Fender '62 Reissue Jaguar

This is a Sunburst 1993 MIJ "62 reissue Jaguar" with the red pickguard.
For the rest it is the usuall as decribed by all the other reviewers, only this guitar has an Alder body instead of the usuall Basswood body and it got the propper brass shielding as found in the originals.

It sounds like a Jaguar, although a bit thin, but this is due the Japanese pick ups, which i hope to replace soon with AV RI pups. I will also swap the MIJ vol. and Tone post with the propper CTS pots.
So far I used it on my home amp, but it will be coupled on a 72 SF Bandmaster reverb and a 60ties Farfisa F/AR reverb unit, since i'm deeply into surf, and that's where this guitar was made for.

I like the sound already, but it NEEDS 0.11 or 0.12 strings at least.
The lead circuit souns nice, with the neck and bridge played seperatly or together and the Thin switch is usable as well if you want to cut the bass a bit. The rythem circuit (which only uses the neck pick up) sounds more warm and fuzzy, good for Jazzy tones.
I like it so far, but I will like it more once it got the propper pick ups and tone and Vol pots and a good input jack.

I bought it used and it was very, very badly set up. But I understand that most Jaguars and Jazzmasters are badly set up. You can easely do this your self, check out Mr. Gearhead and the various Jaguar and Jazzmaster Pages. Check out Mel Waldorfs page for sure!
I also shimmed the neck with a 0.60 Jim Dunlop Pick cut in Half,which did great things to the playability of this guitar.

The bridge ain't that bad, once set up correctly, so is the tailpiece. I filed out slots on the bridge saddles, so the strings wouldn't slip anymore, this did it!

I don't understand why they aren't set up as they should at the factory.

the rest of the guitar is good (IMHO) The tuners stay in tune and the guitar doesn't rattle anymore. So I'm a happy player.

I also got a CIJ Jazzmaster which I used without backup numerous times, I'm sure the Jag will do the same. Tough build!

Been playing for a while, I bought the Jaguar to back my Jazzmaster up, since of the different tones it produces. I studied this guitar for a while and played over an hour on it before I purchased it. I do my own set ups and repair, since most of the guitar techs are NOT familiar with the Jaguar or the Jazzmaster. It is in NO way a Stratocaster. So here is my advice, check out the sites I mentioned and give it a go yourself, you'd be amazed how much better your instrument will perform after a good setup.

And as mentioned before, DO NOT BUTCHER A VINTAGE JAGUAR OR JAZZMASTER for your Cobain/Sonic Youth mods, get a CIJ or MIJ instead and leave the treassures alone. Also the Jaguar is NOT by any means a METAL guitar when stock, so if you are looking for a schredder, look elsewhere! Or mod a CIJ/MIJ one with whatever humbuckers you want to put in and swap the tone and vol pots with the right values. (The Jag comes with 1 Meg audio post, while most Humbuckers need only 500 K or 250 K)

Mine is an American Vintage Series '62 Reissue Jaguar. Made in California. I decided to avoid the problems associated with Japanese versions...and buy the real deal. It has an Ice Blue Metallic finish, with Mint pickguard. Brown vintage case, with yellowish lining included in purchase price. This is completely built to vintage specs. Even the cheesy "Fender Mute" is present, as is the bridge cover. Also included: flatwound strings, vintage style 1/4" cable, strap, and tremolo bar. The Jaguar's switching system is the absolute best. You'd be hard pressed to find this many options elsewhere.

The sound is amazing. I have always preferred my strat or my sparklejet to any other guitars. But when I played the Jag for the first time, I was blown away. In my opinion, nothing else sounds this good. The American Vintage single coils, combined with the switching system, allow you to achieve a number of different sounds. You can get a shimmery single coil sound, or you can get a more full, rounded sound...but the thing with the Jaguar, no matter which pickup(s) you use, it always seems to "shimmer." It's really a beautiful sounding guitar. The pickups seem fairly balanced in output. Thanks to the high-pass switch you can even get a thin sound out of the neck pickup, or minimize the highs with the bridge pickup.

