHO there really is not that much color.
This month is my one year anniversay of my first ever forum post.
Back then, I was much more into color ~ massive pages of the stuff :lol:

Truly, I've worked very hard to tone it down. I really wish I'd get
more compliments on how my "using less color" has greatly improved.

Just for the sake of my interest, would you vote for the Fender Forum to remove
ALL color options and ALL smiley faces and ALL bold and ALL underlining, etc.???

What do you think? Why do forums have all these options?
Just wondering and grown and learning.

From this point on, whenever I feel a need for bold or color or text enhancement(s)
I will be thinking of you, Tornado, first :wink:

Take care. Toppscore

rkreisher · **Posted:** Mon Aug 27, 2012 10:33 am

I played the Fender HM in the 80's while in the guitar store. Loved it alot, however I could not afford it. Being a teenager, I bought the next best thing...the Squier HM III.

To this day I am still on the lookout for a nice Fender Stat HM. Mostly the ones I gave found have been in poor condition.

I have no experience with the Showmaster series, other than the fact I did not like them because of the neck-thru design.

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