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Post subject: Fender Player Series Lead II & III
Posted: Sat Feb 08, 2020 6:43 pm
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Location: Hometown of THE GODZ and Rosie
Anyone pre-order a Player Lead or planning to get one when they are in stores?

Lately I have been enjoying playing my rescue '81 Lead II, so I pre-ordered a new Lead III to try out. It is supposed to ship 10 Feb 2020.

I will try to spend some time comparing mine and post my thoughts. I would be interested in what others who have tried the new Leads think about them.

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Bullet S-3
'62 Vintage RI Stratocaster
Del Mar
Lead II
Standard Stratocaster
Player Lead III


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Post subject: Re: Fender Player Series Lead II & III
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2020 9:54 pm
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 10:28 pm
Posts: 1594
Location: SoCal, US
Lighter body, standard Strat neck (original was narrower), Strat pickups in the II, standard 'buckers in the III

It's not a reissue, and it's not something that's going to collect the "boomer bucks" from those who may have owned the originals in 1979-1980. They didn't even get the headstock right... given that the orignal got it "wrong", which found its way into the early 80s Strats. The "atrophied headstock"

But I'm not going to say that the line is going to fail.
It fits the same niche that the originals did... it's $100 less than a MiM Strat, just as the originals were $200 less than the Fullerton Strats.
They look like nice entry-level guitars at a level above Squier... just as the originals were a level above the "student model" Korean and Japanese imports.

I think the line will do quite well, and we can probably expect Adorama to put these on weekend special for $400.

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Post subject: Re: Fender Player Series Lead II & III
Posted: Thu Mar 12, 2020 10:58 pm
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Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:31 am
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Location: Hometown of THE GODZ and Rosie
Here are my current thoughts comparing my Player Lead III with my 1981 Lead II.


Like the original Lead Series, my Lead III is a three piece body. Cosmetically my neck has one light colored 0.25 inch birdseye, perpendicular to the fretboard running thru to the back of the neck, just inside the low E string between the 13th and 14th frets. The birdseye is not perceptible when playing. The fit and finish are excellent according to my old eyes.

Comparing with my 1981 Lead II:

Lead III weighs 7.0 pounds
Lead II weighs 9.2 pounds

Based on NAMM photos/videos I was seeing an increase in the size of the armrest cut. While there is some, I would prefer more.

The Lead III belly cut is wider and not as deep. This is likely the trade-off which limited the armrest cut.

It will take some playing time to form an opinion on the new belly cut.

I was impressed with the setup between the factory and the Sweetwater inspections. The neck sights straight with just the slightest amount of relief. There are no sharp fret ends. As for action, there is no fret buzz anywhere on the neck and none of my bends choked; although I'm not a big bender. I took some measurements to compare, but remember my Lead II is a mutt with the '72 Tele Deluxe neck.

Lead III, 9.5 inch radius, 0.009-0.042 strings is 0.080 inch for both low and high E strings.
Lead II, 12 inch radius, 0.010-0.046 strings is 0.100 inch for low E string and 0.070 inch for high E string.

I spent a couple hours playing them unplugged, trying to focus on how the bodies and necks compared.

My 9.2 lbs Lead II was instantly and obviously heavier than my 7.0 lbs Lead III. It was almost surprising that 2.2 lbs made that much difference, but my back assured me the difference is real.

The Lead III armrest cut is an improvement. My forearm actually falls in my Lead III armrest cut, unlike the miss on my Lead II. Now as time has passed I have been wearing my guitars higher and higher. So those of you who still wear them below your belt might or might not benefit from the larger armrest cut.

For this playing, the wider belly cut on my Lead III won.