A common complaint with the Jag has always been that it can't get a good distorted sound. To comment on this, let me first say that I play indie-rock, the majority of which is distorted. Now of course you will not get the same sort of high-gain sound from a Jag as you would, say, an SG, but you CAN achieve a very nice distorted sound. But, the "shimmer" I mentioned before is still present...adding distortion doesn't stop the Jag from sounding how it sounds. By using a high quality tube amp you can get a saturated sound, but the unique character of the guitar will always be there. When I read reviews saying how something "sucks for metal" it always makes me laugh. Yes, this guitar will suck for metal...but that's just another reason for me to love it more!

To summarize all this, the Jaguar has a very unique and specific sound. The American series pickups are fantastic. Simply put, this is the best sounding guitar I've ever had the pleasure of playing (and I have 12 other guitars, all of which are now neglected).

This guitar was on the wall at Guitar Center for a few months. I used to go in, and see it, but didn't want to play it because I knew I didn't have the $1300. Once I had that kind of money lying around, I went back, and it was still there. However, months of being on the shelf had taken their toll. There were 2 minor scuffs on the finish (nothing major) and it was missing a string. I used this to my advantage in haggling the price down. The folks at Guitar Center set the guitar up and cleaned it up for me before I took it home. The setup is fantastic...the action is nice and low, but not buzzing. I cannot comment on Fender's initial setup, because the guitar was subjected to Guitar Center for months.

This guitar is very solid. As always, straplocks are advised. The finish is a vintage finish, not super glossy like newer finishes, and NOT very resitant to aging. Fender included a card that explains the finish. However, like it or not, it's HISTORICALLY ACCURATE.

Never had to deal with Fender.

This is a beautiful guitar...the sound is amazing, the small historical touches are great, and the quality of an American made Fender is hard to beat. I will be keeping it 100% stock...something this good just needs to be left alone and enjoyed. This is the kind of guitar you'll own for the rest of your life.

American Reissue
inca silver
floating tremolo
rhythm and lead setting
mute switch
hardshell case

i'm not one of those guitar nerds who feels the need to swap out all the parts of a new guitar, it's all stock baby.

i play indie-rock, 60's garage-psych and some punk and shoegaze. this guitar is fantastic for all. the rhythm setting gives you a nice warm sound, and the solo setting gives you a wide range of settings to play with, from ultra-thin high range, to a nice, well balanced jangley sound. it matches my fender twin reverb niceley (and RAT + tubescreamer). i love the sound it gives over all other axes i've played.

this is my first realy nice guitar and playing it is very enjoyable. and after playing it a couple of months, i can't even go back to my lower-budget guitars that are missing that "magic" that comes from the excellent action and feel of my jag. "fits" great, has nice inca silver finish.

i play out about twice a month and practice about 3 times a week. this guitar has that quality fender make, but i still baby it. after the first week of owning it, the sholder strap fell a little to easy, so i replace the strap buttons with strap locks. i really won't mind if the finish wears, since fenders look even better worn in a little. since the guitar comes with a bunch of switches, i could see those needing replacement after heavy usage.

the vintage case is kind of crappy.

never dealt with fender
came with "limited/lifetime" warranty. whatever that means.

Even thoght it was a bit pricey, I love this guitar with all my heart. Would love to get it's sister, the jazzmaster some day as well.

MIJ, Mid-90s; CAR w/matching headstock.

I play surf, so obviously, this was the choice. I've heard better things about the Jag pickup design than the Jazzmaster's flat-bobbin pickups, but the Jazzmaster is a fine surf guitar and it's reissue model has deeper pup bobbins. For my small hands, the Jag neck is a better fit than the Jazzmaster, so, it's my personal pick.
I play it straight thru a modded Fender '62 reissue reverb tank into a Fender Hot Rod Deluxe Amp. The combo is a little trebly...I'd prefer it through a Fender Deluxe Reverb amp, myself. Still, the ultimate in surf tone.

