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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 7:40 pm
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Very nice! Do you play it much? Was it white, or did you have it refinished?

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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:02 pm
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The body I bought on Ebay. I couldn't tell what condition the paint was in by the photo on Ebay so I originally thought I'd be painting it. But the paint job is good enough. Not smooth or professional but looks good. A friend calls it 'cake'. But I just got the neck yesterday (April 2) and put the guitar together as soon as I got the neck. I have a Classic 50s Stratocaster with the similar profile neck so I was lucky to find a 90s 50s RI neck for the body. Or should I say lucky that it was only $240. It's got an original (but not original to the guitar) humbucker but is wired for a single tone because I couldn't find the toggles when I had the pickup installed.
I will be playing it through my Zinky tomorrow for the first time. I've played it using a Vox headphone amp and it sounds better than I thought. Great tone from those old Seth Lovers. I try to play, practice really, about two hours a day. The guitar weighs 9 pounds 5 ounces.
I have a stock wine red rosewood Lead I that I'm the original owner of and another project Lead I (see picture next reply) with a Leslie West MOT pickup, refretted with Duncan 6105s and leveled and dressed. It nails Leslie West tone. Funny that it weighs 7 pounds 4 ounces, with the original neck.


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:04 pm
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Here's another project Lead I have. It's been painted many times and has all kinds of pickups.
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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars- Lead III neck question
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 9:59 pm
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Aloha! I hope someone can help me, since I don't know where else to ask. Does anyone know if a Lead III Neck will fit on a Strat body in SSH (fat strat) configuration? Thanks!


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Sat Apr 23, 2011 10:17 pm
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Probably. It's basically a Strat neck, C-shape, 7.25" radius, vintage sized frets. I would expect it to fit any Stratocaster with a standard 4 hole neck pocket.


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:39 am
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Resurrecting this thread...

I picked up a Fender Lead II yesterday, and love it. Great neck and pickups!
But the bridge (with roller saddles) is a mystery to me.
Anybody else seen one of these bridges on a Lead or anything eles?
It is probably not original, since it's not a string-through body type, but it works wonderfully. The action is one of the lowest I've ever seen on a Fender without any buzzes....

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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:20 am
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mcmacguy wrote:
Resurrecting this thread...

I picked up a Fender Lead II yesterday, and love it. Great neck and pickups!
But the bridge (with roller saddles) is a mystery to me.
Anybody else seen one of these bridges on a Lead or anything eles?
It is probably not original, since it's not a string-through body type, but it works wonderfully. The action is one of the lowest I've ever seen on a Fender without any buzzes....

Image


It's definitely not a Fender bridge. I've seen a similar bridge that was made by Schaller on a very early EBMM Silhouette, but that bridge did string through the back. I think I might have seen something like this on a late 70s/early 80s MIJ guitar (maybe an Ibanez or Greco?).


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2012 1:22 pm
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It's not a Lead bridge for sure. The rollers typically are associated with tremolos/whammies because they roll with the string movement. The primary problem I've had with rollers in the past is having the treble E string pop out of the saddle while finger picking, especially more noticeable with lighter gauge strings. Otherwise, if you can intonate the guitar there's no reason to change out. The distance between the bass E and treble E at the saddles should be about 2 1/16 inches. If that's not the case you might see the strings don't line up evenly along the neck edge. They are good guitars, sort of bullet proof.


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 12:50 pm
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It's a Schaller bridge, found it on the Stewart-Mac site! What's cool about it is the string spacing is adjustable by hand, no tools needed.


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2012 1:23 pm
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It's not a string-through-body arrangement. That may make a difference in resonance. I like the idea of adjustable string spacing.


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 7:17 am
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I've seen one of these I like a lot. I may get it, I may not. Just thought I'd resurrect the thread in case I do get it - and also because there's some interesting info in this thread.

There was a fan site about these guitars run by someone from Canada, but it seems to have vanished into pixel heaven. Perhaps I've just lost my Google abilities and can't find it.

The first 'proper' guitar I ever played (ie, not a cheapie knockoff version of something else) was my friend's older brother's Lead 1 back in the early 80's, and I've always loved these guitars.


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:18 pm
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I've owned a Fender Lead I for more than 30 years - still have the original Fender strap and hardshell case that came with it.

There are some interesting info bits in this thread. Thanks.

I wonder if anyone has modified their Lead I the way I've considered. Though I've never played another guitar at any price point that could compare with the action on my Lead (maple fretboard), I've always been a little disappointed with the range of tones available from the single humbucker. I see from some eBay listings that they used the same routing on the body for the Lead I and II guitars. So I wonder if anyone has ever tried adding a single coil pick-up in the neck position to create a kind-of hybrid Lead I-II.

If so, what did you do for a pick guard and how did you set up the switches?


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Thu Sep 26, 2013 6:42 am
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Linkslover wrote:
If so, what did you do for a pick guard and how did you set up the switches?


http://www.wdmusic.com/guards_guitar_fender_leads.html

That link should help with the pick guard question, at least. :)


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Fri Jan 03, 2014 7:19 am
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ran across this thread in a search, and since no one answered the question I thought I would
yes. Fender changed the tuners on the Lead series, which ran longer than 1982.
I cant account for all of the changes made in the line, but clearly they updated the neck and headstock, I believe they widened the nut width at the same time. I am not anywhere near my Leads to measure or compare, but in answer to the OP, they did update the tuners, presumably at the same time they switched to Shallers on the standard Strats, so 83 on?
Admittedly, Leads with these tuners are not so common on eBay, as I keep an eye out for them on necks and guitars listed.
The most noticeable changes made to the lead series is the neck and body contours, and towards the end they did go with the sealed Shallers.
I have two black III's, one rosewood, one maple, both late with Shallers and contours and very nice V shaped necks, wider than the earlier also very nice D shaped necks.
Great guitars, all of them, but those late Lead III's strike me as among the most professional quality guitars I have played.
My earlier Lead I has some sort of an edge though. More character in the limited tone options and narrower/rounder neck playability?
Strange but that is my impression.
A GREAT series of guitars.
They did change and upgrade them. I would heartily recommend any of them, and especially those later III's. Very very nice guitars.


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Post subject: Re: fender lead series guitars
Posted: Mon Jan 13, 2014 4:08 pm
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I bought a black Lead II in '82 I think it was. Played it stock for a couple of years before I gave in to the modifications. I had jumbo frets installed and the radius of the fretboard reduced somewhat (I don't recall the numbers), I had a humbucker put in the rear position (first a Seymour Duncan Super Distortion, then I swapped that out for a Gibson PAF). A few years lather I had a friend bolt the PAF into the wood rather than having it ride on the pick guard. Also I installed a Strat style jack.
I gotta tell you I love this guitar, a lot. It remains my number one to this day. The body finish is cracked and the blueish tones it has developed on the original black paint actually look pretty cool! I have never played a Strat that I prefer over this guitar, a couple of Tele's have come close however.

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