Fender Jaguar

Made in 1962, Made in japan, 22 Frets, Left-handed!!! all those famous little knobs like tone and what not. Ash body with neck wood is maple with rosewood fretboard. Finish is three tone sunburst. Lot of sounds you can get out of it.

I play mostly grunge. I use a DS-1 Distortion and sovtek big muff with it. Its very noisey with distortion. Great clean sound to it. alot of variety in it. I wish it could handle distiortion. Love the contures.

It fits me very well it shapes me perfect. No finish flaws at all nothing wrong with this beast. Execpet there was a loose control. They used a pretty Good wood for it.

This I think will for sure with hold live playing. I would use this with out a back up but I am always prepared so I bring the back up. Strap buttons are solid replaced with scahller locking buttons.

I got this left handed 1962 jaguar for only $400 its worth $3,000. The guy thought it was a Reissue but no the serial number tells it all. I have been playing for a year know. I love the looks and the clean sound you can get out of it. I choose it because the cool shape the clean sound and it was lefthanded.

1998 or 99, Japanese, 22 frets. Basswood body, maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Two single-coil Jaguar-style. Rhythm/lead switch on the upper part, three switches on the lower bout for modifying the lead sound. Candy apple red finish with matching headstock.

I play loud stuff, this guitar is not as loud as I would like. I run it through a Boss D-S1, a Big Muff (the second kind they made), ans some times a Boss Hyper Fuzz, and use a fender Rot Rod amp. The sound that comes out of this guitar is good but not loud enough, maybe I'll put some Humbuckers in it:)? any way I bought it because I play 2 Jagmasters and I think they are the greates guitars ever made, They don't make them any more so I bought this, and I am not very happy with it!

Ok this is where it realy SUCKS!!! The factory set up was a joke!!! the string action was so low that when you play it, it just made like a *thwak* sound, I was the first person to see this guitar and the first to play it so it wasn't the stores fault. The pickups aren't loud enough. This Jag is candy apple red but I wanted a 3-tone burst, if any one wants to trade a 3-tone burst let me know....

Every time I play it I have to rais the string action, the strings keep getting knocked off the bridg every time I play. I wouln't take this one to a gig let alone use it with out a back up.

never dealed with them.

over all I think it's ok but not even close to what I had hoped for.

Mine is a three-color burst, '64 (L-series) pre-CBS Jag with clay dots and transition logo. Other comments explain the features well, so I'll just try to add. I also have a suggestion as to how to beat bridge problems-see below.
'RHYTHM CIRCUIT': actually, I like this feature a lot. With one switch, you get a totally different sound (cut treble, off the neck pickup) with its own tone and volume. Makes the guitar more versatile live. This sound is actually nice-the pickups are bright to begin with, so the 'jazzy' (less treble) sound is still good and not muddy. A unique and useful sound for recording.
PICKUPS, PICKUP SELECTOR SWITCHES & CONTROLS: the pickups are quite bright, but not unbalanced. They sound very good if you use a wound G string (which is almost certainly what they were designed to pick up) and heavy strings, too. Pickups are not 'glassy' like Strats at all, and don't have that annoying lack of clear mids, but are well-defined over the whole range of strings and notes. Chords come out even and cut through. The pickups have more output than Strat or Tele ones, so you may get more bite out of your amp. Still, even with a fuzzbox or with the amp on ten, YOU CAN HEAR ALL THE NOTES. This guitar can not be made to sound muddy. It's the antithesis of the "Les Paul" sound. The switches let you turn on/off each PU, and cut bass. All the settings sound good, although switching from only one pickup to only the other is a bit tricky, and if you want to do this and also change the bass-cut setting you probably need an extra hand. One great thing about the volume and tone controls on the "lead" circuit: they are very smooth. The volume control is actually quite useful, unlike on many guitars where it seems to have three settings, "full-on," "quiet and muddy," and "off." Turning down the volume knob just a bit rolls off some of the brightness of the pickups, but they still sound great.
"FLOATING" TREMELO: simply the most awesome. Needs only a light touch, subtle; plus you just can't make it go out of tune. It doesn't go down very far, but if you want a guitar that does that you're looking in the wrong section entirely. If you play surf or rockabilly, you'll flip--it feels like a Bigsby that stopped eating pork rinds and limbered up with Tae Kwon Do lessons. If you like My Bloody Valentine, here it is!(actually, Kevin plays a Jazzmaster and Bilinda plays a Jag.)

You can get lots of different sounds out of it, but I'd describe it basically as a clear, slightly bright, very classy 'Fender' sound. It is clean without being thin; put new strings on it and it's somewhere between a piano, a harp, and a pickup truck full of something somebody grew in their backyard in Mendocino. Easy to distinguish notes , good if you like to play interesting chords. I play all kind of music, and it just sounds great for everything (although it won't distort an amp like a LP, so forget it if that's your thing). Slight buzz from the pickups, but less than a Strat. I play it though a Fender Dual Showman and an Ampeg SB-12 (which I highly recommend!) and it sounds awesome either way. Adding effects is a shame, it sounds so good.

