interception

[john o]

I have been gassing for awhile for a mid-late 80's G&L guitar with the Leo Fender fine tuner bridge/tailpiece AND the sickle headstock. Have seen the occasional skyhawk or even comanche with this combination of features.
I figured, maybe someday, these guitars are pretty rare.
Last Tuesday night I was reading Jos' excellent treatise on interceptor guitars, body styles 1, 2, and...3. I was admiring his beautiful interceptor, with the combination of features i was sort of craving.
I felt tired and zipped over to Reverb for the end of the day drill. The 2nd guitar on my feed was a 3rd body type '88 G&L Interceptor with my desired features. And the price was better than expected. I first thought it was an illusion and rubbed the old eyes. Excellent condition, Olivia's Vintage Guitars in S. Illinois. It had been posted 4.5 hr before I saw it. Good luck that night! Box arrived today. Here's a few pics.
Jos said 97 of these were made. Minimal checking of the finish, tan top, back and headstock. Metallic gold border on the body. Neck is wide: 1 and 3/4. Relatively flat radius, 12.5 or maybe even 25. Love the 80's neck. Slender with that veneer fretboard like my others. Fretboard looks like ebony. Dark and stripy, much more so than the rosewood on my '89 ASAT. Neck date 2/5/88, body 1/5/88, vibrato cavity 2/12/88. Neck and middle p'ups are like those on my '84 skyhawk. The bridge bucker is a supposed to be a schaller. Each p'up with individual toggle switch for on/off. Claw in the vibrato cavity only allows 2 springs. This is fine for 09-42, will need a 3 spring claw for 10-46. Truss rod needed a little adjustment. Plugged in everything works well. Master tone and vol. switch craft jack working for now. Standard tuners. Nut lock down plates missing. Original whammy bar and OHSC. Good shape.
Sounds great plugged in, everything works. Haven't cranked it up much yet. Later this week...

[Craig]

Congratulations!

I think the fretboard is Rosewood not Ebony though.

See: 1988 Interceptor Ad Slick.

[darwinohm]

Very cool score! -- Darwin

[Craig]

Congratulations!

I think the fretboard is Rosewood not Ebony though.

See: 1988 Interceptor Ad Slick.

I emailed Dave M. to get the factory log info on this guitar:

G021900 completed May 2, 1988 Interceptor LF/V (Leo Fender vibrato) 4RW (#4 neck, rosewood board) TAN/GOL (tan/gold two-tone). It doesn't mention the body wood though.

[y2kc]

That is a great body style. The gold and yellow combo you have is the rarest of the two tone Interceptors. At least it seems that way to me. I have not seen a s/s/s version in that color scheme.

nice find,
y2kc

[sam]

Congratulations!

Timing is everything as you saw.

[art]

Nice! I saw that one as well, and I wondered: is the bridge designed to be usable on both lefties and righties?
art

[john o]

art - i think the bridge tailpiece is very symmetrical, enabling proper use of the vibrato for lefties. also there's the SRV option of the upper boss for the whammy bar, should that be one's preference. i don't think the fine tuner knobs are useful unless you use the locking nut pieces or locking tuners, neither of which i have. i have to read more about the LF FT bridge/tailpiece though.

sam, y2kc, darwin, thank you! very exciting!

craig, thanks for your insight and for inquiring! i guess if you've seen one rosewood board, you've seen one rosewood board! this one's pretty dark. i just love the one on my '89 ASAT, nice and rosey! i checked JOS' options/price list, this model came in maple or rosewood.

the ASAT rosewood...

[Danley]

Awesome - weird locking nuts always seem to evaporate.

[Matdeflo]

Ouaouh super nice !!!

[y2kc]

This body shape was one of G&L's stabs at attracting the "modern" eighties player. In this case they nailed it. The sickle headstock looks like it was designed for this guitar. I am very happy they did not use a Floyd Rose type trem.
These guitars are "few and far between", as my Gramma would say. She used to say a lot of other things but most of it cannot be repeated here.

Great find,

y2kc

[john o]

thanks, y2kc, matdeflo and danley!

i plugged it into a couple of proper amps today and worked out on it for a few hours.
i have to say it's my new favorite, this thing really rocks!
the neck has a different feel based on its dimensions, the string action is really nice with no buzz, and the neck/bridge pup combination sounds very sweet. mucho fun
i think it'll be a rehearsal and jams guitar, would be afraid to take it to a gig, not so replaceable

[Tooslowhand]

Do you think the nut is a Schaller? Maybe you could contact them to see if the lock pieces are available.

[FZTNT]

Very nice score Dr. I snoozed and missed it, but am low on GAS money these days anyway. I have an '87 Interceptor with the purple body with cream outside and matching sickle headstock. Maple board and locking tuners. I love it and also got a good price on it.

I have several guitars with that double whammy bridge and they really work well despite some of them missing the locking plates on the headstock. I found a picture of what they look like on one of my Invaders and have seen them for sale on Ebay before. I have seen some with Leo Fender stamped on them but I also believe the Guitar Tech ones were original equipment too. I also need to get around to picking up a few sets before they are all gone.

Anyway, once again, great score and enjoy playing it. I know it's one of my favs too.

Tom

[sscandyman]

Greats on the nice score! Very good looking guitar !

[john o]

thanks sscandyman and tooslowhand!
i'm not sure if i'd use the locking plates. i have toyed with the idea of putting locking tuners on it.
i'm not an aggressive or frequent user of vibrato bar, occasional tweak. I just love the LF/FT bridge/tailpiece though.
Lots of mass/sustain, nice vibrato action, stays in tune.
Tom i'd love to see pics of the purple/cream guitar. Jos says only 12 of the 3rd body type interceptors were made in '87.
How do you like the Schaller humbuckers?

[FZTNT]

OK...did not know exactly how few were made but that's pretty cool. Wish this one had the double whammy bridge and the Shallers on this as well as my Invaders sound incredible. Plenty of sweet jangles and power cords that drive anything to a clean distortion (if there is such a thing). The Invaders and Interceptors are some of the favorites in my collection and any guitar with the LF/FT bridge is a winner. Here's a few pics. It's in nearly perfect condition.



Tom

[john o]

wowee, that is a looker!
#4 neck as well?
this is the only 1 and 3/4 nut width, 25 in radius neck i have ever played, and is really growing on me

[y2kc]

That is a good one. The maple neck looks sweet.

y2kc

[LeoFThe Champion]

I wanted one f these guitars so badly about 5 years ago . Unfortunately I didn’t ever score one