Fender Lead I: Learn me up!

[StrangerNY]

I decided to list one of my Ibanez Artists on Craig's, and indicated I was open to trades. The first two trade offers were for a 90s Charvel and a Hamer USA Diablo, but they're a little too close to the 'pointy guitar' camp for me. But the third offer I got was a '79 Fender Lead I. Here it is...

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Anybody own one? I was hoping to trade the Artist for maybe a Tele or Strat (or sell it and buy a new guitar), but this one's got me intrigued. Somebody gimme the skinny on these guitars. Thanks!

- D

 

[Twang Factor 10]

I'm intrigued by these also. I stumbled upon the Lead II's awhile back which lead me to I & III. Pretty sure they are American made. I don't know much about your Artist, but I used to hang out with a guy who had one from late 70's early 80's. It was pretty cool. I'm gonna say that the Lead's are gonna be or are collectable but resale will be a narrow market. If it's all original and the case original and in good shape, I would atleast try it. I think I would be a good keeper for investment. It's already 30 year old+. Let me know how you like it.

 

[Hiker]

The Wiki article has quite a bit of detail (Fender Lead Series). With the one pickup, you still have three coil selector switch positions available. You also have a parallel, and series switch. What a deal, you might want to move quick if it has stirred your interest beyond simple tire kicking.

Keep us posted about your quest!

 

[adjason]

well that is a cool guitar -I'd say you made a good trade. I think they are kind of the later version of the bronco

 

[StrangerNY]

The Artist is one of two that I own, and I've been flirting with moving it for the past year or two. It's a great guitar (an '80, bottom of the line that year), but I start to feel guilty when I have guitars that don't get any play.

I did a little research on the Lead series, and it sounds like it's capable of Tele tones via the coil tap and phase switches. The switching setup is kinda odd, almost like a Squier '51 (which I'm also a big fan of).

The Artist is worth a bit more money than the Lead (as far as what I've seen online, at least), but if it plays and sounds as good as I think it's going to, I'll nite the bullet and make the swap.

I'll file a full report if it makes its way back here tomorrow.

- D

 

[RevMike]

Dunno about the Lead I, but years ago I had 2 Lead II's. They were great guitars and I wish I never got rid of them. Traded for an SG which was promptly stolen. Dang.

 

[brookdalebill]

I too once owned a Lead II.
How's that for an odd opening statement?
The brilliant Steve Morse was an endorser, in da day.
Mine wasn't a bad guitar, but it was heavy, and had a "dipped in poly", thick finish.
The locking saddle intonation system works well, but is a pain to set.
I see Lead models for sale on CL here fairly often, for fairly cheap.
The Lead I model's switching system offers extremely
subtle sonic changes.
I do not find them versatile enough to gig with.
I'd pass.

 

[joeford]

that's a pretty neat guitar. and to get it for a swap with an ibanez? score!

that's an interesting pickup too. never seen one like that before.

 

[Jack Knife]

I would definitely go for it! The Lead series are getting more and more popular, could be the next cult guitar. Sweet way to get into vintage style Fenders.

I had a Lead II a few years back. Well, actually a frankenstein, Lead II body with a Strat neck. Really a fun guitar to play.

There are two body woods, depending on the year made. I don't recall which is which, but there are ash bodies and alder bodies. The ash guitars are indeed very heavy, the alders are more typical Fender weights. The neck should have a 7.25 radius fretboard.

The early years had horrible finish problems, fading, flaking, etc. You can easily tell one of those, they look like really poor relic jobs. The one in the pic looks fantastic so I'd wager it's one of the later models. I think the later ones were the lighter ones, too.

All the Lead bodies were routed for the Lead III setup of two humbuckers. You can easily swap the configuration to any of the models you want. I got pickguard from WD Music.

That's seriously one of the nicest Leads I've seen.

 

[John C]

I would definitely go for it! The Lead series are getting more and more popular, could be the next cult guitar. Sweet way to get into vintage style Fenders.