I bought it used. The setup was fine, once I adjusted the new graphtech bridge saddles, fixed the tremelo lock to work properly, and replaced the original strings with 11 flatwounds, as God and Fender intended.

Complaints about string buzz and strings skipping out of saddles can be addressed with new GraphTech bridge barrels for Jazzmaster/Jag/Mustang, a very easy mod that cures the problems immediately. Also, you should use heavy strings, 11s or 12s.

This guitar is bombproof.

Haven't dealt with Fender. No problems in need of factory intervention.

I've been playing nearly one year, and wanted to get into the surf guitar sound. I also own a Line 6 Variax, a reissue 50s Strat, and a ES-335 clone. I like this guitar, perfect for surf. It is more growly and sinister than my Strat, and the shorter scale suits me perfectly. The tone controls and tremelo are not suited to post-Hendrix guitar playing, but work perfectly as intended (light whammy use, a "twangy" 50s/early 60s sound). I don't know if the pickups are as bad as people complain, but hope to replace mine with Seymour-Duncans for Jag, just to see for myself.

This guitar review submited by someone who has played for along time. knows good stuff but unfortunately doesn't know really all the bits and what their called so bear with me. Ahhhh my Jag,..... Japanese Reissue 22 frets (i think) rythm - volume, tone (rollers) lead - volume, tone, (Neck pick up, Bridge pick up, Low-end Filter) switches in solid finish, a "countour body" and "floating Tremalo" Pointless tremelo arm. Vintage White finish

Okay, Like hundreds of nirvana fans this would be the guitar to get right, WRONG. This sounds really really cool when clean but when you hit that stomp box the sound is grainy and crappy. BUT.... if you have a digital effects pedal this can get rid of it. I use a zoom 505II and I haven't used that for a long time since my old guitar had humbuckers and sounded really smart using the stomp box. This is easily changeable though by purchasing a Seymour Duncan Hot for Jaguar. Special pick ups that are made to get rid of the grainyness and give off the cool sound

This was excellent. Only problem was the tremalo thing. I dont use them stupid arm things in anycase and it just loosely hangs down hanging on the edge of ure cable. oh well, whatever floats your boat as its removable so no loss to me

Its solid. really solid. I could depend on it like a guide dog. I could strap wheels to it and use it as a skateboard.

Havent bothered.

Well it kicks arse. I'm looking forward to getting the pickup changed so at last I can gig with it and batter the hell out of it knowing that it still will look kick ass in the end

This is one of the Japanese Reissue Jaguars, actually one of the first lot of Japanese Jags - made in 1993 rather than 2002. Anyway, you know the score: short scale length (24"), 2 single-coil pickups, vibrato with "floating bridge", rosewood fretboard, 3-piece solid wood body (Swamp Ash, I think...) and unnecessarily complicated pickup switching system that has separate controls for "rhythm" (actually neck pickup) and "lead" (switchable combination of either or both p/us) sounds.

I mainly bought it for the short scale length, as I find that much more comfortable than the usual length. The vibrato I don't use, ever, and I almost never use the neck p/u so the switching system isn't much use to me either. In fact the switching is a bit inconvenient because it's easy to accidentally hit the rhythm/lead switch while strumming. The floating bridge is also a pain because it means the whole thing can go out of tune if you hit the bridge - I've effectively locked the bridge in place by getting some brass collars made to fit around the bridge posts.

OK, in essence this guitar sounds horrible, but it sounds horrible in a way I quite like. Because the strings don't pass through the body or anything, and also because the floating bridge isn't really anchored into the body, the guitar has very little sustain. Also, the bridge pickup sound quite "trashy", although because it's only a short scale length it doesn't have the really cutting treble of, say, a Telecaster or Danelectro. However, all of this really suits my playing, which is quite percussive and angular. I play lo-fi indie stuff (think The Breeders, Sleater-Kinney), and it does that well, plus it'll do a good surf guitar sound. This is all through a Fender solid-state amp, so that probably emphasises it's trebliness.

