Fender '62 Reissue Jaguar

I'm back with another review for my second Fender...the 62' Reissue Jaguar. While I'm sure you know the specifics, my particular axe differs just a little, however, the customizations only changed 2 or three characteristics, and added a few features....

-CIJ (Crafted In Japan)
-22 Vintage Frets
-Rhy/Lead Selector, Rhy Vol, Rhy Tone, Lead Vol, Lead Tone/Coil Split, Pickup On/Off X2, Strangle Switch (Low-Cut)
-Twin Seymour Duncan SCR-1 "Cool Rails" Pickups, Passive
-Alder Body, Maple Neck, Rosewood Fretboard
-3-Tone Sunburst Finish
-Jaguar routed Offset-Waisted Contoured body
-TOM In place of Rocker Bridge (I'm chaning that to stock, explain later)
-Floating Tremelo Tailpiece with nifty friction held bar and Trem-Lock feature
- Gotoh Kluson Style Tuning Machines
- 24" Scale, 7.25" Fretboard Radius, roughly 1.3" nut width
- Included Hardshell Case

Because of these features, this guitar is like a tonal candy store, there's hardly anything it does'nt have!

I bought this guitar as I had played an original 63' Jaguar years ago through a high gain Mesa amplifier turned to 11 and found a sound that I've been looking for for a real long time. All in all, Jaguars keep getting more expensive, so I decided to fix one up, however, I was met with some fairly pleasant surprises along the way....

I run this multi-faced monster through a Behringer V-Amp Pro rackmount processor straight into my computer for recording, and needless to say, anyone can tell when the Jaguar is laying down the tone...

Clean, the cool rails keep the original "Jaguar" tone, sort of like Abigail put a few too many turns around the bobbins in a stock vintage one. The tone is very warm due to the shorter scale length, yet very bright and sharp at the same time, with a nifty "thwack" to it that no other guitar can manage to get. The sound is kind of like a Bright Les Paul or a Darker Stratocaster, but not exactly, very much it's own tone all in all. Clean with a Blackface Twin setting on the V-Amp and the Reverb cranked brings about visions of surfboards, bikin's, and waves, like it was meant to. Kick out the Reverb and punch up the treble, and you get Ric Ocasek's "My Best Friend's Girl" tone nailed easily with both pickups on.

Overdrive brings out a rather good 70's Dino rock type tone with the Cool Rails (and even without if you happen to luck upon a good set of Jaguar pickups like that old 63' I played eons ago). I usually run with the Brit High Gain through a Standard 78' Cab, which pushes the Jaguar into sounding kind of like a Les Paul in the bridge position, with a few upper midrange frequencies cut off. It gives off a really snotty kind of growl usually reserved for Gretches and some LP's, which works great for rhythm as well as lead, and for lead it really packs a lot of punch without losing the lows, which in my minds eye, is a perfect lead tone.

Now time to crank it up. Put the V-Amp on Rectified Head with the defualt cabinet, turn everything to 10 except the mids, and you end up with it sounding like most other metal guitars, the "thwack" is augmented by the heavy distortion, leaving the guitar sounding like another humbucker equipped shred machine played through a rectifier with the mids scooped out. I've pretty much deducted this to me believing that just about anything with a bridge pickup and strings is good enough for metal.

Either way, I have not been able to find a sound that DOES'NT work on this guitar. I can't say it's the pickup swap because it sounds much like the old 63' I played, just without hum. I've come to the deduction that the Jaguar tone is not just the pickups, but the body, the neck, the hardware, and how each piece of the equation relates to itself. If someone CAN'T get a good sound out of one of these stock, then they just have not found out how to get it yet!

Never saw it when it came out of the factory so I can't really comment on that. When I got the guitar, the pickups were swapped out, the pickguard had been replaced with a brown tortishell with the provision for the string mute on it, and the bridge had been swaped out with a modified Gibson ABR Tune-O-Matic that someone tweaked for the Jaguar's fretboard radius. It was fairly well setup, but it still will never be perfect until the standard Rocker Bridge is put back in (either Mustang OR Jaguar iterations).

