Fender Jaguar

I recently received a white cream coloured Fender Jaguar MIJ (made in Japan) for my birthday and i am extremely happy with it, with a hard case strap and lead. It has 22 frets, maple neck with a rosewood fret board, it's a solid body, though I'm unsure about the wood, it also has a tremolo which i hardly use, but it's possible to lock. The pick-up controls are a little hard to to figure out at first but once you do it's quite easy to use. The controls are designed to have a rhythm circuit and a lead circuit, controlled by the switch in the upper horn. The knobs on that horn control the rhythm circuit and the controls on the lower horn control the lead circuit. The pick-ups are the standard Jaguar re-issue ones, they're not wax potted so if you're using some distortion without a noise gate expect a little feedback. The body is very comfortable, it has both body and fore-arm contours which makes playing a delight. The bridge which has always come under much scrutiny is really really annoying, the grub screws constantly come out and you have to screw them back in and that also changes the pitch of the guitar so you need to re-tune every time this happens. This happens often as well, like every 15 minutes or so. The strings also jump out of place and the bridge rattles. All these things annoy the hell out of me, but these problems can easily be fixed by popping in 6 mustang saddles which get rid of all the above problems and the best thing is that it's cheap too, like 30 or so dollars

I listen to bands like children collide, whos album 'the long now' is great to listen to for anyone considering a jag, franz ferdinand and queens of the stoneage.I run it through an ME-50 Boss pedal board and a Fender Hotrod DeVille. I love the sound this guitar gives me, it can get a very very sharp attacking sound and a smooth treble sound. It does clean very well and distortion pretty good as well though you have to turn treble as it can be a bit bright sometimes. This is not a metal guitar though, though it can get a great over distorted trashy sound.

Apart from the mentioned bridge problems it is an amazing guitar to play. Very light, probably due to the short scale neck.

I haven't had this guitar for long but it is a sturdy guitar even a light as it is. The placement of the strap button makes it so that you won't go through a stack of straps as i did with my les paul. I would use this guitar at a gig without a back up. It is very unlikely that you will break a string because there hardly any pressure on the string at the bridge unlike a les paul tune-o-matic, though i'd still bring extra strings

If this guitar was stolen or lost lost i would defiantly replace it, if not up grade to the american re-issue. This is a great guitar for indie lovers but as with many things, do your research first and play the guitar before you buy it

I have a 1974 USA made Jaguar, beaten up Sunburst with black pickguard, neck binding and block markers in original case. V.nice indeed

The lower sliders are taped up as is the main volume pot (I use a volume pedal). I tend to hit either or both of these with my right hand whilst playing, somehow turning off the guitar in the process - not good at gigs I can tell you!

Jags supposedly have a thin, bright sound however mine is quite mellow compared with my Telecasters. Not say that it's in Gibson territory, but it doesn't take your tooth fillings out like a Tele bridge pickup can

The sound is nice and twangy, I love the trem and have no problems with going out of tune or bridge rattling - maybe because it's rusted??

I don't seem to have any buzzing or noise from the pickups

Agreed, it does lack a bit of sustain - but I'm not after that sort of sound anyway, so I'm well happy!

There's not huge variety in the sound (unless you count the 'strangle switch') but it's the sound that I like!

It's sure taken a hard battering over the last 35 years - half the paint is missing, some of the hardware is a bit rusty, the mute rubber has perished, the maple neck is now a mid-brown and binding has turned dark yellow. It has been gigged and gigged (although only by me in the last year or so)

But for all that the guitar plays beautifully, action is low, neck is smooth as butter and it stays in tune

It must have been screwed together very well back in '74 - the fact that is plays so well now is a testiment to that

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Yes

Does the hardware seem like it will last? Yes

Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing? Yes (OK is worn off but so what?)

Are the strap buttons solid? Yes

Can you depend on it? Yes

Would you use it on a gig without a backup? Yes, I would do and have done

Haven't ever needed it from Fender so...

