Fender Jag-Stang

My Jag-Stang is a 96' and i love it. The stock single coil on the neck HB at the bridge. It's a common fiesta red with a mother of pearl pick guard. Vibrato bridge (which i hate)It came with a vibrato bar but it never worked. Volume and tone knobs, 2 3 way pick up settings. (when i put both pickups in the middle the guitar doesn't make any noise.

I personally like the sound the comes out of that guitar. You can get ritch clean tones, and those turn up the distortion let feed back ho yeah you gotta love that. i play lots of tool (and yes nirvana)
gives of great pitch harmonics. gets a nine because nothings perfect

after i raised the action (i got a lot of buzz on the low e) it sound just fine. Some Senyors would make it a lot better. when i bought it there where some dings on the neck but the dude told me that they drug it on the ground after they finished it to make look like kurts-true false? probably false but hey when your fifteen you dont care.
do now though

ive gigged it with now problem. but the strap knobs suck. i need to soder the wiring under the volume and tone pots because it cuts out a lot. the finish has held me up for three years.

NA

Great guitar. Soul Style + sound the three basics of any good guitar. bought when my stat craped out.

Well, the switching allowed for more interesting options than other traditional guitars, so I'll give them some credit. Read the other posts for details, since they're no longer made, I figure most folks won't care that don't already know, ya know?

It was pretty weak out of the box. I went and replaced the HB with a SD Seth Lover, cuz I wanted more chrome on there, and put a Lace Sensor in the neck way back in '98. What do you want? They were considered good back then! These pickups improved the sound, but still a pretty thin sound, which has to do with the wood and hardware...

It was well set up when new, but I used 11's on it, and that almost bent the neck to where it couldn't be intonated properly. I refinished the body in sunburst, and it was alot of work to get the 50 coats of red poly off the pathetic basswood.

It was a very thin neck, the sliding switches stunk, the trem went out of tune very easily (but I didn't use it much anyway). Pretty cheap overall, and anyone that says otherwise is not very sharp.

I think a 6 is fair for this guitar. I am about to build a custom resurrection of this one because I like the shape. It will have good wood, good pickups, good hardware, and a 25.5" scale neck. It was my second guitar in 1996, and I thought it would sound like a strat (SRV being a favorite at the time). I was wrong and bought a good strat the following summer. I have owned a ton of gear and have customized every piece of my signal to what I like, and the tone is there. This guitar has stayed disassembled in my closet for around 4 years, and I am hoping the new one will sound as good as my $2000 guitars.

1996 Japan 22 frets RH,single coil and modified jb seymor humbucker, rosewood neck, Fiesta Red, White Pearl pickguard bridge.. dynamic vibrato do not have the trem bar, nor do I have the hardcase it came with new.

I used to be in a Nirvana cover band, but have expanded to late ninety's rock as well, but now mostly jam to original tunes written by bandmates and self. The sound I get from this inspires me to go in directions I thought never were possible with one guitar..the Jagstang is very versitile in range on sensitivity on hitting hard or soft and it seems to adjust to any style or clarity. I am using a fender princeton chorus amp. piggybacked to a peavey 212 chorus as a cabinet and surprisingly it's sound is like no other! I occasionally swith on the chorus while in overdrive and it boost the distortion to an awesome ambience, that fills any space. A very cool sound! I have modified the humbucker but the rest is orig.stock. For my taste, adding the jb seymor makes all the difference in the world. Also add some Elxir strings, They last!

N/A bought from music store and has most likely been set-up to some extent I made a few changes : I raised the humbucker on top side toward the low E sting. raised the action on E, A, B and low E
The weight is perfect and the finish is very attractive, I love the neck and the shape of the fretboard. I have had to solder the wire/s under the volume and tone controls that had shaken loose.

Yes! This Guitar can stand live gigs, I have used this thing countless times and has never failed, only like any other guitar it will go out of tune slightly after about 12-15 songs ..but that is only from me playing so hard on some songs, very natural to go out at some point but very average along with my stratocaster as well as others. very durable! I have had my strap come off a few times and the butt of the guitar had hit the ground very hard at times, but you could never tell looking at it, that it had been in some accidents. Other than a few dings on the finish(what guitar doesn't have dings?)the guitar is made very well. If you treat something special it will stay special! If you punk it on the ground or smash microphones with it, it will damage and break! Just like a hot rodder paying for expensive tires, then peeling out at every stop sign burning the rubber off. I never understood that!

