Fender Jag-Stang

I think the features have been pretty much covered already...

my model is a 1996 in sonic blue. the only "mod" i made are some strap locks because i was scared i'd drop it. the basswood body isn't exactly "ding resistant" - the smallest knock seems to dint the wood (although the finish is fairly durable). It has everything i need (humbucker and single coil) and the out of phase options are fantastic.

the music i play is mainly alternative rock/post hardcore/indie. when i bought this guitar i was mainly playing grunge. I presume that most people that want this guitar are fans of the late eighties/early nineties grunge/alt. phase, but this guitar is a lot more versatile than that. for the style i play, its nigh on perfect.

the three main options i'll play are the humbucker alone, single coil alone and out of phase single coil. the humbucker is fairly weak to be honest - compared to a seymour dunc anyway. but i think this is were the key to this guitar lies - its individuality. the sound of this is actually fairly bright in comparison to say a Les Paul. this suits me perfectly, as i've never been someone who wants to have the same sound as everyone else. If you want to play Slayer or nu metal riffs then get yo'self a BC Rich. if you want some definition and top end in your overdriven chordal spazz-outs - look no further.

the single coil is nice - i think its the same one off a japanese strat. nice and smooth, think the classic neck coil of a strat with a bit more warmth and you're not far off.

Out of phase opens up the sound and is probably the loudest, if less defined, sound option. i use this for rich, bassy clean sounds. add a tiny bit of overdrive and the amp breaks up nicely. again, think of the out of phase option on a strat.

So, for me, this sound is great. but don't expeact any metal riffs to be flowing from it.

when i bought this guitar, it was in a terrible state. basically the fretboard buzzed when applying any force and vigour to a chords. this is probably more due to the fact that the neck is rounded like the old style strats and not the newer, flatter 9.5 radius. to be fair it's only audible when played acoustically. a few of the frets are choking at the minute aswell. this is easily sorted by a pro and will improve the playability a lot.

the neck is easily one of the best i've played. i think its taken straight from a mustang anyway but it feels slightly thinner still. i have big hands so i always feel i have complete control over notes and never overstretched.

the volume pot has recently started buzzing occaisionally but that's probably due to some kind of liquid getting into it (sweat, most probably). Other than that this thing has never given up on my during a gig or practice. And also considering the iffy "dynamic Bridge" tuning stability is absolutely rock solid ( i haven't locked the bridge). from what i've read some jagstangs can go out of tune really easily - i must have been lucky.

never dealt with fender or needed to get it repaired.

i've had this guitar for 5 years now and never actually felt the need to buy another one. it's as if it has dictated how my playing and style has developed. for sheer character this guitar, along with probably all the "b-list" fender guitars (mustang, jaguars, super-sonics etc.), this really is great. the sound suits me perfectly - not over-the-top metal, this thing has dynamics and versatility. If you look past the Kurt Cobain licensing i think you'd be pleasantly surprised. And to all those people that put EMG 81's in the bridge - you are completely missing the point. Go buy an ibanez instead.

one last thing - if it means anything to you this guitar is quite rapidly becoming a collectors item. i recently spotted one of these in a guitar shop in britain for #800 (about $1200 i think!). this is most probably down to the fact that they stopped making them in japan last year. bonus, i think.

Same thing as everybody else. Nothing noteworthy.

Going through a Line 6 POD, the single-coil sounds quite good. I've put heavy-gauge (13-56) flatwound strings on the guitar and it can produce some convincing jazzy rhythm tones since then. The humbucker is complete garbage - the output is too weak and the sound is way too thin. The variety of sounds is good, but the quality itself is shady. I'm saving up to put an EMG-SA in the neck and an EMG-60 in the bridge, which should help things quite a bit.

I bought this guitar as NOS - it has hung on a wall for 6 years. As such, I think the neck has twisted a bit since it will buzz quite heavily if I put anything lighter than 12-52 strings. The action cannot be set very low on this guitar - my MIJ Mustang reissue can bet set much lower. The frets are very small and they feel cheap; that's too bad, because the neck itself feels very solid. The only unexcusable flaw on this guitar is the ultra-cheap pickguard, from which the top pseudo-pearloid layer is peeling off.

It seems moderately durable. The finish is very thin, so beware not to bang that guitar too hard. I'll never gig with this guitar because it looks way too goofy and the short scale is not appropriate for a rock/blues setting.

*cough*

I've played guitar seriously for almost 10 years now. I own four other electrics: a Godin LGX-SA, a MIJ 80's Strat, a MIJ Fender Mustang reissue and an Epiphone SG. The Jag-stang is the least satisfying of all those guitars. This is an overpriced, riding-on-a-hype guitar. I don't play much with it; it's much more of a fetish posession than anything else. Fender tried its best to produce the cheapest POS that they could make and they succeeded admirably. The guitar looks much more valuable than it is. Not all is lost, though - if you want to make the Jag-stang usable, replace the pickguard, pickups (at least the humbucker), tuners and put heavy strings on it to help stabilize the bridge and the neck. The sound is very un-grungy for a Kurt Cobain design. This is best suited for funky and jazzy rhythm licks. In one word: bah.

My Jag-stang was made in Japan in 1996.Its Fiesta Red but i got it re-finished Sonic Blue. Its a great guitar, but i prefer a Jaguar.

I have a non-cover band and I use this guitar the most. It sounds great. I like it a lot because I'm in a grunge band and this guitar makes really good feedback. It also sounds nice clean. Put the tone all the way up, it will sound awesome.

When i got this guitar everything was perfect. I didn't really have to set it up that much. The bridge made it go out of tune a lot though so i did something to the bridge to make it stay in tune. Now its perfect.

This guitar is a rock. How the heck will it fall apart!! This guitar will last a lifetime. I used this guitar in a couple gigs without a back up and it never failed me. If u want a guitar that lasts get this one!

A lot of people helped me decide to get this guitar. Thanks!

I've been only playin this guitar for a couple moths and its great and I love it. If this guitar was stolen I'd either get another one or track that guy down. I love that this guitar is heavy because light guitars seem like toys to me. Get this guitar u wont be sorry.

mine is '97 Fiesta red and I modded it.
It now has black pickup covers and a JB.(looks great)
500K pots.
A Gotoh tune-o-matic bridge and I flipped the tail piece and lowered it, this is by the way the best mod ever for this guitar!
shimmed the neck so I can adjust my action due to the TOM
a couple of strap locks

Well nothing new to say about the JB's sound it just rocks and gets the sound I want. kinda the green day and nirvana stuff and other punk sounds. Togheter with my Marshall 8080 I get the sound.

Except the clean sound sucks butt I thing that has got to do someting with my amp. I bassically want a brighter sound.

The paint job I thing is really bad compared to my squire. It scratches easy and It fell down once on a wooden floor and the damn paint chipped off the ass. As for the wood used (basswood) I really would have liked a heavier sort of wood it would deffinatly add to the overall sound.
The pickguard is a mustang pickguard and doesn't fit prober, I'm gonna make I new one and straighten out the humbucker And make it more fluently with the lower horn section. Also would have liked some body contours.

That where the bad thing now the good things about the guitar. First the neck is really the best neck I ever played, I love it!
And with the mods I made this guitar is awesome!

never let me down and I have rewired everything and still it hasn't let me down. Everything on the guitar seems to be of a reasonable good quilty but could be better I thing.

never dealt with

With the mods I made it's a top guitar and would not trade it for any other guitar in the world.

My jag-stang is stock, so you know what the guitar has on it. If you don't read the other reviews.

I play Blues and Punk, so this guitar is perfect for both. using both pickups out of phase, slightly overdriven, gives a perfect JL Hooker tone, very twangy and crisp. crank up the distortion, switch the neck in phase, the bridge out, and you have a perfect punk guitar. some people claim that both pickups sound the same. they do sound the same with the distortion all the way up, and all the EQ knobs set at ten. be sure to turn the knobs ON the guitar if you don't like the sound your gettign when you're trying the guitar out. The guitar sounds BEAUTIFUL clean. it's amazing. you get perfect blues tone out of the neck pickup clean or slightly overdriven.

every thing was great, except for the intonation, which needed to be set. paint job is solid, doesn't chip. well, if i were to beat on it with a metal object, it'd chip, but hey, it's a fender, it's a tank.
the short scale is fabulous, with a properly oiled fretboard & neck, the guitar plays effortlessly.

the tremolo is a big issue for many people. the guitar did have tuning problems, but i did two things. i oiled the points on the bridge posts, and lubed the nut with graphite(pencil lead). after a week the jag-stang is still in tune after constant and heavy tremolo use(dive bombs galore). another thing you might want to do if you do these things and still have problems with tuning stability, is to move your trem springs up, that is, make the trem stiffer.

Fender=Awesome. this ain't yer gramma's SG that snaps when you set it down. this baby is heavy though, it's heavy as or heavier than a Les Paul. you'd get worn out pogoing with this one. if i knew strings wouldn't break, i'd used it without a back up. i have gigged with it, several times, it's been solid.

never dealt with Fender. they have a bad rep, though.

An Awesome guitar. of course i'll buy other guitars, but if i couldn't, i'd wouldn't be unhappy with this guitar. i own a Strat, a Tele, an Explorer, and three acoustics (a fender, a martin, and an old Benteley).

Nothing special

I still use the original pickups, with the humbucker 'in' and the single-coil 'out' (of phase that is), I'm thinking of replacing them with a 'dirtier' humbucker and a warmer single. I play it through a Electro-Harmonix Big Muff and a Boss Delay all plugged into a Peavey Envoy 110. It sound quite nice.

I don't like the fact it's a slab as it make playing quite uncomfortable after a while, the action used to be terrible as the bridge had an adjustment screw missing, but a bit of card sorted it.

