Fender '62 Reissue Jaguar

I own a CIJ Fender Jaguar reissue, in vintage white, which in my opinion is very nice. It has the standard jaguar set up: rhythm and lead circuit, floating trem, vintage style tuners and the infamous jaguar bridge. It has a very nice maple neck with rosewood fretboard, it is slim but not too slim, as i feel my fender highway one tele neck is. also uses standard stock pickups.
only problem i find is the tone and volume controls for the lead circuit pretty much cut all volume if turned a little off full.

the guitar has a wonderful clean sound that (personaly i find) cuts through any mix well. the pickups are well voiced and slightly hotter than other single coils. i find the best sound comes from using both bridge and neck pickups together, with the tone switch down. with this switch up, i cant personally find a usable tone, or sound, it cuts the bass, making the sound extremely thin and trebley

i bought this second hand so i cant comment on the factory set up. it was well set up when bought, but is very simple to do yourself anyway. unlike others i have found no problems with the stock bridge, no buzz, string slippage or tuning problems, even when excessive tremolo is used, i have it set up with 10 gauge strings. tuners stay stable also, are relativity smooth to use and require little readjustment. along with this the floating trem is simple to use and set up, although my bar would not sit tightly in the hole, to correct this i took it off of the guitar and used pliers to tighten it. as said above the volume and tone pots, are poor and cut much of the sound and may need re-wiring or correcting

this is a solid guitar, that seems like it will be usable for a good many years to come

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this guitar is superb! i highly recommend buying one, i can not comment on its comparison to the MIA jaguar, but is extremely good value for money and worth looking at for any style of music. i own a fender highway one tell and a epiphone ES-335 (dot)and have began using this jaguar as my main guitar as it sounds wonderful and feels like a nice compromise between the thick neck of the es335 and thin neck of the tele, along with a somewhat midway sound between the two.

I realize that this review contains both the Japanese and the American made Jaguars. I own an american made Jaguar but tried a japanese made in a music shop and let me tell you that the difference is huge!
So, we are voting for two different guitars in this forum but my opinions is for the USA Jaguar! (The CIJ Jag is a joke)

Sunburst with a splendid finish, no modifications at all, mute is still there.

This is THE guitar if you're into surf music, Beach Boys, Grunge (Nirvana ;-)).
It's very diverse and you can even play most rock tunes on it too. With the uppermost switch in the upper position, it produces a very jazzy sound and is perfect for both rhythm and solo play during jazz sections.
I've mostly played rockabilly and 50/60's pop/rock and roll on it and had on stage alot of times.
Since the sound is unique, it helps creating an odd sound for the band as a whole.
When I first bought it, I just played surf riffs but I discovered some new settings and nowadays I play even AC/DC on it :-)
I give it a 9 for a tremendous sound but it's lack of good sustain keeps it from a 10. (It's easilly solved with an extern compressor sustainer pedal)

It wasn't new when I bought it, but everything was extremely well set up. No hiss, buzzing strings or whatsoever. I've read alot about the problems with the jaguars but cannot understand what they mean ... until I played the CIJ Jag.

This axe is hard as a rock. It weights alot more than my strat, the mechanics is stable and solid. It's obviously not made of crap.

Never contacted because there's no need.

Playes guitar for 17 years, have owned about 15 guitars. I also have a Strat (Am. standard) and a Jag-Stang (CIJ) but this is the one I would save if the house was burning. I'd definitely buy one again if it was stolen.
I like its looks, finish, form and sound, but maybe most of all its short scale neck that is really playable. If I shall complain on something it will be the mute device. I guess it's there just because it is a reissue model. I've tried to use it but it's functionality is really really poor. Well, since I don't use it, I never think of it, it's just there.

Traded a busted up old hagstrom for this 2002 CIJ Jaguar. Knew virtually nothing about the jags besides who played them (Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine). Did a lot of research and people who love 'em REALLY love 'em. Thought I'd give it a whirl.

This particular one was Ocean Turquoise. Wasn't really a fan of the colour, particularly with the factory white pickguard. I replaced it with an aftermarket white pearloid and it made it a ****load more attractive.

Played this guitar for a few weeks and decided that the buzzing from the factory saddles needed addressing. Replaced them with a mustang's and that helped a bit.

also strung it with D'Addario EXL140s Extra Heavy gauge strings and that seemed to help as well. Never fully went away though and the guitar was painful to play acoustically whenever I just picked it up to noodle.

I would describe the single-coils in this a just average. Would have thought to replace with Fralins or Lollars.

Thought this guitar definitely had some character and grew to love some of the quirks, but overall it just didn't suit my style. I lean more to the overdriven humbucker sound of bands like Mogwai.

Currently I play through a mesa triple rectifier head run through a carvin legacy 2x12 (with celestion V30s). Found that the jag brought out too much of a treble sound out of the amp. Too piercing to be enjoyable no matter how much you tried to roll it off.

This guitar would be better suited to an AC30 for a more brit pop sort of tone or to the classics it was made for, SURF.

A nice guitar in it's own right but not versatile enough to be my main guitar.

The guitar was set up like shit but who knows what the previous owner did to it. Took it in to my shop of choice, Capsule Music in toronto, and added the mustang saddles and got it set up properly.

Rest assured though, once that was done it felt like a much better quality guitar. Was a real fan of the short-scale neck. It was highly playable.

My biggest complaint was that the tremolo system was super frustrating. I know they were trying to maintain the specs of the '62 but I think some kind of locking mechanism would have been a blessing. It continually fell out with any front to back motion.

This guitar never made it to my live show, which basically says what I think of it in this category.

I ended up trading this guitar in because it just didn't suit me. I think in the right player's hands it would be a much bigger threat. Far too jangly and thin.

It did help me figure out that I'm more of a humbucker guy. Thought back on my 26 years of playing and almost all of it has been spent playing Gibson SGs or SG copies. As I do love the feel of a Fender (particularly Jazzmasters) and decided to trade up for one: the reissue Tele Deluxe.

I think I made the right choice.

This is a fairly new Crafted in Japan Jaguar. Hard to tell exactly when it was produced because of the inconsequential information about serial numbers on Fender's site, but I'd guess 2005. Standard sunburst model; wanted a custom colour but was unwilling to pay more. Seems I can't get away from bloody sunburst even though I don't much care for it.

22 frets, short 24" scale which is nice for girly hands like mine, loads of controls, two singlecoils which are shockingly awful - microphonic and lacking any sort of decent drive tones even through a nice valve amp, passive electronics, medium-grade alder body, rosewood fingerboard with vintage-correct 7.25" camber which is great for chords, nitro finish, "offset waist" design which feels more comfortable than any other guitar I've played (sitting or standing), rattling bridge with threads that fall out, good quality Kluson copy tuners, weird tremolo system which is a bugger to set up but is more stable than a Strat if you do. I skipped on frills so it came only with a Mustang bridge already fitted, no case or lead or anything.

A lot of the features on Jaguars are, to be fair, very poorly implemented. One of those "it looks good on paper" situations that fails in the real world, but with some coercing the Jag can be turned into a beautifully versatile instrument. If you're faint-hearted and just want a reliable guitar off the bat, stick with one of the many permutations of the Strat or Tele. Me personally? I can't stand those guitars and was willing to tangle with Fender's "ensemble darkhorse" to get it up to code.

Even the American Vintage model I played some years ago reminded me of a voluptuous fresh-faced blonde; stunning to look at but absolute hell to live with. Unlike the blonde though, the Jag can be given certain personality upgrades that actually make it play and sound as good as it looks. And since it looks like a 50s hot rod (all that shining metal and switches galore) this is a wise choice for those who enjoy a bit of DIY and hours of research.

I had a Jag on loan before and it intrigued me. Even though it was weird I just had to stick with it because it made me not want to stop playing even when my hands were tired. And the things it made me play (between the bridge sinking and the trem sending the whole damn thing out of tune) were inspired things I just couldn't get from any other electric guitar. So over the course of a year I amassed as much knowledge as the internet had on it and went nuts chopping and changing things as money allowed. I now have a checklist of modifications I need to do for my own instrument (beyond the standard intonation/action setting stuff), many of which are already done.

Suffices to say, now it's modified it kicks ass, is stable and reliable not to mention VERSATILE AS HELL. I don't use anything else if I can help it. See below for a list of recommended alterations.

One thing I will add is that even with higher-output pickups a treble booster is always useful, but I say this about the majority of singlecoil instruments.

Craftsmanship on the woodwork (body, fretboard, routing etc) was impeccable - especially the frets which won't require levelling or crowning for years! Leo Fender's design and the bargain basement electronics inside though; not so much. Do the following modifications to dramatically improve the guitar:

* Change the bridge for a Mustang one which is a drop-in replacement, or at least use loctite or blu-tack (roll the saddle threads in it) to make the existing one stable. To stop it sinking to the body I replaced the threads with screws from the original bridge saddles. You can't adjust the action with allen keys now, but once it's set it stays there!

* Turn the lead circuit (3-switch diamond panel) around 180 degrees. Then if you knock all the switches down by accident it won't cut your sound mid-song at a gig, making you look like a moron!

* Replace the 1M pots on the lead circuit for 500k ones. Keep the rest of the wiring the same. Even with the stock pickups this will thicken up the tone noticably, and balances out the change between the rhythm and lead circuits.

* You don't NEED to use flatwounds, but using 11 or 12 gauge strings is highly recommended to keep the strings from popping out and ensures better tuning stability when using the tremolo system.

* Lubricate the tremolo system about once a month, ideally when changing strings. Remove the plate at the back and spray in lots of WD40. This'll stop the spring sticking, which once sent the whole guitar out by nearly a semitone when I used it live for the second time. And again, tuning stability after whammy dives is much better.

* Buzz Stops are something to consider. I don't think they make a huge difference once you've got the heavier strings on, but any rattles you can eliminate help. In my opinion also gives a very slight sustain increase; worth dealing with if you can live with the increased string tension.

* The trem arm as is doesn't give much range and often bangs on the controls. I had real trouble trying to strum and dip the bar until heating it and bending it upwards from the point where it curves. More downwards dive range as well. Taping part of the bottom of it (where it inserts into the plate) makes it sit higher and this is also a good move.

* Shim the neck; take off the neck and insert a thin piece of card long enough to cover the back two screw holes. This pitches it forward a few degrees allowing you to raise the bridge, making it more stable even if you don't do any of the other mods. You might find the pickups can't be raised further so those might need to be unscrewed and shimmed with cardboard themselves (place it underneath the rubber pads which are affixed to the bottom of the pickup claws).

* Removing the pickup claws can help with the tone, but they do increase RF interference in some cases. I seem to remember that this makes a difference but it's not as important as the other changes.

* Finally - and most crucially - get those stock pickups out of there! The Japanese made ones will scream like dying birds even with moderate gain, if you're playing at gig volumes. They have weedy tone too. I recommend the SJAG-3 Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder for Jag set, matched pair for humbucking. They have a fat midrange sound that is reminiscent of P90s but with more sparkle (not piercing brightness like the stock ones) and the high-output design leads to some compression, smoothing out the Jaguar's huge attack while retaining the better aspects of the trademark tone it is known for.

Stock it's a complete piece of junk... or rather, it shows potential but falls down under pressure. After some changes it can be better than a Strat while doing a lot of the same tones, and many more besides (try getting truly awesome jazz tone out of a Strat; the Jag can get much closer). After lots of research combined with personal trial and error, I've found a combination of variables that works.