N/A

I originaly bought this guitar for nostalgic reasons, and did not expect such a fine crafted piece of work. However it was instantly my main axe.I have been playing my Jagstang since early 1998 I own a few other Fender Guitars and amps and have been playing seriously for15 + years.
The Jagstang is a Favorite of mine, it never collects dust! I am now in search of a sonic blue jagstang I would love to have the pair, So I can modify one just a bit different for a back-up.

Mine is a first year fiesta red lefty

I play rock n roll, could prolly have some better pick ups. I never use the single coil.

My wife bought me this guitar and it was set up and played awesome from day one. Also unlike a lot of other reviewers mine has incredible tuning stability with the original bridge.

I've had to get the switches repaired on it a couple of times, but considering I've bled all over the guitar (because of those dam switches) and I've kicked, thrown and hit people with the guitar it's been pretty reliable.

Never dealt with them.

I love this guitar. Best guitar I've ever owned, sometimes you just get a special one. I've written more songs on this guitar than any other, hell than all the other guitars I've owned combined. This guitar is better than the Les Paul Deluxe I had, the 1978 Strat, Japanese Tele Custom, ESP Tele....blows them all away.

Has standard Mustang controls (volume, tone, phase switches), but is fitted with a humbucker in the bridge position. Features a Fender floating bridge tremolo system, and smaller/medium frets. Mine had light blue finish.

Sounded really noisy in all positions, most settings just sounded horrible. The only cool setting would have been both pickups engaged and out of phase, with the tone slightly rolled off. I think that the only thing I played at the time I got this was "alternative" music that mostly involved power cords, so I did not notice how much it sucked until I started getting into more bluesy rock. Very cheesy sounding, skinny, flat and weak.

This guitar had a beautiful light blue finish, white pickups and a shell pickgaurd. The aesthetic aspects were great, but floating bridge coupled with that weird ass tremolo made the guitar go out of tune every 2 minutes. I HATED that tremolo and tried to have it disengaged. Fret buzz was almost unbearable no matter what adjustments were made. The ONLY reason this is getting a '7' is because it looked cool.

Im guessing it was pretty tough, but I only had it for a year and never gigged with it.

I'm giving a '10' to the store where I bought it, for attempting to make it a better playing and sounding instrument by almost weekly adjustments and maintenance. Never dealt with fender, but for a Japanese model cheese guitar, I doubt they would have given a shit about me.

Got this guitar when I was 14 back in June of '96. I wanted a Fender Mustang, but decided to get one of these instead. Since I had very little guitar knowledge, I thought that this had to be cool because it was the "Kurt Cobain Model." Well I was sadly mistaken. To this day I have never seen a picture of Kurt with one of these things (usually he just has a heavily modded mustang or jaguar). My old guitar teacher told me about a Fender rep whom he had spoken with about the model, and the man said that Cobain was shown the guitar in its pre-release stages, and Cobain just shrugged his shoulders and walked away. I don't know whether this is true or not, but the guitar really sucked and I sold it about a year after I got it and got a Stratocaster (like I should have done to begin with). I would not recommend this guitar to anyone except post pubescent boys who are into grunge music and don't know any better.

This guitar has a single coil and a humbucker at the bridge. Im not really a fan of the humbucker thats in it. Ill probly change it. It has a big 70s style headstock which I like, thats what really caught my eye on buyting it. That and it was designed by Kurt Cobain. The neck is very nice but im still getting used to it.The bridge is a little strange but it works. It has 22 frets and there set just fine. No buzzing! When i first got it it had a little bit of a tuning problem but after i set the bridge it went in just fine. Still goes out though. I must complain about the body, I think it is really cool and comfortable but needs some contours.(might bust out the belt sander!)joking. It also has a shorter scaled neck, Its not like my strat. But it plays well. I replaced the strap pegs with locking strap pegs,(for safty reasons).

This guitar sounds decent, but the humbucker isnt heavy enough for me. I want a grungy dirty sound and its more soft and soothing. I play mainly grunge and metal,(mixed) and well it just needs a new humbucker. It has 2 three way switches in it which im still figuring out. Im used to a 5 way! Other than that it sounds pretty good.

It has pretty good action, and its rather solid. The neck is very fast. I play mainly power cords(i suck) so it works. I love the finish, The color is awsome,sonic blue. I havent giged it yet so i dont know if it dings easy. I might just keep it protected and not find out how easy it dings! I bought it used and it has 2 very small dings, there not to the wood either.

The guitar seems reliable. Its only been in my room so far so its hard to say if it can handle a gig. The finish is nice but who knows what time will do. I could probly depend on this guitar but I will probly always have a backup.

The guitar is a Fender and has there quality. I Love strats and worship Fender guitars. I just hope the Jag Stang last me awhile. The more I play it the more i like it, but Thats almost any guitar. You can somtimes convince yourself into things. Such as likeing a guitar.

