Fender Jag-Stang

Made: 1996
Frets : 22
Colour : Sonic Blue
Pickguard : White Pearloid
Controls : 1 Volume, 1 Tone
Pickup Configuration : S/H
Neck Pickup : Texas Special Single Coil Copy (Quite nice, twangy)
Bridge Pickup : Dimazio H-3 Humbucker Copy (Weak, but balanced)
Electronics : Passive
Body : Basswood (Soft as Hell, dings up real easy and the strap button will strip out on you)
Neck : Maple, with Rosewood fretboard
Body type : Unconventional, Mixture of Jaguar (top horn and back butt) and Mustang (lower horn, upper butt) bodies
Bridge : Fender Dynmamic vibrato (Mustang - style) [very poor for tuning stability]
Tuners : Old Mustang Non Locking style [very poor tuning stability]
Neck : Regular width, Short 24" scale
Case: Hardshell

I play a lot of alternative rock, not necessarily just Nirvana and grunge related stuff. I use it a lot in my band and we play much different style of much to Nirvana, (not totally power-chord orientated for a start). I am using it with a Small Clone, Boss DS-2, Boss OD-2R, CryBaby, and a 100 W Marshall Half Stack, and it sounds great. I did however, have to modify it significantly before I was happy with it: The neck is fantastic, but the pickups suck, particularly the bridge, so I changed them out for a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and a Seymour Duncan 1/4 Pounder in the neck. This greatly changes the way the guitar sounds, and it's very versatile now. However, the tuning stability was still very poor, especially with new strings, so I locked the tremelo and fixed the bridge to sort that out. For details see www.jag-stang.com .
It's not noisy at all.
It has a rich, full sound on the bridge pickup, and using the pickups out-of-phase yields a nice Mustang-esque "thin" tone. This is an extremley versatile guitar now and could be used for anything from hard rock to blues to jazz. I'd probably draw the line at thrash metal though, which I hate anyway.

Rating is post-modification

The factory setup was great, and the advantage of this short-scale, flipped tailpiece guitar means that heavy gauge strings can be played at a very low action since the tension is much higher.

The pickups were well adjusted, providing optimal output and sustain.

This guitar is an integral part of my live setup, and I love the way it plays. I'd rely on it if my life depended on it! This is all of course due to the tuning modifications I carried out, otherwise it would be less useful in a live setting.

The finish does chip off easily, it must be quite a thin coating, but that isn't really a factor for me.

As I said before, the strap button did strip out, but that only took some wood filler to fix. 2 minute job and it ain't ever coming back out.

Never dealt with Fender

Ive been playing for 10 years, and this is a fantastic guitar, the neck is the best feature and its so hard to get a guitar with a neck this good these days.

I would be really annoyed if I lost it because they are really rare and its my favourite. I like the fact that my mods make it unique. I love the sounds, I dont really hate anything, but I guess the tremelo is a bit silly until you lock it.

I also have a Hondo Les Paul copy, a squier strat and an Epiphone Riviera. This is my most played and favourite guitar. Buy one, it's worth it.

Made in 1997, in Japan. Finish is Fiesta Red. The bridge is similar to a tune-o-matic with a "floating" capability. The pickups are able to go in and out of phase with the proper setting of the pickup switches.

My musical style is fairly diverse. I play Brit-rock, blues, and some world music. I grew up on Heavy Metal though, and I will sometimes still crank it up! The Jag-stang sounds great. When I purchased it, I had planned on replacing the bridge pickup with something that would have real definition and character. However, after playing the guitar for awhile I realized that I had jumped the gun. The bridge pickup in my Jag-Stang is really ballsy! It is perfect for many subgenres of rock. It is a very quiet pickup that packs loads of punch. The single coil is suitable for a variety of smooth tones. I am running the guitar through a Digitech RP100 and a Vox Pathfinder. I know that many people have had problems with the pickups and that is why I initially planned on changing them. However, mine are just fine. Also, I own nine other electrics including several American Fenders and I have had pickip work done on all of them.