It can be quite noisy, being single-coil, and is particularly susceptible to feeding back at unwanted moments, sometimes even on a clean sound (esp. if you're using a bit of compression). You get very good at learning to mute the strings between notes!

Another thing - with such a short scale length, it really NEEDS heavy strings. I use Power Slinkys (.011" on the top E), and I reckon anything less sounds pretty poky.

I actually can't remember how the factory set-up was, because I like to set guitars up my own way and did that almost as soon as I got it.

The manufacturing is as good as Fender Japan usually is, i.e. flawless. Everything was routed properly etc etc. You can see the join between the pieces of wood in the body if you look carefully - mine's sunburst so the finish is semi-transparent. That sort of thing doesn't bother me though. The jack socket has a tendency to come loose, but that's a design flaw rather than a manufacturing flaw, and isn't unique to this guitar anyway (it's not as bad as my Tele). I also found the rear strap button has a tendency to unscrew itself, oddly, though it happens over a course of months so not a huge problem.

What can I say - like most Fenders, neither the body nor the neck are going to break particularly easily. The finish is quite hardwearing, but I have knocked it about a fair bit and cracks have appeared in the finish where it's hit things. The chrome-steel hardware is starting to rust, possibly because I sweat a lot when I play live. The frets are going to need stoning soon, but they're no less hardwearing than on any other guitar I've owned.

One good thing, especially if you use heavy strings, is that you don't get many string breaks, as the break angle over the bridge is very small. By the same token, though, if you hit the strings really hard then they'll pop out of the bridge. It goes out of tune quite easily too, and it's got those vintage tuning pegs with a vertical hole going down the peg rather than a horizontal hole going through it - I've never had to, but I wouldn't want to change strings in a hurry, especially the top E which has a tendency to pull out while being tuned.

Never dealt with them.

Basically, I love it to death, and if it were broken or stolen I'd get another. Having said that, as soon as I bought another I'd have to get the floating bridge locked down like it is on mine, as that makes it far more useable.

As I mention, by most people's standards of what a guitar sounds like, it's awful - no sustain, trashy, trebly sound, not much output from the pickups, tendency to feedback and go out of tune. But I hate the sort of midrangey, Gibson-and-Marshall sound - to me it sounds pompous - and the Jag instead sounds nervous, awkward and angular, which perfectly suits the sort of music I play. And it's got a short-scale neck and well-balanced body, so for me it's very easy to play.

a 2002 62' reissue fender jaguar. made in the good ol' US of A, in california to be precise. this guitar is not a remake like the japanese reissue, it is an exact replica. fender has said that they have paid, "strict adherence to the original methods of fabrication- methods which predated today's more sophisticated machinery". that may sound corney to you. but infact i can confirm that the guitar is exactly the same as one that was made in 1962-68! and that the only thing that is different is the machine heads. they look almost identical, but on further inspection they are not kluson, they are 'modern recreations of the originals'. i don't know why fender didn't just buy the kluson ones, as the company is still going and making exactly the same line of machine heads. fender calls them 'vintage fender gotoh tuners'. the guitar is a solid body made form alder, with a 24" scale maple neck with a brazilian rosewood (maybe) fretboard that has clay dots. the body and neck are finished in nitrocellulose laquer, which is nowhere near as hard as the polyurithines that they use nowadays. 2 jaguar single coil pickups, bridge has raised polopieces. floating tremolo, rocking bridge with adustable spacing, adjustable height and individual adjustable saddle height, fender mute. all metal plates are chromed. 3 ply scratchplate. guitar comes with a jazzmaster tolex hardshell case, also comes with strap, lead, allen key and a fender duster!

is great for that clean chorus twangy surf sound from the 60's. most people will tell you thats all it can do and they are partly correct. but because i have a good quality fx pedal i can get a bigger range of sounds out of it. neck pickup sounds very muffled on its own, bridge pickup is exactly the opposite and is extremely bright. so i have both of them on at all times and turn the tone dail down about 30-40% and that is perfect. if i want to do noticable lead parts, or sythesized stuff that needs a really clear input, then i'll use the bridge pickup. the dials and switch on the chrome plate at the top of the guitar is completely unused with me.

