Fender Jag-Stang

I just want to clear something up about the pickups. KURT COBAIN'S JAGSTANG DID NOT HAVE A DIMARZIO SUPER DISTORTION PICKUP BY THE BRIDGE. Kurt's guitar had a DiMarzio H-3. Many people that know this can't find the H-3, and the reason is that DiMarzio makes the pickup exclusively for Fender and neither of them will sell it (except fender using it in their guitars). If your desperate enough you might be able to find some cheap used guitar with that pickup in it but if not you can use the super distortion or the fender copy of the H-3 that's in the jagstang.

You know what it's got stock. Mine is stock. Mine is Red. Mine is the 96' model. I bought this bastard in 98' at a Pawn Shop for $250 and I'm happy with it. The Blue one I bought at a music store for $600 and I hated it so I sold it. I loved the color but you can't play the color. The color doesn't mean it's not a lemon just because it isn't yellow. So I sold it. When I seen the one I have now, I played it at the Pawn Shop and it was different. I sounded different. It played different. The sound is not the best by far but for the price and the difference I felt in it, I bought it. I will change the pickups one day but not now. I have other irons in the fire and this isn't my main guitar or even my backup. Hell, it's not even my backup's backup.

You've read the review. Yeah, it's true. The stock pickups pretty much suck but it's still a fun little bastard to have around. Just change the pickups if you're that serious about the 'Cobain' way of doing it. Super Distortion in the bridge and Texas Special in the Neck. Presto.

Action if pretty cheesy to be honest, esp for playing up high on the neck. If you use the whammy bar you might as well just fuck off for the rest of the diddy coz' you're outta tune. But then again, alot of the shit you're playing probably sounds good either way whether you're in tune or not because I bet you're just fiddling around in front of a busted amp making feedback jackoff tones. A lot of fun I know but it won't get you laid unless you're playing for a chick named Pandy Fackler.

I wouldn't use this guitar for a main axe. Break it out for the last song. You know the one I'm talking about. Endless Nameless.

Fug em'.

If you were ever into the 'school of grunge' or post punk bullshit, buy this fucker. Run out and get a reissue or hop onto the ebay bus and get an original. Yeah I love playing that shit myself so I'll quit talking trash.

The Fender Jag-Stang is a japan-made beauty. In terms of controls, we have trick looking volume and tone knobs straight off the Fender jazz bass. Even better are the three-way pick-up selectors above each pick-up, which allow you to put them Off, On, or out of phase. A lot of the fun of having this guitar involves these switches, as the sheer number of tones you can get is a science in itself.
The headstock is a very cool looking 60's/70's chunky headstock which gives the guitar a classic Fender look. Added to this, we have vintage styled Fender/Ping machineheads. Very snazzy indeed, and they hold their tune for a long time, which is also a bonus.
As for the neck, we have a maple C-shaped neck with a rosemary fingerboard and vintage styled frets. The inlays are simple but classy circular jobs. The feel of the neck is, for want of a better word, spot on. The radius is thin, but not so thin that you don't have anything to grip. All of the frets can be accessed easily and the guitar is balanced enough not to make removing your fretting hand a danger. Lovely.
Moving down the guitar, we have the pick-ups. While I'm not sure what type they are, Fender have a reputation for engineering great pick-ups at any price, and this is no exception. They have a bright, rich, thin sound that cuts through any mix.
The body itself is great too. While this isn't exactly the purpose of the guitar, no-one wants their axe to look like a piece of driftwood and this certainly doesn't. What we do have, however, is a slab of basswood which sounds beautiful even when unplugged. The body is actually relatively quite small which is nice for the smaller guitarist to feel more proportionate to their axe.
The Fender Dynamic Vibrato bridge is my only slight niggle. On it's own, it does it's job and holds your strings nicely, while maintaining a nice long sustain. However, when you start using the tremolo bar (which is optional) you'll find it putting your strings out of tune stunningly quickly.
Finally, the guitar comes with two nice extras: A gig-bag and some 'Kurt Cobain memorabilia'. The gig bag is the standard functional Fender affair that holds your guitar and some other stuff besides. Nice. On getting my guitar home, I realised a lack of 'Kurt Cobain memorabilia'. On checking with the store about this, it turned out the this actually meant a little picture of the original Jag-Stang drawing that was hanging from the machineheads by some string. Cute.