It's still high-maintenance though, to keep it in the very tiny sweet spot. But once you've hit that spot the guitar will outshine most any others, and I'm not talking about the reflections bouncing off of the metalwork under bright lights!

Fender Tech Support... meh. I've asked for feedback on all the changes I've made, I've tried to enquite about a custom shop model that is like mine but with a custom blue sparkle finish, and got nothing. I was polite too!

Screw it. I know a couple of good techs and THEY have good customer support.

I've been playing just over sixteen years, since I was just a little kid toying about with acoustics in the basement and stealing scotch from the decanter. I used to work in one of the better known Denmark Street stores so I've played thousands of guitars and owned a couple dozen of the best ones, and a handful of firewood piles masquarading as guitars.

I've come to the conclusion that the best modern production guitars (even if that modern production is making repros of half a century old designs) are coming out of Japan. It's a tightly-knit competitive market but those fellas are the best. Haven't played a bad one and actually prefer the Tokai-made Greco Les Paul's (late 70s) to real LP Standards of most any production era. This Jag is no exception and none of the two handfuls of other Jags have been different, though I have to say this one is the very best by just a whisker.

The Jaguar is a pain to set up but once it's there it will stay there and reward you with huge dynamic range, lots of tonal variations and the potential for "extended techniques" like behind the bridge bends and shimmers (strumming chords while dipping the whammy bar after applying lots of delay and reverb to your sound). It opened my eyes to a whole different approach to the guitar. When I want to bang out some power chords, it'll do it with authority. When I want to daisy-chain delays I can carve out some wonderful soundscapes. When I want to do multiple overdubs I don't need a whole fleet of different guitars to make each take fit into the mix; I just play with the switches and volume/tone controls. Where I go, it goes with me, and forces me to play the best I can time after time.

Having gushed for pages, it has to be mentioned: Nine out of ten players will hate this guitar, or at least should avoid it where possible. There's a chance one of them is reading this review now thinking about picking up that suspiciously cheap Jaguar they saw recently; my advice is forget about it. Be happy with your Strats and Teles and Les Pauls and SGs and Pacificas etc. (All good instruments, just not MY kind of good.)

But to the other 10%... perservere. You might just find the guitar you've been looking for for a long time, that has an off-kilter tone and comfortable playability that outstrips the initial horde of problems that have to be overcome. I did, and I'm pretty sure I'll be playing these kinds of Jaguars until I die.

Oh, one more thing. Don't be fooled by the HH Special models or any of the Classic Player ones. They changed the bridge, the radius and moved the trem plate forwarf, thereby robbing the Jag of a lot of uniqueness while still keeping a lot of the same flaws (the 1M pots on the lead circuit for example). My mods were tidying up loose ends; their mods were keeping the look while losing that special jangly tone.

Feel free to email me for more advice, or to pull my review apart ;)

The regular features (is an American-made, so whatever that entails)Early 2000's (used). Sort of a Tobacco Sunburst finish. Bridge pickup seems to have been replaced with seemingly older, ever-so-slightly larger, slightly yellowed Jag pickup (sounds great). All the switches, bells, whistles, etc, that you know and love. (Bridge cover and mute in the case - do not use). Very solid, unique and atractive guitar.

This was an impulse buy after years of heartbreak, in the wake of having my '65 Mustang stolen! I love the "Fender sound," but slightly prefer that extra grit, snarl, twang, scratch of the "other" Fenders (well, primarily the Jag and Mustang!). Is really great for indie rock and alternative because it has an edgy and unique tone that grabs the lister's attention. It achieve "rock-ness" without being all "badass," if you get me. A real left-field guitar with a limited audience, I'm sure. Not great for metal. Possibly great for stoner rock. Does have some twang that could appeal to a regular Tele or Strat fan, and honestly, the neck pickup and rhythm circuit settings are just as good as the neck pickup settings on any other Fender - possibly even Gibby's (to an extent!). I could easily picture jazz or blues on a Jag with a warmer setting (there's a great vid of Joe Pass playing one on YT to great effect!). Be aware that this guitar has idiosynchrasies that you have to decide how to handle. The strings are over the bridge at such a weak angle that it affects the sustain, attack and resonance that are at once part of the appeal for some and part of the problem for others. Allparts or StewMac has a device to aid this, and even knowing what I know, I'm not sure which way to go. I am thinking it would give me improved attack, which is the only thing the Mustang had over the Jag, but I do like the resonance of the Jag as is. Hmm. Is not a simple guitar, but is unique and does have the ability to grow and change with you, as there are a host of resources available to the Jag community out there!

Used, but the fit and finish from the factory are great. This is a guitar that is notorious for requiring attention, re: setup for each and every specific owner! As a result, I think this would frustrate the heck out of a young/new player. They'd be thinking, " this is a $1000 guitar and I'm having this much trouble getting the action/intonation/etc right! It also does work best with heavier gauge strings (.11's are great), which is not everyone's cup of tea. This is a "wirey" souding guitar that sort of "fights" with the player. The result is a great, unique sound. Not sure if a Jag is ever used on Television's Marquee Moon, but that sort of tough, difficult, brash, wiry sound is in there. It slightly results from a guitar that is more difficult to play than, say, a Jackson, Ernie Ball, Gibby, Ibanez or even a Strat. So be warned. This makes a Jag what it is, and adjustment can help, but this is not for everyone. Nirvana fans, please remember that Cobain put humbuckers in all his Fenders, ha ha!

Built Fender Tough!

Do not know.

I've been playing for 25 years and have had lot of guitars. Mostly Fenders, though also Rics, Burnses, Gibby's, Epiphones, etc. I'm addicted to Fender tone to a fault. I'm sure it makes no sense these days to fork out $1500 for a guitar, but once you become a fan of something, there's not much you can do! Just sell the guitar you're playing the least and move on the the next one! But the Mustang and Jaguar are the two guitars that gave me a sound I simply could not find anywhere else. It just has that character. For a run-of-the-mill guitar, a good Tele comes the closest. For something a little different, I suppose a Gretsch comes the closest (great guitar!) It's up to you whether you like the wiry, twangly sound of the Jag (and everything that comes with it!). If you never tried but are curious, you'd do well to give it a serious try-out before buying. If you already know you like it, well, all I can say is that the American reissues deliver on tradition. Love the tremolo, by the way.

My Jag is 2004 MIJ model in Sea Foam Green finish. I bought it from a guy down in Byron Bay a few years ago, and he had installed some sort of Seymour Duncan pickups in it, which I didn't really like. I had some gold Lace Sensors lying around in my garage from an old Strat, so I gave them a whirl instead. A bit unconventional, and odd looking, but it sounds brilliant. I did the standard Mustang bridge thing too.

I was a bit worried that the Lace Sensors would make it sound too "Stratty", but they definately came into their own. The rhythm circut can produce some really sweet mellow, almost jazzy sounds with the tone wheel rolled off about halfway. The lead circuit with both pickups active is just pure sparkle, and kick in the bass cut for some high-end sting.

I play early-Wilco-esque indie rock, and I generally don't use a lot of effects or distorition. I mostly play through the clean channel of a Mesa Boogie DC3 with a Tubescreamer and Memory Man when required, and this setup can do everything I need it to.

When I first bought it the truss rod was loose inside the neck causing some hardcore rattle (don't ask me how the hell that happened). Anyway, I got that all fixed up and she was right as rain.

The tuning on this thing is awesome, easily the best I've ever had in a guitar. I can get the tremolo arm and slam the hell out of it for five minutes straight without barely losing my tune.

In spite of a medium action, there are a few dead spots around the place when you give them a bend, but I hope to get a fret-dress done soon, which will hopefully alleiviate this.

I use it live regularly as my main guitar, and quite often as my only guitar. I haven't had anything wear out on me yet, except the tremolo arm, which is a bit loose in it's socket these days. But that's not a really critical issue anyway.

Never dealt with them.

Mine is a bit of a different Jag, but it still retains a lot of the unique nasaly tonal characteristics of a standard job. She's had some technical difficulties, but the tone is worth the hurdle. I used to be a Les Paul man for quite a while, but I got a taste for that crystaline Jag single-coil tone, and I just haven't been able to go back. If it were lost or stolen, I'd certainly put together a new one.

One of my favorite features of this guitar is the separate volume and tone rollers allowing you to have 2 different tone settings for the neck pickup, in addition to the independent pickup selection available on the lower part of the guitar.

I didn't think I would like the string mute, but I found I like some of the sounds it produces with distortion and other effects.

Also the ability to adjust the spacing of the strings is an interesting feature. I am considering adjusting the spacing of my G and B strings.

I haven't had any trouble with the tremelo. I added strap-locks.

The sound is great. Its slightly different from a Strat or Tele, but it's squarely in the fender family. No buzzing or feedback issues.

This is a very versatile guitar. I would argue THE MOST versatile you can get with only two pickups.

Action is great, I love the scale length. The finish is amazing. Mine was special order from Fender, so I saw it come out of the box and gleam! No flaws, frets looked great, everything was tight and what you'd expect.

It was also VERY well set-up. Intonation was dead on, strings were a low, comfortable height and did not rattle or buzz. I was worried that this was not going to be the case after reading some reviews, but Fender came through.

I have only had it for a month, but seems like its holding up great. Some people wrote that small bumps will mar the finish, but my clumsy playing hasn't left anything permanent on the finish.

dunno, hopefully never need to find out.

Honestly, this guitar seems better made than some les pauls i thought about purchasing for half the price.

Lots of reviews out there made me nervous to purchase this and I still bought it because it's so comfortable, I love the tone, its unique and I just kept coming back to them in the store.

I own a '62 US reissue made in 2007. It is ocean turquoise and very pretty. That whole 2 circuit thing is actually pretty sweet and i quite like the longish tremolo arm (i also own a fender mustang and that arm is too short)

I thing this guitar sounds quite lovely. I hear a lot of talk that the pickups are low output and not so good for the distortion and heavier music. I have seen this guitar melt faces when run through my aged big muff. You can get some sweet muddy stoner rock sounds out of this sucker. It is all in all the finest sounding 'tar i have ever played (though that isn't saying all that much). I think it can achieve quite a wide range of sounds and i actually like the ole "strangle" switch.

When i received this guitar the action wasn't as low as i would have liked (it was kinda high actually). I need not go on about the bridge (as it well know that it kinda sucks). I really only get the buzzing string problem on the low E (so all in all not too bad...it slips out of the saddle easily ...although i tend to hammer the crap out of it). It seems to be well made otherwise

so far so good mes amis.

never had to use their services.

I love this bastard.

The usual Jaguar features, I won't list them here again. This is for the CIJ reissue (if you have an original then you want another thread) and mine is sunburst. For a guitar there are lots of features and switches, if this is a good thing or not then it is a matter of debate.

The jaguar has a growling alt rock tone tone. It can be trebly, can be thin, but it's up to you to fix that with amps / effects. I love the sound because the pickups are nice and hot and the tone cuts through any mix. It's just what I want. Not the most versitile guitar (usless for metal or jazz) but ideal for surf, blues or alt rock.

There are a number of tonal options. The switch at the top of the guitar engages a rhythm circuit, which gives a muffled jazzy tone that is useless for anything unless you want jazz. There are two switches for each pick up and a "strangle" switch which makes the sound a bit more trebly, only it's so subtle it's kind of pointless.

Most people know that Jaguar / Jazzmaster bridges are awful. The strings pop out and the grub screws fall out. After one gig I replaced the stock bridge with a Mustang bridge and threw the original into the bin.