sometimes i like to put the mute on, set the fx pedal to clean chorus, put some intense reverb on and pretend i'm a beach boy living in the 60's!!! i may even buy a vox amp or something like that to really get that noise. so i've given it 10 just for the perfect twangy noise and not for anything else.

to be honest no. the guitar was not set up correctly, at least for me. and i'm afraid to say the craftsmanship is not as good as the japanese ones. not that there were any major faults with it. it is just things like you can actually see some glue near where the frets have been put in. and behind the nut there is an area (a couple of mm square) which has no laquer on. i'm being fussy really, don't worry, this guitar has no real defects or anything. its just you expect it to be perfect for 1200 quid.

finish will eventually come off and look like one of those real vintage fenders that you see on ebay, but that will only add to how good it looks i think. yes, a solid guitar. the frets are already looking worn in places (i've had it 5 months max) but that can't be helped as i play it so much.

a little leaflet that came with the guitar says it has a 'limited lifetime warranty', which sounds like a contradiction to me. i don't really think i'll need to deal with fender

been playing for well over 7 years now, have several other guitars but none as good as the jag. if it were to be lost or stolen i may go and buy a vintage one. i love everything about the guitar, apart from possibly its size. if they made a smaller scale body version that would be cool! yeah thats right, with a 22" scale neck as well.

I was looking for something a little different then a strat. I mostly play Les Pauls and assorted hollowbodys but I love the fender sound. In particular I love the neck pickup sound and the tele twang sound but like I said strats and teles, feel-wise, just put up too much of a fight. But the Jag is very unique and I love the sound.

I dont like repeating something someone said in a review and berating it but I have to say something about the previose reviewers comments.

The people who said they had a problem with the bridge of the Jag are not wrong and they shouldnt go look for another instrument. Its not like the Jaguar fell down from the heavens and then it was there. Take it or leave it. It was designed by human beings who dont always necacerally do a great job. A better design couldve been isued to the Jag back when it was invented and itd be an even greater guitar. Fenders design team called the saddles a "design failure." You cant argue with the creater. I dont bash the guitar or play like Im a grunge rocker on speed but in a real live context the flaws of the bridge can be a real pain. Its something that I overlook becouse I love the instrument and the action is so good. More akin to a gibson then a fender.

The thing is the grooves on the saddles need to be cut deeper. The strings can come out of the groove with heavy playing. And its not about learning to play better. Every great player in every style bashes the guitar from time to time. Its called being dynamic and playing strait from your emotions. If someones a robot and always has an even tempered attack and plays with the same dynamic all the time. Well. Id say theres not much hope for them. And hell, if Im playing quitly and I accidentally bang my hand against the saddles, the string(s) pops out and now Im slightly out of tune.

Also there is a problem with buzzing due to the angle of the strings cutting over the saddles. Guitar manufacturers today would never creat such a breaking angle over the bridge. Why? Among other reasons it doesnt put enouph pressure on the sadles so they actually vibrate underneath the strings at times. But this is a vintage reissue and you couldnt call it that unless it was true to the origional. Unfortunately The only way to battle this is to use higher gauge strings. Like 11 or 12. It puts more pressure on the saddles. The thing is the average player in the 60s used a size 11 or 12 gauge and the average player today uses 9 or 10. So the breaking angle and groove size arent a complete disaster. if that were true they never would have produced it. Its mixing modern players with vintage designs. Sometimes you have to meet half way.

I hate when people make blanket statements like "this is what its for and if you want something different from it, dont use it." Thats not what the electric guitar heritage has tought us. If that were true there wouldnt even be an electric guitar. Why change something becouse you want it to function a little differently for you? Its called individuality. And improvement. And evolution. If EVH or James Hatfield chose the Jag instead of whatever they played, ther not wrong. Its what they liked and they may not like certain things about it.