The Tremelo had been disabled, it took me about 5 minutes after removing the 12 Gauge strings from it to fix that little issue. I ran it with 3 different tremelo bars, the first one being washburn "Wonderbar" trem bar, then I installed one from a 62' Reissue stratocaster, then lucked out, went to Guitar Center, and there was a 62' Jaguar bar in the clearance bin. Bent it upward a little, and changed it up for my kinda trem "abuse".

My re-setup (Which I do routinley) lead to the guitar playing great afterward, however, my setup for Jaguar/JAzzmaster style stuff deviates from the normal version. First off, I strung it up with 009's, which is not a mistake as I use the bridge/neck angle to compensate, which now yields really good sustain with the light feel I like. Then I tightened the spring and bypassed the trem-lock button which is a tad bit unusual. However, this lead to three discoveries, 1.) The Jaguar actually has some decent Dive Bomb potential despite not having the ability to go lower than what would be an open A string on a bass, 2.) This has to be one DAMN good trem system as it stays in tune reliably, even with a Tune-O-Matic installed in place of the normal bridge, and 3.) The Trem Lock can act as a Quasi-D-Tuna type device. I just push the bar down, lock it, and can play in a lower key all of a sudden, talk about versitile.

My only complaint is the fretting out, which on Japanese Fender guitars I have deducted to having something to do with the frets on the top part of the neck not being inserted into their slots fully, a problem I'll be removing when I go to refret my axes soon, as plenty need it at this point. People say it's the neck radius...but if it was, then how is it a 63' Jaguar with equal action and equal fretwear can NOT "choke" when being bent.

This thing was MADE for the stage. It has all that flashy chrome, that angular body, a punchy, LOUD tone, what else do you need? I've sat down practically all day with this guitar several times recording and playing it, and it's given me less trouble than most of my stable (with my Jag-Stang being the only equal in the house).

The hardware leaves me with only two insecurites, one once get the rocker bridge. First off, I don't entirely trust a Tune-O-Matic on a Jaguar, even if Kurt did use one, he did not use the whammy bar like I do. Second, I I'm a little undecided on how safe doing downward trem tricks on a Surf inspired whammy system is, but so far it's held up beautifully, so I probably haven nothing to worry about. I've been using the Dynamic Vibrato on my Jag-Stang like a Floyd Rose for the last 8 years and it's held up incredibly well, and still stays in tune, the Jaguar should be infallable if nothing else.

The strap buttons were another reason I was set on this being the guitar for me, it came with Schaller Strap-Locks pre-installed! Those are about as solid as solid can be. I've used them religiously since 1999, and it's a standard tweak on ALL of my guitars.

As far as dependancy and gigging without a backup, why the hell not, but then, I like to keep the Jag-Stang around for the tunes that need more of that Humbucker girth to pull them along, so between me and those two, it should be an unstoppable team.

My experience with Fender is this, they are works of art, but they are also FRIGGIN workhorses! You can beat on em, and drag em' around, and put them in conditions that most glued together guitars can't bear. They are built like old Ford trucks, that's why I like them, they practically run forever even in the harshest environments.

However, I'm not as mean to my guitars as one might think, actually, they get pretty babied compared to lots of others I've seen.

I've never had to deal with em. Their stuff always works, and the designs are simple and reliable anyway, why bother.

I've been playing almost 11 years now, and this is my second Fender. I bought a Jag-Stang in 1999 and it's been probably the most reliable guitar I've ever owned. I also own a couple Kramers, scads of homebrews, and other stuff that would take miles to list.

If by some chance it were stolen, I'd be REALLY F***IN pissed. Since it took me THIS long to get a Jaguar. After 10 years of harassing music stores, parents, and other Jag/Jazz players with my so called "stupid" setup ideas and so on, It's finally paid off and I've got one. But then, nobody'd get far anyway, since I have the serial down, and it's pretty hard to miss a guitar I have with all the ID's on it, and even harder to get at it as I live with a good deal of useful and painful weapons that I know how to use in a moment's notice, as well as a cellphone on me 24/7, so needless to say, a perpetrator would have a hard time making off with my stuff.