As a player, I use many different styles in my playing. A bit of rock, a hefty dollop of funk, some acoustic and a smidge of punk. I wasn't nearly expecting the Jag-Stang to cope with all this. If I'd have expected that, I'd have bought a Telecaster. So with a great deal of suprise, I found the guitar toppling all of the styles I usually play, and a few more besides. This really is a very versitile guitar. I ran it through a Jim Dunlop crybaby wah wah to a Crate GX-15 practice amp.
"But this was Kurt Cobain's guitar! It was meant for grunge!" It sure was, so it'd be cruel not to pay homage to Nirvana. Suffice to say, it took mere seconds to nail the distictive tone that made Smells Like Teen Spirit such a huge hit.

I inspected my guitar thoroughly after I go it. Nothing. No defects, no scratches, nowt. The finish is immaculate, which is a testament to the care that is taken at Fender to set the guitar up.

I haven't yet gigged my Jag-Stang, but a number of band practices have shown that this guitar is very reliable and will be for a long long time. So far (after these practices), no part of the guitar is yet showing any signs of wear or tear. I'm looking forward to gigging this guitar because I believe that as long as it's set-up right) it'll withstand it nicely.

I haven't dealt with this side yet so I can't really comment.

In my 3 or so years of guitaring, I have owned 4 other guitars, and none of then are nearly as good as this one. I'd recommend anyone to at least try this guitar.

Hey George Martin, the one talking about the Dimarzio and vintage Fender pups, unless you put those in, you only THINK you are using those pups. Kurt's Jag-Stang had a Dimarzio Super Distortion in the bridge position and a Fender Texas Special in the neck position. So unless you put these in yourself, you're pretty tone deaf unless the Fender pickups are actually any good which usually, they're not on the foreign models (i have a MIJ Mustang) Have a nice day.

1996 LH Jagstang, 1 volume/1 tone control, 2-3 way pickup selector switches. Stock pickups and tuners. Fender dynamic vibrato bridge. Green with rosewood fretboard. Body shape and small neck make for comfortable playing for me. Changed pickup switches in 04. Pots are loose. Will probably change them out this summer.

Play 70's/80's rock and some older surf tunes through Peavey Classic 50 with standard tuning. NO FX other than reverb. Get a very nice bright sound with presence at 8 or 9, bass7/mid5/treble8. Good for light to moderate crunch. Play on the humbucker only (back position). Vibrato bar stays in the case. The pickup selectors give a good variety of sounds, I just haven't figured out what the heck to use them in.

Bought used (and abused). Couldn't get sound out of it in the store (other than hum). Neck was straight, so I bought it cheap as a project. Original(?) wiring was a butcher job, looked like it had been done with a torch. so I rewired it from the ground up. Wrapped electrical tape around bridge posts to stop it from moving around. Setting the intonation is next to impossible without doing this. Raised the action a bit, dropped the pickups, and now I have a perfectly playable guitar.

Seems solid and generally plays well enough. Have to be careful when hard strumming, as I tend to hit the volume knob. It will occasionally go out of tune when bending. Definitely requires a backup.

Never dealt with Fender directly.

I've been playing for 4 years. This was my second guitar, bought about 6 months after I'd started, on advice from a guitar playing friend (hey, it's a left hand Japanese Fender. You'll never find another one that cheap). I appreciate the simplicity of the controls, and how comfortable it is to play. Hate the bridge. Love the sound. Since purchase, I've bought an Epiphone LP, older Charvel, Stratocaster and Ibanez RG. Keep coming back to the Jagstang though...

This is the 2003 model of the Jag-Stang, made in Japan. It's got the two 3-way switches, one for each pickup. Let's see....basswood body, kinda shaped like an old Mustang. The tuners are the Fender, vintage style (kluson tuners), which are decent enough. The only thing I don't really like, features-wise is the Fender Dymanic Vibrato bridge. It stays in tune fine until you try to use the whammy bar, then it's instantly way out of tune. I want to just have mine locked down. It's got a really cool neck, 24" neck scale, 22 thin frets (I've heard people say medium, but the tag that comes with the guitar says thin), and I think it's rosewood on the fretboard. It came with a gig bag, but I bought a case for it right away.