I like the Jag. I have a few problems with it that I want other people to know about so theyre more informed when they try one. I like the sound and the feel of a Jag so if I were to agree with what the previouse reviewer said and say, Im gonna go get something else becouse the bridge is a bitch, what else am I gonna get? A strat or Tele. I dont like the feel. A Les Paul? Although I play them theyre a COMPLETELY diferent beast. So I have to play a Jag and report what I dont like. In this case the bridge and saddles. And theres nothing wrong with that. Hell Fender agrees with me!!

I will say the problem with going out of tune with any extreme use of the vibrato is nothing unique to the Jag. Its true of almost any vibrato guitar thats not fitted with a floyd rose. So I cant say thats a flaw of the jags.

other then that I think the action and fit of a Jag is great.

People who bitch about these guitars shouldn't be fooling with them in the first place (see the last section of this review). Thisis a fine instrument. This is a '62 re-issue Jaguar, but Made in Japan,discontinued. I had and regretfully sold a '62 reissue Japanese Tele - beautiful guitar!. These Japanese made Fenders are really nice instruments and this is every bit comparable to the American made reissue Jags that cost $1200! Buy one used if you can find it, like i did! not one of the newer American made ones. I didn't try to date this, but it's probably early 90s. You either like these things or hate them - there's not much room in between. They are not versatile guitars in the same way, say, a Strat or Les Paul is versatile, but what they do, they do very well. Nice neck, compact feel, easy to play, comfortable to hold. It's a faithful re-issue:maple neck, rosewood fingerboard, re-issue tuners, 2 pickups with those weird metal teeth around them to cut hum, same semi-crappy bridge and tremelo Jags were known for, etc. Virtually indistinguishable from an original Jaguar or the newer American made reissues. I'm not giving much more detail because this is a legendary guitar and i'll bet anything that if you are reading this you already know what the guitar is, what it looks like, etc. These didn't come with options other than custom colors, so, with the exception of the vintage things, one Jag is pretty much the same as another. Because i bought it used it came with nothing - no case, nothing, but the guitar was all intact in terms of controls, parts, knobs, etc., no modifications. One semi-complaint is the control setup which Fender thought made this thing extremely versatile - it does, if you play like i do and have time to anticipate control changes and can flip switches, etc quickly. But if you are someone who wants to go from a warm chord to screaming shred with one pickup flick, you'll want something else and the control layout will piss you off

Like i said, it's love it or hate it. This thing will NEVER be the main choice for metal shredders, jazz nuts, country pickers and others who look for specific sounds. But that doesn't mean it sounds bad. It sounds great - quieter than most single pickup guitars. Not as Twangy as a Tele, not as big a range as a Strat but DEFINITELY a Fender sound all the way. Front pickup is warm without being muddy, bridge pickup is sharp without biting and both are balanced and not muddy or uneven, though the neck pickup can get muddy real fast if you start turning up bass/turning down treble. I use this in several ways, with my Line6 Flextone Amp, through my POD for recording, or through my Mesa Boogie Subway Rocket. It's most at home and at its best when you use it to get a warm, 60s sound for folky electric chord strums, psychedelic stuff or - the best - SURF MUSIC. However, in my band, Forever Einstein, i rely on a guitar to give me a sound that is clean and warm and this does it very well.

Like I said, the Japanese did a great job on this. I own some vintage Gibsons from the 1960s and i appreciate vintage guitars, but if you think an original Jaguar or an American made one is significantly better than one of these you're nuts, in my opinion. Everything on this guitar is both faithful to an original and well made. The finish is gorgeous and deep and flawless, the neck is straight with no intonation problems (other than it being a Fender, ahem). This one is candy apple red and i love it. The pickups sound good, the controls are quiet and smooth, I find nothing to complain about with this guitar other than the things EVERYBODY complains about with ANY Jaguar from ANY year: bridge and tremelo