THe only thing I wish for, is that people would quit pigeonholing guitars with a particular genre. So what, I shred on a Jag with what passes for a stock setup. That would be like me saying a Les Paul with P-90's and a Bigsby would not work for surf!

You know i just got a MIJ one of these; I give the sound a 7 only because I was inclined to change the pickups and after i put in SD antiquity pickups it was a clear 10. I dont know what everyone is talking about with the no metal thing but i have tuned it down to D and played many of the songs from my metal band ( i usually use a double cut les paul) and it sounds great. I was using it through a 65 bassman with a japanese Boss overdrive with both pickups together and it was amazing. I have even run it high gain through my 5150 and it totally screams. Wolftickets on no metal.

Review for a three-tone sunburst CIJ with turtoise pickguard, as far as I can tell it's a late 90s one (can't get an exact date). As the other reviews: very short scale 24" fretboard with an un-Fender-like 22 frets, hardwearing poly finish, rhythm/lead circuit. Guitar is all stock so 2 single coil pickups. Three-piece body, quite heavy so I'm thinking it has to be basswood.

Gotta love that offset waist and Strat-esque contour on the top; both of these factors make it a real joy to play when sitting, equally it balances well standing up. Unique and crazy bridge design shared with the Jazzmaster. Comes with Fender gig bag.

Unlike the original '62 models and the American Vintage reissues has no bridge cover or mute. Although these missing features aren't that useful to me, it is all part and parcel of the Jaguars mojo, so it loses a couple of marks.

So many well thought out features, easily more than double the 'standards' (I'm thinking Strat, Tele, Les Paul, SG etc here) and I find I use every control except the tone roller on the rhythm circuit. A more than balanced 8.

You're dealing with a real Gibson obsessed player here - I don't much like the Les Paul Standard for reasons I won't get onto here, but I own a Liberty ES-335 copy and Gibson Les Paul Special as well as loving the Flying V and ES-175, among others. So for me to give a grade this high to a Fender is heresy but sorry Gibson, this guitar is too damn good not to.

What do I play? Rock, punk, funk, blues, metal. Suits all but the latter style. A lot of players say these guitars sound bad with low to medium amounts of gain, well in my opinion they are WRONG.

Truth be told - and this is my opinion remember - this sounds amazing clean, great with blues/blues-rock levels of gain and pretty darn good with medium amounts. So yes it does work on a sliding scale BUT ONLY JUST. With that in mind it won't do metal unless you want to throw some fatter pickups in there - I don't, I have P90 and humbucker instruments already and don't require another.

I'll break down what I like into style catagories. I adore this for blues - it has that delightful single coil spank and bite when you dig in. The surfy background of this instrument makes it so very percussive - doing chord sweeps and mutes sound so rewarding I could do it all day, so this guitar is a real funk machine. Punk: I like it fairly trashy and this guitar will deliver. A lot of the great punk guitar sounds are single coils with plenty of bite and the Jaguar keeps up easily.

For rock, including the more contemporary sounds of Strat/Tele wielders like the Strokes, Franz Ferdinand and cream of the crop Bloc Party, any setting will work depending on what you want. Creamy and smooth chords and solos, rhythm circuit. I love playing stuff like 'Take Me Out' and 'Helicopter' with the lead circuit, using the bass cut and bridge pickup switches; nails that funky/cutting sound perfectly. In fact I think a lot of new bands going for that sort of sound would love the Jaguar. Also keeps up well for early Zeppelin albums too - I know Pagey used a Tele, but the Jag can do those sounds just as well, in its own brilliant way.

It can get noisy but this is only a problem if you're piling the gain on, and personally you're not going to be using single coils if you want lots of gain are you? Or are you. Those magnetic 'teeth' around the pickup seem to cut the noise down at the cost of losing some sustain.