The strap button on the horn suffered the usual Fender fate and fell off so the strap's held on with Gaffa tape (oooh... very punk rock) the tuners are okay, but difficult to use as they don't like being moved really small amounts so I can't get the thing perfect. I've used it in gigs, but have never needed a backup instrument. The hardware has lasted pretty well, execpt the tone pot fell apart after I dropped the guitar.

I've only needed to have it repaired once when the neck began to warp, that was last month (Novemeber 2001). As the instrument is about five years old it's not under warranty.

If it were stolen I'd probably get an Explorer with the insurance.
The thing I really like about it is the way it looks... The thing I hate about it is the fact I need to get a hard case custom made.
To all those who are now buying used Jag-Stangs for #700 or more: UNLUCKY!

I think everyone knows the features of this guitar from the other reviews, so I'll skip most of it. What features are you looking for in a guitar?

I've replaced the pickups with a Seymour Duncan JB jr. in the neck, and a DiMarzio super distortion in the bridge. So the sound now suits me just great. I read other reviews about the guitar not staying in tune, but I have no problem whatsoever. When I had it tuned down half a step, it was a bit more difficult, but now I have a standard tuning and it's perfect. Almost always in tune when I pick it up, and stays in tune for a good hour or so of playing. My main style is punk, and I play through a Fender Princeton Chorus with a Danelectro Fab Tone distortion pedal. I sounds exactly how I want it.

Action is outstanding. Finish was good, but I've been playing since I bought the guitar when it was released, so it has some dings. The wood is pretty soft, so it dents really easily. But the neck is straight still, after many falls. So if you don't mind a not so pretty guitar (if you don't take care of it), it's a strong, sturdy piece. The placement of the volume and tone controls is my favorite feature. Unlike most other Fender guitars, they're tucked back a bit, so your hand doesn't accidentally hit them when you play. I don't like however, the pickup switches, as it's easy to tap them and turn them off when playing hard. They also don't serve much of a function. I'd suggest rewiring the configuration to suit a practical setup.

I think I covered this above. I've been playing it since summer of 96, and it is still strong. Strap buttons do come loose sometimes, but I have them taped up nicely with some super duper gaff tape. They'll never come undone now. Would anyone gig without a backup? Broken strings are annoying to change mid-show. I'd buy another one as a backup, and since it's sort of a cheezy guitar anyway, you can find one for a reasonably cheap price. The finish is still nice, except for the chips. Hardware is still perfect, and I never put it in a case unless I'm travelling with it.

What kind of problem can you have after 6 years when nothing has gone wrong? Never had to deal with Fender, but I'd like to believe they backup their reputation.

I played a lot of guitars when I bought this one, and I had several thousand dollars to blow. I almost bought an SG, but didn't want to spend that much money, as I'd only been playing for a few years before. This was the most comfortable guitar I've played to date. It does everything I want it to do. If it was lost/stolen, I would absolutely buy another one. I want another one anyway, just in case something serious happens to this one. The only thing I hate is that it has a rather unique configuration that makes wiring new pickups difficult. Also, because there aren't too many of these out there, some spare parts can only be ordered through Fender.

Sam features as mustang. Only humbucker in neck.

It's sounding almost like mustang but much more worster way.Buy Mustang it's real vintage guitar.If you want sound like Kurt Cobain don't buy this. You can read in Nirvana's Equipment site that Cobain didn't like it when he had it.

Buy Mustang.

Buy Mustang.

Buy Mustang.

BUY MUSTANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Sonic Blue(Is it really Sonic Blue or did Fender mess up and paint it Surf Green and called Sonic Blue? anyway it is kickass color) Jag-Stang which I named "KC's Masterpiece"(it's the guitar served kentucky fried with a side of mashed potaters and gravy HA!) was manufactured in 96 in Japan. For the most part, most of the stuff on my guitar is factory standard, with the exception of the humbucker which is a Seymour Duncan Pearly Gates(I'm also planning to replace the single coil with something more powerful) and the only other thing I did was to take a nail file and sand down the plastic pick-up switches so they are not as sharp.

I don't really have a style. My music can be grungy, trippy, hard driving, calm and mellow BLAH BLAH BLAW....
I have a crappy Marshal student amp, and I use a Boss DS-1 Distortion and a CH-1 Super Chorus Pedal and a Crybaby Wah Pedal from Dunlop.

There didn't seem to be any problems with it as far as can tell, just a couple nics and dings

I really baby it and is very reliable, so it should last a long time.

It will be an overall great once I put a new single-coil in it.

22 frets, s/h config, the stock fender pickups. body is basswood, finish, gloss, sonic blue. typical fender floating bridge, no problems with the bridge. it's not locked, i just don't use it that much

i play punk, blues, and flamenco. this guitar fits the first two styles perfectly. i play it through a crate GX 15.
i had read several reviews of this guitar saying it had no tonal or dynamic range, etc. when i first played this guitar i played not Teen Spirit, but Red House. and found that this supposed lack is not so. i can go from a distorted out of phase buzzsaw sound, to a perfect tubular blues sound. with the neck pickup out of phase, you can get some twangy country tones. don't just play the guitar. twiddle with the knobs. you'll be suprised.
the only thing i would change are the switches. it's too hard to quickly switch from rhythm to solo mode, unlike on a strat, where an upflick of the hand can switch. this, however is not major.

no problems at all. i'll probably shield the cavity, and re-ground it, as i do to all my guitars. the tuners are rather sensitive, and it's easy to bump the low E tuner and knock the string out of tune. the plug sticks straight out of the front of the guitar, which bugs me. i never liked that, but that's cosmetic. i can get a cord with a 90 degree plug, and take care of that.
other than that, nothing wrong.

Fender = Tank
the finish seems fine. it's obviously used, and the finish has held up all this time so far. hardware is solid and quiet, unlike some jags i've played.

never talked to them, but fender has a bad rep.

i've been playing guitar for two years, but i've been a musician for eleven (piano). i would have hard feelings toward whoever stole this guitar. very hard feelings.
the dynamic range on this guitar is incredible, and the dual out of phase sound was just the buzzsaw sound i was looking for. the humbucker makes for a good variation from my strat.

Mine is a lefty. Stock it comes with a Humbucker and a single coil, both pieces of crap. Cool pickup selector switches. 1 Volume, 1 Tone. Absolute piece of shit Fender "Dynamic Vibrato". Sonic Blue(actually looks more like sea foam green) with bolt-on neck. I bought it for the great, little neck and its cool body. All of the problems with this guitar are fixable, and the good outweighs the bad.

I play music like the Stooges, Sonic Youth, White Stripes, Radiohead, Pavement, Televison, Sex Pistols, Velvet Underground, the Kinks, the Clash, Jefferson Airplane and a lot more. My usual setup is Fender Jag-Stang>Boss XT-2>EH Small Clone>Fender Princeton 65.

If you want a guitar that you can only play with distortion because of its crappy voicing, leave it stock. If you want it to be able to make more than one sound, switch the pickups. I chose a Seymour Duncan JB in the bridge and APS-II in the neck. These are two great pickups and I would recommend them to anyone. The tuners are horrible too so change them. Before the mods it would have gotten a 3 in this catergory, but I am giving a rating for after the mods

well I really can only comment on the finish, because I bought this guitars 2nd hand. Its great, no flaws I can see. Sonic Blue/Seafoam Green wouldn't be my first choice for a finish, but that really doesn't matter

Strap buttons strip easily, I've heard that the finish chips easily as well.

I don't regret getting this guitar. It's beatiful and the neck is my favorite. I forget how much I paid for it, but I'm sure it was worth it.

when i was young, dumb, and 15 it was the best guitar ever. By the time i turned 16, i realized the single coil suck and dumped a PAF into it. by the time i was 17 i realized the tuners sucked so bad that i stopped playing it. im 21 and now it hangs on my wall with 11 others.

The sound would be pretty good if i was tone def, but i hear notes, and these are not good. it never tuned right. it has a nice tone though.

the action sucks, along wiht the tremolo. The finish is pretty plain, i think it would be hard to mess that up.

reliability.. yes, this guitar is ideal for mediocre play.

dude, its kurt cobains guitar... woooaaahhhhhhhhh

For all the kids out there that are bleaching their hair and growing it out and have 100000 pictures of kurt on their wall, this is the guitar for them. It gives them a false sense of security that everything will be alright. After reading most of the 10 10 10 10 reviews, i couldnt be more sure of it. I was that stupid ass kid once, but now that ive played other guitars and moved on past the fact that he died, i realize this guitar really sucks. im sure his wasnt too crappy. ask the guy in REM since he has it now.

For the people that think he was a great guitarist, you couldnt be more blind. he was a songwriter, and lacked imensely in his guitar PLAYING ability. most of the people that got one of these probably do too, though.

Ok, this guitar was built in japan, has a humbucker ( fender dragster ) in the bridge and a sincle coil in the neck along with mustang stylee pickup selectors, mine is lefthanded and in fiesta red, which is nice. The neck is 24 scale which i love, it has a mustang tremlow that i locked down just cause i don't uses it, this improves the tuning stability.

I play grunge style music mainly ( not just nirvana , soundgarden , mudhoney, meat puppets, melvins ) the guitar sounds ok if you have a good amp with lots of gain but the pots and caps in the guitar make the humbucker sound week, although well balanced ( actually slightly bright but i like this ) , although actually its an alright bucker, so i swapped it out for a duncan full shred which i love, i reviewed that as well. The sincle coil is relly cool, nice and surfy.All the pickup selections are usable and all of them are cool locking down the bridge improves sustain as well. Once i did the mods this guitars sound gets a 10 easily .

The guitar was set up well by the shop i bought it off, pickups needed raising abit but thats all. The wood this guitar is made of ( basswood ) is very soft and dints easily, this is the only thing i really don't like about the guitar. everything was asembled soundly. On mine anyway.