Ive only been playing about 4 years and in that time have joined a band and written over 20 songs. Ive been in the band for about a year and a half. Ive always played a Strat and never cared for any other. The Jag stang is a big step for me. If you asked me about it now itd tell you its decent. That answer might change in 2 more years.

Made in 1995 (First Year), Fiesta Red, Mustang bridge, 1 Humbucker, 1 Single coil, Out of Phase switching, Short scale, you know the rest. It does have some pretty nice features.

Now this is where it falls short. The humbucker is slanted in the bridge position, and that makes the pole pieces and the strings not line up evenly, causing a muddy, nasty sound. The neck single coil wasn't anything to brag about either. To get this thing to sound even decent you would have to route it, buy a new pickguard, and a new humbucker and it isn't even worth it. I found this guitar to also sound, very bassy through my amp, I mean you could almost play slap bass with the thing. Just horrible.

The tuners don't hold tune, the switches get in the way, and the body chips extremely easy. It intonates nicely, and it did have a rather nice paint job, though. The out of phase switches do tend to get in the way though. And, like I said about it chipping easy, you wouldn't know until you tried the thing. I was talking on the phone with the guitar next to me, and I put the phone down, and bumbed it gently against it, and that caused a good sized scratch. I would walk with it, maybe gently touch the guitar against a wall, and it would scratch. It would scratch from wearing a belt buckle, just horrible. The neck though, is very comfortable. Nick and thin, a change from a Strat. That was basically the only thing good about this guitar. And the strap pegs are very cheap.

This thing is pretty reliable, but unfortunately, it just doesn't sound or play good. The Volume pot started to crackle uncontrollably for a while, but it was just a wire from the inside wrapped around it, no big deal, but little things like this tend to happen with it. I would trust it for a gig as a backup, or maybe even my third backup, in case worst comes to worst.

Never dealt with them. Fender has a pretty bad rep.

This guitar really isn't worthy of the hype it gets. I will admit I was turned on to the guitar through Kurt Cobain, but the guitar is just plain bad. I didn't even like it when I wanted to be Kurt. It is just bad. Unfortunately, since his name is attached, and they are out of production, the prices are sky-high. I sold mine a long time ago though. Unless you want to do tons of modifications to it, I would avoid it. To me, it wasn't worth the time. It is just about the ugliest guitar I have ever seen, and one of the most uncomfortable I have ever felt. Not worth the time or money. I figure mostly Nirvana fans will read this, so just go buy a Fat Strat, you can get the sound easier without all the trouble. I am glad this guitar is out of production, Fender put out a half-assed piece of sh!t to capitilize off of Kurt's name, and they did. I hope the fad for this guitar just dies off soon.

1996 Fiesta red Jag-Stang, made in Japan. This model has been described extensively:
- basswood body.
- maple neck (short scale) with rosewood fingerboard: its short scale makes it easier to fret if you have small hands, but on the other hand...
- two pots (volume and tone).
- one single pickup (neck) and one humbucker (bridge). Both are Japanese replicas of pickups favoured by Kurt Cobain (Texas Special and DiMarzio).
- body designed as as combination of Jaguar and Mustang: aesthetically very good, but not very well balanced.
- mustang style bridge: not very useful for the type of music this guitar was supposedly designed for. As far as I concern, I prefer playing a guitar which doesn't go completely out of tune.
- nice vintage Kluson-style tuners.

In my humble opinion, this is just a rhythm guitar. Yo con't play lead very comfortably. With that in mind, the Jag-Stang dosn't achieve some quality goals: good wood, solid construction... but not a very useful tremolo (Mustang-style) and low-quality pickups (especially the single one). I have ten different guitars (all kind of guitars) and I play a different style of music with every one of them (don't get me wrong: I'm just saying that I'm not one of those who tries to play hard-rock songs with a Tele!), but this is the worst guitar I have. It is only useful when you need to strum, don't expect it to be very useful in other aspects of playing. I play straight to amp (a Fender Roc Pro 1000 combo), and the single coil is really poor in quality. The humbucker is much better, specially if you use distortion: that's what this guitar seemed to be designed. At least it gives a bright sound, not like the dull sound produced by the neck pickup. Not a versatile guitar at all. bearing that it was a "signature" (although low-priced) guitar, Fender could have upgraded the pickups so that you don't have to change them immediately. It's not the pickups, only: played unplugged, it doesn't ring very well too. Bolt-on neck and Mustang tremolo doesn't help very much to get a richer sound.