It can go from cutting and piercing to rich, warm and full with a flick of a switch and change of nuance. I find myself using all the controls on this, the volume controls are especially responsive when you have some overdrive cooking on your amp and you want to back it off. The tone control on the lead circuit is indispensible - if I want to go for full cutting treble on the bridge I'll leave it on 10, if I want less agressive bite I'll roll it off to around 2/3. Plenty of varied Fender single coil tones here, if I need more ballsy tones I'll switch to P90s or humbuckers.

Hmm. This is where this particular guitar falls flat on it's well-contoured arse. It is atrocious, and that is no understatement.

This guitar was loaned to me by a friend who bought it as a main intrument primarily because of it's looks. He is a great bass player and a beginner guitar player. As I found out, he couldn't get to grips with it because IT IS NOT A BEGINNERS GUITAR. It's just too damn high-maintenance for that, because when it's stock you have to wrestle to keep it playable.

I knew what I was getting into when I noted that Fender called the bridge/vibrato system a design failure. Every man and his dog hates those saddles - I mean, saddles should have one properly cut groove, not lots of shallow ones as this has. I've only had the low E come out once after a week of solid playing on it, but the chances of this happening live increase tenfold. Volume control is suffering from bad contacts. Truss rod requires some serious TLC as it's bowed and probably has been since my friend bought it. Gauge of strings is too thin I think. Pickups feed back easily, but I quickly learnt to make full use of this so now it only feeds back when I want it to, and how I want it to for the most part. Feedback can be musical.

It isn't all bad though. Tuning pegs do their job pretty well. The plastic nut didn't skip or jump after I'd put some graphite in the grooves. I don't find the switches too noisy although they are a little tough to change mid-song, however I like changing sounds mid-song so much I'm getting used to it. Although that tremolo system is flawed it does sound sweet for subtle wavers and flutters, I would say Bigsby but it's far easier to use!

This guitar has real potential. Some of the flaws are pretty easy to fix (cleaning the volume pot, adjusting the truss rod, fitting some 011 gauges instead of the 010s it currently has) while others are going to require upgrades. These are: fitting a Buzz Stop, changing stock saddles for Mustang ones (#1 most popular mod as voted for by Jaguar owners), possibly getting the pickups potted or changed (but not for humbuckers). These will improve tuning stability, sustain and general reliability and aren't too expensive to do.

The Jaguar could and would appeal to a wider range of players if it were more reliable; all Fender have to do is start fitting these with buzzstops and mustang saddles as standard, and perhaps do away with those magentic things round the pickups because they negatively affect sustain. It's a shame Fender haven't wised up to this else I predict they'd shift a hell of a lot more Jaguars, as opposed to it remaining a more cult kind of instrument as it currently is.

I can't trust this live. I haven't tried it and I am afraid to, what with the squealy pickups and wacky bridge/tremolo. I think I could keep it on best behaviour, but the thought alone worries me. I don't worry when I think about gigging with my other instruments.

The finish will last as it's rock hard polyurethane, the strap buttons are okay but I like to use those plastic straplocks to be sure. I think I could gig it as a main guitar and not worry if I did the mods I describe in the section above.

Well I'm unsure of the guitars exact year of making as the serial number doesn't correspond to those on the Fender website. I'm going to email them and I should hope they do a good job, considering the design flaws.

I have been playing eight and a half years. I've owned so much I won't both to list it all, though I've had the usual Les Pauls, Fender Twins, Marshall stacks, Vox AC30 etc etc and I have tried a wide range of equipment. My main amp is currently a Laney VC50 (which has awful stock speakers but that is another matter!).

If it were stolen or lost boy would I be in trouble as it isn't mine! I plan to get a used Jaguar at some point and mod it to perfection - I'll keep it as a single coil instrument though, I don't want another humbucking one.

What do I love? It's the sound of Fender without being just another Strat or Tele, which are great guitars but I am tired of those sounds they are not fresh any more. This guitar has it's own twist on the Fender sound and can approximate those others when needed. It can be refined and pretty or trashy and dirty. I love those switches and sliders and knobs for real control of the sound, very few guitars have such a big tone palette to choose from.