I have been playing for about 25 years on and off. I been hankering after a Jaguar ever since I first saw Will Sargeant playing one in Echo and The Bunnymen in about 1980

My 'guitar heroes' often seemed to have either an Jaguar or Jazzmaster in their hands (even though I do love Teles and 335's and Rickys)

I had a Japanese reissue Jazzmaster in the 80's but was always a bit disappointed in the sound even though I loved the look and the way it played - no such problems with my Jag!

Favourite features are: the offset body shape, all those chrome plates and the trem

I've been playing since 1964, and I own a pre-CBS 1964 Jag that I bought used in 1977. I modded it with a pair of 1980's Carvin pickups with adjustable pole pieces, traded the crappy Grover tuners for a set of Schallers, isolated the electronics cavity with copper foil, and replaced some scratchy pots. Apart from that & refinishing it from crazed/chipped ugly Olympic White to a beautiful clear natural wood finish, the rest is stock. I even have the original "ash tray" bridge cover! I use very thin stings--09's-- with no problems at all. I've even used 07's! I wouldn't trade this axe for the world! Superb action, great tones, good looks, excellent intonation, lightweight body, whammy bar, it's all good. Surf, hard rock, twang, it does whatever I ask it to. It's a player's guitar, not meant to be put on a shelf to just look at.

Feb. 2007 Fender AVRI '62 Jaguar. Olympic white with tortoiseshell pickguard. 22 fret maple neck with rosewood fretboard, solid alder body with poly base coat and a gloss nitro colour coat. Pickup configuration is S/S, with two circuits (rhythm and lead). Lead circuit has on/off switches for each pickup as well as an on/off switch wired directly into a capacitor that, when activated, kills some bass and midrange response.

On top of that, there's a rock-solid tremolo system and a string mute. Those two are kindof a pain to set up, as is the bridge, but once you get them set up properly, you will never have a single complaint about the playability of this instrument. Remember, though, that this is the AVRI version. American-made quality really does make a difference.

Right now I use it with a Marshall MG100DFX, but have also used it through a Fender Blues Deluxe and an ancient Vox AC30.

My favourite thing about the Jaguar's pickups (aside from the gorgeous sparkling bright tone) is that they've got a shielding 'claw' built into the pickup. So unless you are sitting about 5 inches from a fluorescent light, you're not going to have a whole lot of that annoying 60-cycle hum that is so common with single-coils. It also helps that there's brass shielding in every control cavity.

The multitudes of controls on this guitar make for some real interesting sounds. I can get anything from jangle-pop to surf to jazz to punk to even power metal. And for what I like to write (alternative rock/post rock/post hardcore), the guitar simply can't be beaten. Sometimes I wish the sustain were longer for certain applications, but I have a hotrodded hardtail Strat that I use to get longer sustain.

The one thing I don't like about the rhythm circuit is that I can't use the pickup switching system that you can use on the lead circuit. I've heard of people hot-rodding the wiring of their Jags to do it, though (somebody on OffsetGuitars.com did it).

It sustains about as well as Sarah Palin's respectability in a debate, though.

Ah, yeah. The one problem area. When I bought this guitar (used off of eBay, if it helps), there was a bit of upper-fret buzz. And the original owner put a crappy aftermarket roller bridge on. The aftermarket bridge isn't as adjustable as the original (string spacing and whole bridge height only), and so I have hated this bridge from the beginning. Soon as I get my allen key (the seller didn't even include it in the shipment), I'm swapping her out for the original bridge.

This is easily the most rock-solid guitar I've played. Tuning stability is insane, so no matter how I mistreat some of the features (read: I am not very nice to my tremolo system), the tuning is going to stay put and never give me a single peep of grief.

The best thing about the strap buttons is that they already come pre-channeled for the male components of the Dunlop strap lock system. I was absolutely stunned to notice that when I was taking a gander at the strap buttons.