I had a Lead II a few years back. Well, actually a frankenstein, Lead II body with a Strat neck. Really a fun guitar to play.

There are two body woods, depending on the year made. I don't recall which is which, but there are ash bodies and alder bodies. The ash guitars are indeed very heavy, the alders are more typical Fender weights. The neck should have a 7.25 radius fretboard.

The early years had horrible finish problems, fading, flaking, etc. You can easily tell one of those, they look like really poor relic jobs. The one in the pic looks fantastic so I'd wager it's one of the later models. I think the later ones were the lighter ones, too.

All the Lead bodies were routed for the Lead III setup of two humbuckers. You can easily swap the configuration to any of the models you want. I got pickguard from WD Music.

That's seriously one of the nicest Leads I've seen.

I still have my 1979 Lead II; it was my first good (i.e. not from K-mart) guitar so I keep it for sentimental value.

A couple of corrections:

The 1979-1981s are definitely the heavy ash bodies. I don't know if they started mixing in alder on some colors in 1982 or if they were just getting lighter weight ash (like on a Smith Strat). At any rate 1982 was the last year of production for the series, the only year of production for the Lead III, and the only year they had colors other than wind red and black.

Yep, mine has that flaking/cracking wine red finish that was used through at least the end of 1980, and maybe on through 1981. Again at that time the only colors available were wine red and black.

They have a somewhat narrower neck than most Fenders of that era - they are definitely closer to 1 9/16" wide at the nut then 1 5/8".

The bodies were routed for a neck single coil and a bridge humbucker until the Lead III came out; then they changed to the dual humbucker routing. I suspect that the routing changed sometime in mid/late 1981 as they were changing production to accommodate the Lead III.

Serial numbers are pretty much "in sequence" for the year; the exception being the 1979s like mine - it has an E0xxxxx serial number. They came out so late in 1979 they never bothered with doing S9 serial numbers.

Morse did have a Lead I he modded by adding a neck single coil (and a 3rd switch); he used it on a couple of songs with alternate tunings and as a touring backup to his frankentele in the early 80s.

 

[StrangerNY]

Thanks for the info, guys. I appreciate it. This is why I like hanging out here.

- D

 

[Jimmy Dean]

I had a Lead II back in the 80's, my first Fender guitar. I liked it OK, but about 6mo later they got in a '72 Tele & I traded in for it.

 

[JayBeezy42]

Never seen one of these before... I like the body style a whole lot. It's like the offspring of a Strat and an SG.

 

[joeford]

I had a Lead II back in the 80's, my first Fender guitar. I liked it OK, but about 6mo later they got in a '72 Tele & I traded in for it.

so it's set then. trade your ibanez for the lead... then trade that lead for a 72 tele

 

[Jack Knife]

I still have my 1979 Lead II; it was my first good (i.e. not from K-mart) guitar so I keep it for sentimental value.

A couple of corrections:

The 1979-1981s are definitely the heavy ash bodies. I don't know if they started mixing in alder on some colors in 1982 or if they were just getting lighter weight ash (like on a Smith Strat). At any rate 1982 was the last year of production for the series, the only year of production for the Lead III, and the only year they had colors other than wind red and black.

Yep, mine has that flaking/cracking wine red finish that was used through at least the end of 1980, and maybe on through 1981. Again at that time the only colors available were wine red and black.

They have a somewhat narrower neck than most Fenders of that era - they are definitely closer to 1 9/16" wide at the nut then 1 5/8".

The bodies were routed for a neck single coil and a bridge humbucker until the Lead III came out; then they changed to the dual humbucker routing. I suspect that the routing changed sometime in mid/late 1981 as they were changing production to accommodate the Lead III.

Serial numbers are pretty much "in sequence" for the year; the exception being the 1979s like mine - it has an E0xxxxx serial number. They came out so late in 1979 they never bothered with doing S9 serial numbers.

Morse did have a Lead I he modded by adding a neck single coil (and a 3rd switch); he used it on a couple of songs with alternate tunings and as a touring backup to his frankentele in the early 80s.