The guitar was well set up but buzzed on the bridge and wouldn't stay in tune. The guitar is shipped with 10 guage strings. The JAGUAR IS DESIGNED FOR HEAVY STRINGS (and the shorter scale allows greater playability with heavier strings). I replaced the strings with 11s and instantly all buzzes and problems vanished. If you can go up to 12s or 13s. It gives a better tone and controls the guitar.

The finish and action was lovely. The Body shape and shape of the neck make the jaguar one of the most playable guitars out there. The trem is nice and subtle and smooth to use, plus the arm is nice and long so you can strum chords and shimmer the tone up and down as in MBV.

If you are a beginner or are afraid of setting up your guitar then don't buy a jaguar. Once I made the adjustments above I have to regularly set up the intonation and bridge of the guitar. It's a lovely guitar, but high maintence.

The hardware and guitar itself are very durable but the switches are plastic. After carrying the guitar to a gig in a soft case the rhythm circuit was pushed inside the guitar and made the sound cut out. After another gig the singer bumped into me onstage and two of the three pick up switches snapped clean off. After this I ripped out all the circuitry and left it set to the bridge pick up permanently, with only the tone and volume knobs for control. It's much better now.

No opinion

I've been playing for 10 years, gigging for 8 and been gigging round the country for 3 years now. I use the Jag, or a Fender Tele with lots of effects.

The Jaguar is a unique guitar. It has personality and with it it has quirks that you don't get with a tele or strat. It's up to you if it suits your musical style, if you can be bothered to modify it to your standards and then maintain it. If you do you'll be rewarded with one of the most playable guitars out there. Jaguars have a cool look and feel that you just don't get anywhere else.

Crafted in Japan Guitar bought in 2003. It has a two tone sunburst finish. The features of this guitar have been covered extensively over this site already, so there's no need to go over them again. I have mod'd the guitar though (more about that later).

I like a broad range of music, but was looking specifically for a bright sounding single coil guitar to play REM, The Smiths, The Byrds and any jangly sixties orientated music. I have a humbucker loaded guitar which sounds great overdriven, so I was only interested in it's clean tones. When I tried this in the store I was impressed by the range of tones it offered. The bridge pick up was excellent for arpeggios. As well as some pretty unique tones, it had some that sounded like either a Strat or a Tele. Before I knew it I was playing Johnny Cash riffs! This doesn't often get remarked upon, but if you're recording at home with a portastudio, this guitar is a real asset, as it's pretty versatile.
Switch to the neck pick up and you have a good tone for Jazz and blues. I have overdriven it when I have my Nirvana moments, and it handles it pretty well, with a distinctive sound. However, if you're wanting a classic rock sound you'd be better off with a Strat.
I got fed up with the pick ups after a couple of months, as through my own amp they sounded too bright and there were too many ambient sounds (buzzing etc) coming from them. I fitted Seymour Duncan Jag pick ups to it, which accentuated all the best properties of the guitar, adding a little more bottom end and depth too. I absolutely love it now, and have been playing it clean with a little reverb to the virtual exclusion of all my other guitars (except for the odd lead line on my SG when I'm recording). I'd rate it seven for the original pick ups, but 9 now.

The action was fine, but the bridge was really poor. It's truly shocking that Fender still put out these guitars with that bridge hardware. I can't help but feel this is what puts a lot of folk off Jags.
I bought and fitted Mustang saddles and a buzzstopper, and the difference was amazing. As well as increasing the sustain, it changed the playing feel of the guitar. Due to the short scale and light bridge hardware, playing a Jag can often feel strange after playing a Tele or Strat. The strings feel flacid. However, following these mods the tension increased and it feels superb to play, in fact it's my favourite guitar for action and playability now.
The offset body is well designed, as when playing standing up it's not at all neck heavy. It seems to rest in a very comfortable playing position.
I'd note it as 6 for when I bought it, but given that it only took a small outlay and a couple of minutes work to sort it out, I'm being generous and marking it as it is now...........

As stated, the original bridge hardware was a joke. You couldn't play it for two minutes without the strings popping off the saddles. Now, after it's been modded, it's great. The tuning is rock solid, and you can rely on it for gigging, no problem. I think it's madness to even consider playing a gig without a back up. The strap buttons are solid. It would get 6 for the guitar stock, but again, I'm marking it for how it is now it's been modded.

I've never dealt with them, so I can't comment.

I've been playing since the eighties. I've had numerous Strats and Semi-Acoustics. My current guitars are a Vintage SG, a Fender MIM Tele, a Washburn 12 string, a Takamine electro acoustic, and a Squire Jazz Bass. I'm playing through a H and K Tubeman to a H and H amp, but mostly use a Tascam portastudio to record songs. I have a number of pedals too.
If you're thinking of buying one of these guitars, do some research first (there's lots of good advice on the internet) and buy the Mustang saddles and buzzstopper at the same time as the guitar.
I love this guitar. Given that it's regarded as a niche guitar, it suprised me with it's versatility and as I said earlier, it's a great recording tool. I've mostly been playing Indie stuff on it since I got it, but its great for other stuff too. I mainly regard it as a rythmn guitar, and with this and the SG for the odd lead line, I find I can cover most kinds of music. It has a unique look and feel, and if it were stolen I'd replace it in an instant. Again, the rating given is for the guitar after modification.

I have Japanese Jaguar ( Crafted In Japan ) in Antigua color. Some say strange color, some beautiful. I think there are other Fender guitars in that color like Strats and Teles. I like it.
It looks like regular Jaguar with all the switches, knobs, pots and pickups. I think its alder instead of basswood.

Now to the sound. For me, when I bought it, it sounded really nice. It has two single coil pick ups. Neck pickup is amasing for me, it has that jazz sound that I like a lot, deep, fat and clean. Bridge pickup is really bright, at some settings is too bright but that can be cool as well, possibly for some heavy distrotion noise. I played it so far with digitech delay ( digidelay), marshall distortion, flanger and reverb ( mostly on fender hot rod deluxe tube amp ) and it sounds amazing. People usually advise to change pickups to Seymore Duncan and that might be a good idea, depending on your style. I like this jazz warm tone of the neck pickup, but I am thinking to change the bridge pick up to humbacker (JB Junior or the other one ) to get also high output pickup for distortion parts and controlled feedback, because I like mixing jazz with sonic assaults. I think this guitar can make it, with a little setting.
One problem though, and I know people mentioned it before. Its the bridge and its buzz. Strings are falling off of it if you don't set it properly and there is a lot of buzz when you play. Buzz, in my case, is coming from the bridge, as strings vibrate on the metal and make that buzz sound. There is a solution fortunatelly, to change the bridge and there's even a buzz stop accessory specially made for this problem.

Action is really nice and fit for playing. Directly out of the box looks nice and sounds good ( beside this aforementioned problem with the bridge and buzz ). Pickups are nice, especially the neck pickup, i wouldn't change.
Pots and switches are really nice and working and I think even with some heavy use can stand it.
Bridge should be replaced and I think everyone should remember that and do it since its not done properly. Buzz stop is also a suggestion.

This guitar will withstand live playing a lot LOT. Its made for playing live. People played it million times before and I think there's a lot of variety in sound so if you like experimenting with sound, get this guitar. Jazzmaster is also nice guitar but I only played Jaguar so far.
Also, some musicians abused it a lot, with screwdrivers and drumsticks ( mentioning Thurston Moore? Right : ) so I think there's a little fashion to it as when it looks abused, its more sexy. But I keep it new as this antigua color just overwhelms me.

Had none from Fender. From shop where I bought this guitar ( Belgrade, Serbia ) was really nice.

When I bought this guitar, my dream came true, sort of. Ok, I always wished for original one, like USA from 60's. There is always a discussion about differences between original and Japanese, and I can't comment on that since I played original once and it was nice, but this Japanese I bought is better for me. That doesn't mean its better than all USA Jags, no no way. Every guitar is different, even guitars from the same year, same editions and same manufacturer. But, every guitar you set the way you like to so its the same with this guitar.

My '62 AVRI Jag is 9 months old, time for a review. Prior to purchase, I was set on getting a Jazzmaster when a buddy loaned me his '66 Jag. I was hooked, but he wouldn't sell for cheap. I got the 3TSB option. Gorgeous. Weight: 8.6 lbs.

Jags are a bright sounding guitar. Forunately, most of my amps are on the dark side. On my Teles and strats, I rarely use the tone knob. I like the response from dailing down on the Jag. The "rhythm" sound from upper "Lead/Rhythm" switch is mostly a joke, but I have used it few times.

Just awesome. It could've easily passed as a Custom Shop model.

I strung it with 12's almost immediately and adjusted the truss rod (clockwise) for the fatter strings and that's the way its staying.

A bit of a learning curve with bridge and trem system, but worth the effort! First I replaced both E saddles with two spares that come with a '52 AVRI Tele. They each have one string slot and spacing-wise, match up perfectly. Under hard picking/strumming, strings have never popped out.

The trem-lock was a great feature years ago when strings breakage was a problem but I havn't broken a string in ten years or more. So I wrapped some dental floss between the tremlock button and plate, in the unlocked position so it stays put during bends. Fixed.

Heavier strings seem to provide enough tension on the saddles, eliminating the need for readjusting saddle height.

Finally, I Iowered both pups to taste.

The center pup slide switch was DOA. Rather than trust it with a repair shop, I got one off ebay and replaced it myself.

Otherwise, N/A

First, I wanna agree with others who've said this guitar ain't for everyone. Don't buy if you're at all squeemish about doing setups/adjustments. Find a tech. Out of the box, you might not like it at all. Its a jaguar and not domestic at first. Gotta be tamed. Leo WAS a visionary!

I'm 57. The shorter scale makes for a great geezer's guitar, lol. I go back to full scale w/o problems. Coming off my P Bass, though...whoa! Takes a few moments to adjust! I use the Jag for instro/surf. Recording/Hobbyist here.

I love the clean sound of a Jag thru a '63 Reverb. They were (obviously) made for one another. The 24" scale seems to have less sustain than other Fenders and the results effect the tones in a good way.

I like the fact that most people would never consider owning a Jaguar. My other guitars, especially teles, have become dust collectors.

American Vintage '62 reissue Jaguar. Ocean Turquoise finish. 3-ply mint green pickguard. Vintage style floating tremolo, C-shaped maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. 22 frets.Fender/Gotoh vintage style tunnig machines. Came with a brown hardcase, a strap (which I don't really like), cables and some mist and wipe kit.

It suits my music style almost perfectly. Way better than Japanese Jaguars. I wanted to get a MIJ Jaguar or a second hand MIA vintage reissue'62 Jaguar, but there was a sale where this guitar was selling at 50% off. I got the last and only Jaguar on sale. I play a wide range of music,mainly grunge,alternative rock,hard rock,rock,metal and some mainstream rock. This guitar was definitely not meant for metal, I knew from the start, so I am okay with that. The neck pickup has a really fat sound that can produce a great Chili Peppers sound. The bridge pickup alone sounds really thin and crunchy with my BOSS DS-2 on Remote II. The single coils sound great, better than a lot of guitar with humbuckers that I've tried.

In Singapore, the cost of guitars are way higher than in most countries like USA. The 50% off the "first hand" Jaguar made me get this guitar and I am glad I did. I like guitars with low action, like my MIM strat. The Jag has a higher action than my strat but I am still okay with it, as long as the tension is not hurting my fingers. I am used to playing low, nearer the bridge pickup and hard, and the jaguar is forcing me to play a little higher, towards the neck, but I have no problems with that. The bridge is a little iritating for my playing style. I strum really hard and the strings (particularly the low E string) keeps moving out of the saddle, causing buzz. I'm playing more lightly now, and in the future I'm planning to change the bridge to a Mustang bridge, as I heard it is the best solution. No flaws apart from the bridge problem. The ocean turquoise finish looks amazing.

