Bono: Stage And Studio
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FENDER Lead II - 198x - black finish

Bono and his FENDER Lead II
fender_lead_ii-1985.jpg
* click on photo for larger view *

MAKE: Fender
MODEL: Lead II
VINTAGE: Exact vintage uncertain (approx between 1979-1982)
FINISH: Black

USE:
  • STAGE: Bono used this guitar for early performances of "A Day Without Me".
  • STUDIO: * Uncertain *

VIDEO:
 
"A Day Without Me" - 1982

NOTES:
* From Wikipedia
  • Manufactured Fall 1979 through 1982.
  • Vintage style “Soft C” profile neck with a 7¼" (184 mm) radius.
  • Neck width at nut 1.625" (41.2 mm), plus applied finish thickness.
  • Truss rod adjustment at the heel of the neck.
  • 2 vintage style string trees.
  • 21 medium jumbo frets.
  • "F" tuners (American made, by an outside supplier in Fullerton CA), and "F" 4 bolt neck plate.
  • 3 Ply BWB through 1981 and WBW through 1982 pickguard with foil backing.
  • White plastic nut.
  • 25½" (648 mm) scale length.
  • Bridge uses a string spacing of 0.404" (10 mm).
  • Hardtail bodythrough mounted strings.
  • The saddle screws used lock nuts, not springs.
  • Comes with a tolex or moulded plastic case.

    • Lead II, 1979-1982: Two specially designed X-1 single coil pickups, one at the neck, and the other at the bridge. The X-1 pickup was also used in the bridge position on the "Strat" and the "Dan Smith Stratocaster" models. 3 position pickup selector switch (neck, neck and bridge, bridge), 2 position phase shift switch (in phase, out of phase) which operates only when both pickups are selected (middle position). Master Volume and Tone Control. It was a Lead II, once wielded by Eric Clapton, which started the now famous Hard Rock Café guitar collection.

    Fender Lead II Single Coil Pickup Specifications

    The DC resistance of the Lead II X-1 single coil pickup is approximately 7.5 kΩ (9600 coil winds). Lead II single coil pickups have flat polepieces that are not staggered and have a ceramic magnet. Early Lead II single coil pickups have bobbins formed of green/grey fibreboard and later Lead II single coil pickups have plastic moulded bobbins that are the same as that used on current Stratocasters.

     

    Fender Lead Series General Specifications

    The Lead Series use 250 kΩ volume and tone potentiometers and use 0.05 µF tone capacitors. The body is usually a 3 piece body and the neck and body wood types are either Ash or Alder with Ash being used for the transparent finish models ie Wine Red. The pickup body routing is the same for the Lead I and the Lead II models (humbucker bridge and single coil neck routing). Later year Fender Lead models have a more contoured body and there are two subtle variations in headstock shape, one of which (softer contour) using tooling dating back to the 1950's Stratocaster (as with the Dan Smith Stratocaster). Neck profile and headstock thickness varied slightly throughout the production run for all Fender Lead models of different years. Many instruments used a polyurethane finish which is brittle, chips easily, and develops spider cracks if exposed to extremes of heat or cold. The finish is also prone to clouding.

    LINKS:
     

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