The action was not suited to my taste, so I had my local tech set it up for me. This is something I would have done anyway because I believe all guitars, especially new ones, need to be set up. Since the set up, the guitar stays in tune perfectly and there is no buzz or rattle. My tech did tell me that some of the frets were a little higher than they could be, but this has not posed a problem. The pickguard has a slight bit of warpage to it, but I knew this when I purchased it as it was a "blemished" product.

The guitar appears to be very solid. I mean hey. it's a Fender. The hardware seems sturdy and the finish is beautiful.

I have dealt with Musician's Friend many times before and they have always been very kind and helpful. I've never had to deal with Fender.

I've been playing for 17 years. If the guitar were stolen or lost I'd buy another. As I said before, I have many more guitars and this one is not my favorite, but that is simply becuse I prefer Srats. It is a very fine instrument and it was an absolute steal for the amount of money I paid for it. I have had no problems.

MIJ, not sure of date of manufacture, but it has the Fender anniversary sticker on the back of the headstock. 24" scale, 22 vintage frets, basswood body, and you can read all of the rest of the features in the many other reviews on this guitar.

I bought this guitar knowing that I would need to make some modifications to it. Fender once listed it as one of its "Collectible" series guitars (or something like that), but I bought it for playing. The original issue hardware was not very good, so my ratings for the guitar are for the guitar after modification. If you buy this guitar and plan to play it stock, you may likely be disappointed. I got the thing on a closeout and thought I would see what I could do with it. See my modifications below.

With the new pickups, the guitar can go from nice clean (almost twangy) to fire-breathing monster. Clean or high volume/high gain, it sounds just fine. I have used the guitar with a variety of amps including a Peavey 5150 combo, Mesa Dual Rectifier, and a Peavey Bandit. At home I put it through an Allen Class Act combo. Sounds great for grunge (of course), hard rock, metal, and so on. It wouldn't be my first choice for country, jazz, semi-hollow body-type stuff...

I once had a guitarist in another band laugh at me when I took my Jag-Stang out of its case (yes, I bought a nice tolex case for it) while getting setup to play a battle of the bands-type show. "What a piece of sh**," says he. Yeah, well, I plugged it in to a Peavey 5150 and this guy's jaw dropped. His next comment was something like, "Wow, that piece of sh** sounds friggin' sweet...let's see that thing." What a knucklehead! It wouldn't sound as nice stock I'm afraid.

One tone that I don't use often is the out-of-phase setting that is available with this axe. Putting the selector switches in opposite directions yields a ratty, funky, lo-fi sound that would be difficult to reproduce with many other guitars.

The guitar is not noisy, although the Texas Special can yield a bit of noticeable 60 cycle hum. All-in-all it sounds great for what it does.

I should mention modifications. First, I stripped off the vintage-style tuners in favor of some high-grade Schaller locking tuners. Next, I dumped the stock pickups and added a Seymour Duncan JB humbucker for the bridge and a Fender Texas Special single coil bridge pickup for the neck (instead of the designated Texas Special neck pickup). Then, I took electrical tape (as described at www.jag-stang.com) and secured the bridge to keep it from moving back and forth. After that, I installed Schaller straplocks. Finally, I opened up the tremolo plate, removed the springs, and locked down the tailpiece. FWIW, the tailpiece can be locked down using 6mm screws (yes, good ol' metric), metric nuts, and metric washers. After the changes, this guitar does not go out of tune.

The guitar's action on the low E measures out at 6/64" at the 17th fret without a capo at the first fret. The action at the high E is closer to 4/64 or 5/64" with very little truss rod relief. A little higher action is needed on this guitar's 7.25" radius fretboard to avoid buzzing, but even with this setup, the guitar is incredibly easy to play.

My guitar does not seem to have the same problems that have plagued some other reviewers. The paint job on mine isn't quite as fragile, the wood is holding up just fine, and it hasn't fallen apart, but then again, I'm not using it as a skateboard either.