I think this guitar will withstand live playing. It's the bridge and the type of music that I play that worries me. I play quite a lot of heavy music and the bridge is a little unreliable. The hardware will last, as long as the guitar is kept in the hardcase. The finish should be good to last and looks amazing. I am planning on switching the strap buttons to strap locks in the future. I am confident that I can depend on it and will gig without a backup.

The Jaguar is under a lifetime warranty and nothing wrong happened to it so far, so I cannot comment about this section.

I have a MIM Fender Standard Strat HSS, and that guitar has 21 frets. I like the 22nd fret. There are more songs I can play with the jaguar and it has a different feel than the strat. The single-coil pickups in the jaguar are comparable to humbuckers too. I love the finish and colour. Action a little high but I'm ok with it. I wished it had high output humbuckers though, but it would not be a jaguar that way. I would leave the humbucker jobs to my strat. The tone on the guitar is amazing too. Considering the price cut I got, I think this guitar deserves a 10. Fantastic value, since in Singapore, all guitars have to be imported, hence the insanely high price. The three-hour queue for this guitar paid off well in my opinion.

American Vintage RI made in 2003.Ice blue metallic finish...
All the bells & wistles a guitarist might ever need.AMAZING tonal capabilities.Of course the BEST tremolo system ever made..

Sound KILLER ,in fact better than any MIJ ones I've ever palyed & better than many original 60s Jaguars too.
If you have a working brain there is no limit to what this axe can do...

The best made guitar Fender currently offers.
I don't know why (maybe cause they don't make too many of those as oposed to strats & teles?)
Tremendous attn to detail & finish.

Many people complain about rattles & bridge problems...get a grip of yourself...LEARN HOW TO SET THIS THING UP & you will have no problems.
Shim the neck & match the bridge saddles to the fretboard radius..

It is a Fender....

An amazing guitar!

I have nothing to add here that hasn't been mentioned elsewhere.

Don't judge 8 as bad just cos it's not a 10! This guitar has a great twangy jangly sound on the treble circuit which fills out well on the rythm. I don't use a heavily distorted sound. I play through a fender twin reverb, using a proco RAT 2 for light distortion when needed. The jag has a great slightly-thin-yet-edgy sound when used with light distortion on the treble. The treble circuit filter is a great way of backing off a bit on the distortion, cos using the volume darkens the sound hugely. I also use a maxon ad-999 analogue delay and a fulltone clyde deluxe wah. While not quite a one-trick pony, you'd really have to have played one lots with all the gear you're gonna use and decided that you were comfortable with the range of sounds it makes before deciding to buy it as the only electric guitar you're gonna buy. It will not produce the output to drive your amp the way humbuckers do. Just accept that the sound you make is okay with this.You won't have much fun running it through a pod! I use a Gibson 335 as well, which provides a completely different (fatter) distorted tone. The music I play ranges from the smiths, suede, elliott smith, pulp, velvet underground, the auteurs, rem, franz ferdinand and it suits me fine. While it may be slightly noisier than the 335, that's just down to using single coils. All my pedals have true bypass and are powered by a voodoo labs pedal power 2, and so have a well regulated and grounded power supply. My cables are all planet waves. You owe it to your setup to have something similar. I played a bunch of Jap Jags in music shops and the quality of the pickups in them were awful. The US Jags were miles ahead both in the quality of the pickups and the general feel of the guitar. This is just my own experience though.

I live in Ireland where the cost of US Jags is extortionate. I saved a grand by holidaying in the US and ordering one from musicians friend. It was setup reasonably, but after my luthier got his hands on it it was absolutely beautiful. The Jaguar is not a perfect guitar design. The bridge saddles are absolute muck. There is no way they can fail to annoy you, either with the rattle they make or the way the screws can fall out. The mustang saddles are a must. The fender mute is as useful as a sleep button on a smoke alarm. When setting it up, my luthier called me to say that the mute button apparatus were raising the action on the higher end of the fretboard and I haven't regretted telling him to get rid of it. I got a bone nut fitted and it helped the sustain and tone a lot. My Luthier wrapped copper wire around the bridge supports to stop the bridge "floating" - in my opinion, the "floating" creates more problems than it solves. Don't even get me started on the tremolo arm. It just won't stay in place! From what I've read, I'm not the only one that thinks this. Proper locking strap locks are a must on any guitar - get them fitted! I tried out the flatwound strings and found them a bit dead. D'addario '10s suit me fine. I don't think it needs '11s, but again, that's just my opinion. I've gotta say, the paint job (ice blue metallic) is beautiful. The frets were fine - i didn't see any flaws in the way it was made - the mods to the bridge, nut, action and mute were down to my personal taste. I mightn't like their spec but the guitar the factory turned out was perfectly put together. For that I give a 10.

I'm quite easy on my guitars & don't gig them more than once a month. This guitar hasn't let me down yet and I have it about 18 months. The buttons and knobs are all tight and won't be going anywhere they shouldn't be going. As I've said, I play a 335 as well. I'd never gig without a backup. Period.

Have had no contact with them. I have a great luthier who sets guitars up exactly as I want them. I haven't needed to talk to Fender. I've probably got no warranty in Europe, having bought in the US.

I've been playing 8 years, owned a Gibson Les Paul Standard, own a Gibson 335 and a Martin HD-28 acoustic. I've played all sorts of gear and am very happy with my current setup. I would not buy this guitar without owning another electric that can handle the sounds that this one can't, but the Jaguar is a beautiful-sounding and looking guitar. I don't know another guitar that makes the same sound - especially when given a little overdrive. I would never sell it. I have big hands but find the shorter scale neck extremely comfortable and easy to get around. The shape of the body suits me best of all the guitars I've owned. It's perfectly weighted - not too heavy & not too light. If you're comfortable with it's range of sounds, then don't hesitate to get one, but the American model is worth the extra cost.

Usa made reissue. I think it was made in 2002. you know the features from the other user. I can say that the controls are not easy to undertand, but after one day of playn you enjoy the guitar sounds, moore sounds that tele or stat.

I was searching a good sound, from Campilongo to Frisell. I like blues, country, folk, swing.
Now I can play what I like, really. Tha short scale is not a problem, but the best sound comes from 011 strings.
I had to raise the bridge pickup to hear a good blues sound and now the guitar has clear sound as well as dirty (I think the sound is on your hand...). Big noise when you cvlose all pickups.
If you select the upper switch (rithm) I have a fantastic jazz sound, as a serious arch top. But I like the other sounds with treble switch. I don't know if this may be the one and only guitar. But if you want swing, blues and 50' vibe this is the machine.

I don't like the old tremolo or the bolt on system. but theese are not a problems.
the finish on the neck and body is amazing

hardware is really solid.

I like Jaguar for the old vibe and special sound I have not found on tele or strat.
This my be a strnage guitar for the short scale or for the not simple controls.
But the sound you ear is amazing. Just raise the pickups and play with the switches.

Fender 62 Reissue Jaguar
made in USA
date : 2005 August
Ocean Turquoise finish with Mint Green pickguard
comes with brown Fender deluxe hard case and accessorys.
Good overview for pickups, knobs, tuners etc. you get in other reviews or Fender website.

My music style reminds something from The Seeds, Velvet Underground and The Smiths and Jaguar is extremely right guitar to play this kind of stuff.
Jaguar is more known as bright sound guitar.
But at this moment, it seems to me that my Jaguar
sounds almost like bass guitar: previously, I played six months with a Squier Telecaster and got used with its extremely bright sound. Jaguar is a VERY versatile guitar with many totally different (but all useful) settings and a cool tremolo. The only suspicious feature is Fender Mute as when one puts it on, the guitar goes a bit out of tune. However, played alone it produces nice muted sound. As to switches, I tend to use solo position more. Solo position gives more combinations, because three switches below strings worked only in solo system. Solo is on when single switch above strings is underside position. Rythm position (switch up) sound is quieter and foggy, but works better with an overdriven wah. Depending on the pedal usage, you will get aggressive and powerful sound, which, at the same time, is fully under your control. Many guitars with humbuckers go muddy before you get something really good out of them. My pedal gear consists of a Vintage ProCo Rat, Boss Blues Driver, Shin Ei Companion Fuzz(FY-2), Colorsound Tremolo (reissue), Dod FX-17 Volume/Wah and Toadwork Meat Booster. There is one thing I can promise: if you have ben playing a no-name cheap guitar for a long time, you won't believe how good a Jaguar can be.

Factory setup was not fully perfect and needs professional overadjustment. String action was too high and guitar?s tuning was incorrect. Ok, you will forget these problems immediately when you start to play, but for $1100 you probably want a best. Pickups and bridge adjustment was ok. The neck is very comfortable. The neck is not as straight as an arrow but don't be scared: as the manual says, it is necessary to get a lower action. All in all, forgiven little set up problems the guitar is flawless.

All features of the guitar are very classy; at the same time, the guitar is strongly and well made. The lifetime warranty is not a big overstatement. The reissue side is felicitous body-pickguard-pickup colour combinations, tuners feel, harsh sound and smell of nitrocellulouse laquer finish - all stuff is real 1962. The guitar is not noisy at all, no feedback, stays in tune with using tremolo and sounds excellent with different amps and pedals. Guitar and case (case is cool and well made!!) is balanced very well. OK, low E had a very little fretbuzz compared with other guitars, but its just Fender Jaguar's individuality and that's it. You won't hear it from an amp at all. I was playn' maybe 1000 lives and never had a backup guitar why I should now?

I have been playing guitar for 15 years. Right now I dont have any other gear, because I sold everything to buy this Jaguar. I must say one thing: I never put them on mustang bridge or saddles and I don't like 011 flatwounds at all. Don't underrate Jaguar's bridge, it is an
important part, on which the Jag's unconventional sound (clean with a bit of spice in it). Every little modification change sound. I tried 011 flatwound strings and the sound was boring. According to my taste a Jaguar with 010 roundwounds sounds much better. The lesser sustain of pickups is good because it gives you better control over the sound. But it is, of course, a question of individual taste. I must say that I love my Jaguar.

Review for a CIJ Jag, sunburst finish, dark shell pickguard.

So many more features and almost all of them useful. I won't go into detail because it's listed on the Fender site and other reviews. Suffice to say I use every setting on this. Not all in one song, mind you.

Now this is a modified Jaguar. I've got the Buzz Stop, Mustang saddles and I removed the pickup claws, which increases hum around monitors and TV sets but cuts down on excessive feedback. I also have it strung with Ernie Ball Power Slinkies (011s). If you are planning to use these guitars for anything other than what they were designed for (surf/ambient) these are ESSENTIAL upgrades. They're easy to fit and fairly cost effective, plus they increase sustain. The guitars stock, strung up with 009s, just won't cut it. I might upgrade the pickups for a set of vintage repros made by Curtis Novak.

It suits most everything I like to play. The clean sound on the bridge PU is sometimes a bit weedy, but with EQ this is balanced out well enough. The neck PU is a thing of beauty... really smooth and well-defined, definately my favourite neck PU sound on any guitar (close second is a Les Paul with tone rolled all the way down).

