Fender Lead II

[Jaded]

...anyone had any experience with them?



I'm considering getting one at the moment as i should be able to get one at nice price.. so i was just wondering if any of you have one or have used them in the past etc.. what do they play like? sound like? you get the general idea 

Thanks 

[JazzBlaster]

great guitar if you can get one cheaply, I'd say they soud a bit mustang duo sonic-ish

David

[Jaded]

Thats what i was hoping to hear! 

the one i'm looking at seems a reasonable price, just trying to find a way around the import tax is the problem..

[mjet]

great guitar if you can get one cheaply, I'd say they soud a bit mustang duo sonic-ish

David

I agree that they're good value (they're largely ignored by the vintage freaks who will pay hundreds or thousands more for a Strat from the same year) although I would suggest that they're a bit more Stratty in tone. The pickups are essentially Strat pickups and the scale length is 25.5", just like a Strat/Tele. The bodies are a wee bit smaller than a Strat. I like hardtails so for me it was a no-brainer. Nice stuff, though. Many of the black-finished ones have crackle problems (Fender switched to a new supplier apparently and lots bubbled up and turned almost a light blue under the finish) but the red transparent ones seem to be ok.

Here's a Lead II fan-driven page:  http://jfetdel.free.fr/lead/indexEn.html

[Orang Goreng]

Where were these made, BTW? An ex gf of mine used to have what appeared to be an exact a copy of a Lead II, by a brand called "Bird". I always thought it was an odd model to copy, so I wondered if it wasn't simply a rebadged guitar from the same factory that made the Lead II....

[mjet]

Where were these made, BTW? An ex gf of mine used to have what appeared to be an exact a copy of a Lead II, by a brand called "Bird". I always thought it was an odd model to copy, so I wondered if it wasn't simply a rebadged guitar from the same factory that made the Lead II....

There were three models (I, II and III) - they were made between 1979-1982. I have also seen some copies - maybe at the time it was thought that they'd be more popular. Those copies that I saw were Japanese whereas all of the Leads were made in Fullerton factory.

I have a set of the humbuckers that were used in the I and III models - I was thinking about putting them in a Warmoth Jazzmaster as a kind of update to the Jazzblaster layout. I seem to recall hearing that they were actually designed by Seth Lover on a posting over at the FDP by John Page but I'm a bit fuzzy on that now...

[shadowplay]

My third ever guitar (after a Hofner 175 and a slot headstock Kawai like Robin Guthrie).  It's still going strong as i'm pals with the buyer.  It was a nice player but lack of vibrato  meant bye bye.

[Orang Goreng]

There were three models (I, II and III) - they were made between 1979-1982. I have also seen some copies - maybe at the time it was thought that they'd be more popular. Those copies that I saw were Japanese whereas all of the Leads were made in Fullerton factory.

Oh, OK. I didn't know the model was that old. I assumed they were 80s Japanese Fenders.

[mjet]

Here's one example of what I was talking about in a previous post about the black finishes having all kinds of problems:




I had one which had this problem - I had it stripped and refinished:

[del]

these are great guitars, imho (and the red finish in photo 1 is tops!).  Particularly the dula single coil model which is - as others have indicated - a bit mustang-like in many ways.  There are other links in this thread to the neat switching features of this series of guitars, so I'll add just one little tidbit: this is the guitar of choice for Roger Miller, the guitarist for Mission of Burma!

[eupat]

reminds me of a LP doublecut, i like it.

[mcjt]

i saw just recently on eBay that there were several Leads for BIN at $500! i was really surprised! i haven't picked one up in years, but when i worked in guitars back in the 80's, we had Leads in inventory. They were QUITE nice. Good quality, not too heavy. Reconfigured hard tail strats, essentially.

[Jaded]

Thanks for all the replies, they've answered all my questions  so its pretty much what you would get if you crossed a mustang/duo-sonic with a hardtail strat? sounds pretty good to me!

i saw just recently on eBay that there were several Leads for BIN at $500! i was really surprised! i haven't picked one up in years, but when i worked in guitars back in the 80's, we had Leads in inventory. They were QUITE nice. Good quality, not too heavy. Reconfigured hard tail strats, essentially.

yeah i'm looking at one on ebay, if i can get it over here minus the import charges its a steal at £250!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... Y.m238.lVI

thats the one i'm after, seems pretty good to me 

[mjet]

i saw just recently on eBay that there were several Leads for BIN at $500! i was really surprised! i haven't picked one up in years, but when i worked in guitars back in the 80's, we had Leads in inventory. They were QUITE nice. Good quality, not too heavy. Reconfigured hard tail strats, essentially.

I never paid more than $300 for an of mine, but I did need to refinish one or two (I think I've had three pass through). But the all-intact ones might be appreciating a bit in value now that the 1970s stuff is going up in price.

[shadowplay]

mjet, I tend not to get involved in the guitars are gorgeous chat but your pink lead is indeed gorgeous.  It's very http://www.agentprovocateur.com/