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Fender Performer Bass '85-'86

#21
I've had three Performers and still have two of them. I much prefer their "pencil neck" to the standard Fender neck shape but I've moved to lightweight shortscales so I no longer use the Performers.

The only thing I didn't like about them and other Fender basses of that period were the heavy clamshell tuners. Otherwise the Performers were easy for me to play and sounded like a bass.
 
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#23
JIO said:
Underrated basses - Fenders first 24 fret-neck, TBX tone pot, Jazz nut width tapering to a narrower heal than a J - a fast neck good for soloing, balances well, pu's aren't the fattest sounding but through some amp setting it can sound really good. Design/style (which I love) is not for everyone, but other than the spear-head hs shape - it doesn't look dated. I think Fender should reissue it with rewound pu's. It was made for only one year - starting mid year '85 into mid year '86. Made in Japan. Was a casualty of Fender's buyback from CBS in '85 - didn't make the cut. Their value has fluctuated over the years - but still pop up for under 2k. Not bad for a limited edition Fender bass. The only Fender bass of a more limited edition was the '66 dot/bound Jazz made from January '66 - June '66. The going price for those is +/- 10k.

View attachment 3889288
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Have always wanted one ever since I first saw it(online). Kind of a "Jetsons" looking design.
 
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#24
Revisiting this thread with updated info - I'm pretty sure this gentleman (in Florida) is the guy I mentioned in an earlier post who has one in each colour they offered. (I can't recall his name or tb handle) Here he is holding an early '80s Performer prototype in what looks like Fiesta red :cool:! It has a couple interesting differences; a more standard looking Fender hs reminiscent of the later thinner width style that came on early '90s Jazz+ basses. It also has a cool slanted-base micro-tune Schaller bridge similar to what came on the early '80s Precision Elite - must have been a one-off as it's the only place I've ever seen one. It also looks to have two mini-switches.


In the early 80s John Page was tasked with creating the Elite Jazz Bass to join the Elite Precision Bass, and the Strat and Tele Elite guitar models. When all was said and done, the Elite Jazz was tabled after the prototype, also pictured but not for sale, was sent on tour with Benjamin Orr of the Cars, and Billy Idol, and found to be of good quality, but a bit too radical in design. Because there was a lot of R&D expense it was decided to salvage the project. The decision was to cut back on the bells and whistles, remove the active electronics, micro tune bridge, change the headstock to swinger style, etc., and produce it in Japan. (A USA version was planned, even made it to a catalog, but never made it to the prototype stage). In January 1985 a employee buyer group purchased Fender back from CBS and determined to focus on the Precision and Jazz. For that reason, the Performer was a one year and done bass, five colors, a few hundred produced - exact quantity unknown, but certainly in the hundreds, not thousands.

upload_2022-3-9_8-2-13.jpeg


Also, someone here asked if there was ever a bass made that looked like a Performer. There's at least this one - my 9v EMG active Supersonic.

upload_2022-3-9_8-17-10.jpeg


And since this thread started - the Katana has been re-issued:

upload_2022-3-9_8-20-10.png
 
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#25
Je viens d'acheter ce modèle de basse en vert d'occasion. C'est une basse que j'avais déjà eu quand j'étais jeune. Son manche est juste le plus fin que Fender n'est jamais créé.. plus fin qu'une strat. Pour moi elle vaut bien plus que de nombreuses Fender précision ou jazz bass surtout avec son système TBX...qui permet d'avoir le son d'une précision de zéro à cinq et le son d'une jazz bass de cinq au max. C'est une pièce très rare dont je ne suis pas prêt de me séparer
 
#27
JIO said:
Revisiting this thread with updated info - I'm pretty sure this gentleman (in Florida) is the guy I mentioned in an earlier post who has one in each colour they offered. (I can't recall his name or tb handle) Here he is holding an early '80s Performer prototype in what looks like Fiesta red :cool:! It has a couple interesting differences; a more standard looking Fender hs reminiscent of the later thinner width style that came on early '90s Jazz+ basses. It also has a cool slanted-base micro-tune Schaller bridge similar to what came on the early '80s Precision Elite - must have been a one-off as it's the only place I've ever seen one. It also looks to have two mini-switches.


In the early 80s John Page was tasked with creating the Elite Jazz Bass to join the Elite Precision Bass, and the Strat and Tele Elite guitar models. When all was said and done, the Elite Jazz was tabled after the prototype, also pictured but not for sale, was sent on tour with Benjamin Orr of the Cars, and Billy Idol, and found to be of good quality, but a bit too radical in design. Because there was a lot of R&D expense it was decided to salvage the project. The decision was to cut back on the bells and whistles, remove the active electronics, micro tune bridge, change the headstock to swinger style, etc., and produce it in Japan. (A USA version was planned, even made it to a catalog, but never made it to the prototype stage). In January 1985 a employee buyer group purchased Fender back from CBS and determined to focus on the Precision and Jazz. For that reason, the Performer was a one year and done bass, five colors, a few hundred produced - exact quantity unknown, but certainly in the hundreds, not thousands.

View attachment 4614847

Also, someone here asked if there was ever a bass made that looked like a Performer. There's at least this one - my 9v EMG active Supersonic.

View attachment 4614854

And since this thread started - the Katana has been re-issued:

View attachment 4614856
Click to expand...
I have a Performer in gun metal blue. It works but I don't think the electronics are correct. Does anyone have a schematic for it?
 

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