I expect it to do well. I gig with it without problems, but I have other guitars, too. Again, everything is great after modifying the daylights out of it. The main thing for me is that the guitar must stay in tune and produce useable tones without microphonic feedback or other problems. It does what I ask it to do. Get one cheap, make the changes, and then enjoy it for what it is.

Called them on the phone once. Everything was fine and they answered my questions.

Before mods, this guitar gets a 5. After mods, it gets an 8. I have been playing for about 12 years or so. I also own a Fender U.S. Fat Telecaster, a Peavey Wolfgang Special, and a Gibson Les Paul Special. I would buy it again, knowing that I could change it. In fact, I have been toying with the idea of having Fender make me a Custom Shop Jag-Stang with a different bridge setup and some other features, but we'll wait and see about that.

Like all Jag-stang guitars my was made in Japan. 22 frets, Vol. and Tone controls, two two position pickup switches, 1 single coil pickup at the neck position and a humbucker at the bridge. The body is made out of Basswood and the finish is in Fiesta Red. The neck is a wierd "termo-shit" thing that can be lowered down to a stoptail (much better).
The guitar is beautiful!!!

The guitar sounds amazing! I play mainly blues and this guitar does the trick! The clean sounds are just perfect, You have tons and tons of different sounds with the two two position pickup switches and the vol. and tone knobs. You can boost the distortion up and this baby will handle it just fine... But if you want to creat a BEAST out of it just buy a JB humbucker and put it in the bridge and you will get the best sounding guitar ever! a Lot of people think that if you write good stuff about the Jag-stang or even own one you are stupid cuz' Kurt Cobain (RIP) from Nirvana co-disigned it, And the way he plays guitar he knows shit about them... WRONG! Even if you are the biggest Nirvana hater of all times and can forget that you should hate this guitar, Give it a try... Don't say I didnt told you that you might just get hooked! The only reason that I won't give it a 10 is that I had to buy the JB to it... But then again Kurt installed a JB on his right as he got it!

Great action, BEST FENDER NECK IN THE WORLD! Perfect for small hands and very good for playing at high speeds! Might take a little while to get used to, But you will be happy to own a guitar with this kind of small neck! The factory pickups are not the best and where setup pretty well (Humbucker had to be raised just a little). The only reason I am giving a 9 here is that the switching buttons are "at the way" when you are playing hard (Located on top of the pickguard).

This guitar is made for LIVE and LOUD playing! a Sound that will rock the audience and a look that will surly dazle them!

Never dealed with them.

One of the best sounding guitar it the world! And surly one of the most beautiful! a Real masterpiece... If you liked the Mustang BUT IT! If you have a band and want a great guitar with great looks and all the sounds you will ever want from a real FENDER!!!!

* The guitar stays in tune well after a good setup!!

The features are as sweet as can be , i mean look at the damn thing its a bueat , so features this baby gets a ten. The metal , coming out of the pick gaurd very nice , the sparkly white, very nice. The nobes are mustangy and the shape is made perfect i love it , kurts the man, and the frets are easy to hit and so on. cool head stock also, just overall kick a**!

Well i play grunge , mostly nirvana , don't care if grunge is dead it ,still agunist.Which is nice, i use a dod grunge petal , and this guitar is great for distortion and getting different sounds you can really play around and get almost and sound you want. THis guitar isn't for some one who wants a nice sound like someone who plays blues or somthing, but if you don't play shitty music then this is the guitar for you. great sound

easy to play , setups great , pickups could be better but they will do . The only flaw i can see is that it goes out of tune alot but that can be fix , easyly. The feel is really nice it fits nice when played , and is light on your neck. rock on!

This baby is as durabile as a guitar can get , every thing was made very strong and sterddy. you can most definaltely can relie on it, if i were ever to smash it , i would definately have to hit a good dozen times before it broke.

