Fender Lead III

Photo: Anais Gallagher
Model: Fender Player Lead III
Color: Olympic White
Year: 2020

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Used in...

- 2022

- used during the recording sessions of the Council Skies album
Details

The Lead series was introduced by Fender in 1979 as an entry-level offer: these guitars were manufactured at Fender's factory in Fullerton, California and priced below the Stratocasters & other Fender guitars.
Three different versions were available: the Lead I (with a single humbucker pickup), the Lead II (with two single-coils) and the Lead III (with two humbuckers, only offered in 1982).1

In late 1982 the Lead series was discontinued: Fender started its Japanese branch and the Lead models were de facto replaced with an entry level Strat lookalike marketed under the Squier name.2

In 2020, Fender reissued the Lead models for the first time, albeit with a few differences: like the original, they were marketed at an attractive price and featured very versatile electronics.3
Noel's Lead III is one of the 2020 reissues: maybe it was gifted to him by Fender, or maybe he bought it himself because of the early '80s looks.

The guitar has two toggle switches: the first one is the usual 3-way pickup selector, while the other one is a coil-split switch that cuts out one coil from the humbuckers, making them work as single-coil pickups.4

The Lead III has been extensively used in early 2022 to record guitar parts for the Council Skies album: Noel is seen recording riffs for the songs Pretty Boy and Think of a Number. Gem Archer and Paul Strangeboy Stacey also played some riffs for Think of a Number with it.5

DISCLAIMER
This is a fansite. It is not affiliated with Noel Gallagher, his management or his record label.
For informational and non-commercial use only. Please do NOT publish this content elsewhere.
If you share or use this information, please provide proper credit and link to the website.
I appreciate your respect for the years of dedicated, freely available research!
Visit the “Info & About” page for contact details and more.
Thanks!

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  1. https://uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-fender-lead-series.html ↩︎
  2. https://www.accordo.it/article/viewPub/42790 ↩︎
  3. https://guitar.com/reviews/electric-guitar/review-fender-player-lead-ii-player-lead-iii/ ↩︎
  4. https://www.guitarworld.com/reviews/fender-lead-iii-review ↩︎
  5. Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds – The Making Of Council Skies [Parts 1,2 and 3] ↩︎

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