I'd say it is a very reliable guitar, maybe a strap lock wouldn't go a miss , i always gig with a backup though just in case. Like i say the finish does crack and dint easily.

never dealt with them

I've owned this for about half a year , and i'm very pleased with it especially after moding it. It will always be my favorite guitar jus because it has sooooooo much character, its imperfect , but show me a guitar that isn't.

Fender fabricada en Japon...22 trastes...Mastil delgado...Volumen y tono...puente Dynamic Fender Vibrato...un selector con tres posiciones para cada pastilla.....
Y un color azul que es muy verde
?Que mas puedo decir que no se haya dicho ya?Pues que la forma es perfecta, es una guitarra preciosa, aunque la pintura salte si se te cae al suelo.

El sonido es genial. Gran variedad tonal, sirve para todo, yo la uso para hacer metal, grunge, rock alternativo... Y suena aun mejor si la conectas a un buen pedal Fuzz, me gusta como suena con el DOD FX33 o con el EH Big Muff.

El mastil es muy comodo y suave, es muy facil de tocar, las clvijas son muy precisas, aunque es un poco dificil cambiar la posicion del selector de las pastillas a mitad de cancion sin que se note

Le salta la pintura con los golpes, por lo demas bien.

Una gran guitarra que deberia volver a fabricarse, esta vez con las pastillas que puso Cobain en vez de con las baratas que venian de fabrica.

meh, just read all of the others. I just want to say that this is the most comfortable guitar on the face of the planet. i have wanted one for years because of its incredible ergonomics. i still dont have one, but my good friend does, and i want to take it from him!

okay.

why does it come in fruity blue?reds okay, but the pearl pick guard is really nice.

uh huh, reliable like an ox.

well the fender factory is by my house, and i have learned that they are stingy with blemished parts. but i guess they would be cool if they sold you a crappy axe.well, i think any plywood guitar is crap
(i had a mexican strat, and when i smashed it i was amazed to see the sides. thats right, plywood!)

nice geetar. put a sticker over the Fender and its a date. I wouldnt go on stage with a guitar that cost $300 for the name on it. get a Kramer. the striker is awesome. it didnt take me long to find out Fender stopped making good guitars in the 50's. well, im sure you could get a nice fender if you want to pay $1000. but after 8 years i know im gonna stay off of the fender wagon.

this guitar was made in japan like every other jag-stang in 1995.
it has 22 frets. 2 3-way pick up selectors. volume and tone dials. it has 1 single coil (stock) and a JB humbucker. a very thin neck.
the best neck ever IMO. came with original case with "designed by kurt cobain" writen on the front.

the sound is soooooooo good. i play lots of different styles and it suits the lot of them. there is no better guitar for sound IMO.
i use it with a small clone chours and a big muff. both pedals suit the guitar perfectly.

the guitar is set up very well. i didnt get it from the factory. the guy who owned this before me set it up and set it up well.
the pickups are fine. no buzzing or anything.
the guitar has a few chips which is expected with a second hand guitar IMO.

havent giged with it but my sister dropped it half way down the stairs and it was fine. the neck was still straight and the body got no new scratches. this guitar will definatly last.
i would use this guitar at a gig without backup. my baby would never let me down.

na

overall i think this guitar is the kind of guitar that will stay with you forever. i love it.

Going from the serial number, this is a new Jag-Stang, imported to the UK from Japan by Music Ground in Leeds.
It's totally stock.
Jap pickups which rock, I dont care what anyone says.
Versatile Switching, on/off in/out phase.

This guitar gets used for everything. The HB can really rip when you've got it overdriven. Tuning the guitar down a tone gives you a bowl churning Limp Bizkit/Linkin Park growl. The Single Coil, although typically noisy, offers a very warm authentic vintage sound. I really can't emphasise how good these pickups are, everyone seems to slate them, but I'm perfectly happy with them. I play alongside another gutarist who has a Mex Fat Strat, and tone for tone, the Jag-Stang is warmer, and much more Fender sounding. I play with Fender strings, Steel 350s, 10-46 gauge. These give a higher and clearer output that then stock strings, as well as tuning stability.
I know Kurt stuck a duncan JB into his Jag-Stang, so I may try one someday, but I think I'll keep the stock one, this will also ensure the Jag keeps it's value!!!

There were two guitars at the shop. One for #650 and one for #550. The 550 had a bad pearloid finish, and the SC pickup was corroded, otherwise if was fine. The 650 was perfect except for the body which showed the wood joins under the light. I know that this can happen with time anyway, so I got the 650 guitar : who was to say that the truss rod wasn't corroded on the other? I'd rather not risk it!
The neck was not straight, so I had to loosen the bolts and put it right, this may have been transit damage or just a shit setup from the factory. Now LISTEN UP !!! Another interesting difference between the guitars was the tuning stability. I had read up on the JS before I got it, and knew about the problems people have had, so I checked both guitars, did a few divebombs. What I found was interesting, the 550 guitar fell out of tune after a divebomb, the 650 was fine, no problems at all!!!! To quote the UK Fender guru (I forgot his name for the moment) he said at Music Live 2001 " If you set up your Fender right, it will stay in tune, no matter how hard you play it, there really is no need for a floyd rose". So there you go, it's true. Take care putting the strings on, no overlaps, stretch the strings, only tune up, not down.
Other than the finish, the guitar is perfect.

Never played live with it, and I don't know if I would dare, I would kill myself if I scratched it.

I'm contemplating getting a Cyclone as a stage guitar. (I currently have a Westfield Strat, which sucks). I think it would stand up to alot of abuse if it needed to.

If I had to, I would play it live, and I wouldn't fear the guitar would let me down, I'm just scared I would let IT down. So a 10!

Arbiter are a shit company and don;'t know their arses from their elbows, but the Fender Guru is the nicest, most helpful guy you could ever deal with, I have spoek with him frequestly via e-mail about buting the JS and my AMP, a Fender RocPro1000.
The place I bought it have given me a 12 month setup warranty, so I can take it in at any point and have the neck truss rod done, nut filed or whatever for free.

I've been playing for 9 years. This is the best guitar I have ever owned. I don;t regret buying it at all, it was overpriced, so I took a risk, but I would gladly have paid double if I had known what a fantastic guitar it was, it's worth every penny.
If someone stole it, I would kill them. Then I would find another stock JS from somewhere, which is hard coz everyone seems to modify them : NO NEED , NO NEEEEED!!!!!!
I am contemplating getting both a stage Cyclone, and a Custom Shop Jag-Stang, with a cobalt-blue flame maple top, and a Hot Vintage-Noiseless SC pickup, that's all I'd change with the guitar.

If you wann hear it, check out my webpage at www.REBORNONLINE.com, there should be some MP3 tracks to download from my band.

I think it was 1997, made in japan, volume and tone controls, 1 single coil and 1 humbucking, sonic blue with a white perload pickguard

I usually play punkrock/grunge ( nirvana style )
I have a marshall valvestate 8080 combo and use a boss ds-2 turbo ditortion effect pedal.
The humburcker in bridge is a dimarzio super distortion. It's sounds amazing, especially in overdrive

The finish is very good, the color is cool but the factory single coil pickup is a shit. The neck is the best, is very thin and playability. The unique problem is the tuning, is very difficult stay tung

I have this guitar only nine months, there is no problem. I play hard and it's perfect

I don't nedded

In my opinion this is the best guitar of the world to play punkrock and grunge, the sound is loud, the body is very hard, a very thin neck. The sounds like Nirvana. Kurt Cobain designed the best guitar

This is an update on my previous review. Here is my Jag-Stang as to the list above.
1.) Its a 1998 50th Anniversary Fender Model with the gold sticker
on the back of the headstock, and as with all Jag-stangs, it's
Made in Japan.
2.) 22 Vintage Frets
3.) Volume, Tone, 2 3-way Pickup switches (On/off/On)
4.) Neck angled single coil, angled bridge humbucker
5.) Emg SA-1 (Neck, its actually a stacked humbucker), EMG 81 (Bridge)
6.) Active Pickups (Not the cheapie select pickups)
7.) Basswood Body (Really Hard Basswood), Maple neck with Rosewood
Fingerboard.
8.) Finish (3 inch thick chip'n'go Sonic Blue)
9.) The Mustang GT of Fender guitars Jag-Stang Shape
10.) Fender Dynamic Tremelo (Correction: Fender Super Whammy 98')
11.) Schaller DeLuxe Kluson Copy tuners
12.) 24" scale fingerboard, Thin Neck, Vintage Frets (I think we have
gone over this already).
13.) Came with a Black Tolex Case

Who needs more stuff than this on a guitar.

As many probably have already guessed
A.) I am a Heavy Metal/Grunge/New Wave/Jazz Guitarist
B.) I Use an Epiphone SC28 Chorus Amplifier With a Boss ME-6 Multi-FX
Pedal and a DOD Compressor/Sustainer pedal.
and C.) I Frequently Review on this Site.

I have changed my Jag-Stang a little more sience when I got it and the things I haven't changed are getting better with age. It is silent as the midnight air, until the dark tones emanate from the dark little EMG's with a vengance. this guitar has a rich and Full sound, and sience I shortened the wiring a little, it has more output than any of my other guitars. This booger sounds like mad and hungry giant. I love this guitar and it's heavy and dark sound.

Sience last time, my little Jaggie has gatehered a few nicks and scratches and Strap Loks that have been super glued in, but this guitar leads a HARD life putting up with all of my crap. Currently it is my misalighened stringed main axe that kickes the butt out of a Floyd Crappo-Rose equipped Ibanez. I have found a crack under the pickgaurd along the wall where the neck sits, and it hasen't crumbled in pain yet. As far as aging, this guitar is like all Fenders, it ages with the grace of a supermodel blessed with permanent beauty.