I use the bridge PU mostly, and I use a fair amount of heavy overdrive for rock-orientated stuff. The tone is pretty unique... I think gradually these instruments are coming back, partly because they give you a great sound on any setting, with lots of attack. Even with a lot of gain the character of the instrument is preserved rather well; you can still hear the Fender single coil snap and bite, and twang (if you have it EQ'd that way).

I've used this with two Laney amps (VC50 combo and GH100L halfstack, both of which I've gigged out with) and currently a Gallien-Krueger SS backline bass amp for home practice. Sounds great on all of these as long as I EQ right... I can't stress this enough, especially with the Japanese models, you have to work with the pickups to balance out the sound. Compared to the AVRI Jags I've played, which do have more balanced pickups.

I record with this a lot. It's a joy having a guitar I can use for almost anything, due to all the switching combinations. It layers upon itself well. The 'strangle' switch is especially good for those times when you need a solo to really cut through the mix.

God alone knows how this was setup from the factory, but when I got it it was appaling. I had to put in serious work. The bridge was a complete nightmare, the saddle threads were loose, rattling and sinking, as did the bridge itself. You can use loctite or wrap the parts in blu-tack, either works well. I replaced the bridge threads with screws from an old Squier Strat and now it never sinks. It does mean you have to slacken the strings and pull the bridge out to adjust, but once you have it set this is a rare occasion.

After doing this and adjusting the neck to give me a low action with minimal choking and buzzing, plus heavier strings, moving the PUs closer to the strings for more signal, it is very well adjusted.

The finish is flawless, or at least it was. It has some dings and scratches from playing live.

Now I have it set up to my preferance, it rarely goes out of tune and is as solid as any other Fender instrument. The hardware is good enough to last, sure, the electronics are a bit cheap but no problems as yet. The finish is poly I believe, and is harder than the standard Fender nitro finishes.

Strap buttons are average. I always fit those plastic straplocks just to be sure, more so as this guitar weighs a tonne (got to be made of basswood).

I do use it at gigs without a backup, as it's more or less the only guitar I've owned that fits me like a glove.

My experience with Fender has been complete crap. I asked for some information on their crappy serial number system and that was months ago... still waiting for a reply. Still waiting.

I have my own preferred luthiers for more complex jobs like levelling the frets.

I've been playing solidly since March 1996. I play other instruments including mandolin and harmonica. I've owned enough good Gibsons, Marshalls, Fenders, Voxes etc to know what I like.

I should hope it'll never get thieved. I keep a close eye on my stuff at all times.

This guitar is still for a select few ready to wrestle with the poorly executed designs present (or to change them). It's still unique looking and sounding, for the time being.

I wish Fender would devise a way to get four single coils on there, arranged like two humbuckers. Then they could make a switching system to move from standard Jag config to dual humbuckers, but all done with single coils. I also wish they'd start selling these with Buzz Stops and Mustang saddles as standard, maybe then they'd sell more of them.

My fender CAR CIJ.
22 fret,
S/S,
24" Scale,
Alder Body,
Maple Neck,
"Vintage" Pickups,
Chrome Hardwear,
Floating tremelo.
And of course the pickup selecting system is something special.
2 Circuits, along the bottom of the Jag we have 3 switches set in a chrome hexagonal plate, The Strangle, Bridge Pickup, Neck Pickup. 1 Volume, and 1 Tone knob besides that. The seperate circuit, on the upper switch plate; the rythym circuit, on the once activated, only the neck pickup is engaged, and volume/tone can only be controlled by the scrollers by the circuit switch, perfect for presetting so you can switch between two totally different sounds, just by flicking a switch.

I play anything from blues-classic rock.
Suits perfectly. I'm using an MG Marshall amp, not the greatest, but it still sounds amazing.
On high volumes/gain you can get some pretty annoying feedback if you're too near the amp.
It handles distortion wonderfully, will handle metal.
The neck pickup is very warm, it sounds as though the strings have melted together, sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing.
Bridge pickup is beautifull, rich, full, bright, all of it. Creates a bit of twang on clean.

Apart from the bridge, it's fantastic quality and perfect.
But then, this is where the Jaguar quite famously lets itself down, the bridge. More specifaclly, the saddles. The screws fall out, low E slips out of place, it buzzes a hell of a lot, (Probably due to the loose screws.) of course, it's fixable, fitting mustang saddles and 12's should fix it right up. And people have mentioned putting grease on the bridge screws to give the thread more hold.
You're deffinately going to spend a few days getting the bridge sorted.
And the trem isn't too good, if the trem is falling out, you havent pushed it in far enough, it needs quite a bit of force to get it to lock in. It tends to knock strings out of tune every now and then, but I don't usually use it.
But how amazingly assembled the rest of the guitar is, makes up for the faults.

I think if you spent a few good weeks on fixing up the bridge, it will withstand live playing and be fit to gig without backup, hardware will last, finish will last, seems to take quite alot of knocking into things, strap buttons have never failed me.
I wouldn't quite depend on mine yet, once I modify it, it should be perfect.

Never dealt with them.

Wonderfull guitar, you're going to need a hell-of-alot of patience if you need this. No way a begginer guitar.

But I love it,

Like most of the others described here, this is a Japanese '62 Reissue Jag (not sure of manufacturing date). Therefore, it has all the features except the useless string mute (I tried one on a Jazzmaster and hated how it 'tuned' the guitar up -- it isn't even an accurate 'palm-mute' sound!). The color on the body is Lake Placid Blue (a kind of sparkly royal blue), although I am not sure of the wood used. I am sure that the neck is maple with a rosewood fretboard. And don't forget, this is the short-scale 24" neck -- perfect for those with small fingers (like myself). Although it can be harder to play past the 12th fret for some people (due to the short scale), the thin neck is one of the easiest I have ever played. The pickups are definately and acquired taste, although I was able to master them in about 5 minutes in the store. 3 on/off selectors below the strings (neck, bridge, treble boost, which all correspond to 1 volume and 1 tone knob near the output), 1 active/passive selector (with 1 volume and 1 tone roller above the strings). The two single coil pickups even look cool, with the metal "teeth" alongside of each of them. Like the pickups, the body shape is one-of-a-kind. I recall reading that some Fender honcho in the early 60's said it looked like a pregnant goose or something...who the hell cares it looks completely different and original, something that drew me to it(more on that later). The strap buttons are the tightest out of all the guitars I usually play with (Korean Epiphone ES-335, Mexican Squire Strat, Korean Danelectro 12-string). The bridge/tremolo system, while interesting and somewhat inovative, is also somewhat flawed and could have been improved on. I've noticed most people who have posted here have changed it to something different, but they just don't know how to 'work' it, I guess. The tremolo arm is definately a disappointment. With no threading on the arm, it just sits in its hole, meaning that if you lean forward even the tiniest bit, it falls out! Not good when playing high-energy shows. The only other drawback to the guitar is the tuning heads. The other problem with the bridge is that the screws sometimes come loose from the string saddles, occasionally falling out and making the saddle crooked. The crooked saddle in turn allows the string to slide out of its proper groove (this is deinately a problem with the low-E). The only solution I can find, which works fine, is to keep a set of those screws and a corresponding allen wrench in my case. I just make sure everything is set before a show, and I'm golden. You can get these screws from a Fender dealer (I got a set at the place where I originally bought my Jag...more on that later). While the knobs are perfectly fine, I've always had trouble with the heads where the string has to go down into a hole in the center (like bass guitar tuners). This makes for string changing a quite tedious and frustrating task for me. Based on how the guitar's features work for my purposes and the distractions from the last three features I mentioned, this Jag rates a 8.

I first became fully aware of Jaguars and Jazzmasters when I got into Television nearly 2 years ago. Tom Verlaine's sound was so unique (and he looked so cool with those guitars), that my interest was piqued, and barely 2 months later I bought the Jag, after trying out that and Jazzmasters. I believe I chose the Jag over the Jazz because its sound was closer to a Strat. Besides, my ES-335 could handle the sounds I got out of the Jazz. I started off playing it through my Fender Princeton Chorus amp, which in conjunction with the Jaguar makes beautiful ringing bell-like sounds (the distortion sounds best with the amp gain low). With the chorus sound, I can get some tones similar to that of Peter Buck's Rickenbacker on early REM records. At the time I bought the guitar, my band was playing a hybrid of Beach Boys-esque songs and more Strokes-like stuff (check out our website at www.thedemos.net). (It was also cool to know that Carl Wilson played a Jaguar too...which cemented my decision in purchasing it!) I have found the guitar works great for pretty much everything we've played and recorded, especially in conjunction with our rhythm guitarist playing my ES-335. When I started playing through a Vox Cambridge 30 amp 8 months ago, the Jag easily made the transision with me. The Vox amp is tube driven, and allows me to play more vintage overdriven sounds, and with the amp tremolo it is just as unique (but still unique from) the Jag-Princeton sound. (I have since switched back to the Princeton, but both sounds work great for different situations). The pickup choices also give the guitar a versatility within a single amp. There are 7 combinations of pickups on the Jag. Both the neck and bridge pickups work great for cutting leads. I never use the treble boost, however. Depending on which amp I am using, it just creates a thin, hollow, banjo-like sound. Both pickups have a great thick, but cutting, sound when both engaged. The real gem is the other pickup circuit, which gives a nice, mellow, jazzier sound. Really warm sounding! This comes quite in handy when I'm playing in jazz bands (At a competetion once, I got acknowledged my a judge for being able to so easily switch between a funk song and a jazz ballad. I neglected to tell them that one flick of a switch on the Jaguar made that possible!) I now play in a Velvet Underground-esque art-rock band too. When I run the guitar through my Behringer Blues Overdrive pedal, I get ridiculously squeeling bursts of feedback which are completely unpleasent to my other band's ears and the ears of most people. However, it works great for our noisier songs! It is also hard to get sustaining feedback, which would be nice to use on some more melodic leads. Since this works with pretty much all the sounds and situations I need (besides using the 12-string, which is obviously different, I switch to the Squire Strat for a thicker lead on a couple tunes), I'd rate this a 8, seeing as that 'banjo' sound and lack of sustaining distortion detracts!

The guitar itself and pickups seemed to be set-up fine when I bought it...but I don't recall much about buying it, other than the shop also did a set-up of it after I purchased it. I had to have them re-set it a couple weeks later when I found the problem with the screws on the string saddles (which I then found out doesn't happen too often...at most a couple months can go buy without me needing to do some major fixing). The guitar has worked like a charm since then. As I've stated, the neck is so easy to play. There's just no other way to say it! Those with larger hands may find it difficult, but it fits mine like a glove (pun not intended). Since the output jack is on the face of the guitar, I've found it's smartest to use an elbow shaped patch cable here, and feed the cable through my strap. This prevents the cable from wiggling around and loosening the jack (common sense solves all problems, and you can't fix stupid!) There were some flaws in the finish when I bought it, however. But if you know anything about the House of Guitars in Rochester, NY (where I bought it), you'll understand. Even between the day I purchased it and when I picked it up less than a week later, there were noticable dings and scratches on the body and head, including some mindless scratching on the pickguard, as if some 5 year old came in to try out a guitar for the first time and beat the hell out of it (which I am sure is the case!)!! This is not the fault of Fender though, so this will not affect my rating on a 10.