The guitar is built very solidly, just like every other Fender. The instruments that haven't been intentionally abused/destroyed (I am looking at you, Sonic Youth, and I am not giving you good looks) have held up beautifully over the years.

And the finish is SUPPOSED to wear off. Naturally player-worn guitars, and especially Fenders, are among the most beautiful man-made objects in existence.

Haven't really dealt with customer support. Since the original owner didn't exactly provide me with all the parts I needed, I emailed Fender regarding part numbers, and they were more than happy to provide them. The guy was really helpful.

Despite this, I'm going to have to say "no opinion". The little things are nice, but I'd rather save my opinions for the big things that actually matter.

If this instrument and I were to be unhappily parted, I would doubtless start saving for another. It took me two years to save up for one, but I'd GLADLY start slaving away for another one.

In my 5 and a half years of playing, I've played Rickenbackers, Gibsons, Ibanez, other Fenders, Squiers, Epiphones, Eastwoods, and multitudes of others. When I play this guitar, I am always comparing it in my mind to other instruments. The sustain is paltry and weak compared to a Gibson, but the punchy, bright tone is perfect for my alt-rock rhythm, and no Gibson (except maybe their semihollow or hollowbody axes) can even come close to that sound.

It's got the jangle of a Rickenbacker 12-string, the snap of a Tele, the looks of Aphrodite, the stability of attaching strings to a solid piece of titanium, and the versatility of a Strat. The fret reach is incredible. And I can't begin to tell you what it does to the ladies, because my review would inevitably never make it past the censors.

I just sometimes wish it would sustain more. 5 seconds of high-E sustain is pretty depressing.

MIM, Oly white, Tortise guard. Gibson stlye bridge, vibrato tailpeice. Two humbeckers, both of which are coil tapped. 24" short scale (for Fender) Neck, with rosewwod finger board- vintage style tuners, All very appealing

Lower set of controls are pickup selector for each pup, a low cut switch, master volume and tone.

Upper controls are a Master cut off switch and two coil tapping control wheels

I play Slide, rock , country, blues and anything else we can think of.
The huimbuckers are great, do the job well, and I get tones from them that are very useable. The cool thing is that the upper set of controls have two tone wheels- rolling them one way or the other allows you to roll on/off the second coil, Allowing not only Single coil and humbucker sounds, but varying degrees of both, on both pups! I can play rythym in SC and them roll on the bucker for leads, in the middle of the song, very cool! I get a great country twang, and can do Allman bros slide without changing gits- Over all, well thought out, very useable.

PLayed great out of the box, I did change to 10's, might even go to 11's because of the shorter scale. All the freats seem good, no fret ends, nothing needs polishing. Nothing loose, or or just wrong.

I never gig without a backup, that's just stupid, stuff happens ya' know? Everything seems good. Live playing? well I'll update you after a year of banging it around, right now- no issues

Don't wanna know

I liked the look, sounds and especially the neck. I have had pain start to develop in my fretting hand- I play mostly strats and teles, love thier sounds. I wondered if it was the scale length because I never have problems on a Gibson. So I tried this and the pain dissappeared. Will probably get another one so I have a backup, I was really amazed at this gits versatiliy and comfort, I highly recommed it. it is a ten, for me-might not be for you

i have either a late 1964 or early 65 fender jaguar,my ex husband bought this guitar in april of 1965 for 600.00.it is all original,no replacement parts or work done on it.only changed the strings over the yrs.it is in excellent shape.sounds the same as it did 30 yrs ago when i first saw it.sunburst finish,still looks the same.im trying to get some info as to price value in todays market.not sure of date because neck never been taken apart.any one with some info can contact me at mushmellows2005@yahoo.com

wonderful sound,no complaints.been played by two generations of family.

no flaws or problems

has taken 43 yrs of playing and still going strong.

i love it all.have the original hardshell case and a fender deluxe reverb amp from 1965 as well.the amp is all original with original cover.