I pretty much play anything, including Nirvana. I have a 60 watt Crate amp and it sounds fine. I find that the single coil is really noisy however, and the humbucker sounds a bit thin (I think nearly every other review says the same thing). It does get a great variety of sounds, from trebly and thin, to reasonably full and clean. The single coil has a great great tone under the buzz, however.

The set-up when I originally bought it was awful, but the store I bought it from did a free action/set-up job and it's fine now. The pickups are adjusted fine. The bridge had a loose screw, which was an intonation nightmare, but the set-up job fixed that too. I thought the action was a bit too low, as well. After a good set-up job, this guitar plays phenominally! The finish is a bit thin but it's still beautiful. Like I said, after a good set-up job, this guitar feels great!

The hardware on this guitar was a reason I bought this. The switches are great and the pickup switching system is just perfect and out of the way (unlike Strats, which I always seem to hit while I play). The finish seems a bit thin, but so far, I've had no dings or anything, and I'm a rough player. The only problem this guitar has is probably with its bridge system. After more than an hour of playing, it's a bit out of tune. This guitar is something that could withstand playing an hour gig, with no backup, but I don't see Bruce Springsteen playing it during one of his three and a half hour marathons of a show.

Never had to deal with Fender, yet. The music store I bought it from is great though, and it was under warranty.

Despite giving it mostly 8's across the board, this guitar is a 9 overall because it's got a lot of bang for the buck. It's light but still feels very solid. The neck is great, and the switches and the overall look of the guitar is perfect. I'm probably going to change the pickups, probably to a Fender Vintage Noiseless and a Duncan JB, and try to lock down the bridge. It might seem strange to give this a 9 when it could stand modifications, but the look and feel of this guitar are perfect. So remember, after a good set-up job and the customizations of your choice, you have a great guitar (call me a moron, but I like it more than a Strat).

First year out.
You know the specs

Rip out the stock pickups and bus some new ones because fender put crap in this guitar

Set up suckef when i got it. paid 150 bucks. looks like some one stomped on it

ok at home but never gig this guitar. unless you can come back from the dead

i hate fenders cstomer support.

playing for 13 years. bought the gutar because it was cheep at the time. i would not pay over 200 bucks for this tird. all that pay over 200 are stupid. i dont knw why fender put this back out. oh i know they wanted more stupid people to buy this hunk of crap. there is a reason why kurt killed him self and this guitar may be one of the reasons. buy a mustand or a jaguar if you want a good guitar

2003 model, 22 frets, solid body laminated top, two pickup switchs, same as mustang, and a volume and tone nob, it has one single coil and one humbucker, passive electronics, im not real sure on the wood, but from the other reviews i believe that its basswood, people say that the finish is thin, but it seems to me that its about the average thickness, it has a floating bridge, each string is on a seperate drum and they can move up and down, gives it a very distinct sound, the tailpiece is a dynamic fender vibrato, it strings weird, you go backwards and then it rolls around the bottom of it, i wouldnt suggest using it though, due to the fact that it goes out of tune, quite quickly if you do, the neck is the old "C" neck copied from the mustang, perfect neck in my opinion, very comfortable and fits in your hand perfectly, mine came with a gig bag, but i bought a hardshell case for it, also its alot thicker than i thought it would be, about an inch and a half thick i think, about the same as a jaguar

like most of the people that buy this guitar, i mostly play grunge type stuff, but i also play metal, punk, old rock, just about everything, this guitar works great for all of them, it has a very clean sound, and when put with a distortion pedal sounds very heavy, all around good sound for probably any type of music, i play through a peavy renown 450 watt amp 2x12, but i made another 2x12 cab and run it through that too, sounds excellent, the humbucker gives it a very warm sound, the single coil give its a very bright sound when you put them together you get a mix but its usually warm, the only problem i have, is the bridge, sometimes the independent saddles vibrate together and buzz a little, you only notice it when you play it unplugged, and thats just barely, if you wanted to i could see someone changing the pickups, im going to keep mine original, but i could see someone changing them