This guitar must be built like a tank! As much as I cherish it, I do play very heavily on it onstage. This is where I used to have a problem with the low-E string sliding out of its saddle, but like I also mentioned, I was able to easily remedy the problem. I've fallen over onstage many a time, and the guitar didn't sustain any damage at all (what a trooper!). The finish is thick and I don't have to worry about scratches or dings (unless it's inside that claustrophobic fire-hazard House of Guitars). Unfortunately, I've never been able to get those pickguard scratches off. Thankfully since the pickguard is white, it's only noticible when the light is angled correctly. The strap buttons are the most solid I've come across (as I've mentioned before). Also as I've stated, I've been able to solve most problems I've encountered, probably due to my love of this guitar and determination to keep it going! I've been through quite a lot with this guitar.

I've never dealt with Fender, and I've only had the guitar re-set up once. I don't recall if it was even under warranty...

I had been playing electric guitar for about 4 years when I got Rhonda (named so after the Beach Boys tune, since this guitar seems to be identified with surf music by my friends). This guitar is my best friend - I get frustrated with her occasionally, but she always pulls through for me! (Fortunately I never get that Kurt Cobain crap - I bought this because of Tom Verlaine and Carl Wilson - I hate Nirvana!!) This will probably be my main guitar for quite a while, until I can get enough money to buy a vintage hollow-body Vox Mark VI. I definately like how unique the guitar is -- I've yet to encounter another band on the Rochester circuit with a Jag or a Jazz -- it's allowed my own voice to come out. I'd recommend the guitar to anyone who digs clean tones, classic Fenders, Television, or indie rock. And I'd make sure to find another if it ever got stolen...after of course smashing the guitars of the band who stole it over their own heads...if any band ever steals it I know which one it will be...

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.

Mine is an older crafted in Japan model. White, red tort guard. Normal Jag set up. Honestly Jags have more features than most guiars. Using all the variations in tone that the controls allow gives one seven (7) different basic tone settings - before you even touch the tone knobs. Pretty cool. I find all of the settings useful, myself.

I'd guess that my jag, which I got used, still had the Japanese pckups installed. I thought they were going to suck, and ordered a duncan replacment at the same time I bought the guiar, but honestly the Jap pickups aren't bad at all. I did some recording with them, and they really sound great. Fascinatingly edgy and aggressive overdriven and disorted tones - clear and thick clean sounds - bright cutting tones. The Jag is not quite as rich in the upper frequencies - the range that gives an instrument sparkle,as a strat or tele, but it makes up for it in personality. Althouh many of the Jag's features are weird - like the very cool low cut switch - which I adore, and are not for everyone, the jag does produce a broader range of sounds even than my strat. In that sense it is a very feature rich guitar.

I play in an indie/emo band that is relatively successful. We've opened for some big groups including Piebald, Coheed and Cambria, and The jealous sound.
I have wanted a Jag for years, but finaly got one only recently. I have read so many negative things about them that I was very apprehensive. As it turns out I think I was born to play this guitar. Not only is it visually attractive, comfortable and fun, but it sounds exactly the way I have always wished my strat would sound. The jag has this great, odd, chuncky sound that is appealing because it seems tailor made for quirky weird indie stuff. It's terrible for blues and hopeless for metal. This makes me happy. I can't even pretend to play metal on this thing. It's like the guitar it self has a sense of taste.

One of my favorite things about the jag is that you can really push the pickups. They respond better to picking dynamics than my American strats, producing this wonderful aggressive and saturated sound when picked hard. This effect is great with overdrive.

Contrary to what some people claim, the Jag, in my opinion,has a great distorted sound - with a unique aggressive bite that just rocks. The pickups are cleaner/ weaker and don't push overdrive the way my strat pups do, meaning to achieve similar levels of distortion I have to set the pedal's overdrive / distortion levels higher (I use a Full Drive II and a Big Muff). Even so, the jag loves overdrive and sounds fantastic with a Big Muff. It's not going to give you a slick classic rock/ metal whatever type distortion, but instead produces something interesting and odd, though I find the sound quite pleasing. And don't discredit the low cut switch. Although it does make the sound thiner, it can be great for things like lo fi guitar parts, unmuddying a distortion/ fuzz box, or creating sharp and shimery over dubs. In many ways the Jaguar is a recording guitarists dream, since it does so much on its own. Normally I might have to agressively eq a guitar to obtain an effect that the jag produces naturally. It's very handy that way.

Every one hates the bridge, and for a couple of reasons.
1. The strings behind the bridge buzz: While this is true, the buzzing is not noticable while playing amplified, so I don't really care. Even when playing clean the buzzing isn't noticable. To fix it get a buzz stop. Personaly I have learned to live with it, and it really isn't a big deal.

2. The strings slip in the saddles when played hard: In truth this doesn't happen to me, and I play in a loud band. Perhaps it's playing style, but I just don't have this problem. One needs to really slam the strings in order to make them skip, so I guess a lot of people play really hard. On the other hand, I, unlike most other people, like to set my jag up with lite guage strings. These may fit better in the bridge grooves, and so perhaps are less likely to slip. Don't believe the people who say that you have to put heavey strings on a jag. You can, and it's a cool thing, but you don't have to. I don't, and the sound makes me happy, plus it's really smooth playing.

3. The grub screws fall out of the bridge: This does happen. Solution - get lock tite, or put in some mustang saddles. That's what I did (put in the saddles I mean), mainly because so many people recommended it, but also because my used Jag had a slightly damaged/ neglected bridge. I could have used it as is though, with few issues.

4. The vibrato system puts the strings out of tune: Well, this is only true if you wank it. The vibrato in my opinion is great. So touch sensitive, and so capable of subtlety. Much more so than my Strat, which is noisy when you jiggle the bar. If you are putting the strings out of tune then you should play a different guitar - one with a floyd rose.

5. Iv'e never heard anyone have this problem before, but the strap on my jag makes noise which is audible through the amp. You can only hear it while you're not playing but it sounds as if the strap button where connected to the pickups. Perhaps this is part of the unsheilded nature of cheap jap pickups, or perhaps the previous owner did something weird to the guitar. Don't know.

The neck on this thing is where the guitar really shines. So comfortable, and it makes manuevers possible that I never thought I could do - having small hands.

This guitar holds tune better than my strat! Once it is set up well, it's like a rock, even when one uses the vibro bar.

The jag has lots of parts: sliders, knobs, little screws and lots of solder joints. It stands to reason that it has many vulnerabilites, yet mine has held its ground just fine. I wouldn't be surprised if the switches break some day, or if I loose a screw or two, but over all its very solid.

Here's the skiny. The jag is not for every one. Only buy one if you genuinely find it appealing, and if you try it out and then still like it. Read up on them, and be prepared for their ideosyncracies.

Do not buy a jag because you like curt cobain. His jag, which had a gibson bridge and a pair of cheap humbuckers was not a jag. Once you replace the pickups and the bridge, and disable the vibrato as some do, what you have left is just a cheap crapy guitar. It still looks cool, and has a nice neck, but basically you should have bought a les paul or an ibanez for that matter. The jag is not a power rocking, punk guitar. Cobain played one becase he liked the neck and because at the time they were the cheapest thing one could find. WAY TOO MANY pimply high school kids go out and buy jags only because they want to emulate cobain (which has ludacrously inflated the price). Don't be one of those. You won't like the guitar, or you'll have to spend three hundred dollars modifying it so that it is mutated into a pale representation of the guitar you should have bought - a les paul, or an SG, or some cheap ibanez humbucker thing. That's what you really want. Only buy a Jag if you love single coils, plan on making only functional modifications, and try the guitar out and still like it. Other-wise buy a tele - they sound great, are very cool, and will give single coil fans what they are after right off the bat.

The truth is that Jags are freakish, require a lot of love, and at best sound strange and unusual. Please, only buy one because you love it for what it is - a freak. They deserve an owner who can appreciate and not mar their uniqueness. For the right person the Jag feels like coming home - if this is you, then go fr it.

I got this one used, so I don't know what year it is, but its one of those Crafted in Japan '62 Reissues. I love teh body shape, it is so balanced and comfortable. I bought it without ever having played a Jaguar (though I had played a Jazzmaster). The pickups sound correct and the finish is what you would expect of a Fender guitar. I hated the Jaguar bridge, so I swapped it out with a Mustang bridge. I also added a Buzz Stop which was a massive improvement. The neck feels pretty small to me, but I have huge hands. Mine came with a wonderful black reissue tolex case.

I play blues, rock, and alternative. This is not a blues guitar, but playing blues on it has a pretty funky sound. Playing Chili Peppers songs on it is awesome. Strings do buzz a bit, but if you didn't want that, you should have bought a Strat.

Adjustment was all out of whack by the time I got it, but I got it used, so who knows what kind of hell it had been through. The nut has come loose on mine and needs to be reglued. You need some heavy strings on this guitar, too. I understand they were shipped with .010's, but unless you are girly, go for at least .011's!

Its a Fender, so you know the quality is there. This is a rock solid guitar I woul dbe proud to gig with. I don't gig without a backup guitar because I am a chronic string-breaker.

Oddly enough, I have owned many Fender guitars and have never needed any support.

If this guitar was stolen, I might consider getting another one if I didn't aleady own too many guitars. Other than that, it is a keeper!!

my jaguar is a 2003-2004 limited edition sonic blue reissue.it was made in japan but i love it anyway i don't see a difference between it and an american one. it has a lead circuit and a rythm circuit with a volume and tone knob for each.and the lead circuit has aboost selector which gives you amazing tone.i also love the 24 inch scale and offset body.best looking and sounding guitar i have played........seriously.

jesus, this guitar can go from a bassy rumble to a bright lead with the flick of a few knobs.it sounds like one thing, and that is a jaguar.i play allot of nirvana,sonic youth,mudhoney and white stripes.it suits all of them perfectly with a few flicks and twists.
my effects are a cool as hell electro harmonix polychorus and a big muff pi.

it is a known fact that jaguars are originally set up like shit.you must have it set up.now mine is smooth and fast.no flawsother than that minor offence.

shit yeah ,it is like a rock i have thrown mine and done thurston moore tricks with it and it didn't give a shit.my finish is fine no problem there.and no,i wouldn't gig without a backup because i use allot of wierd tunings.

a jaguar is a jaguar,dude.they rock all of the people who say it can't distort are being assholes,just hook it up to a big muff .it is the best.

Japanese (CIJ) reissue, made in about 1998, I think. It's sunburst with a red tortoishell pickguard. A couple of the switches were snapped off when I got it. I made a fuss and got the guitar for a steal.

These are very faithful remakes of the 60s American classics, and are comparable in every way to the American Vintage reissues (AVRI) - except in one well noted respect: the electronics. I'll come onto that later.

Features-wise: the (in)famous floating bridge, the locking trem, the MILLIONS of switches and knobs, the beautiful offset-waist body shape, the cool big headstock. So much to admire, so much to play with!

In short, there are VERY few guitars that offer the multitude of unique features that you get on a Jag.

I play noisy alt rock, and a little lo-fi country. The Jag is perfect for that. For a start, nothing sounds like a Jaguar! By using the "strangle" circuit (low-pass/high-pass filter, the switch for which is the one nearest the volume and tone controls), you can get a really jangly, bright tone, or alternatively a bassy plunk, and pretty much everything in between. You can also use both pickups at the same time, which I love.

I like to get an angular, edgy, cutting sound from my Jag. The high-pass filter is handy for the mellower country stuff, but I generally have it set to cut the bass out. It sounds like a panic attack. Gotta love that.

What this guitar isn't, is a Les Paul or a Strat. You want RAWK? Buy one of those, I say. You want humbuckers and sustain? Buy a guitar that has those as standard - don't mod a Jaguar! No matter what pickups you use (and I've even heard of some numbnuts putting a Seymour Duncan HotRails on a Jaguar - missing the point or what!?), you WON'T get long sustain out of a Jag. End of story.