Thanks for the info, John. I was going strictly by memory and the experience I had with my Lead II body. I had a heavy ash body. I got curious (wistful) after looking at Stranger's possible new Lead and looked up some old pictures I have of my body. It does have the single neck/hummer bridge route, so I correct myself on that.

I got my body as a bare project body on eBay for $60 so I have no direct knowledge of the stock necks. I put a Mighty Mite Strat v-neck on mine and it fit perfectly. Used a pair of DiMarzio Blue Velvet pickups. I wish I still had that guitar.

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[StrangerNY]

so it's set then. trade your ibanez for the lead... then trade that lead for a 72 tele

I could definitely live with that!

- D

 

[StrangerNY]

Never seen one of these before... I like the body style a whole lot. It's like the offspring of a Strat and an SG.

I see a little bit of an Epiphone Wilshire/Coronet body in the horns, too.

- D

 

[simonsp]

Weren't they the kind of Mustang level of the early 80's? I definitely recall that they were a good £150 cheaper than a Tele. A 'my second Fender' model. As I recall they were very well made sturdy instruments. The one you have pictured is surely a peach.

 

[John C]

Weren't they the kind of Mustang level of the early 80's? I definitely recall that they were a good £150 cheaper than a Tele. A 'my second Fender' model. As I recall they were very well made sturdy instruments. The one you have pictured is surely a peach.

Pretty much - Fender dropped the Mustang, Bronco, and MusicMaster in 1980 and went with the Lead series and the Bullet Series (which came out in 1981) as the student models for a couple of years. The main difference being the Leads (and Bullets) were full 25 1/2" scale instead of the 24" scale on the Mustang, etc.

 

[StrangerNY]

Well, I picked it up this morning...

First off - for such a small guitar, it weighs a ton! Definitely an Ash body. It tips my trusty bathroom scale at 8.5 pounds.

The finish is in pretty good shape. There is a little case wear on the lower bout and upper cutaway, but nothing horrible. I was expecting a finish along the lines of a solid Duco-type finish, but instead got a transparent red along the lines of an SG finish. There are small chips on the back around the string ferrules which indicate a pretty thin finish. There are virtually no dings anywhere on the body, further evidence that the owners took pretty good care of it.

The neck shows uniform wear on the back - this guitar appears to have a lot of miles on it, but has seen very little abuse. The first three frets are worn down on the treble side, but still have a lot of life in them. Action is uniform up and down the neck, with out a buzz in sight. The 'F' tuners are pretty solid, with no slippage or binding. I'll give them a little drink of 3 in 1 later though, just to be on the safe side. The bridge is intonated pretty well, but I was surprised to see that the locking nuts aren't tightened at all! As long as the intonation holds up, I'm happy just to leave the bridge be. The chrome bridge plate shows a little pitting, but that's to be expected.

I will need to get used to the skinnier neck profile. It's extremely thin at the nut, but seems to be normal width at the 12th fret. Reminds me of a Mustang neck. The manual (yeah, the original manual is in the original case!) says the neck is 'graduated,' so I'm assuming they were referring to the width.

Tonally, it's pretty much as advertised - one Seth-designed humbucker (which sounds a little light through my Lunchbox, and will bear further investigation through the Twin later on), with a 3-way coil tap switch and a series-parallel switch. Brookdalebill had it right - there's virtually no difference between coils 1 and 2 when tapped, but it does deliver a nice single-coil tone without the sharpness of a Tele pickup.

This is an odd little guitar. I'm going to take it to rehearsal and to my surf band friend's gig this week and road test it. I'm enjoying just sitting here playing it at low volume, so that's a nice start.

I did take pics, but for some reason my laptop and my card reader are not on speaking terms. If I can get to the pics later, I'll post 'em.

I'm kinda sad to see the Ibanez go. It's a great guitar and my trade partner fell in love with it right away, so I know it'll get the play it deserves. And I'm going to give this Lead a good workout, so I'd call it a good trade.

- D