For a guitar with a Fender Tremelo that thinks it will out-do a Kramer Baretta guitars Floyd Rose , what I am about to say will shock you to death if you own a Jag-stang: I SEE NOTHING WRONG WITH THE JAG-STANG TREMELO, PEOPLE WHO SAY A JAG-STANG CANNOT DO DIVE BOMBS AND SWOOPS NEED TO SIT UNDER THEIR TREE AND THINK ABOUT HOW TO DO IT AWHILE, I HAVE DONE IT AND MANY OTHERS CAN AND MAY ALREADY HAVE. So I will share this little "My Jag-Stang Thinks It's a Jackson Soloist" trick. first you must take some really thin Scotch Tape or 3M tape (The kind you tape envelopes closed with) and wrap a VERY small amount around the action screws on the floating bridge, when you do this you must carefully screw them back into the bridge and make sure they are tight enough to stay in place. Next, you unscrew the bridge plate and take a large pair of pliers and tighten the posts that hold the tremelo springs (I use pliers because the hex keys are less reliable and prone to strip the heads of the screws). Finally you reassemble the whole tremelo including the whammy bar and install some REALLY light strings like 8's or 9's and you will have travel set EXTREMELY far downward. Your Whammy bar should be more than an inch or two or three off of the pickgaurd. It will take some practice and some breaking-in before the tremelo reaches the point of tuning stability like mine has (about a month of regular play or less). By then you should maybye see (If You are a Really abusive trem user) some bending up near the pivot holes in the tremelo plate, DON'T PANIC, this is normal and your guitar should have good to excellent tuning stability with heavy tremelo use, and if you did it right you should expierence some upward tremelo travel. A key note to the tuning stability is to do a few quick dive bombs and retune when you install new strings. I will put a Disclaimer that I am not responsible if you do this and damage your guitar, i have had this guitar more than a year and have not had a problem.

Won't Ever need it!!!

I have been playing 6 years alltogether, almost a year of that with Lithium. This guitar has been my main axe sience I started playing with the band (and Sometime before). I will never get stolen because ........
A.) I Keep this guitar within my sight at all times at gigs.
B.) I Sleep with this guitar next to my bed.
C.) This guitar has done a wonderous job of hurting others (Just ask
some of my friends...).
and of course, the mother of all D.) The person who stole this guitar would be sued, arrested, booked, molested, nettled, and so tortured and punished he or she would not want to see a Jag-Stang much less he Designed by Kurt Cobain sticker again. This has been and will always be one of my main guitars, it was my first wife, my Kramer was my first date, but this one, in the words of Stevie Ray Vaughn, was and is my First wife.

Mustang with weird shape , humbucker and single in neck
Mustang style bridge
The coolest shape ever!

the sound is great and all the settings are usable , although a little noisy , with a JB this guitar is brilliant , although in stock its better than any piece of shit fucking IVE BEEN HAD (ibanez) they fucking suck, o anyway , it sounds great

Brilliant setup good lowish action and good sustain

Ive had it for 5 years and its never let me down

great

Amazing , mind blow jobing , i love it.It beats any POS ibanez they are the worst company dont buy the worst guitar ever - an Ibnez Rg
buy the best fender!!!!!!

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.

the jag-stang is a japan-produced guitar made around 92 by the late Kurt Cobain. It has 22 frets with two vintage tuners for master tone and volume. It has a single coil pickup at the neck and a humbucker at the bridge. They are standard, crappy pickups from fender. It has a nice maple neck with a rosewood fretboard, and the body is basswood finished in Sonic Blue with a mother of pearl pickguard.The make is a mixture between a fender jaguar and mustang, and that's what gives it a cool, retro look. It has a vibrato bridge, and a super thin neck(great for tough chords)

this guitar was made for supressed grunge and it fits it's title. It has a great pulse like sound when distorted and a sharp, crisp clean sound when not. I try not to use aids like pedals and stuff like that. I just plug in and jam out. It has approximately 9 potential settings due to the two three way switches. I love everything but the vibrato bridge. It is a pain to keep in tune and the stiff, constrictive bar gets in the way and limits your freedom while picking. I love everything else

pickups are a little fuzzy, but i work around em. the craftsmenship and work are almost flawless(except for a small dent in the back approx. 11mm) The only flaws were plastic shavings feom the edges of the pickguard.

i have a more stable guitar for live stuff, this one is too risky. The hardware is in great shape and though the chrome has tarnished some, they have a long way to go. I take special care of it and so far I havn't even nicked it. The strap buttons are great, i don't need tape or anything. I'd always take a backup guitar, no matter what kind of guitar it is.

i never needed to call fender. the guys at BC rich have attitudes, though.

This guitar is cool, fun, versatile, and pretty. I'd never give it up. Besides, it's discontinued

I bought my Jag-stang back in 1997 and never really got around to using it. It wasn't the greatest guitar in the world--everything was stock, and anyone who owns one of these knows that a stock Jag-stang is a bunch of crap--but it was something for me to fool around with and I knew that it could become a good guitar with some work. After reading some suggestions on here and at jag-stang.com, I started making some major mods. The vintage vibrato tailpiece kept the guitar from maintaining correct tuning for over five minutes, so I stripped out the springs and locked it down. The floating bridge wouldn't stay in place, so I wrapped some thick electrical tape around the struts to get it to hold tight. The pickup switches were in the absolute wrong place for my type of playing, so I took em out and put in a simple Tele-style 3-way switch below the pickups (which goes between the bridge humbucker, bridge "coil cut"/neck single coil, and neck single coil)--this required some routing, but that's no big deal. I also had everything shielded and grounded to get rid of that 60 cycle hum. Going to get some locking tuning heads at some point, and once I'm finished with the major corrections, I'll probably start in on some cosmetic changes, like a new pickguard and different pot knobs.

The stock pickups are fine for someone who doesn't care one bit for the sound of their guitar, but for anyone who's in the least bit serious, these things have got to go. I play an MBV/Slowdive style "shoegaze," with a lot of fuzz, modulation, and delay effects. I replaced the stock humbucker with a used Seymour Duncan JB--I'm not a huge fan of humbuckers, but it was readily available, and I have it coil cut to produce a single coil sound. I'm currently experimenting with different single coils in the neck position. Basically, anything's better than what comes with the guitar, but it can sound good if you find what you're looking for.

Frankly, it's been so long since I bought this that I don't even know how the bridge was set up. I know that I had to adjust the pickups as soon as I got home. I totally rewired the guitar when I put in the JB and new pickup switch, which helped a lot--I noticed that there were some bad solder joints on the old selector switches. As I mentioned above, the vibrato system kept the strings out of tune, so that had to lock down. The music I play relies a bit on the whammy effect, but I had to sacrifice that for the good of the guitar and have settled for a decent whammy pedal instead. No prob. The neck hasn't given me any problems, though I've been in contact with Warmoth about getting one with a boat-shaped back and a 11/16" nut width (instead of the stock 5/8" width). This is all personal preference, though, and it's fine for the time-being.

To tell the truth, I haven't played live since buying this guitar, but I'm almost ready to give it a try. Not too sure about the finish, since I haven't had much experience in such things, but things seem solid enough. I wouldn't play any gig without a backup, so it won't be alone anytime soon.

Never tried.

This guitar is going to require a lot of work, and there's no one way to go about fixing it up. I'm finding that it only gets better with every mod I make, and since they've fallen so out of favor with so many guitarists, it's going to be better to fix it up than to sell it for a couple hundred of bucks. If it were stolen, I'd probably go ahead and save up and get a good Jazzmaster, but it'll do until that day.

This is the custom model Kurt Cobain designed for Fender in blahblah yadda yadda- y'know the story. More Mustang than Jaguar (metal control plate, slider switches, weird tremelo..) the only real Jagaur feature i can see is the extended butt (right side. Neck single coil/ bridge humbucker configuration, 'sonic blue' finish basswood body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard. Surprisingly fast neck, with the right strings and action- real comfy to play. Essentially 4 sounds available with slider switche Tip on tremelo use.... pull the whammy bar up, then tune up. Whenever you do some serious whammy-action, just pull the arm up again, the tuning should be pretty good.

First off, the bridge humbucker is very under-powered. No way near Cobain' tone (not that that's a bad thing). Manipulate your amp's EQ to make the best of it. I've recently found that overdriving the clean channel on my amp and playing hard improves the tone on both pickups- ideal for Cobain-esque powerchording but a little too nasty for Gilmour style soloing. The single coil can do a good Pixies-sound with a harsh treble sound. I recommend buying this guitar with a new bridge h/b. i plan to stick a JB in there once i can get the cash together.
But, i found the grimmy, harsh pickups fit extremely well to lo-fi kinda tunes, really cutting, so for once my sound doesn't get lost behind the bassist's noodlings.
DO NOT buy this guitar for a Cobain sound, unless you wanna hand some government greens over to the Semour Duncan estate.. be original, experiment with it...

Considering the target audience of this axe would be guitar-bashing grunge kids, the 9's the Jagstang came fitted with seemed a little ridiculous- so get a set of 11's, a file to sort out the nut and an allan wrench to sort out the imminent string buzz. The action was pretty good, when I got it, hardly any buzz and good intonation. The pickups needed to be jacked-up, but overall a pretty good set-up.

I have owned this guitar since the summer of '97 and have had very few problems with it- I was told that fitting heavier strings would require a truss rod adjustment, but being the lazy mong i am, couldn't be arsed, and I haven't had any trouble with the neck at all. I have used this as my main guitar at about 5 gigs, with no problems.
The only minor niggle was that i had to replace the volume pot about 4 months ago, due to excessive noise and generally drop-outs in the sound. Only a few minor dents- one from when I dropped it into my drummer's cymbal stand the day after i got it- d'oh! so i got strap locks ( a very good descision). The original buttons are good, just a little too small for jumping around with the guitar. I always take a backup guitar to gigs, if only in case i break a string, or use a different tuning.