I bought it secondhand (near mint condition) by means of eBay, as these guitars were not available in Spain. As far as I can tell, it is a very good built instrument in terms of woods, finishes, hardware, tuners and so on. The only aspect i don't like is that you have to raise the bridge a little bit so that the strings don't make an awful buzz du to fret contact. Appart from that, everything seemed correct.

I wouldn't use this guitar in a gig unless I was playing in a strictly punk-rock or grunge band: it is not versatile enough. I have tried different string gauges, I've raised the pickups to different heights, I've used all pickup combinations... but I don't like the sound of it at all. It's very nice and it's a fetish--- but not a player's guitar.

No opinion (bought it second-hand)

To be honest, I was in love with this guitar when I first saw it... but once I got my hands on it I immediately disliked it. Yo know, it's that mysterious thing about a guitar that makes you love or hate it for the rest of your life, and you only need a few seconds of contact to notice that. It's beautiful, but it sounds awful. I just keep it as I bought because I have many other guitars and don't wat to spend more money changing pickups and things like that. I prefer to keep everything in stock, put it in a case and have like an investment: in some years it will be a collectors item due to the link with Cobain and the fact that it's discontinued, so I hope I make more money from it than the amount I paid. But if you're a guitar player and want a good instrument for gigging (that's what it's all about, isn't it) rather than hangin' it on the wall and contemplate how beautiful it is, I'd sincerely suggest that -if you like the design- you bought a cheaper Mustang (for example) and put high aulity pickups. Otherwise, if you want to be like Cobain (and I really admire his songs and his playing) you'd better take this Jag-Stang and smash it in front of your audience. Not a bad attitude... smells like teen spirit.

1996 Left-handed Sonic Blue made somewhere in Godzillaville. The body
is made of five (thats right, five) different pieces of Basswood glued
together. Other features are the same as every Jag-Stang. Crappy
Kluson style tuners, Dynamic Fender Vibrato ("dynamic" is interchangable with the word "useless" in this case). The neck is its best feature, Maple w/rosewood 24" scale. The pick-ups are weak and
thin. When Mr. Cobain came up with this thing I bet he thought Fender
would make an instrument of at least "reasonable" quality. IMO, this
guitar should have been sold for $250.00 new, not $485.00 (more than
what right-handed Jags went for...Lefty=Screwed). The features are
great, its just the QUALITY of the features that sucks.

Its sounds better now that theres a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge
(circa 1986) and a Blue Lace Sensor in neck position. At least now it
has SOME balls... I run it through a Mesa/Boogie DC-3. The 60 cycle hum is pretty much gone now...I used to think it had a flourescent light in it somewhere. I also shielded the pickup cavity with
aluminum foil tape...much better.

The action was "decent" when I took it out of the box it came in.
I was told by the guy at the store I bought it from that "they" didn't
make a case for the leftys. I wonder....The paint is very thin and
I would guess that the basswood is rather soft because it is VERY
easy to dent. It doesn't tune all that well because of the vibrato
and the shitty tuners...I'd change them out but I don't want to re-drill the headstock or replace them with the same shitty "vintage"
lefty machines Fender offers.

I don't think I'd trust it for a live gig, especially with its propensity to wander out of tune. The finish sucks as stated earlier
and the hardware is of poor quality.

Never dealt with Fender...never will.

I really love the design of this guitar, but the quality is sorely
lacking. IMO, Fender did a disservice to the legacy of Kurt Cobain.
If I want a QUALITY Jag-Stang I'll order it from Ed Romans World
Class Guitars...I think I've given enough money to Fender(I own three). Even the lefty American Strat I bought for $650.00 new in 1990 was of
less than stellar quality...the neck warped around the third fret.
If my Jag-Stang were lost or stolen I'd be pretty bummed, but like I said, I'd probably order one from Ed and have a tune-o-matic on it with a one-piece basswood body, maybe some quality locking tuners, Seymour Duncans, etc. Something like the Lefty Mustang that Danny
Ferrington built for Kurt...a QUALITY instrument.

My jagstang is japanese, sonic blue with a perloid pickguard, single-hum, one tone and one volume, 22 frets

I play new metal, punk, grunge
The stock pickups suck!!!! I replaced the stock pickups with a dimarzio hs-2 in the neck and a seymour duncan JB in the bridge and sounds like amazing. Plugged in a sansamp - boss ds-1 - electro-harmonix bigmuff - marshall jcm-800 sounds perfect.

The neck is the best fender neck. Is very thin, and very playabily.

I had this guitar since 1996 and never nedded to fix

Never

I have a fender big apple stratocaster, a american standart, a gibson sg, but the jagstang is my favored guitar