The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 1st X-body Interceptor III

[yowhatsshakin]

This is part 3 in a 7 part series. Other installments can be found here:

1. The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: Introduction and history
2. The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 1st X-body Interceptor II
3. The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 2nd X-body Interceptor HH
4. The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 3rd style Interceptor HSS
5. The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: 3rd style Interceptor SSS
6. The Interceptor Guitar & Bass: The Interceptor Bass

This chapter on the Interceptor III is a late addition to the series. This model was on my wish list for many, many years and I only stumbled upon it by happenstance when reference was made of a different guitar on the Heritage Auctions website. Unfortunately, it did not come with an original hardshell case, which would have been a tolex form fit case. But here she is, S/N G012264:



The Clear Red/Black paint scheme is slightly different from the Interceptor II in the previous installment and more akin to the one used for the Interceptor HH in the next. The back is completely Black whereas the Clear Red on the front allows enough of the maple figure to come through. It should be called out though that whereas the price sheets mentions the color as Red-over-Black, it is more Black-over-Red. A close-up of a buckle rash on the backside shows this well.



The 1st X-body shape is very ergonomic as accentuated with the usual bevels and contours.


I have played this guitar now for a month or 2 and lets get this out of the way right now: it is the “sweetest” sounding of all my Interceptors. Yes, it can be viewed as “just another Nighthawk/Skyhawk” with a different form factor. This would be correct. Also here a maple body is combined with 3 fantastic single-coil Nighthawk MFD pickups, aforementioned impeccable body ergonomics, the Dual-Fulcrum vibrato, and responsive PTB tone stack with 5-way pickup selector. All these things make this guitar a joy to play. The picture below uses a Nighthawk pickguard on the body to demonstrate the lay-out of the pickups being identical. Ans as on the nighthawk, you find the jack on the control panel.



The DFV is balanced by the usual set of 3 springs. The guitar came without arm and spring cavity cover but this was easily solved by going to Gabe Dellevigne’s Electric String Instruments website and order the necessary parts.


One will notice that both the date stamp in the neck pocket as well as on the neck heel are identical to the stamps for the Interceptor II. This seems to indicate all these parts were machined at the same time. According to Gabe, the entry date in the sales log for this guitar is 10/6/1983, the day after Leo Crabtree did some final work on Leo’s Interceptor II.


The guitar has the standard (pre-BBE) #2 neck with 7½” radius ebony fingerboard and 1⅝” nut width. The matching headstock has G&L stamped Schaller machines, still with location tab. As an interesting tidbit: although the body and neck date stamps are identical to the 1st X-body Interceptor II discussed in the previous installment, here the ”by Leo Fender” phrase is absent underneath the G&L logo!



For other pictures of the 1st X-body Interceptor III, one can visit the relevant links on the Rarebird page, gawk at this German page showing off a Red Interceptor III, or browse to the Interceptor III featured on Greg Galliano’s fabulous ggjaguar.com website.

Once more I would like to express my gratitude to Gabe Dellevigne for any and all information he provided as well as making this guitar complete.

- Jos

[JimiRayKing]

Interceptors Rule !
A very informative and well written article !
Thanks Jos

[JimiRayKing]

Jos
You mention in your article that the color on the Red/Black Interceptors is more "black over red" than "red over black", is the linked German Interceptor a factory finished red guitar that was left without the black topcoat, or has it been refinished? If original would it be a one off? Are you aware of any non standard finishes on an Interceptor?
Thanks for your expertise !

[sam]

Hey Jos,

Always good to to see your collection, Interceptors especially.

[yowhatsshakin]

Jos
You mention in your article that the color on the Red/Black Interceptors is more "black over red" than "red over black", is the linked German Interceptor a factory finished red guitar that was left without the black topcoat, or has it been refinished? If original would it be a one off? Are you aware of any non standard finishes on an Interceptor?
Thanks for your expertise !

Hi JimiRay,

That "German" Interceptor is a factory finished guitar; other known Interceptors have a similar finish. For a fair overview of all the factory finishes used, check out the Interceptor Registry page. But I'd say the most famous finish is Pearl Blueburst. You may call it non-standard because AFAIK it has not been used on any other model (or wasn't named as such).

- Jos

[JimiRayKing]

Thanks Jos !
In search of a solid red one , but definitely a needle in a haystack

[JimiRayKing]

Greetings
I am a 1st Style Interceptor junkie and currently going through withdrawals. If anyone has any pictures of one of these guitars ,please post them to help me through this difficult time
Thank You in advance