I haven't had to deal with the company yet ,

i ve been playing for 10 years and this is a kickass guitar, good if you like grunge for sure , so buy it. i choose this guitar cause it looked kickass , and i still like it cause it plays nice to. If it were stolen , i would cry a bit , then id kick the guys ass who took it after that i would probally laugh, then i would probally cry relizeing i lost my baby, then id laugh again remebering the time i hit the guy whos stole my guitar with my foot,ha ha ha , what a good time that was , ha ha ha , then id probally cry again. Ha then id laugh once more remebering the time i hit a bunny on the side of the road , then i would cry remebering the way fluffy look at me , sniff..then id laugh rembereing the time i ate a bug by acedent.

I don't now when it was made: between '95 and '98 (when I got it).
Has 22 frets, but quite small - for my lanky fingers anyway.
"Sonic Blue" colour - shiny and plasticky looking, but it has a very nice-looking pearl pickguard.
It has an In/Off/Out phase switch for each pickup, the neck single-coil and the bridge humbucker.

DARK SOUNDING
The neck pickup is absolute shite, especially when distorted. The bridge humbucker is much better, more powerful and fat and grinding and WICKED. Clean-wise, either pickup is OK(ish), although there is one particular combination which sounds very tinny.
For some reason, I can't get a good bass sound out, anywhere along the low E and A strings, it sounds cluncky and muddy.
This guitar was obviously meant for GRUNGE and GRUNGE only. I now play more diverse music, and I can start to see the limitations in this axe - you need to be permanently suicidal to enjoy its sounds.
Solo-type stuff is not catered for amazingly.
I found that this guitar gives a lot of ground-loop/whatever hum even on clean, which miraculously disappears when any metal part is touched.
I play through a Marshall VS100, with a Boss DS-1 and HM-3 and a Dunlop Crybaby Wah occasionaly, as well as a Digitech RP-3 multi.

Out of the shop, I had no end of problems.
1. It can't stay in tune to save its life - this is now reduced by the shop people fiddling the bridge.
2. DON'T USE THE WHAMMY BAR - unless you want to sound like you've never tuned your guitar ever.
3. Dodgy frets which limited string-bends somehow until I got them fixed.
4. The action was too low and the pickups were too high
5. The bridge string-things were not smoothed so my A-string snapped once a week.
6. The neck-end strap button pulled straight out of the wood after I had it for about 4 months.
Apart from that it was FINE.

If Mr Cobain could use this then I am sure I can without breaking it. The paint doesn't look at all scratched, and the rest of the wood looks fine.
I am always nervous about the tuning problems when playing live, although if you are playing grunge-power chords this does not matter.
It creaks dangerously when bending strings, so if I onnly had the one guitar at the gig I would have to be careful.

When I first started playing I thought Kurt Cobain Was God, and wouldn't consider buying a different guitar at the time. 3 or 4 years on, I am beginning to regret that. My musical tastes have altered, and the guitar cannot always supply my needs.
I feel a bit of a gimp playing "KURT COBAIN'S GUITAR" 6 years on from his expiration.
It definitely looks different and alternative which is good.
If I had to buy a new guitar now I would not buy a JagStang again, I prefer the Les Paul look and sound now anyway.

Mine was made in 96. It's got a 22 fret board, and small toyish neck with small toyish frets, that i love to death, its perfect for grunge (power chords) wich is all i play. It's got 2 slide swiches
back-foward-off and of corse you can slide it out of phase. And its got 1volume 1tone in a chrome kinda spearshaped area attached to the pickguard and i love the way that is (just like the mustang) H/S.
The pickups i think are great all you have to do is hide behind a wall of distortion and clean depressed sound and this is the ultamite dream (a perfect example explaining this sound is "heart shaped box" from NIRVANA) You canbuy these in sonic blue or fiesta red, i've got a fiesta red one. The body is a half JAGuar and half muSTANG. This guitar doesn't do good at staying in tune but to take care of that just lok the bridge down and screw in some loking tuners and you've got tour self a better dream than what you've started out with. It's got a mustang floating bridge on it.