I hate the serious design problems this has. The guitars design is 43 years old and if Fender know it has design failures why doesn't it correct them? With a few simple changes the stock guitar could be as reliable as the other top Fender models... you shouldn't have to buy a $1200-1400 guitar then modify it because the company haven't changed the original design problems! Granted my model is a CIJ which is cheaper, but read some of the reviews below.

Still, despite all this crap the guitar is special. I cannot tell you how great it feels to have found a Fender I almost love after all these years of being a Gibson player. It has it's problems, but when you get past all those and down to business you can get some great things from it. It may not appeal to everyone (probably because you have to wrestle with it) but for some people it just feels right. I'm one of those people.

This guitar is a mid 90's jap reissue. Some really nice features about it compared to other guitars I've owned are:

1. Comfort- played sitting down, it's so-so, but standing up it's great, really well balanced and comfortable.
2. Neck- the shorter scale is great if you have small fingers (like me). Not too thick either.
3. Controls- The slider swithches are a great idea- why don't more guitars have these?? You can change pickups easily with much reduced risk of bashing off a toggle switch while playing. You also get a wide selection of pickup combinations

Biggest negative feature is that it's difficult to set up right- the truss rod is very inconvenientlly located, for example

The sound of these is an acquired taste, as the other reviewers here suggest. It's not a strat, and it's not a tele either. Personally, I love it, but don't expect a nice 'glassy' strat sound. It can be as 'bright' as you want, but personally I think the mids are a bit different. The clean sound of the bridge pickup alone is enough for me, but again it's all down to taste. Good for alt rock etc., which is why i bought it. If you're style is of the 'heavier' variety, change the stock pickups as they don't handle lots of distortion well. Personally, I've never had the feedback problems some other reviewers describe.
I use mine with a vox valvetronix, which I would recommend trying if you want to see what kinds of sounds these guitars are capable of.

Oh dear. The last guy who owned this left it in a state one guitar tech described as 'a mess'. This wasn't totally his fault however, as some amount of heartbreak is inevitable with one of these older jap reissues. Forget about fiddling with the existing bridge, simply change it for a mustang bridge or (heavily) modify it. Buzz on mine was appaling, with lots of dead frets. I've since had some modifications done to the bridge and tailpiece, but even so it's only 95% perfect. If i didn't love everything else so much I'd have sold it by now.

Firstly, I would not use this guitar on a gig without a backup. Prior to the bridge modifications, the low E popped out of it's saddle all the time. So if you're gigging yours with the original bridge, beware.
I really should stress though that aside from the bridge assembly, everything else about mine feels very solid. It's a pity Fender messed up with the original design.

Never dealt with Fender

I've been playing 10 years, and have owned and played a variety of guitars. If it was stolen or lost I would get another, although I'd go for a more recent US model. I love the jag primarily for it's comfort and playability- it really is one of the nicest guitars to just 'play' that I've ever owned, if not the nicest. As mentioned above, that unique sound compared to a strat also does it for me.
A word of caution though- if you get one, PLEASE pay to have the bridge changed/modified, and have it set up properly. It's worth it.

CIJ Jag, somewhere between 99 and 02 model going by the serial number. Alder body. Same specs as the rest. Switches for each pickup, for hi-pass and for rhythm/lead circuits.

When I first bought it, tuned it and plugged it in, I was a bit disappointed. I'd just moved up from an Epi Les Paul Goth, and the output on the Jag's single coils is quite low.

However, it has grown on me. I'm pretty much confirming what everyone else has said, but I'll say it again anyway...

-It's good for jangly strumming and arpeggios and such. The pickups are rather bright. You have been warned.

-It's -not- good for distortion, unless we're talking lo-fi "just a little bit" distortion a la Black Keys, which it isn't too bad at. But turn up the dist. a bit more and things get a bit muddy. Yes, the 'shimmer' is still there. Sonic Youth's 'Daydream Nation' will give you a good idea. Listen to the guitar carefully. That's what you'll get. I'm still a bit disappointed with it in that respect.

