Re: what the hell is a fender showmaster?
Fender Showmaster:
The First Showmasters were Custom Shop Guitars made in the early 90s to be the answer to the Jackson Soloist. They had set necks, carved tops, Humbuckers, either a 2-point Tremolo or a Tune-O-Matic Style bridge, and were built under the guidance of Gene Baker (one of the original Fender CS luthiers). They were fairly expensive, and did not use the gibson-style set neck build, but more of a mortar and tenon style where the neck sets a bit into the body (almost like a set-neck thru of sorts). This makes the neck joint INCREDIBLY strong and gives an even closer impression that the body and the neck are one big piece of (usually) mahogany.
Over time, the Showmaster diversified, there became showmaster elites (which were the aforementioned type of showmaster, with a flame or quilt AAA top and a black tele headstock), the Showmaster FMT / QMT (a quilt or flame topped HSS showmaster with either a 2-point trem or hard tail, and a contoured bolt-on heel a la Jeff Beck model), and a normal stratocaster headstock that said "showmaster". Sometimes the bodies even have shaved tops. (Note: we're still in CS land). Other variations included a lacewood Showmaster, and even a Flathead Showmaster, which is a showmaster with completely blackout hardware, EMG 81 / 60 pickups, a 3-way gibson-style switch, and one volume knob.... also had a contoured heel, no inlays except for 2 flathead pistons in an X with an F logo up top (Think a F and pistons version of a jolly roger), ebony-lam board, 12" radius (universal to all CS models), and a string through body.
Fender then decided to make an MIK version. (Made in Korea). This version, while sharing the set neck, uses a veneer for the top as opposed to a solid piece of wood, although it does use duncan pickups. It is somewhat related to the lite ash strat, as they are both made in Korea, and both use Duncan pups. They are almost always hardtail, can have no inlays, or dot inlays, and usually have a 15.75 to 16 inch radius. Think of them as Fender's answer to the DK2 Jacksons. An even rarer Showmaster is the HIghway 1 HSS, with a Floyd in the bridge, HSS pickup orientation, showmaster size body, and 24 frets. It was only made from 1999 to 2001, and occasionally one pops up on ebay.
Sizewise, a showmaster's body is usually just a tiny bit smaller than a strat, to decrease mass and increase ease of playing. They happen to be viewed pretty highly as far as guitars go and can be viewed as the final attempt by Fender to build a superstrat before absorbing Jackson / Charvel. Most of them only have one vol / one tone, and a 3-way switch (for HH models), and a 5-way set up in Lone-Star wiring for HSS / SSS models. (Yes, there are korean-made SSS showmasters). Fender corporate sees this model as a production failure, having stopped its production as of the 2009 model year, but for those who want a shredstick that doesn't have pointies everywhere, it can be everything from a great $600 value superstrat, to a $2000+, fire-breathing, custom shop scream machine.
As far as a guitar for being a player, if you can get over the fact some of the Korean ones have an obviously fake top / headstock color match job, you're in for a treat... they really are some of the best unloved Fenders of the Post-CBS era. And as for the CS ones, they pop up on gbase sometimes for healthy discounts (the showmaster elite is kinda like a menage a trois of a Strat, a LP Custom, and a Tele's headstock and it's the red-headed stepchild of the CS... ugly, but monstrously fun.)
+1, highly recommended, would love pics.
