Makeitstop
Senior Member
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2008
- Messages
- 8,210
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- 709
As usual, I did some wheeling and dealing over the Summer, and here's one guitar I got in a trade for the Ibanez Artist that fell out of the rotation...
It's a 1979 Fender Lead I, which Fender introduced in '79 to replace most of their 'student' guitars (Mustang, Duo Sonic, Musicmaster), and they only sold the Lead series (introducing a Lead II in 1980) for two years. It's got a single Seth Lover-designed humbucker, controlled by a coil selector switch and a phase switch. Hardtail bridge with string-through like a Tele.
This one is in really great shape for its age, with minimal wear and tear. The finish is hard to see in the pics, but it's actually a transparent red, like an SG finish.
Two things are surprising about this guitar. First, the weight - this thing weighs nearly 10 pounds, more than a couple of my LPs! Second, the very narrow neck width at the nut - I believe it's 1.6" width. Takes a little getting used to with my ham hands, but after playing it for a while it starts to get real comfy.
There isn't a whole lot of tonal variation from the switching, which is understandable because the two coils of the HB are right next to one another - but it does deliver a pretty nice single-coil tone. Overall, a pretty cool guitar.
- D
It's a 1979 Fender Lead I, which Fender introduced in '79 to replace most of their 'student' guitars (Mustang, Duo Sonic, Musicmaster), and they only sold the Lead series (introducing a Lead II in 1980) for two years. It's got a single Seth Lover-designed humbucker, controlled by a coil selector switch and a phase switch. Hardtail bridge with string-through like a Tele.
This one is in really great shape for its age, with minimal wear and tear. The finish is hard to see in the pics, but it's actually a transparent red, like an SG finish.
Two things are surprising about this guitar. First, the weight - this thing weighs nearly 10 pounds, more than a couple of my LPs! Second, the very narrow neck width at the nut - I believe it's 1.6" width. Takes a little getting used to with my ham hands, but after playing it for a while it starts to get real comfy.
There isn't a whole lot of tonal variation from the switching, which is understandable because the two coils of the HB are right next to one another - but it does deliver a pretty nice single-coil tone. Overall, a pretty cool guitar.
- D