Like i said all i play is grunge
mostly NIRVANA and a little ALICE IN CHAINS) and it is great for dark depressing clean sounds and good for dark, depressing, and grinding distortion. you can get 10 or more positions at the least, you can get a ton o' killer sounds out of it, you could get twangy country to heavy metal to grunge. The only dislike that i can think of is it's poor ability to stay in tune. Everything else i absolutly love.

Well i got it used so i don't know about the factory crap. But i raised the pu's alittle bit.

DUDE This guitar was designed by the gratest man that ever breathed on this planet and he played ruff on his guitars so obviuosly this won't break down that easy. The finish is rock hard. The hardware seems like it wouldn't last all of a computer person't life but for a grungeys life span (like mine) they will last. The strap buttons arent real good good but they're okay.
this guitar will be around way after i'm gone.

Never wasted theyre pethetic time.

This guitar is the best guitar. i would dream about it but me being a unique weesel i dream about indians picking my nose with popsicles. But any who this guitar is my dream guitar i can't believe that i could play such a grat guitar without somebody customly building it for me. KURT was a mastermind if KURT had something to do with a guitar that he was serious about and didn't smash you know it's a good guitar. KURT we miss you dearly
ps:Please send me an e-mail if you wanna chat about music guitars whatever i like meeting cool people and chating with 'em.

It is a great guitar. It's got two three way switchs on it to turn on-off-and out of phase each pick up. The tuners suck and so does the bridge until you lock it down. But I love it.

The sound is great even with the crappy pickups that fender stuffed in them. I am going to slap a DiMarzio Super Distortion in the brigde. But I am not sure what I am going to do with the neck pick/up yet. But even with the drawbacks it has with the p/ups it still sound wonderful.

You can't beat the shape of a Jag-stang. I personal think they look awesome and I know a lot of people who do too. I think it is very comfortable sitting down or standing up.

Oh hell yeah, solid as a rock.

Never had a single problem with it but Fender has a good reputation of Customer Support

Badass guitar, don't know what the hell else to say, Badass guitar.

I've got a first year (95) Jag-Stang, I traded my beat to hell duct taped 60s mustang for it the minute i saw it. Maybe a victim of marketing, maybe cliched? Well **** you! Kurt was an excellent guitarist and had a real style both in playin guitars and his choice of instrument. You know all the specs by reading other reviews. I love the mustang pickup config, I like to use the "off" position to create tremolo sounds by jerking the selector back and forth. The neck (on early models) has a beautiful (maple?) finish. Later years have an ugly ash looking neck. Fast and short, great for those low e-string bends and slides that kurt liked so much. Goes out of tune alot. The original pick guard is ugly, so i threw a red one on-- beautiful.

The neck pickup sucks. The humbucker is fair, great for dostortion. I like to put the pickups into different phases to make cool sounds, more novel than useful though.

The guitar plays fine. The old mustang style bridge has a tendency to lose a screw now and then, and the wah bar? Forget it! My guitar was well finished when i got it. The finish has chipped off, painted, gummed up with stickers, etc. I wish they'd use a primer.

SONIC BLUE is a great colour.

SOLID. The essence of this guitar is abuse. Neck bends, face plants into my amp... I've smashed TVs with it, dropped it, played it by laying it on the floor and standing on it. It still plays well.

I took it to a luthier back in 95. He laughed. But most of those guys around there are shlock-rocker Fender purists who polish their guitars with diapers. Maybe my F**K Authority bumper sticker across the front put him off...

I give it a ten. I mean there are much better guitars out there, but this Geek Guitar will have a great place in guitar history, sort of the GodFather of the new generation of Fender wierdo axes. Plus, I love all the ridicule that Kurt and his instrument gets from long haired knock rocker sales guys. I hate those shlups, buy online!