Never needed to contact 'em

I had 'on and off' periods with this guitar, sometimes prefering my old Strat copy with bridge h/b for the sound and weight- although the J-S is a fairly light guitar-. But, that Strat's gonna be smashed soon hehe. I like the playability of this guitar alot, due to the thin comfy neck. As soon as i get my JB for the bridge, this guitar will be really cool. At the mo, I've got an Ibanez S-270, but i don't think this Fender'll will take a back seat- different guitars for different situations. Don't buy this and expect to sound like Kurt- first get some talent, then BE ORIGINAL!! follow your heart- the way this guitar didn't sound like Nirvana helped me to experiment with sounds, not just using Kurt's.

Just the right amount of bell and whistles to keep your average punk rocker happy. 2 pick-ups which are not the greatest in the world, but no too bad. A humbucker at the bridge, single coil in the neck position. Each pick-up has its own 3 way selector switch (hi-off-low). I usually use the bridge pick up because the single coil is a noizy piece of monkey sh*t. The humbucker delvers very good tone, but you can probably do better. Me, I'm lazy and it'll probably stay in there. THE TOP FEATURE has to be the bridge. I'm not sure if its the bridge of a Jaguar or a Mustang, but it sits up high and the strings go UNDER the bridge instead of on top. This allows a greats spot to rest your palm while playing; I told you I'm lazy. It also allows you to get some cool twang sounds.

I play it through a Fender Ultra Chorus (guess what my favorite company is) and the whole set up is great. Perfect for anything remotely punk, save ultra-metalic hardcore.

I love the action, but the finish is kind of messed up on mine. I think the previous owner mishandled it though.

I too beat the crap out of it. I play very hard and fast. I jump around like a chicken who's head was just cut off. I run into the crowd, PA towers, other band members, tables, off the stage, ect, a lot during a set and the Jag-stang never fails. Even when my strap breaks and it crashes to the floor it stays in tune.

I bought it used.

I'd actually give it a 8.5 but I guess I have to round up because the pick list only contains positive integers. Anywho...it rocks. When I first bought it a few months ago I thought that it was the greatest guitar in the world. I now am well aware of its flows, still I love this guitar. I looks better than any other guitar, save the Squier Supersonic (my other "axe") and the Mostrite Ventures model. Actually, its very similar to the Supersonic, the main difference being in the pickups and the bridge. I like the Supersonics pickups better but unfortunately it has a Strat style bridge which I don't like as much. Other guitars that it nearly mirrors are practically all of the non-Strat/Tele Fenders. You know, the Bronco's, 1960's Duo Sonic's, Jaguars, Mustangs. Much better than the Tornado, Fenders replacement. Why do they, Fender, do that? They make a great guitar for a few years, like the Squier Vista's, Bronco's, etc...then they're gone for good. D'OH!!!

This guitar was built in Japan. I am not sure when. 22 frets. Basswood body. 1x Vol, 1x Tone, 2x 3-way. S/H configuration. Some interesting setups can be made with the 2 3-way switches-one for each pickup. This is a stunning guitar similar to a Jaguar. I simply fell in love with this guitar the minute I saw it hanging in the shop. It has a floating trem, which is very unstable for tuning at the best of times. The low E seems to go out of tune after about 4 songs. The tuners ae pretty cheap and would need upgrading. These are minor problems though. I bought this guitar because of the way it looks.

I play Rock'n'Roll (think Aerosmith, Rolling Stones, Kiss, etc). I am using it through a Marshall JCM2000 100W head, with a Marshall Guvnor overdrive pedal and a 1960A angled 4x12. The sound is reasonably good. Not much sustain though. And the sounds don't feel too deep. there certainly needs to be more mid. I guess it would be a good guitar for grunge/hardcore stuff like that. I think with some better pickups it would be the ultimate guitar.

The guitar seems pretty well built. I think the finish is not so good though, easy to break off so take care. No problems with straplocks or anyting else. I know I could depend on this guitar for a gig with no backup.

I have never dealt with Fender. Fortunately.

I've been playing for about 18 months. I have two US strats, an Ibanez RG and a Gibson Explorer. As i said I play through a Marshall 100W head and Marshall Guvnor O/D pedal. This is by far the most stunning guitar I have ever seen. I love it's agressive looks, just the way it hangs, everything about the style kicks every other guitars ass off the planet. Compared to my strat it isn't as playable. and it doesn't sound as fat and bluesy. I wish it had better pickups. I'll upgrade those too. If it were stolen I'd go on a rampage, trash lots of stuff, then cry for a bit, become an alcoholic, then buy another one.

I think this guitar was made in '94 or close to that. It was made in Japan and it is basswood. The basswood is cool, because it is very lightweight, but it isn't high quality wood. I've had 3 screws strip in 1 month. I like the pickup selectors, but they do seem to get in the way when playing hard. I really like the phase out, it's cool for some neat tricks. One humbucker and one single coil. The humbucker is weaker than most single coils and sounds completely horrible. The single coil sounds even worse. I plan to put in a seymour Duncan JB and a fender red lace sensor in very soon. The finish looks alright, but cracks very easily so watch out for that. I absolutely love the way this guitar looks. If you didn't already know, it's a cross between a mustang and a jaguar designed by Kurt Cobain. The reason I bought this guitar is because of how nice it looks, but it will be perfect when I modify it. It has a mustang bridge and a "dynamic" tremelo. My advice is to lock the tremelo down or you'll never stay in tune. Also, thetuners are bad. The bridge also rattles, but you can fix that with some tape (see www.jag-stang.com). The neck is excellent. It is a mustang neck, very thin and comfortable although it may not be for everyone. It is so slick and I love it (the neck). Rosewood fretboard with dot inlays and pretty small frets. I got this guitar used for 250$ with a gig bag, so they are not too expensive nowadays, but they might be in the future. This guitar has some neat features, especially after you modify them.

I play mostly grunge/alternative type of wierd stuff like early 90's seattle music and stuff like that. But I also play a bit of blues and classic rock as well. I use a fender deluxe 112 90 watt amp and a big muff pedal, a rat pedal, a morley chorus pedal and sometimes a flanger. This guitar sounds very thin and weak. No matter how you adjust the pick-up selectors, it sounds pretty bad. I really don't like the sound at all, I mean there is worse, but not much worse. This guitar has NO sustain. It's very plunky. It's pretty noisy, especially with distortion, but i use feedback sometimes, so I like that. This guitar has what looks like a lot of pickup configurations, but there really aren't that many, and they don't sound good anyway. Not much variety. The only thing I like about the pickups is the phase out which can be cool sometimes. Overall, this guitar sounds really bad, new pickups would definently be the way to go here.

The action is flexible. You just adjust the bridge. It's cool because you don't have to take off the strings to do this, so that is a plus. You can get low action or high action, but if you go too low, you will get string buzzing. The wood isn't great as far as holding screws is concerned, but it is very very lightweight.

The hardware is decent, but like I said, the wood might not hold it forever. The finish cracks very easily, so if you don't mind scratches, cracks and maybe even chunks of wood from your guitar than you could thrash around with it. If you don't move around a lot while playing than you won't have to worry about this. My strap buttons fell out after one month. I put them back on with bigger screws and they fell out again. This is not very solid, but if you use glue or something, than you could play live with it. I would depend on it after modifications, but not before. I'd gig without a backup, because i don't have a great backup.

I think this had a one year warranty when bought new, but i bought it used. I wouldn't even bother with fender though, they have a bad reputation in this area, so i wouldn't rely on them. I did get some pamphlets with the guitar about fender guitars though, but they didn't even have the jag-stang in it.

I've been playing for a couple of years and own a squire strat, an alvarez acoustic a samick guitar, a yamaha pacifica and a yamaha bass. I also have an 80's peavey bandit 112, a fender deluxe 112, peavey rage 158 and a peavey bass amp and some effects pedals. I wish I would have had a better sense of tone before buying this guitar, the looks really got me. If it were stolen, I would probably buy a jaguar , jazzmaster or a mustang, especially now that it's becoming harder to find a jag-stang. I love the look, and hate the sound of this guitar. This is going to be a very cool guitar once i get 1) locking tuners 2) seymour duncan JB 3) Fender lace sensor red 4) new bridge 5) straplocks
have fun

Wonderful design, great looking, and I like the phase switching and the thin neck. The body is basswood and the fretboard is rosewood.

Poor. Replaced the stock humbucker with a distortion humbucker and that seemed to help. I use it through a Crate half-stack and a Fender M-80 and it's allright.

Poor. The guitar's schematics are confusing as hell, the dynamic vibrato bridge doesn't stay in tune for shit, and the finish and wood aren't holding up very well these days.

I wouldn't depend on this guitar, but I use it live and it's fun to play.

Never dealt with them, bought this secondhand, so no warranty.

after replacing the humbucker and disconnectin the trem spring to stabilize the tuning, this becomes a decent guitar. I use for a Db Modal tuning, and so I don't have any idea what ranges or styles it can or cannot accompany, but I do enjoy the guitar despite all it quirks. It's a fun hobby guitar, and certainly more worth it than any shitkicking Ibanez. I would recommend this to people who have time and money to fix it up to their liking.

22 Frets, 1 Volume, 1 Tone, S/H, Cheap stock pickups. I've changed the stock humbucker in the bridge to a Seymoure Duncan JB. I haven't gotten around to changing the neck pickup but I hardly use it anyway so it doesn't matter. I'm not sure if it's the neck or just me, but I wear my guitar low and sometimes it's hard to play the higher notes.