Well, i bought it second hand and it clearly had been used because some paint was chipped off in a few places and it was dirty as hell. But after a cleanup and new strings, perfect. So in that regard I'd say this is a reliable instrument because whoever had it before me clearly didn't baby it and it held up just fine. My experience with Japanese guitars in general is that they are of high quality and without flaws. I am using this as one of my main guitars and have no complaints.

like i said, i bought it used so warranty support/repair was never an option. however, it had no owner's manual and because i am mildly dyslexic (honest) the controls were confusing me, so i went to the Fender website and found a download for a copy of the owner's manual and bingo! problem solved. I printed it out, too. So I'd say for that reason customer support was good. On the other hand, I wanted to put on a reissue red tortoiseshell pickguard and it costs $50! Come on, it's PLASTIC and the Strat ones are twenty bucks cheaper. Screw supply and demand Fender, make it affordable, huh?

Like i said, i think people who complain about this guitar shouldn't be messing with it because it's not the kind of guitar that will do 5 completely different things like a Strat or Les Paul, both of which you see being used for blues, reggae, fusion, metal, country, blues and more. The bridge is not the best idea Fender ever had BUT!!!!...if you pick lightly or cleanly, it won't give you big problems. If you slam chords or dig into the strings with a heavy pick, you're going to need to work on the bridge or change it to keep the strings from popping out of the grooves. Also, the whammy bar is NOT meant to do Steve Vai type gymnastics. It's meant to touch lightly and gently to give a subtle wavy bendy quality to the sound, not a radical pitch change. If you like to go nuts with a whammy bar, you'll hate the one that comes with this guitar. Also, it's got single coil pickups, and whether you have an original or reissue, these single coild pickups are not hot, high output pickups and, again, if you want a guitar to give you clean, smooth distortion or crunch, you won't get it. You also will get a thinner, more 60s sound if you use stomp boxes. SO why buy it? Because as i said, it does what it does very well. I've been playing guitar since '63, I own a '63 Harmony Rocket, a '63 Gibson J-50, a '64 Gibson ES-120 (SOOOOO underated), an '87 Ibanez Artstar like Scofield's, a '96 modified Epiphone Emperor, a '93 American Standard Tele, a '99 Epiphone Les Paul Classic, an'02 Mexican Fender Strat (SOOOOOO underated), a Jerry Jones electic sitar, a 1919 May Bell tenor Banjo, a Steinberger guitar and matching bass and a Danelectro Innuendo Baritone and over the years i've had other stuff come and go. I picked this guitar because I wanted someting that sounded like a classic, 1960s Fender single pickup guitar but without the Twang factor of the Tele and more comfortable than a Strat. I've always found Strats a bit uncomfortable, that's me. The scale of this guitar and the shape, radius etc of the neck/fingerboard are great - easy action, nice compact feel, suits my playing style well (lots of arpegios, scales, runs).

I got this '62 Jap Jaguar reissue in '97 or '98. It is the burst finish with a red pickguard(I actually like the look of the Japanese version better than the American because of this red pickguard). The finish is flawless and very pretty to look at.

Okay. First of all the stock pickups on the Jap Jaguars SUCK. I replaced them with Seymour Duncans(hot jag at neck,quarter pound at bridge). Man did that do the trick!!! When I'm playing dirty I use the neck pickup and it sounds very thick, buttery, and warm with great harmonics. For a great clean sound I use both pickups. I play through a Boss compressor into a Fender Hot Rof Deville 410.

The guitar was flawless. I had it set up by a professional when I had the pickups replaced, which wasn't long after I got it.

Everything is solid except the tuners. They suck. I imagine this isn't a problem on the American version, and I plan to replace them with Grovers.

I have been playing for thirteen years. If it were stolen I would buy an American version if I could afford it. I love the sound of this guitar. I use it mostly to record rhythm parts. I will be replacing the bridge and tremolo to the higher quality versions like what is on the American. But other than that and the pickup replacement this is a great alternative to standard guitars. This guitar is not for everyine, but anyone who is thinking about owning a Jaguar already knows that and that is why they want one. The bottom line is that I love my modified Jaguar, and it looks damn cool on stage.