LeRoy Whitfield tuners and a string-through-body bridge with block saddles. Notable users. Notable guitar players who have utilized the Fender Lead series include: Technical information. Fender Lead I/III Humbucker Pickup Specifications The DC resistance of the Lead I/III Seth Lover designed humbucker pickup is approximately 13 kΩ. The Lead I/III humbucker pickups have 12 adjustable pole pieces and have a ceramic magnet. 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) vrs (7600 coil winds) on a Stratocaster. Lead II single 	Fender Lead Series
23710569	coil pickups have flat ALNICO polepieces. 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 made of 3 pieces of either alder or ash while the necks are maple with a walnut 'skunk stripe' on their backs and a matching plug on the face of the headstock covering the end 	Fender Lead Series
23710570	of the truss rod. Maple fingerboarded necks are made of one piece of maple (no separate fingerboard) while rosewood fingerboarded necks have a thick veneer of rosewood stuck over the pre-radiused face of the neck. While the lead neck is approximately .04 in narrower at the nut than typical Fender Telecasters and Stratocasters of that era, the neck width at the 21st fret is the same as the Stratocaster and Tele (measuring 2.182 inches). The pickup body routing is the same for the Lead I and the Lead II models (humbucker bridge and single coil neck routing). The grounding 	Fender Lead Series
23710571	system in all three of the series didn't stop with the foiled backing on the pickguard. A ground strap was screwed to the body routing pocket between the bridge pickup and the pickup selector switch cavity. The body pockets were covered with a conductive coating. The bridge ground wire was connected here with a common connection to the pickguard ground. Later year Fender Lead models have a more contoured body and there are two subtle variations in headstock shape, one of which (softer contour) used tooling dating back to the 1950s Stratocaster (as with the Dan Smith Stratocaster). Neck 	Fender Lead Series
23710572	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. Serial Numbers. The Fender Lead Series used a modified version of the Fender United States serial number format. The first letter E designated the eighties, and the next two numbers (00, 01, or 02) indicated the year of manufacture. For example, E01XXXX = 1981. Fender Lead Series guitar serial numbers were installed 	Fender Lead Series
23710573	on the headstock, inside body pocket, and back of the pick guard. An all original model may have the same serial number identifier on each of these major parts. Fender Lead Series The Fender Lead Series was produced by the Fender/Rogers/Rhodes Division of CBS Musical Instruments. The series comprised Lead I, Lead II, Lead III and Lead Bass models. History. The original concept for the Lead Guitar series, including the name lead came from Dennis Handa, then Marketing director for Fender Guitars. The idea was to have a guitar that was cheaper than the Stratocaster and be attractive 	Fender Lead Series
23710574	LeRoy Whitfield LeRoy Whitfield LeRoy Whitfield (born in Chicago, September 19, 1969 – October 9, 2005) was an African-American freelance journalist who chronicled his personal experience with HIV infection and AIDS. He was hailed by many as one of the nation's leading journalists reporting on AIDS in the African-American community. Whitfield pursued post-secondary studies at historically-Black Barber-Scotia College (Concord, NC), Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), University of Chicago, and DePaul University (Chicago, IL). He was diagnosed with HIV during 1990 at the age of 19 and opted not to take antiretroviral medications due to their possible side effects 	LeRoy Whitfield
23710575	ranging from fatigue and nausea to blurred vision. His doctors, though, advised otherwise. He had worries about clinic doctors who just didn't get him". After a Harvard Medical School researcher - "to understand specimens like me" - studied him as a longtime survivor of HIV who had never taken AIDS medications, Whitfield nicknamed  himself "Marathon Man". Whitfield wrote a column "Native Tongue" published monthly in "HIV Plus" magazine beginning May 2004. Due to the candor with which Whitfield shared his own fight against HIV in "Native Tongue", that column was one of the publication's most popular features recalled "HIV Plus"-editor  Michael W.E. Edwards, who described Whitfield as a "consummate journalist -  thorough, detailed, unafraid, and unapologetic in his approach to the topics he wrote about." Whitfield - offering very candid looks into the most intimate parts of his life - invited readers to share in and learn from his personal experiences. Commentator Keith Boykin reflected that Whitfield "was unusually committed to exposing the truth about AIDS in the Black community and he was unafraid to challenge conventional wisdom". "Few people wrote as eloquently about being young, gifted and black - and same gender loving and HIV positive.  LeRoy wrote with his heart and all  his senses.  