I play Grunge/Punk and it fits my style really well. I used it with a Fender M-80 Chorus, and it sounds awesome. The single coil neck pickup hums but I never use it so that's ok. The tone knob also hums when you turn it up high, but if it's low it's realy quiet.

The action is pretty good for my taste, not too high not too low. The only falw the guitar has is that the pickguard sticks up just barely on the corner. The bridge pickup selector broke but that got fixed easily by Fender.

I'm pretty rough on my equipment but I think it is pretty durable. I haven't broken anything yet. The tuners seem kind of cheap but the rest is pretty good. Finish is nice, I've given it a few scratches and dents though. Strap buttons are nice and solid. Definately dependable. It would never even cross my mind to play a gig with a backup.

The pickup selector broke and I just took it to a luthier, he called Fender and the fixed it. Not sure how long the warranty is but it was still under when I got it fixed.

Been playing a couple years, it's only my second electric but I like it better than a lot of guitars on the market. Not too expensive either, no one seems to be selling them for the list price of $600.00. If it were stolen I would break lots of stuff and then go look for another. I wish the tremelo was taken out, it doesn't stay in tune if you even bump it. Over all I've fallen in love with the guitar.

Japanese made with a sft/light wood body and the tone volume controls. The bridge was one of those wierd Fender ones which you see on surf guitars... but without the trem arm. The pickups are what really got me. A humbucker in the bridge with a single coil in the neck; the switching was basically on/off/out-of-phase I think (by the sound). Tuners were the cheap Japanese Fender type. The neck was wierd - really narrow and pretty thick. The scale must have been about 22 inches or something because I couldn't fit my fingers in between the frets past the 12th. Silly? Yup.

This is where the guitar should have been shot. The pickups sound absolutely terrible. After goofing around with these things for ages and trying all the different pickup configs I could think of, I couldn't get a sound which was what one could call remotely warm or full. The bridge humbucker is really bad. It's almost like a cheap single coil in tone. The neck wasn't too bad, although I haven't heard worse yet...
This guitar makes a really squealy sound with almost no depth whatsoever - horrible (eurgh). It makes overdrive a chore to play because the sound grates your ears. I'm sure changing the pickups would do something for this guitar, but for the price, I've played a Squire Strat which sounded SOOOOOOO much better...

Well, it was a friend's guitar and so I can't really comment.

This guitar wasn't very heavy, so I'm not too sure whether it would hold up particularly well if you took it out of its case, let alone played it live. It went out of tune when I tried a little vibrato, as well, which can't bide well for it. I guess I'd have to play guitar like the designer.

I've been playing for five and a bit years now, and yes I must say I haven't played a huge variety of guitars. I have tried out top range Ibanez guitars in shops, as well as a couple of others, but when is that ever a gauge of how a guitar sounds?
After playing this guitar for the length of time I did, there certainly are lots of questions that spring to mind. Like for instance, how did this guitar ever get to the production line? Why these pickups?
I don't think there's anything about this guitar that I particularly like. The switching system certainly was novel, although highly impractical (how are you supposed to tremolo pick with these things in the way), but that's it. I must confess, being more of a metal orientated guitarist (the style if not the music), this guitar was not very good at all. The neck was too short, there was a HUGE block of wood at the 17th fret (like 99% of bolt-ons), the frets were too small, the bridge was wierd - no palm muting, the colour was gross (mint green? ARGH!), the neck was FAR too thick and the strings were also too close together.
I normally play a Yamaha Pacifica 512 (before their designer left Yamaha - along with the greatest invention for the bolt-on guitar; the Total-Access neck joint) which is a tremendous guitar. I've stuck a Dimarzio Evolution in the bridge, and a Dimarzio Breed is going in the neck. Considering that you could probably get them for about the same price now (the Yam is nearly a ten year old guitar), I'd go for the Yam every time. Just an all-round better guitar.
I guess this guitar (Jag-Stang) was designed by somebody who never ventured past the fifth fret of the guitar, and you can tell when you play it, or listen to any Nirvana CD.
Do yourself a favour and get an Ibanez RG or something.

There are already a huge number of entries on this guitar, so let me be brief and keep it to my opinions and modifications. I have it set up with aftermarket Seymour Duncan high output pickups in both humbucker and single coil positions. The one thing I don't really like on this guitar is the position of the pickup selector three position switches, I'm thinking about putting switch covers on them to prevent them from being knocked around too much while playing. The cheap Fender tuners are a bit on the cheesy side, and would be a good item to upgrade for higher quality tuning in the future. Likewise with the frets, they are a bit on the thin side, but with the of thisshort scale length you really don't want jumbos on this neck, another possible upgrade.

The beauty of this guitar is the rich palette of sounds it can produce. I use it for classic clean surf sounds with tons of reverb and tremelo through a Fender Bassman head and a Marshall 2 x 12 cab. It makes for beautiful runs and double picking, although the low E does go out of tune after three songs or so of intense douple picking, but most guitars do that anyway. For this sound I use both pickup switches in the neck position. The Jag Stang does a truly hot overdriven blues sound with the humbucker polarity switched back to the bridge position through the Bassman head using an Ibanez TS9 tube screamer retrofitted to the TS808 brown tone. For the heavy rock rythym and lead work I use the Jag-Stang through my B amp which is a Marshall JCM800 and a 1960A 4 x 12 cab. The sound through this rig is absolutely mind blowing when used with an ADA MP1 preamp and a Boss flanger. The thing sounds like a friggin B52 bomber is about to land in the room! With the Marshall on a high gain setting and the tube screamer in place you can get crunch like on a Les Paul. I've been using a Digitech DSP128plus effects for reverbs and delays, and I use some vintage Electroharmonix and Ross pedals for analog chorus and wah effects. Bottom line the Jag Stang is no one trick pony, it does rythym and lead duty in a variety of classic and modern sounds. An extremely versatile and easy to play guitar.

The neck is nice and slim but the strings are not too close like some jazz guitars. It plays very smoothly for both rhthym and lead passages. I have it set-up with a low action and I use Gibson stainless steel flatwounds with a 12 guage on the high E string. Unlike some of the other reviewers, I have found my guitar, which is an early model, in fiesta red to have a durable, and high quality gloss finish. It has been bumped, knocked and sweated on profusely with no apparent damage except for a couple of minor dents.

So far so good, I have been lugging it to rehearsals and gigs for two years now and it has been reliable. I keep it in a Fender Mustand hardshell case.

Haven't had the need for it.

I have been playing for about 15 years, and I also own an Ibanez acoustic cutaway with a piezo pickup for folky stuff, a B.C. Rich Super Strat which I use for banging on, and a vintage Epiphone Casino hollowbody electric for clean jazz and blues. I'm kind of glad that Fender recently discontinued the manufacture of this guitar, since I believe it will become a collector's item someday. I plan to buy another one soon in sonic blue and to set it up a little differently. This guitar blows away the Tornado and Cyclone and is just slightly off the vintage reissues Jazzmaster in quality and playability. A very under appreciated, and extremely versatile tool for the frontman, IMHO, but not really for the purist lead player.

Unsure as to year - bought it second-hand from Sam's Music, Franklin, TN. 22 fret, rosewood neck, small scale makes lead work an adventure osrta like putting 16 ounces of liquor in a 12 ounce glass...it's a solid basswood (whatever THAT is) body, "Sonic Blue". The reason I bought it was that it was odd looking - never had seen one before, knew nothing about KC designing it, don't care. It was totally different looking, and that's what I was looking for. Came with a single coil at the neck and a humbucker at the bridge. Sounded OK in the store (isn't that always the case?) but in a live jam session, their shortcomings became immediately evident. Two selector switches for the pickups, putting each pickup on-off-on(reversed polarity), no evident change in tone except when the single coil is out of phase with the humbucker. The bridge is a horrible weird vibrato unit that wouldn't let the axe stay in tune when I got it even though I never Dive-bombed it. The tuners are "vintage" style - God, I hate that word...no case or gig bag included, Sam's did throw in a set of strings

We play classic rock, little country, some new stuff, bought guitar as a backup for my Les Paul Classic. Ok for rhythm work, but lead work is really tough, especially around the upper frets 'cause they are so close together...Use with two Peavey Deuce amps running stereo with Ibanez Tube Screamer (TS-10), Rat pedal, DOD Flashback Fuzz, and Arion Fat Chorus. Originally, the sound was thin, and if I changed from the LP to the Jag, I'd have to turn the amps UP. A LOT. As I said, the selector switches don't really make any difference except when you have both pickups on and switch the single coil out of phase with the humbucker. The pickups were really crappy, so I changed them to a Seymour Duncan Vintage Flat for the neck and a Dimarzio Tone Zone for the bridge, now I can get some good tones, especially with the single coil and the humbucker together.

The setup sucked. Had to set the intonation, pickup height. The action is surprisingly good, but still it is better suited for rhythm work 'cause of the short scale neck. The vibrato/tremolo would let the guitar go out of tune if you even looked at it, so I opened up the guitar and tightened the tension as tight as I could and lowered the weird "barrel" that serves as the tailpiece down really low and just work the vibrato with my hand without the tremolo arm, and the axe stays in tune

The finish so far seems to be ok, but then I don't drop my guitars, I know how to hold onto them so even if a strap comes loose, I'm not standing there looking at it like a drummer looking at a drumstick flying across the room...but that's another story...don't use it as my main axe, IT is the backup - use it for rhythm work on Sultans of Swing, etc.

most unfriendly folks I've ever dealt with, sorta like the folks at Gruhn Guitars; won't ever go back THERE again, either...

benn playing guitar 26 years, own Gibson LP classic 1960 reissue, a late '80s SG, a homemade Strat copy (one good guitar), numerous pedals (including homemade), PA equipment (mostly Peavey, they've always worked for me) - if it were stolen or lost, would probably get one of those Fat Telecaster thingys - never owned one. I really think the guitar looks cool, and it does play well, but it should have come with better pickups and a longer scale neck.

