In the "well if we're doing a bunch of reissues why the hell not this one" category - an MIM Player series version of the Lead III is evidently going to be introduced at the show as well; looks like this is probably a regular production model, not a limited run (but it's a leak so who knows until the official introduction).
The new Lead III will use the MIM Player Strat neck so it's not the tiny 1 9/16" width and fat rounded neck. Normal humbuckers - probably what they use in the HSS Player Strat - with the Lead III switching of a 3-way for pickup selection and a 2-way to split the coils.
https://www.gearnews.com/namm-2020-leak-fender-player-lead-iii-2020-purple-metallic/
EDIT: Ooops. As I had a Lead II and not a Lead III I forgot that the coil split switch on the originals was a 3-way toggle - point it toward the neck and it splits the neck pickup, in the middle both are humbuckers, point it toward the back of the guitar and it splits the bridge pickup.
The small article doesn't say if they kept the original switching or are going to a simple 2-way to split both pickups simultaneously.
On my old Lead II they had the 3-way for pickup switching and the 2-way put the both pickups setting in-phase or out-of-phase.
Last edited: Jan 12, 2020
