Fender Price List 1986 Featuring the Never-Made Performer Elite

This Fender Price List Dated June 2 1986 (PDF) shows the $539 Performer but also lists a guitar that was never made: the Performer Elite, which was to have an ebony fretboard, a different tremolo, and would come in some colors that never made it to the assembly line, including Candy Apple Red, Frost Pink, Emerald Ice, Burgundy Ice, and Montego Black. Sweet!

Fender Price List 1986

The previous Fender Elites were active (the guitars required batteries). It is not clear whether these Performers would have used batteries. Unlikely, because the stock Performer’s TBX circuitry already sounds pretty hot, and many people who play it think it’s an active guitar as is.

Note that Performers now go for more than twice the suggested retail price of the time. Figuring inflation, they’re about retail or more, depending on condition.