It has two 3-way pickup selectors, a single coil at the neck, and a humbucker at the bridge. It has a volume and a tone control, and its got 22 frets.

I play a lot of heavier stuff like metallica and Rage against the machine, but I also play a lot less heavy music at times. It sounds good for all the styles. The humbucker gives you a fuller sound, while the single coil gives you a much higher pitched sound. Also, if you use a distortion pedal, it buzzes on the single coil so I almost always use just the humbucker.

The action was a little too high so I lowered it, but I lowered it too much on the high E string, so it buzzes there on the first fret. Also the pickups are a litte too high. I play some Korn and Limp Bizkit, and I have to tune down like 6 whole steps cause they use a 7 string, and the string clicks on the pickup and sometimes gets stuck to it. Also, the Pick-guard was starting to peel when I got it, but I fixed that with some super glue.

I don't see any problems with the reliability.

I really like this guitar, and once I fix the little problems I'm sure it will be great.

This guitar was made in Japan and I wish they would have kept it there, it has 22 tiny frets, solid top, volume tone, and in and out of phase on the pickups. The "vintage style" strat pickup must have been so vintage that it was around before the invention of electricity because even with the gain on my amp turned up it sounded like a mellow acoustic. The special design humbucker should have been called the "milquetoast", or the "sh!tsucker 4000" or some clever name that would better describe the awful sound that it bruised my eardrums with. The neck was ok, for a penis. I would be proud if my d!ck was this big around, but not my guitar neck, it made playing every solo a special new adventure. The material itself was ok, the neck was gloss maple, (very pretty) and the fretboard was rosewood (wish they offered it in maple. My only complaint about the neck besides size and fretboard material is that they were two cheap to put the trademark fender "skunk stripe" on the back of the neck. The body wood was bass wood which I thought was great until every other screw in the pickguard stripped out and the straplocks I installed began to wrok their way out, it would have been easier and better if fender would have just used poplar or ash. The finish was a bit thin, but I could live with that...The thing that bothered me the most was the "fiesta red" was the color of a crayola red/orange crayon, not the way it looked in the magazine I ordered it from. The only way I could descirbe the body style is just imagine a guitar that missed a couple of chromosomes in it's developmental stages, it has a weird front point, and right after that the guitar is like 7 inches across, and then it goes back out to normal until the big retarded hump on the bottom. It looks like it started to melt and drip or somthing. The bridge style was a fender dynamic floating vibrato....I would like to throw it in a lake and see if it floats then. The tremelo arm was put in a sh!tty way too, it had a screw you had to adjust with a alan wrench, and it would either be too tight or would fall out. It has fender vintage tuners which are alright I guess. the neck was too thin as I said before, the frets were small, inadaquately spaced and seemed to be constructed from aluminum. I got two nifty alan wrenches and a fender manual that didn't have my guitar in it from the factory...and that was it.

It origionally went with my music style (grunge) about as well as liquid drano goes with mastrubation, I put in a seymour duncan sh-6 super distortion (which is a great pickup by the way) it made this guitar almost playable. The pickups from the factory would make good objects to throw at cars on halloween and that is about the extent of their use, and the noise they would make flying through some glass would be much more satisfying than they would ever make plugged in. They had a tone as warm as a eskimo's ass, and as bright as the underside of a burnt iron skillet. Now this gutiar can scream, I can't find a thing wrong with the sound, which is absofu(kinglutely great after my operation. Sound before -1,000,000,000 after 9, plan on buying some pickups....

The gutiar came from the factory set up like a log with rubber bands on it. The action was so high I could walk in under it, and the bridge rattled with a sound that could be compared to a wood bee. The three ply pickguard was splitting apart and I had to apply super glue which immeadiately pissed me off. The so called "pickups" were set ok, and everything else was ok except for the dynamic vibrato, speaking of which I ripped out the springs, turned it backwards and set it flush with the tremelo cover so it would stay in tune.

This guitar was actually tolerable after I worked on it, if you liked the color and could stand the size of the neck, you could easily play it live. The hardware seems plenty sturdy enough and the finish is fine as long as you don't abuse your gutiar like a idiot. The strap buttons need some work becasue they are starting to strip out from the crappy wood. I would depend on it and would play it at a gig without a back up.

???? Don't know, I am pissed at fender for making this thing so damn cheaply from the factory.

I have been playing for a while, I have owned or still have some crappy gutiar with no name, a harmony discovery, a encore, a squier strat, a fender acoustic, and a yamaha acoustic, and the Jag-stang. If I was freezing to death the only guitars I would hesitate to turn into firewood would be the squier strat and the fender acoustic. I think the Jag-Stang was and is Kurt Cobains curse, it was his practical joke of a gutiar, he played lots of pieces of crap and was even quoted as saying whoever designed the fender mustang should be shot. If it was stolen I would find the guy that stole it and beat him with the retarded hump on the end until the orange paint came off on his head. I love the guitar to death because it is so fu(king cool, but it really is a curse and I hate it at the same time. I wish it had (here we go) 1. a maple fretboard 2. a skunk stripe on the back of the neck, 3. a contour cut in the body 4.real pickups from the factory, 5.real switches so I wouldn't cut my knuckles on it. 6.a hardtail so it would stay in tune 7. chemotherapy to remove the cancerous lump from its body 8.poplar or ash wood body so the screws would stay in 9.a high quality pickguard that won't split apart10 a color besides orange11 basically that it was another guitar, like a strat......I guess thats it, one last word of advice, I posted the cost of this guitar at 299, but you had better be prepared to spend double that in time and money, I would want anyone to play this guitar straight from the factory and if I was fender I wouldn't have put my name on it, however fender was just trying to make a cheap piece of crap that people would shell out $$$ for because Kurt Cobain designed it.

Japanese, basswood body, retarded, unstable bridge, had to pay $100 extra for a case.

The different positions did a decent job at covering the sounds I needed. Pick-ups didn't sound bad, but they weren't great either. I used it with a axsys212 and a rolandjc120, good clean through the roland.

It played good off the rack but the bridge is terrible. The string guides move around like nothing and throw out the intonation. Poor string response, high action coupled with somewhat small frets. Cheap paint.

Boy did this thing fall apart. You barely bump it and there was a huge dent. Straplocks stripped out within a month too. Might as well have built it with balsa wood. Either the switch or the single coil itself just went. Tuning pegs rusting. I always had a backup when playing live.

The guy at the music store I bought it from went to jaill for tax evasion so i didn't bother to get it fixed.

I was really fooled by how it played brand new. The thing broke down just like it's designer. I'm seriously going to give it away because i'm embaresed to try and trade it in. If somebody tried to steal it i'd brobably beat the crap out of them for fun then let them take it. CHeaply made with cheap components and the switches are a pain. I cant believe I traded in a perfectly good Fender amp for it.

This is a Japanese made Jag-Stang. Think it was made in 97. Basswood body, single coil (SRV strat) in neck position humbucker (Dimarzio H-3) in the bridge. Jaguar style body with Mustang style 3 way pickup selectors. Standard strat strap buttons and tuners. Oversized headstock with 'Designed by Kurt Cobain' on back. Mine is fiesta red but is also available in sonic blue.

I play pretty much 60s pschedelic rock (Jimi Hendrix & Led Zeppelin) to 90s grunge (Nirvana & Silverchair) and does well. I usually use the humbucker with the single coil off. Humbuckers average but I'm going to get a Seymour Duncan JB. By the way my setup is a Fender Princeton 112+(65 watts) through a DOD Ice Box Stereo Chorus-Boss DS2-Electro Harmonix Big Muff-Morley wah. Wide variety of pickup combinations. Very bright and midrangey.

When I received this guitar (through Musicians Friend) it had already been adjusted *perfectly*. Awesome. Only thing the tone and volume knobs can change during songs if your not careful.

I'd gig with this only if you get strap locks since these buttons are cheap. Paint looks thin but I'd never drop this so everything is as good as new.

I think this has a 2 year warranty. Never dealt with Fender but Musician's Friend is good.

I've been playing for 2 years and have 6 guitars. This one is my favorite with my Epiphone SG. Way better than my crappy Ibanez RG40. I also have a Harmony beginner's guitar and an Alvarez classical acoustic and a Carlo Rebbeli regular acoustic. I'd definately get another Jag-Stang if it were stolen. If I saw one in sonic blue I'd probably get it too.
P.S. Hurry up and find one as they are discontinued.

I think this guitar is a 22 fret '96 Japenese made. The main feature is the Fender Vibrato which is an awesome little piece. I love the neck on this guitar. It is so thin and perfect for solos. It has mainly the same features as a Mustang.

The sound is pretty good, of course I am comparing to my first guitar a Fender Squier Strat, but I like it has many different settings. I am playing it through a cheap Peavey Bandit(one 12). It is not a noisy guitar, it's pretty quiet compared to my old one. The pickups that came with it are kinda crappy, it is a look alike of a Strat pickup and a cheap humbucker, but if you adjust them just right it sounds good. Oh yeah I had to raise the bridge a whole lot because the strings were rattling an awful lot.

The guitar setup from the factory sucked! I had to fiddle with it a couple of hours to get it right. Like I said above the bridge was setup bad, but it comes with allen wrenches to set it up right. Other than that the guitar was in great shape.

I haven't had any problems with it scratching or falling of the strap.

In all I would say I love this guitar, but I was a huge Nirvana fan so I would do anything to get that sound, and it does a good job of getting it. I would reccamend buying some better pickups for it though.

22 frets, basswood body (I think), small scale rosewood fretboard, fender dynamic vibrato, neck humbucker and bridge single coil with mustang style switches, single tone and volume, disgustingly gaudy bright red finish.