American Vintage 1962 Jaguar Reissue made in USA. Olympic White with tortoise-shell pickguard, nitrocellulose lacquer finish on body and neck. Features include 22-fret short scale neck, twin circuit pickup wiring, floating tremolo that can lock and become a stop tailpiece if you so desire. The pickups are single-coil with RF-shielded metal "claws." Small-waisted body style.

The Jaguar has several sounds, but two distinctive sounds. The first is the engaged "lead" circuit with the "strangle switch" engaged, which unleashes a mega-treble aggressive tone that can cut through ANY accompaniment. This strangle tone is unique to the Jaguar and is the main reason for owning one, as it is a somewhat niche guitar. The strangle tone is pleasantly enhanced by coloring it with pedals or amp settings such as tremolo or reverb. The second distinctive Jaguar sound is the dark and mellow tone you get when the "rhythm" circuit is engaged with both pickups. This tone can be used as a base for any sort of atmospheric guitar sound that you made want to create through pedal or amp setting coloring. There are other sounds in there, but you shouldn't get too carried away trying to make the guitar do things it's not really good at or designed to do -- i.e. metal or sludgy-rock. Becuase Cobain used this guitar in a heavily modded form, people think it is a grunge guitar -- think again, unless you want to do extensive modding to it and essentially eliminate the Jaguar character in every way except aesthetics.

The floating tremolo system is fantastic and the long arm allows you to easily strum chords while adding shimmer. It is unbeatable as a surf guitar -- which is, of course, what it was designed for.

I bought this guitar from a family-owned music store which takes pride in its new instrument set-ups, hence it was well dressed and fitted when I took it home.

The only complaint I have about the guitar is that a small strip of the lacquer near the tremolo plate bubbled and cracked off, leaving a tiny staple-sized strip of exposed body wood. I can live with that, however, as it makes no difference in playability.

Thus far, the guitar has proved very reliable during live playing. I anticipate the lacquer will show more wear as the years go by with the paces I put the guitar through, but that's fine.

It's really built like a tank and I have no worries about its durability.

Standard warranty. Haven't had to deal with Fender about this guitar.

I know many people here complain about the Jaguar bridge, but the American-made models have deeper saddle grooves which hold the strings in place better. Plus, you really should use a minimum of 11s or 12s for this guitar and a flatwound G string -- that's what the bridge was designed to service. The problems people have are, in my opinion, based more upon their trying to use the Jaguar with too-small roundwound strings or the fact that they bought the inferior CIJ or MIJ model. I haven't had any trouble with strings popping off saddles and I get pretty aggressive with my strumming.

I did A-B this Jag with a CIJ Jag and there was a noticible difference -- specifically string-buzzing on the CIJ Jaguar.

I do have a problem with whacking some of the switches while strumming, but if I just concentrate a bit, I minimize that.

I use this guitar as my frontline instrument, playing atmospheric glammy rock -- somewhere between Joy Division and The New York Dolls. I also break out a wild Nels Cline-esque solo pretty regularly and the guitar does that quite well.

If it were lost or stolen I would replace it with another of the same type.

the switches were kinda confusing. it took me a second to realize how to even turn it on but oncei did it was nice. when figured out the switches are awsome. it gives a good bit of possibilities for sound.

the sound was great! i used a trainer 50 blue amp with a ts9dx, big muff, and regular cry baby. i loved it. sounded great clean and with some crunchier stuff. (not to heavy tho) i also have a sg standard which is even better but the jag was close behind for the money.

