Introduced in early-1988, the Comanche was the first model with Z-coil pickups, the pinnacle of Leo Fender’s design in this area. The concept of this model was first tested on a prototype. To fit the Z-coils, a repurposed, Clear Red, swamp ash Skyhawk body had its individual pickup routs redone either by wood whop foreman Steve Reed or plant manager Lloyd Chewning, as judged from the work quality. With a 5-position pickup selector, patented PTB circuit, i.e. volume control and separate bass and treble cut, and an expander switch to combine neck and bridge pickups or all 3, it has the same wiring harness as later used on the production Comanche V. One curiosity on this guitar is the Leo Fender Vibrato Lock behind the chromed “Pat. Pend.” Dual-Fulcrum Vibrato (DFV). Unlike what one might infer from the name, this contraption will only block the arm when pulled up, which only comes in handy when you change strings in my opinion. Hence, it never found general acceptance. The hard-rock maple #2 neck, with 7½” rosewood fingerboard and Sperzel Locking tuning machines, is also interesting in that the font used for the model decal on the headstock is indicative of it being a prototype. The name actually consists of individual water slide letters (with serif) readily available at art supply stores at the time. The model decal of the very first Interceptor and Rampage were put together by Lloyd in similar fashion. The water slide decals used on the production model have a distinctive shadowed, sans-serif font and were sourced by Meyercord, a company in LA before they went under in the early-1990s. A proper model decal can be seen on this Comanche VI Signature. The Comanche VI was introduced shortly after the V and has much more involved pickup switching options. An early Comanche V or VI looked more like the 3rd style Interceptor with a Long-Horn body, although with normal arm and belly contours, and a Ray Ransdell redesigned sickle headstock without the G&L hook. The looks of this prototype on the other hand are the harbinger of the looks of the (Leo Fender) Signature version of the V and VI. With only few exceptions, these Signatures have a body shaped after the Skyhawk Signature and the traditional G&L headstock. The Comanche V is a Rarebird with its own page. Greg Gagliano’s ggjaguar.com website features 2 Comanche V Signatures from 1991 (note the unusual sickle headstock!) and 1992, respectively. The Comanche disappeared after BBE Sound, Inc. started to take over G&L in late-1991 but came back in 1998 effectively as a reissue of the Comanche V Signature without the signature. More information on the BBE-era Comanche can be found here:

http://glguitars.com/product/comanche/.