The Fender Performer was an electric bass guitar released in 1985 and discontinued in 1987, assembled in the United States and Japan.

Both versions featured a number of minor features underlying the 'high end' design, including rubber inserts around the volume and tone controls, a 'micro-tilt' adjustable neck, tuners with enclosed worms, a high-quality fully enclosed jack socket, a then new and contemporary Fender logo, sculpted pickups marked with an (original) Fender logo, felt washers to prevent the strap buttons marking the body.

[2] Unlike the Japanese-made Performer Standard, which featured a 3-ply white pickguard, dual single coils, 3-way toggle switch and a rosewood fretboard, a rumoured Performer Elite, having rear-routed controls and sporting three specially designed single coil pickups (with the first two placed side-by-side in the rear position and the third in the centre), 5-way switching and an ebony fretboard to be manufactured in the United States, retailing at $949, was never actually put into production.

[1] The Performer Standard was manufactured by FujiGen in Japan in 1986, at a time when Fender was just completing moving United States production from Fullerton (which had been through terrible quality control issues) to Corona.

[5] Shortly after the launch of these instruments, CBS sold Fender to a group of employees led by Bill Schultz and production of the Performers ceased.