it was set up pretty well. fret wire was fine, finish was nice, but i thought the pickups were a little to high. i had to try not to allow the picking sound to go through the amp. thats incredibly annoying to me

i bought the guitar 4 days ago. my friend told me the buckers were weak but i argued and told him to play it and see. he quickly shut up. i was in love but 2 days ago i was always out so i barely played it, it maybe got a full 45 minutes o f playing before the bridge pickup gave out. i traded it in for a baja tele and it is sooo much better

its guitar center. switched it out no worries

when i first had it id say 8 because it was a little confusing. now i say 4. im sooo disappointed with it. i saw the same type sitting on gc's wall that had been repaired, same year color and everything but it wasnt mine

1965 sunburst

I really like Jaguars, and I don't like to bring negative vibes, but I do think they have a kind of thin and scratchy tone - certainly not as beefy and solid top to bottom as a Telecaster. Playing lead on mine sounds a bit weedy unless you turn up the drive or put some other effect on it. Playing rhythm the notes mush together in a nice way, but I find that if I play it hard it is hard to keep definition in the chords. Generally I think the guitar sounds better if played gently. This may be to do with the bridge, the cradles which the strings rest on are pretty worn and not as steady as they might be.

I think heavier strings do a lot to mitigate the thinness of tone.

Also I think it only really has two good settings:
1: the selector switch up (warm but a bit bland)
2: selector switch down, both pickups on (nice bite, still has some body with it). In or out of phase according to taste

With just the bridge pickup on the sound really is too thin.

I suspect few of my fellow Jaguar-lovers is going to agree with me on this, but I have been playing this guitar for about 15 years, and had it fixed up by a good guitar tech halfway through, so I think I know its characteristics. I mention these reservations because I know how much these old Jaguars cost now so may as well bear these thoughts in mind if you are considering buying. I would still buy one of course if I had the money.

you have to like playing a short scale with strings close together

This guitar is all original, so the other reviews describe its features accurately.

Neck stamp indicates May 63. L series serial number. Sunburst finish (although heavily worn). It is lacking a mute bar. I don't think it ever had one because there are no wear marks or other signs.

I bought this guitar for $300 in the mid 1980's - those dark years when new Fenders were crap and old Jags were a dime a dozen. The shop owner told me it was all original. With a resale value in the thousands, it's one of the few good investments I've ever made.

I have the original black hardshell case, which is frayed badly on the corners but otherwise intact.

I didn't know s**t about guitars when I bought it. I expected all electric guitars to sound pretty much the same (naive kid). I just liked the small neck for my short fingers.

I'm not crazy about the twangy Jag tone when played clean, but it distorts reasonably well through our low end Fender Frontman 15G amp.

It's hummy on the rhythm circuit, but that's typical from what I'm reading in other reviews.

There's plenty of fret buzz when you use lighter strings. Attack is generally a bit dull. The frets are 40+ years old so what should I expect?

The neck is worn ultra smooth and it fits my relatively small hands like a glove. The bridge cover can easily be pushed down too far, which can mute one or more strings in the middle of a song. Otherwise, this is is a very comfortable guitar to play.

Even at its age, all joints are tight. It was well made.

Everything still works. I never gigged with it but I know nothing about its 18 years of life before we met. It certainly shows much wear on the finish.

Looks aside, everything still works. I am able to set it up to my satisfaction, although I agree with others who say the bridge and floating tremolo are unnecessarily complex.

Never used Fender support. Web site is decent. Lots of useful info available via external links from the Jaguar topic on wikipedia.

8.0
It's got more character than any other guitar I know. A sound that isn't ideal for hard rock in my opinion, but very versatile and when properly set up. This guitar is extremely good at what it was designed to do.

I've played purely as a hobbyist for about 30 years. I have a couple other low end acoustics. My kids have an Epi LP Special II and Squire Strat. Of course it isn't faitr to compare those cheap copies to my vintage Jag.

If it were stolen, I couldn't justify the thousands to replace it. I'd likely use some of the insurance money for a used Gibson LP or SG. No ill will to the Jag, but I've come to realize I prefer the Gibson sound.

I have no intention of parting with this old friend. I hope my grandchildren will still be rocking with it!