I bought this guitar cuz I liked the small neck (like a duosonic or a mustang) plus someone told me it had good feedback)... then i found out kurt cobain made it (was i the only one who didn't know?) and i didn't want to touch it. I play lots of rock and roll music though, like the Smiths and other hard rock like Sunny Day Real Estate and Unowund and also I play everything else like jazz and classical so i gotta say that eventually i figured out that this guitar doesn't sound half bad, even if people keep telling me to play the chords to smells like etc... I modified the vibrato so it would stay in tune and have more sustain by fitting wooden dowels over the screws that go into the body. usually, they just rest on the screw tip inside that little hole, so the strings are only connecting to the body where it touches, but if you put wood all around the screw you get more connection, plus the screw doesn't move around when you whammy.(email me if you have questions about this) This whammy's actually pretty good -- it's real subtle. The pickups aren't too great. I have to raise the bridge pickup way closer to the treble strings than the bass strings. I don't even touch the single coil because it's too muddy. But the humbucker will really give you a wide range of sounds. And if you want, the out of phase position on the pickup switches will give you even more. I always keep the tone know all the way up. This is one of the best guitars i've heard aside from the duosonic, which actually sucks but is way cool -- of course all my other guitars are epiphone les pauls and sgs and one classical guitar with like four strings. I use a roland jc-120 to get my johnny marr sound happening and i use a lot of effects when i'm not doing johnny marr. sometimes there is mad feedback but then i tell it to shut up and it does, so there. sounds good.

the neck is like the best ever! the body sucks. that's the one thing i hate. it's lopsided and heavy and it smells funny...well... anyway, i guess it probably gives it more sustain than the duo-sonic, but if sustain was a problem i'd buy a compressor. i put 12 gauge flatwound jazz strings on this guitar (remember to adjust your truss rod). it plays really great... and it never goes out of tune. You'll definitely need to change some stuff around when you get it. I'm going to tryu fitting the guitar to a duo sonic body--just for fun.

The single coil got busted and my friend fixed it, but now it makes the dreaded hands-off noise!! I've dropped it a bunch and i've probably made it suck way more. my advice is don't drop it.
maybe i'm just paranoid...

i don't know

i've been playing since i was born -- i came out with a les paul but it got busted, so i replaced it with this guitar. i also got a roland jc-120 and pro co rat, and about seven other effects and a two-track and other stuff along the way. I wish i'd known about the whole kurt cobain thing beforehand, but hey, what can you do? i wouldn't get another one if it was stolen but that's just because i'd get a duosonic or a hollowbody. -- pretty good deal for the money though.
Good things: neck, vibrato bad things: single coil, kurt cobain association, body
okay that's it.

1995,japan,22 frets, 2 controls(volume and tone), 5-way selector switch, 1 humbucking and 1 single coil, rosewood neck.

if youre looking for that nirvana tone, this could be the guitar for you. the reason why I'm saying this is that because it has the potential of sounding like kurts guitar only if you change a few things, such as tthe humbuckers. these pickups are okay, theyre just not beefy enough. Theyll provide the ac/dc sound though. to me it needs more mids, especially when you want to sound like kurt. another thing is that you cant hear the higher strings when put thru distortion as good. as for the single coil, you can get that twangy sound(think of stp's 3rd album) and that strat like sound( think of the opening for temple of the dog's "hunger strike", so that's not too bad. If you are familiar with kurts guitar sound, one thing youll be puzzled about is that this guitar doesn't feedback. ive got the big muff, the rat2, and the boss ds-2 and none of them give the feedback that you hear on their live shows. one more thing, needs more sustain. ps- put seymour duncan jb's in place of the stock

action was fine, pickups needed to be raised higher.

this guitar has done its job for me on stage. strum it as hard as you can and itll stay in tune. but, when youre about to get get new strings on them, be sure to get youre truss rod adjusted.

never had any problems with it.

Ive been playing for roughly 5 years. i own a marshall valvestate, a fender princeton chorus, 5 pedals( big muff, rat2, boss ds-2, boss super chorus, and a electro-harmonix deluxe electric mistress). if you want this guitar too shine, plug it thru a fender. if i were to lose this i'd probably get an epiphone les paul or a fender jazzmaster/jaguar not that there is anything wrong with this guitar. the only thing i wish this guitar could have is a better humbucker.

this review applies to my jag-stang *after* i modified it. i wanted to sell this guitar but i couldnt get a good price on it so i decided to make it at least tolerable...and i was nicely surprised. see my earlier submission for info on its pre-modified state. i suppose i'll use this space to describe the mods i made:
first i disabled the vibrato by taking out the springs. this made the guitar less plunky and gave it a little more sustain and much more tuning stability (which wasn't bad to begin with, but i never used to whammy bar...)
i then replaced the horrible stock humbucker with a seymour duncan jb. i played it with my boss ds-1 (these sound awful on small amps but great on cabs) through my crate blue voodoo halfstack and it sounded wonderful. so wonderful that i started thinking about modifying the guitar some more.
i wanted to add a mini toggle switch to the guitar, and i wanted to straighten out the humbucker (more on this in the next category). since the shell layer was peeling off of the rest of the pickguard, i figured it was time to buy a new pickguard and do just that.
i ordered an on/on/on mini toggle switch (chrome)from stew-mac, and a red tortoise shell pickguard from jeannie pickguards (http://pweb.netcom.com/~pickg/pw1.htm). i also changed the slide switches and the neck pickup cover to black (to match the jb).
i used a dremel multipro to route a space for the new switch, which is located where jazzmaster switches are. i also had to route the humbucker cavity a little to straighten it out. i made the humbucker and switch cut-out on the new pickguard myself to save $10.
the last thing i added was a mike christian black ice circuit from stew mac (see next section for more info).
i disconnected the neck pickup (which sux) and the two slide switches for now, but plan on wiring them back in when i replace the neck p/u.

i wired the mini toggle switch to the humbucker to give me series/split/parallel wiring options. they all sound great. now that the humbucker doesnt sit at a tilt, it sounds more even and has more sustain.
ok...the black ice. this thing replaces the capacitor on your tone pot and turns the tone control into an overdrive control, which sounds like a tube amp. i never used my tone knob, and was thinking of using that space for the toggle switch until i saw this in the stew-mac catalog. it doesnt add gain to your signal, it just clips it. the harder u strum the more overdriven it sounds. it's so sweet. when used on a clean channel it adds an excellent dirty kind of sound which is great for classic rock and radiohead type stuff. when used on top of distortion, it makes the sounds thicker. it really makes this guitar much more versatile.
with the new wiring options and black ice id have to give this guitar a 9 in the sound department(also since their is no electronic buzz except when the jb is in split mode). it's hard to give anything a 10...

great action, great intonation, very thin finish which cracks too easily. i'm thinking of having a contour added for the arm (there isnt enough wood to allow for one on the back...the cavity for the slide switches is too deep), then refinished with a much thicker, more durable finish.
im knocking this down to a 7 only because of the finish

again, the finish isnt very durable (either was the stock pickguard). but everything else is. i never trust any strap buttons so i got these strap lock things from stew-mac for $1.84. theyre really great. they didnt require any modification and they work really well.
i will definitely use this guitar in a band setting. one of the coolest things about this guitar is the saddles. theyre rounded and arent sharp at all so its nearly impossible to break a string. and it intonates perfectly. i dont know why people bother to put tune-o-matics on their jag-stangs. i always break strings on my les paul.

i hate how fender doesnt have an email address. but let me say that stew-mac and jeannie pickguards are fantastic. i ordered my supplies from stew-mac online and they emailed me the next day saying they recieved the order and it was on its way. i got it the *very next day* and i didnt even pay extra for overnight delivery. jeannie pickguards only took about a week to send me my new pickguard and it was *perfect*. i think the price was pretty good too. i had also emailed them before ordering it...they were great.
this rating is for those two companies
i'd also like to take the time to mention the names of people who were helpful in providing me with information about making some of these mods:
greg morlan (runs the jag-stang owners club http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Stage/2925/) and angel romero for sharing the procedures they used to replace the stock pickguard on their jags; john flugel for the information about contours and refinishing; and a special mention for the customer service reps at allparts who completely ignored my email...

i used to hate this guitar, now i love it. i would be absolutely heartbroken if someone stole this. i put so much time and money into it, and its great. i wish it had a contour and a better neck pickup...and those are mods i plan on making sometime in the future. the only thing i really hate about this guitar is the thin finish. but that will also be taken care of.
as i said before, its hard to give anything a 10, but this guitar is fantastic. its interesting to think that all of this started with changing the humbucker...with the intention being to make the guitar tolerable. it really surpassed all of my expectations.

50th anniversary edition-japaniese made-22 frets, short scale neck-basswood body, maple neck, rosewood fingerboard-1 volume 1 tone knob-birdge is floating dynamic wierd ass mustang stuff-tuners, contrary to what some others have said are great as far as i'm concerned vintage style and have no problems, they are very smooth-slim neck and short too i really like that cause i've got small hands

the sound of this guitar has tons of variety- although the humbucker is a bit weak-i use a dod hard rock distortion box and a shitty peavey amp-i like to play heavy stuff and that is why i will probably put in a seymour duncan invader pickup-

action is fantastic since i bought it a year ago-nothing wrong with it when i got it and nothing wrong now-ive heard that the paint chips easily but never had it happen so i can't judge that myself

this guitar seems reliable for me, it will go out of tune only if you use the whammy bar, which i don't and have no problems with tuning, the guitar seems sturdy the only thing is that one of the strap buttons stripped and the music place fixed it free, i'd use it for a gig with no backup anyday

never dealt with fender, but only with the music shop so i don't know about this one...

been playing for 3 years now and i'd buy this guitar again if it were lost i love the short neck and the versatile sound range but hate the selector switches and wish it was just a regular toggle...wish it had a tunomatic bridge