-Also, it's hard to get the EQ just right... I find that if I have it nice and jangly for the high 5 strings, my low E will be -far- too bassy compared to the rest. It's not quite as bad since I've upped to .11 strings, but still noticeable.

-I must confess, I bought one because Efrim from Godspeed You! Black Emperor plays one, and I too want to play epic post-rock stuff. But he has replaced the neck pickup with a (full size) humbucker, and I don't want to cut mine up so I'll just have to leave it as it is. I do miss humbuckers though.

The strings buzz, which is okay. But they also slip off the bridge, which isn't okay. Bash out a chord and, oops!, your low E has slipped right off and is now out of tune. One of the first things I did was get a Mustang bridge, and it's sooo much better. I recommend it.

Oh, and I am pretty short and have small hands, so this baby is just perfect for me in that regard... 24" scale and thin neck means I can play a bit faster than on the old Epi. Yay.

Overall it's good, but only if you add the Mustang bridge. The original bridge is just intolerable.

Hmm, don't gig with it, so hard to tell how long it's gonna last... seems to be pretty solid though. I reckon it would take a beating fine.

Bought second hand and don't have a warranty. Haven't had to deal with them anyway, should be fine.

I've been playing for about 8 years, and I'm never going to be great. But I think my new Jag suits me, just because of the short scale and thin neck basically. Very easy to play. Sound wise - I would prefer more grunt, but really, I should've known. Might go and buy another Les Paul as well, then I'll be set.

Hope this helped.

I've got a 1996 fender jaguar baritone custom from the USA, it's got 21 frets and a solid top. I just love the singel-coil pick-ups, and with the perfect controls makes it even better. it's a alder body with a Polyurethane finish. the neck is from maple with rosewood fingerboard. I've got a adjustao-matic brodge and it workes really fine. an i've got gotoh tuners.

I love the sound in combonation with a home made amp and a fender sidekick it sounds great. I use it with my boss me-50 and most of the time I set me amp on overdrive, or tight. in my style I can use jaguar pretty good. I play different types of music lik: ska, punk,classic rock.

my jaguar still and propably will always be perfect in my lifetime. I have that guitar for 4 years and it still works great in every way

this one of the best guitars I ever played. I've got a fender strat and a gibson les paul special and a martin d28 and je fender gt15. and my jaguar is really one of my favourite I've ever playd

All the features have been explained before. Mine is a 2003 CIJ re-issue and ive had it since new.

I play anything from blues to classic rock on this bad boy. People who say it can't handle blues should try playing it through a Boss DS-1 with the gain way down and the tone at 10 o'clock. It gets nice and bassy with a touch of rumble for that 'crappy blues amp' experience. Turn the gain up and/ or use a Big Muff Pi and this fella really sings, so distinctive. And clean it is so versatile you'll always find your sound. My only grumble is the low output of the pickups, I play through a line6 flextone III and it has to be set at least one notch higher on the master vol. to equal that of even a fairly cheap humbucker, but that's done in a second and then i can go back to sounding (not neccesarily playing) better than the other guitar.

Everyone moans about the buzzy bridge, but with good reason. I put a Buzz Stop in but that only lessened the problem, not fix it entirely and so i just put a mustang bridge in and it sorted itself out nicely. Other than that it's a superb guitar, so nice to play, you really feel like you can dig into the strings (I use 10's, you don't need to put 'at least 11's on' to get a decent strum/ tone out of this thing).

I would, and have played this guitar live without a backup. I would trust it with my life. After all, it's Fender built.

N/A

I've been playing almost 4 years now and have played a lot of guitars from metallers like mavericks to crappy old nameless ones from the sixties and i LOVE this guitar. One of the smoothest actions and it's a guitar with character in looks as well as tone. If it were stolen i would be forced to do something nasty to the guy that stole it, and then get it back. If you want a sweet playing, all singing, distinctive guitar. This is the one for you. (just get it set up properly or get a mustang bridge)

2003 American Vintage Jaguar.
You should know about the controls, wood, bridge, etc. If you don't check out fender.com for those specs.
It came with a brown tolex case, vintage style strap, vintage style cord, and cloth.