I think a lot of people were deceived by the fact that Kurt Cobain often used a Jaguar. Well, I'm a huge Nirvana fan, so don't flame me for this, but Kurt didn't know a whole hell of a lot about guitars. He's not really the person to trust! The Nirvana sound is far more likely to be acheivable through a Mustang, which he also used (and used a lot more than a Jag).

One bitch: if you're buying a Japanese Jag, change the pickups - the Jap ones are weak and aren't wax-dipped, so they're horribly microphonic and WILL feedback with anything more than the most gentle distortion. Get AVRI Fenders from Angela.com if you can, or alternatively get Seymour Duncans. I've had my CIJ pups replaced with an SD Quarter Pound for Jaguar (bridge position) and an SD Vintage for Jaguar (neck position). I may change the capacitors and pots too, as the CIJ ones aren't as good as the AVRIs.

So, much as I love the sound of the Jag now it's been modded, I have to take marks off for the poor quality CIJ pickups.

This guitar was second hand, and the previous owner knew as much about how to look after his guitar as George W. Bush does about particle physics. The setup when I bought it was appalling, so I took it to my tech and he turned it into the best guitar I own (I own 5).

It also had a couple of dings. I don't care about dings - I'm a player, not a collector.

You'll hear a lot of bitching about the Jag bridge, and a lot of it's valid. However, you don't need to rip the thing out and replace it with a 'Stang bridge, like so many people - just get a Buzz Stop ($40 ish) and have the saddle screws treated with LocTite (a non-permanent glue which solves the problem of slippage). Those measures, together with a PRO setup will make this the guitar of your dreams.

A well set up Jag feels wonderful - none of that top-heaviness you get with a Gibson. It sits just right, and my fingers just glide over the fretboard.

One thing - get it strung with heavier gauge strings than normal. Use 11s at least, as the Jag's shorter scale will make anything lighter feel floppy and weird.

Anyway, I'm taking one mark off for the state the action was in when I got it, but otherwise it's perfect.

Lovely heavy beasts, Jaguars. They'll take all manner of shit, except for one thing: if you use the trem arm, TAKE IT OFF before storing the guitar in a hard case!

Can't comment on the strap buttons, as I immediately replaced them with Schaller strap locks.

The finish is hard as nails - polyurethane, rather than nitrocellulose - so you have to hit it pretty hard to ding it. Nitro's more "authentic", poly's harder.

Hardware's very reliable, but not high-quality as the AVRI stuff.

Second hand. Fender owe me nothing.

I love this guitar. The fact that the Les Paul brigade wouldn't like it is a badge of honour, as far as I'm concerned. It's for musicians who want to make a more individual sound, not just plug and chug.

I've invested nearly #200 over and above what I paid for it, just to do it up so the plugged-in sound does justice to how the thing plays. It's now my perfect instrument.

Japanese re-issue, 1994. 22 fret 24" shortscale neck, thin contour - suits more delicate playing. NOW! to sort out the controls... It seems that nobody but me knows how to work this baby!

1. the upper chrome bit...

This is the tone and volume control (in order from left to right looking at the guitar) for the neck pickup. The switch next to them selects the rhythm circuit (just neck pickup)when flicked up, and the secondary circuit (lead mainly) when flicked down. More of that later. (NOTE: when the switch is flicked down, playing with the rhythm controls will make no difference to the sound, as it is running through the lower controls)


The 3 switches...

again, in order from left to right looking at the guitar:
1) flicking this switch up will engage treble boost, and flicking it down will engage bass boost. Mine spends nearly all of its time up, because if I want bass I will just flick to the rhythm circuit with the upper switch.

2) Flicking this switch up will enable the bridge pickup. Again, I keep this switch up nearly all the time for the same reasons as before.

3)This switch is the only one I ever play with: It controls whether the neck pickup is enabled. Enabling the neck pickup and the bridge pickup gives a lovely punchy-midrangy sound which you can only imagine if you have heard it. (NOTE: On the stock Jap reissue, the two pickups do not hum cancel like on the american version - you can fix this with 8 inches of wiring and some skill with a soldering iron)

The 2 knobs left over are the volume and tone controls for the lead circuit. Got that?

All in all, this guitar is packed with features: 3-tone burst, tortoise guard, rosewood board, large headstock... and it just glistens with retro charm.

The Jaguar is a unique sounding instument. the neck pickup is inspired at reproducing retro, driving rhythm work, and at the flick of a switch it can turn into a beautiful, jangly lead machine (the reason for which is that the bridge pickup is not angled to pick up lower pitch harmonics further up the bass strings, like a strat). I play in a garage rock band and it suits me perfectly with its retro vibe both in its sound and in its appearance. I would say though, that if you want to play loud distortion and are not prepared to do a hum-cancel conversion, then DO NOT BUY THIS GUITAR. I have read peoples reviews about how great this guitar is overdriven: IT ISN'T, and if that is what you want out of an axe then buy an LP or BC Rich. This beauty does surf retro vibe, not metallica. That would be like marrying a beautiful woman to do the cleaning! It's just not right... having said that, if you plug it through an ORANGE amp on hum-cancel, you get an instrument with attitude and character. A class act.

Fit and finish were perfect, but the action was a little too high for me. I lowered the action and took to using a hard pick to regain the tone i had lost in doing so. But that is not fender's fault, simply personal preferance.

this guitar has withstood countless live performances without any suggestion of anything going wrong. I don't even bother with a backup any more, it is so dependable. I don't know if the finish is easy to wear off, I've always taken such good care of it... but I suppose it is if it's a mint condition ten year old guitar.

never needed to ask, but I've heard the stories.

don't think I am being proud or naive and giving it a 10 in everything because i would feel impolite insulting my guitar (?), it really is that good at what i want it to do AND I STRESS "AT WHAT I WANT IT TO DO". Because it is an acquired taste; and that it does what it does, and what it does is indescribeable; i would strongly reccomend that you do not buy this guitar over the internet, or without properly playing it first. In all my years as a guitar player I have never come across an instrument so unique. And I love it.

I am reviewing a 1998 Fender Jaguar '62 Reissue, Made in Japan. I actually just got it two days ago, but it was never played (still had the tags and protective sheeting). Came with OHSC (also with tags and plastic), which included Tremelo Arm, Documentation. As everyone else's '62 Jag reissue, this has 24 Frets. Mine is Sunburst w/ Red tortoise shell pickguard and Rosewood Neck. Aesthetically, this is gorgeous.

I had a '91 Mustang Reissue (Japanese) that was, for all intents and purposes, a giant piece of shit. The body might as well have been made of styrofoam. Since it was functionally retarded (but great looking), I kept it in beautiful shape (because I never used it). I was reluctant to trade one Japanese Re-ish for the other. But, it turns out, this Jag re-ish is a different story. Nice Alder body, great woodworking under the pickguard. Solid as they come.

I actually have a 1966 Jaguar, and this competes. Same body weight. Furthermore, The two blocks of wood the body's made from are joined in exactly the same spot. Aside from the color (my '66 is white), and a few accoutrements (such as the neck binding on the '66), these guitars are almost identical.

Plays great.

Sounds like a Jaguar. Let me say this to those who feel like the Jag is a twangy, weaker sounding guitar: Try playing the Mustang reissue. This thing sounds like a Les Paul in comaprison.

But, the type stuff that my band plays is a very loud and aggressive and noisy rock (think Big Black, old Engine Down, Slint). I don't exactly need a lot of versatility in tone, which the jaguar offers TONS of. what i do need is something that can punish people's ears. my primary guitar for the past year has been a solidbody Gretsch SparkleJet.

But, I have to admit: I am partial to Fenders. And since we have a lot of shows now, I feel kind of like an unfaithful husband when I play the Gretsch. That's why I got the Jaguar.

But, it needs some help to compete with the Gretsch, which I decided to give it. I'm going to rip out the bridge position pick up, route out some wood and drop in a giant humbucker. Then, I'm going to install a microphonic pickup between the tremelo and the bridge.*

*the last review i read for this gat was from a kid who seemed to love the guitar, but was a bit perplexed from some clanking or ringing he heard when his hand hit a few places. both of my jags make these weird ethereal, haunted house type noises when you play them unplugged. or when you knock them a certain way. my theory is that the generous amount of string between the trem and bridge (and the trem hardware itself) is responsible. problem is, it gets covered up when you amplify it. so, like i said, a nice and dirty microphonic job ought to do the trick.

i'm giving it a 9 for its versatility. when people see how i transform this thing, they'll think i did it because i'm not happy with the sound. but that's really not the case. this jaguar sounds like a dream (now to make it sound like a nightmare!).

Perfect Finish. Action and Intonation was spot on. But then, the neck position pickup was sunk absurdly low. it took all of 8 seconds to fix that. but it was still weird. why did they do that?

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Great question. I am very confident I can assault the guitar pretty regularly and it will take it. The only thing I am very concerned about are the saddles. I had previously used my '66 Jag at a few shows, and tried to be tame. Still, the strings don't like staying on those saddles. (I strum laughably hard - technique is something I lack completely.) I predict I may have a similar issue. But, then, the '66 has had almost 40 years of wear. These saddles' grooves may be deeper and hold better.

The strap knobs are fine.

I can't play a show without a backup. But, that's no indication of mistrust.

it has a limited lifetime warranty. the last kid said it perfectly: if you break it, you're screwed. if it falls apart, they'll pay.

here's my problem with Fender support, and this has nothing to do with the Jag: Ever try to find stuff out by going to FenderUSA.com? it's like chasing your shadow: you always remain one link away! i just went there and in 4 clicks, their site popped 4 DIFFERENT sites, the last two saying "we are in no way related to the Fender corporation." Well then why the hell is Fender linking to you? Quite honestly, aside from warranty issues (which my modifications are going to complicate), just find a good, small shop with someone you trust, and have them work on it. or learn it yourself.

I'm confident that this guitar can become my primary guitar...at least for shows. When I record, I like to bring out the thinline for one track, and the switch over to the Gretsch, or even the old Jag, just to get a real full range. But with the mods, you never know.

If this guitar were stolen, I'd be pissed because I traded and paid cash for it AND i invested in mods. but, at least i'll devalue the thing so much that if some jag-off (get it?) stole it, they wouldn't get much money for it. what was the question? oh yeah...i'd replace it.

i just want to say that the jaguar is one of the most visually beautiful guitars ever made. this re-issue is really faithful to everything about it.

2003 made in the US reissue '62 Jaguar. A pretty acurate reproduction of the original Jaguar. 22 frets on a short 24" scale neck makes this guitar playability a dream. I've heard alot of people say that short scale guitars are only good for people with small hands, and let me tell you, I have large hands and the smaller scale isn't that much of a deal until you realise you can reach an extra fret up then with a regular scale guitar. Short scale means less tension, less tension means thicker gauge strings, thicker gauge means fatter sound. I like that.

The pickups are vintage single coils, so they do have that Fender twang, and hum is a problem, but they are wraped in that weird claw thing which brings the hum down a bit but not completley.

Here's where the guitar gets weird, the pickup switching. Four switches and four knobs. There's two sections, a rhythm section and a lead section, this is controled by the switch on top. When the rythm section is engaged, only the neck pickup is activated and the tone and volume knob on the bottom become inactive and roller knobs on top become the volume and tone knob. When the lead circuit is on, the three switches on the bottom horn of the guitar become active and the volume and tone are controlled by the knobs on the bottom. I use this all the time because it's more configurable. I leave the volume of on the rhythm circuit and use it as a cut of switch.