My Fender Jag-stang is a Fender 50th anniverary model (This is known by the gold sticker on the back of the headstock below the one that says "Designed by Kurt Cobain"). It has one of the fastest necks i have ever felt in my life, I have tried two of these guitars and the necks kick butt. The fingerboard is rosewood with 22 vintage style frets and pearl dots. The body is a basswood three piece design. The electronics are (Well, were) immaculate. Everything is sheilded and noise free. It has a volume, a tone, and two three way pickup selectors. The bridge is a Fender Dynamic tailpice vibrato with a rocker bridge. The tuners are Fender vintage Kluson reproductions on a wide 1962-1981 era Fender "Wide" headstock.

I bought this guitar customized but I did play a stock one in another store for a few hours before deciding on this one. I would probably give the stock Jag-Stang a nine because it's a bit noiser and not as heavey sounding as my customized axe. Put some EMG's in a Jag-Stang and it's like instant "Ride The Lightining" era Metallica. My guitar was customized with an EMG SA single coil (Neck Position), and an EMG 81 (Bridge Position). The Stock Jag-Stang has a Fender Texas Special Strat in the neck, and a Predecessor to the Fender Atomic humbucker in the bridge. But as i say, this guitar is much better with replacement pickups, much better. My setup has two amps, a late 70's Peavey Backstage 30 with a 10" speaker, and an Epiphone SC28 Stereo Chorus amplifier, and a 1980's DOD super overdrive. This guitar is consistant on all amps with the EMG's, The neck position is a nice, warm, but sparkly sound thats great for playing parts used on a acoustic guitar. But, when you flip the switch over to the other side you get this built in bluesy overdrive setting, great for emulating an overdriven tube amp. The bridges two settings differ just slightly. One is more trebely than the other. It's kind of like the switch has a Jazzmaster like rhythym circut built into the switch on one side. Great for swapping between playing riffs, solos, and chords.
Put any jag-Stang through a distortion pedal and it sounds like an apocolypse waiting to happen.

I bought it used and it was contrary to all of the complaints about Jag-Stangs I have heard. The set up was so fast you can play "Eruption" (A guitar solo played by Eddie Van-Halen) on this thing and it would stay in tune, have no buzzes or creaks, and the tremelo would work like a dream. People always complain about this guitars bridge system but I belive it's better than many of the locking whammy bar systems out there. If set up right you can get a Jag-Stang to have as much tuning stability, even with light strings, as a Superstrat with a Floyd Rose or Kahler. A Suggestion to all whom might buy this guitar with metal in mind, Use Fender Bullet 9's with a 40 or 42 low E for the best travel and tuning stability. The only flaws this thing has is if the lights just right, you can see where the wood on the sides of the body meet the center section, plus you can see the finish is just slightly less than professional looking job. But hell it's Sonic Blue (And I'm sure others have the Fiesta Red ones) and those colors don't show painting mistakes well at all. Otherwise the finish is another of the guitar's strong suits, It's got like 5mm's of paint on the body. You could drop this thing off the Eifel Tower and the finish would break the guitars fall.

This guitar will withstand a bomb blast. The weakest thing on it are the pivot points on the tremelo. I have taken it out live many times (If you call a few gigs with the High School Jazz Ensamble and a School Guitar Concert a live performance, not to mention dragging it around school out of its case) and this thing will withstand all the destructive student crowd can throw at it. I have even had friends who don't even play guitar manhandle this thing and it comes out without a problem. As i said before the finish will last longer than the guitar itself, the strap buttons can stand at least 50 foot pounds of pressure, and i would gig with this thing without a backup even if I had an all aluminum guitar that could hurt everyone but me. But otherwise I have two others I play with this thing that are on the same par as this one, an extensiveley modified Kramer Focus 3000 (Bought stock and customized constantly over the last six years I have had it), and a Harmony S2 that has been modified to the hilt.

Never needed customer support on anything musical within the past 4 years.

I have been playing six years and this is the first step to the weird but cool guitars I want to own (Jaguar's, Jazzmaster's, Bronco's, and Mustang's). If it were stolen I don't think I could remain sane. I love everything about this guitar, I almost consider it a second wife to my first electric. She stand's up with my other best guitar, My Modified Kramer Focus 3000, built like a battleship and great sound along with it.