He wasn't afraid to douse the page with his convictions or his vulnerability.", explained "Poz"-Editor Angelo Ragaza. Whitfield was openly bi-sexual and - as Verena Dobnik of the Associated Press wrote - he "used his personal experience - including relationships with both men and women - as a prism on the larger issues  surrounding HIV/AIDS,". He attributed the rise of HIV in the Black community to  - among other factors - public housing, poverty and violence. However, he debunked the allegation voiced in some circles that AIDS was a White conspiracy to spread the disease among Blacks. In a February 2001  New York Times interview, he said, "I don't think the larger AIDS groups give voice to the Black gay community.  A lot of these men don't have a grip on what they're feeling sexually, and I don't think many of the organizations have a grasp on how to communicate with them." In the September 1997 issue of "Positively Aware" magazine, Whitfield wrote "for African-Americans, AIDS is the "atrocity du jour"". Whitfield also contributed to "Ebony", "Vibe", "The Source", "Chicago", "City Limits", "Black Lines", "Kujisource" magazines; and the "New York Daily News", "Chicago Defender" newspapers. "Vibe  magazine's Angelo Ragaza (also editor of Poz" magazine) gave Whitfield a feature-article writing assignment which had Whitfield traveling to South Dakota State Penitentiary and interviewing Nikko Briteramos - a Black, 18-year-old, Si Tanka University (Huron, SD) freshman who was the first person convicted (2002) and imprisoned under South Dakota's HIV transmission law mandating that HIV-positive persons inform prospective sexual partners of their HIV-positive status.  Whitfield's resulting "Vibe" (Vol. 11, No. 7) article was titled "A Dream Deferred".  "Vibe"'s Ragaza observed, "When LeRoy moved from personal essays to longer investigative pieces, I could  tell it was a different kind of exercise for him.  But it worked because LeRoy "was his subject"." Whitfield, too, while in Chicago was an associate editor at magazine "Positively Aware", as well a community educator at AIDS-awareness-organization Positive Voice; and after moving to New York during 2000 was a columnist and senior editor at "Poz -" a magazine intended for people with HIV. He also was active with Los Angeles-based Black AIDS Institute and served as one of the founding members of the institute's journalism team. Whitfield, - having chosen to refuse antiretroviral therapy  - struggled both physically  and emotionally as his T-cell-count dropped,  his HIV viral  load climbed, and his health deteriorated. In "HIV Plus" August 2005, Whitfield wrote: "I keep weighing potential side effects against the ill alternative - opportunistic infections - and I just can't decide which is worse. My T-cell count has plummeted to 40 - a dangerously all-time low - and my viral load has spiked to 230,000.  I've argued against taking meds for so many years that now - with my numbers stacked against me - I find it hard to stop." He could not bring himself to take antiretroviral medication. Over  the years, Whitfield's decision to refuse antiretroviral therapy prompted anger in friends and other HIV-positive associates. He found himself abandoned by friends who were disgruntled and/or disgusted over his decision not to take meds. One such so-called "friend" told him: "now that you're so goddamn stubborn, I hope that something terrible happens to your health just to teach you a lesson." Responding to the criticism, Whitfield wrote in what was to become his final "HIV Plus" (November 2005) column - "A Prayer for the Dying" - that he had grown tired of people "telling me - but never asking  - what I need. If they asked, they'd know that this is the hardest medical decision I've ever had to make. And I feel very alone and afraid of making it. If they'd ever stop to ask, they'd know." Whitfield died, age 36, of "AIDS-related complications" - kidney failure and pneumonia - in New York City at North General Hospital located in Harlem. Phill Wilson - executive director of the Black AIDS Institute - wrote Whitfield's death "is yet another reminder that the AIDS epidemic is not over for Black folks in America.  LeRoy's life and death with  AIDS is a commentary on how complex HIV/AIDS in "black face" really is." October 15, nearly a week after his death, Whitfield (posthumously) and his co-writer Kai Wright received a First Place "2005 Salute To Excellence Award" from the National Association of Black Journalists for their "AIDS Goes Gray" story in "City Limits" magazine. The family's funeral/"homegoing" service in Chicago was held October 14 at Sweet Holy Spirit Church. Burial was in Alsip, IL at Burr Oak Cemetery. On October 20, a New York City memorial service for Whitfield was held at National Black Theatre in Harlem . Whitfield was survived by his mother, Imogene Whitfield; his brother, Crofton Whitfield; and his sister, LaRonya Whitfield. Published: October 16, 2005 LeRoy Whitfield LeRoy Whitfield (born in Chicago, September 19, 1969 – October 9, 2005) was an African-American freelance journalist who chronicled his personal experience with HIV infection and AIDS. He was hailed by many as one of the nation's leading journalists reporting on AIDS in the African-American community. Whitfield pursued post-secondary studies at historically-Black Barber-Scotia College (Concord, NC), Northwestern University (Evanston, IL), University of Chicago, and DePaul University (Chicago, IL). He was diagnosed with