As for the necks, remember my disclaimer that I have '72 Telecaster Deluxe neck on my Lead II. It is a vintage C shape like the Lead Series had, but the '72 TD has a 12 inch fretboard radius. I am remembering the Lead Series had a 7.25 inch radius. The Lead III has a modern C shape neck and a 9.5 inch fretboard radius. I really could not feel a lot of difference unless I was above the 10th fret playing on the low strings. There my Lead II neck felt fatter than my Lead III neck. Bouncing back and forth between them, there was an initial feeling something was different but it did not throw my playing off and quickly subsided.

Please see this link if you want pics: NGD Fender Player Series Lead III

The next opportunity I have, I will get a pickup comparison in.

_________________
Bullet S-3
'62 Vintage RI Stratocaster
Del Mar
Lead II
Standard Stratocaster
Player Lead III


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Post subject: Re: Fender Player Series Lead II & III
Posted: Fri Mar 13, 2020 11:47 pm
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Joined: Fri Mar 05, 2010 11:31 am
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Location: Hometown of THE GODZ and Rosie
I spent a few hours this evening comparing the pickups. On paper the pickups are:

Lead III
Bridge & Neck: Fender Player Series Alnico 2 Humbucker
Configurations: S1 - bridge/both/neck & S2 - bridge split/both humbucking/neck split

Lead II
Bridge - Seymour Duncan Custom Shop Fender X-1 (Alnico 5)
Neck - Fender X-1 (Alnico 5)
Configurations: S1 - bridge/both/neck & S2 - both can be in/out of phase

To me the Leads are 80's guitars, so I contemplated dragging out the Windsor half stack for the comparison. Realizing most of my neighbors are at home, courtesy of the state shutting everything down to limit the spread of COVOID-19, I opted to instead use the Butcher model on my Vypyr VIP 3. More reasonable levels and I could also use my cans if needed. I set the Butcher EQ flat at 12:00 for this comparison.

Since my Lead II X-1's are single coils, I only compared my Lead III pups split to singles against my Lead II. However, I did adjust and balance my Lead III pickups as humbuckers.

Before directly comparing them, I started with my Lead III on the Clean channel. When playing a humbucker and then splitting to single it is obvious in the tone. It thins out, gets brighter and chimey as expected. Sounded good on both the bridge and neck. I did this for a while until I was satisfied I had hum and single tones available with a flick of the switch.

Then I switched to my Lead II. Thin, bright, chimey and ... jangly. Hmmm, where was that jangle on my Lead III? I went back and forth between bridge and neck on my Lead II and there was plenty of jangle in each position.

Back to my Lead III. At this point I could hear the jangle, but it was maybe 10%-15% of what my Lead II had. Probably why I did not even think of jangle when I was first switching hum/single on my Lead III.

Back and forth between my II and III I went, trying to figure out why the jangle was not comparable. I finally took a detour and got my '62 Vintage RI Stratocaster to compare jangle. My '62 RI was more jangly than my Lead II. Obviously I do not play clean often enough.

My Clean channel conclusion is either I need to spend some more time adjusting my Lead III pups, or split they check all the boxes except jangle. Maybe not the be all end all pickups if you want to get that perfect Fender pickup clean tone. My Lead II is brighter than my Lead III.

On to the Crunch channel with an 80's level of gain dialed in. I started with my Lead III. It sounded like what I was remembering in my head for my Lead II. I ran thru some AC/DC, Priest, Krokus, Crue, Fastway and Leppard then switched to my Lead II.

My Lead II was noticeably, maybe 25% or more, hotter. Back and forth between my II and III again. My Lead II is still brighter or my Lead III is darker. Under gain, jangle is not a tonal artifact or at least I cannot hear it.

My Crunch channel conclusion is my Lead III will cover the same gain tones as my Lead II. However my Lead III will need another notch on the preamp/gain of the amplifier.

I will work on the Lead III pickup height a little more. If anything, I am thinking the bridge may be set a little too high on the high E side but I will see how it pans out.

_________________
Bullet S-3
'62 Vintage RI Stratocaster
Del Mar
Lead II
Standard Stratocaster
Player Lead III


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