when i first got this guitar the action was perfect, just about as low as you can get it, i love it so much, its the perfect action, but i like my action low as possible, pickups were perfect when i got it, i've never seen a single coil like this one though, it just looks weird, its not bad i've just never seen one like it before, bridge was adjusted before i got it, all the strings were adjusted for heighth i guess at fender not sure, pretty small fretwire i guess, not horribly small but smaller than most, i like it that way though, all the switches are silent during switching no popping, the tone nob doesnt pop you can switch back and forth all day and not get a pop out of your amp

it definatly stands live playing, aggressive playing, the only problem i might see it having are bridge problems because its pretty complex but i wouldnt count on it, seems pretty sturdy, the finish seems pretty sturdy it probably wound scratch any easier than any other fender guitar, because its the same paint and same technique, strap buttons seem pretty solid but im going to replace them with strap locks just because i always have, sense of security i guess, i depend on it alot, i would gig without a backup, with no problems

never dealt with fender so i dont know

ive been playing for probably about 3 years, have owned many guitars, around 10 i guess, this by far is the best ive ever had you get what you pay for, they should charge more, your getting a real discount for what you pay for, no problems with this guitar yet, watch that jinx me and it explode when i go and pick it up, if it were stolen i would cry for about 10 1/2 hours then go buy a new one, love it because it just looks so damn cool, love the sound, the only part i dont like about it is probably the bridge but its not that bad, i will probably change it with a tune-o-matic then there will be no problems, best guitar i ever had, excellent, excellent guitar, go buy one now, it does kurt cobains name good, r.i.p kurt

It was made in 2003 in Japan. 22 frets. Solid body, laminated top. 1 volume knob, 1 tone. 2 pickup selector switches. S/H pickup configuration. Basswood body. Maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Sonic Blue finish. Vintage tuners. Dynamic vibrato. Came with a deluxe gig bag.

I play a lot of grunge-style music and it's great for that. I play some quiet melodic songs and it's not too good for that. I use a Marshall MG practice amp. I usually play the Jag-Stang with both pickup selectors down or the bottom one down and the top one in the middle. It has a very bright sound. It's rather tinny with both the switches up. I like the large range of tones you can get.

When I got it the action was terrible. Way too high. But that's really easy to fix. I got it intonated for 15 bucks. Everything else was fine.

This guitar would easily withstand live playing. The finish looks great and I doubt it will wear off. The tuners kind of suck but it doesn't bother me. Even if it did all I would have to do was replace the tuners. I'd always use a backup live though no matter what guitar I owned.

I've dealt with a music store called Schmitt Music Center. They intonated it. They were very friendly but it took them a while to get around to working on it.

I've been playing guitar for about 3 years. I've owned several guitars. This one is my personal favorite. I love it! I'd definately buy this guitar again if it was stolen or something. My favorite thing about this guitar is that it's the coolest looking guitar I've ever seen. The only guitar I find it similar to is the Mustang.

I have an origional Japanese made Fender Jag-Stang.Mine is sonic blue but you can also get them in fiesta red.The Jag-Stangs have maple necks with rose wood fret boards.One thing that is inparticularly nice is that the fret wire is so small, which makes it easier to move your hands up and down the fret board easily.It has the mixed shape of a mustang and a jaguar and has a comforatable feel to it, and it looks cool as hell.

Awesome sound.You can use it for just about any music style, including, of course, The classic Nirvana sound that everyone loves.

The finish on my guitar is in tip top shape.Everything was adjusted, and set up fine.The only trouble is that the little plate behind the neck on the body has a few little bubbles underneath the chrome plating, most likely from rust, but it's easy to replace.

Here's one little problem with the Jag-Stang. The floating tremelo is cool as hell and sounds hella nice; But it knocks the guitar out of tune fairly easily.But it's easy to retune, and would be fine live.It's not like anything will fall off of it.

All in all this is one hell of a guitar that would be great for anyone.It's not too pricey and the re-issue has just been released,but i don't know how good they are.