This suits my style(surf)perfectly. I'm using it with my '65 Fender Bandmaster and '64 Fender Reverb tank. The Jaguar pickups IMO are the best pickups Fender designed.
One of the great features of the Jaguar is the "thin" switch. it works great when playing with another guitarist. If I'm switching lead and rhythm parts I can just flip the switch.

The guitar was bought off ebay and was set up terribly with round wound 10s. Why do people even try these light strings??
The guitar is in PERFECT condition. All the Fender American Vintage guitars I have played have been of top quality. The nitro finish feels great on the neck and on the body. The frets were filed perfectly too. Also the AV had better stock electronics than the CIJ I reviewed just below this one. The nut is of better quality and was cut better on the AV as well. Also the Fender AV trem units are superior to the Japanese ones.

This guitar should with stand live playing. I haven't used it yet live, but I've used my CIJ numerous times. The AV is a more solid guitar. With the CIJ I had to use loctite on a lot of the bridge parts to keep them from buzzing and sliding around. This is not so with the AV.

I've been playing for awhile now, and you can read my review on the CIJ Jaguar below this one. I would recommend the AV over the CIJ if you wanted the traditional Jaguar sound. After all the mods I did to the CIJ, and getting a hardshell case it cost about the same as the AV. Just look for a used one on ebay.

2003 "Crafted in Japan" Fender Jaguar (this is one of the Musician's Friends limited edition models. This is supposed to have an alder body, and it has a poly finish.

You all know about the pickups, switches, and bridge.

I replaced the pickups with AV '62s and added a mute. The AV pickups sound better than the CIJs, however I really do like the stock CIJ pickups. So much that I recorded my bands first album with them. www.freewebs.com/reluctantaquanauts

For the tailpiece I did a slight mod. I sawed off about 1/16th of an inch from the actual arm(the part that goes into the body) and got much more dip out of it.

Suits my style(surf)perfect. I'm using it with a '65 Bandmaster and a '64 reverb tank, which blows the pants off any reissue tank.

The Jaguar's sound is classic for surf, it can be very bright when needed(bridge pickup), very mellow(both pickups on), or thunderous(neck pickup). When on the neck pickup it sounds great for "chunking" Astronauts rhythms. It also makes a great lead guitar. Check out some of Eddie Bertrand's stuff with Eddie and the Showmen.

You have to put 12s or 13s on the Jaguar to make it work right. Preferably flatwounds. Remember these were the strings Leo planned to go on this guitar.

I'm shocked with how well this guitar was put together. The paint looks great, the frets were nicely finished, and all the electronics worked.

I've used this as my only guitar for some gigs and had no problems. The tuners are of higher quality than those found on the MIJ reissues during the late 80s.

I've been playing for 12 years and have had my share of guitars. Strats, Jazzmasters, Les Pauls, Gretschs...and the Jaguar is my favorite. I like the Jaguar so much that I've recently ordered a American reissue and will follow with a review soon.

The short scale neck is great. I hear about guys with larger hands having trouble with it. I have average to slightly larger than average and I have no problem. The shorter scale means you can move around quicker.

olympic white it is fantastic. I have 10's on mine and a buzz stop which is a must and mustang saddles. I can't say enough GET A BUZZSTOP off ebay or allparts it turns it into a dream. hangs off the strap better than any les paul and no buzzing. trem arm might need a bit of sandpaper/tape to keep it from slipping but whe thats inside the hole you dont see it ad it doesnt swing. 10 out of ten all depts.

buzz stop and you can get it low as you like.

solid as a rock

been playing 18 years, this is the best easiest guitar ive had and ive had loads now, the only one that compares for ease of fingering is my 71 custom tele, but that's for another type of sound. they'd be hunted all over the planet for it if it was nicked. never goes out of tune either so my other guitar watches on from the stand.