My one complaint is that switching pickups in the middle of a song can be annoying, definetly not as easy as flicking a toggle switch.

I play mostly rock, Weezer, Green Day, a lot punk stuff, some Metallica (badly). I like surf music when I'm bored, and as we know, this a THEE surf guitar.

Curently I have it setup through a Boss tu-2, Boss os-2, Crybaby and a Boss ch-1 into a Marshall Jcm 900. It sounds amazing. Luckily my amp has built-in reverb so I can get some pretty warm and shimmering clean tones out of it.

Since it is a single coil guitar, the distortion isn't insane, but it's decent. Enough to get some good chunky palm mutes and some distorted chords, but there's no way Pantera's gonna come out of this guitar with out some pedals or a change in pickups.

Is it noisy? Well, it's a single coil, so there's something to be said about that, but it's not as noisy as a standard single coil. But, it's there.

Like I said, Weezer is probably my favorite band, and I can get there clean tone pretty spot on, but I'm really not trying to copy any type of tone, just something that I like.

The action was a little high when I got if so I had to lower it just a smidge, which is not easy. First you have remove all the strings from the guitar, take out the bridge (which is setup somewhat similar to a Tune-o-Matic) and on the bridge post are two tiny screws which you loosen or tighten depending if you want it higher or lower, which sucks because you're pretty much guessing if it's even, right height and what not.

The finish on the guitar is absolutley incredible. Shine, shine, shine! Not a scratch on it.

The only odd thing about it is that when I touch the strings or a chrome part on the guitar it makes a clicking sound through the amp. I'm gonna take it in to see whats up with that.

In my opinion, this guitar was built to last. This is a guitar that I could give to my kids and they could give to theirs. It's all quality parts so I'm really worried about anything falling off.

I replaced the standard strap buttons with Dunlop Straplocks, but the standars one were just fine.

I could definetly depend on it, although it does scare me sometimes when I have a switch turned off and I don't realise it, that always leads to looks of confusion and thought. I don't think I'd need a backup because I can't picture anything going wrong with it except a string breaking.

I've never head to deal with Fender so I couldn't tell you. The warranty is a limited lifetime, which means if you break it, tough luck. But if it just falls apart or something that's Fender's fault then they'll fix.

I've been playing for over 8 years and own some fairly crappy to high quality guitars and this one is definetly my favorite. I've got a Fender 50's Strat. An Epiphone Les Paul and a couple acoustic guitars. And since getting the Jag it's been my main guitar. I love it. I would definetly try to get it back if it were stolen, if not then I'd buy a new one.

I love the neck, it's small, fast and just feels good in my hand, and it's sounds nice too. I could really live with out the bridge vibrato system. Because of the distance from the tail piece to the bridge is so far, that the section between the two actually rings sometimes. It's sort of like picking behind the nut. But it's not that big of a deal.

I don't believe in being perfect so I'll give it a 9. Highly worth the price.

This si a 62' Jaguar re-issue (american) that i got around 94
24 frets. Has a really nice body and just overall feels nice.
The only thin i still cant figure out (yeah i know.. 10 years and i still dont know) are wtf allt he switches are for haha. Like.. It has 2 tone knobs, 2 volume sliders, a pickup selector, and then... 3 magical switches that do random shit when hit.

The neck on this guitar tho is what really really drew me to it. It has the best nech i have ever played on. I have a 2000 Gibson SG standard, 1990 American Fender Strat, a 98 parker fly classic and out of all of them.. the jaguars nech out plays them all.
I cant stress how good the nech of this guitar is.. so fast, so comfortable oh... ohh... so... good...

it gets a 9 overal cause well.. no knows wtf those switches are for.

It has a really really good tone, its a little on the twangy sound but then again, its a fender.
you go from a really twangy surf guitar sound to a nice rich blend of bass and treble
only thing i dont like is the amount of feedback you can get from this guitar on its treble pickup.

When i got the guitar the floating bridge well.. wasnt floating haha. so i had to fix it myself but not too big of a deal. The problem was that if you put too much pressure on the bridge, she would sing and then youd have to stop and re-adjust the fucker. well... its because they left too much room in the area where the bridge screws down. IT ran me 30 to fix it but ever since iv never had to touch it agian and that was 4 years ago.
Treble pickups are a little npoisey with the feedback but other than that no problem.
it gets a 8 because the bridge ordeal pissed me off.

Iv beat the shit out of this guitar and it still sounds and plays great. My friend offered me a gibson les paul standard for it and his chello and yeah.. i still got it. This guitar (in its current state) wont let me down.
gets a 8 cause i fear if the bridge would somehow go down again.

Umm.. fender hasnt really given me a problem.
it was really easy to repair the bridge, ran 30
no shake.

Im going to keep this guitar forever. She will be burred with me.
If you get the chance to get a jaguar, jump on it.

This is a 2003 CIJ Three-Tone Sunburst Jaguar. And I want to sex it up.
Twenty-two frets (the short scale neck is hardly noticeable to look at and play with at first, but you'll soon see the difference). I'm sure you all know the controls, so I won't bother with that here.

Pickups are pretty damn good. The only gripe here is the lack of sustain. The power's fine, you want muddy overdrive, just sort out your amp. The guitar's fine, just leave it!

I'm pretty sure its Alder body, rosewood neck, dot-inlay. Annoys me that i saw the trapezoid inlay neck just after i bought this, Gah! Still pretty, though.

In my opinion, only three-tone sunburst, and custom colours work on the Jag. Red makes it look cheap, and white just puts me off.

This, however is beautiful

Ooooh, the sound. When you want trebly, fuck, you GET trebly. Same with bassy, and mid-tone. The amount of tonal capability this guitar has is unbelievable.

'62 Jag >>> Digitech Whammy >>> Dan-O-Wah >>> Danelectro French Toast >>> Marshall G80RCD.

Since the amp I've got is for more moderny things, i don't think it TOTALLY does it justice, but hell, it's good enough! typically, it's a janglyish guitar, nice for Smiths, Joy Division possibly, but if you twiddle and alter the tones and pickups, you can get boomy bass. I've heard people moan that you can't get distortion from the Jaguar.

Agh! Shut up! are you deaf?!

Well...when i got it, it was pretty poorly set up. the action was awful, and a tiny screw for the bridge popped out. I don't really get along with the bridge at all. If you're playing something with particular force, chances are the low E will pop out. All you've gotta do is pop it back, but it's a little annoying. Pickups were fine.

Finish is ab fab, but sorta delicate. Took it out 2 days after i had it, slight ding with the Whammy pedal i own and viola! big crack in the finish, dented the wood. GAHHH.

Looks beautiful, and the dent was my own fault, so i'll give it high high high marks.

Will it withstand live playing? Hell, yes.

Look at it. Out of the guitars I own, this looks the most durable, and, looks aside, it probably is. If i were to thrash it about, it would probably dent a lot, but the electrics, neck, tuners et cetera seem fine.

(One thing, on mine, the volume on the rhythm circuit is dodgy. If you leave it on one position, it just plays static. Touch the volume dial, and it works fine again. Odd)

Not a clue. Never dealt with em.

Do you own one? Good, good.

Do you NOT own one? Why? Go out, get one now. The sound is so versatile, its amazing. I could get Mudhoney and Sonic Youth out of it in the morning, and Radiohead and New Order in the afternoon!

More powerful than my strat,
More tones than my Jagmaster

its the perfect balance between!!!

It looks amazing, it's definitely an eye-catcher, and you feel so great just holding the damn thing!

I own a 2002, 1962 reissue fender jaguar, in candy apple red. There are a hell of a lot of features on this thing.. Most strikingly the way it looks. It has the looks that kill. When i bring it out to an audience you can see the pure adoration, it wins them over. And it always will. Definitely my choice for photo/video shoots and other promotional activity.

It's packed with so many features, endless supplies of tone, you got a switch to change pickups between the bridge and neck, both single coils, on the bridge you have three switches to change that tone and a volume and tone knob, and you have two dials to edit volume and tone.
So you get a big choice of tone, and them some...

Everyone knows the body style of the jaguar. It's famous for its looks. It's got one of those regular fender necks, so well glossed, smooth and thin. Plays like a dream.

Quite heavy but is no disadvantage to me.

Now let me get one thing straight. This thing has its own sound. If you want the sound of a fender jaguar, you buy this guitar. If you don't want the sound of a fender jaguar, you don't want this guitar.

Now I have got that straight, I can explain exactly what the sound is. It has the fender twang, it's got a low sustain, it's got low output single coil pickups, and the action buzzes in a lot of positions so you will have to find one that is right for you.

In other words, this guitar has a weak sound, that sounds terrible for riffs. But where this guitar shines, is in its use for arpeggio's, and clean sounding precise note picking. It's got its own sound and to be honest, arpeggio's don't sound better on any other guitar in the world. If you want a guitar that does this, then there we go... you got it.

If you want to use it for riffs, your going to have to put a lot of overdrive into it because of its low output pickups, but it has a brilliant clean tone, great for surf guitar riffs, And its got a distinct sound. But if you want a guitar with a similar sound, that sounds heavier for rock and metal, I would advise you look at Fender Telecaster or Stratocaster. This doesn't have the output for metal. It is not a metal guitar, that isn't what it was built for. If you know what it was built for and know its what you want, then this is your perfect guitar.

If you are really desperate for a heavier sound with this guitar, fit it with heavier pickups, possibly humbuckers (to fit single coil size). But warning, nothing you do can replace the lack of sustain that this thing has.

I love this guitar personally, its got more character than any other guitar i've ever played.

You'll want to replace the bridge, The strings don't stay in place in the saddle when you play them, and will move around and end up going out of tune. I advise you replace it with a mustang bridge, which has a much better saddle for the strings to rest in, which means they are 100 times less likely to pop out!

I never played the factory set up much but i know that you will need to set the action for whichever string guage you want to use! All of them have a buzzing on different actions, and have to be moved to make it sound better.. no one wants a guitar that sounds like a sitar do they? (or do they huh?).

The tremolo arm is magnetised into the body, and can be taken out easily. Maybe too easily for my liking, it seems to pop out and the magnet isn't strong enough but maybe its just the one off with my guitar? I'd definitely reccomend to fender to Make that magnet stronger!

Okay, this is a 1962 reissue, so you get everything that was on the 62 model (bar the bridge cover but who wants that?)... Along with the reissue you get the flawed 60's technology.... Of applying the strings.. Oh dear it is a nightmare, and can take a whole day depending on how much patience you have. the machineheads are replacable yeah, but apart from that, it stays in tune a lot.

I needn't say a thing about the finish, its the best I've ever seen. Candy apple red is beautiful, and the shine of the metal... ooooh lovely.

Well it suffers the whole 'action expanding with heat' thing you get with all guitars to some extent, but due to being a jaguar it tends to move around a bit, The action dropped down to the string during a gig once when i was playing it, and the string hit the fret and made no sound, so you can imagine the disadvantage of that... But other than that, and the tremolo arm popping out all the time.. Its very reliable and great.

(Of course you'll have to deal with the saddle too if you don't replace the bridge)

I deal with the dealer that sold me it (sound control UK) so i've had no problems here.

One of my fave guitars, fits perfectly in my collection as the antithesis of a gibson les paul, You got a great variation of tones in this thign and its perfect for when you want some new and different sounds in a song, and to break the cycle of high output humbucker METAL sound that every band seems to have right now.

Dave
http://www.thechaossociety.com

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.