The short scale makes it a breeze to play, although this can be a real problem if (unlike me) you have very big fingers. Above the 14th fret it can get a bit tight, but I generally don't get up there (I figure that's why mankind invented the violin). The action is so ridiculous it's hard to tell if you have strings on it or not. The neck is just wide and deep enough, and beautifully smooth and comfortable. (it also has great grain and looks pretty!) Tuning pegs never slip. The guitar betrays serious craftsmanship; I took the pickguard off to look inside, and it was clean and spiffy. Then I could barely get the pickguard back on because it was cut to fit so exactly! (note that there are three chome control panels and a nice tortoise-shell guard, and they all fit together, but snug.) The whole thing shouts "I was made by hand; please, Mr. CBS, buy my company and replace me with a machine!"
ABOUT THE BRIDGE: I've noticed that people complain about it. There are two solutions.
First, the bridge floats on two pointed screws which sit in little seats in the body. This lets it rock with the tremelo. However, the two screws must be adjusted to be even. They are adjustable with a very small hex key. If you hear major, odd-sounding buzzing from the bridge, tweak the screws and it will generally go away.
Second: I hereby plug the most brilliant piece of hardware I've ever seen. It's called the "Buzz-stop." It's a metal plate that fits over the tremelo plate, and has a roller on it. You pass the strings under the roller, and suddenly you have a set-up more like a Bigsby. The roller is closer to the bridge, so the string tension is increased over the bridge. You get much more sustain and harmonics this way, and no more buzzing at the bridge. (The thing goes on with two of the screws already there for the tremelo plate, so it does not alter the guitar; you can install it in about ten seconds.) This is well worth the $30 or so the thing costs. Ask your local guitar person or order it from Parts is Parts (with whom I am not affiliated).

It's a rock. It's like the mate of my dreams: takes no crap, sings like a bird, soft and smooth. Looks nice, too. Unfortunately can't cook or appreciate my cooking, or would be perfect.

Sure, if I could go back in time I'd have the warranty, but nothing has gone wrong for 35 years, so who cares?

This was definitely one of Fender's best designs. I have no idea why Strats cost so much when they generally sound weird and look so dorky. The Jag has chrome! It has a cooler shape! The pickups sound superb! Granted, it can't do everything; it doesn't sustain like a Les Paul or twang like a Rick.
If I lost this one I would get another in a second. Fairly soon I'll have a Jazzmaster to go along with it, and I figure then I'll be set for life. My only regret is that these are starting (have already started)to catch on, and are getting more expensive, especially the custom color ones. Fault of that Cobain fella, I guess.

My jag was made in 1965,In the USA, Has 22 frets,I have took my jaguar into a shop to have two dimarzio super distortion humbuckers put in,because i like the sound that comes from the distortion. I use a boss overdrive/distortion. My jaguar is a weird color,,I think it is just faded,but its like 4 or 5 colors.from black to bright yellow? Maybe a antique burst? Has a floating tremolo,the body is made of alder,the jaguar also has a white binding around the neck?

I like punk,surf,and blues. It fits perfectly. My guitar can make the weirdest feedback! It has alot of sound,from the ventures to SOnic youth,to Dead Kennedys. Likes-everything,Dislikes-None really.wish it was 3TONE suburst ,instead of like 4 or 5.

No flaws.Set up really well.

I can depend on it,the finish is still their,but just faded/

Ive never had to call and get help

Have been playin for 9 years. I own Fender Re-issue strat,69 mustang original,Squier Jagmaster,66 jazzmaster-nice! 69 to 72 strat have no clue, original.Combo acoustic

This is a pre-CBS 1965 L-series Jaguar. Short-scale 22-fret neck with no binding, rosewood "cap" board on maple. Alder body, two pickups, tone and volume controls, individual on/off switches for each pickup, a "thin" switch that cuts out bass frequencies, plus a "rhythm" circuit with on/off switch and seperate volume & tone controls. The rhythm circuit turns on the neck pickup only (regardless of where your pickup on/off switches are) and passes the sound through a circuit that rolls off high frequencies in a failed attempt to make it sound like a hollowbody. The pickups are stock Jaguar pickups, the only other guitar Fender used them in is the Bass VI. When I got this guitar, it was spray-painted red and orange and had "Serge + Danielle" written on it. I refinished it black. Jaguars have a bridge that rocks back and forth (like a Jazzmaster or Mustang) and a great tremolo that doesn't go very low but feels springy and smooth. The tuners are standard 60's Klusons. This guitar stays in tune perfectly. I tune it BEFORE I put it in its case, take it to a gig, plug in and play all night, put it away, bring it home, take it out of its case, and it's STILL IN TUNE! The Jaguar has a little metal "string mute" with black rubber foam on top that pops up and mutes your strings. It's like palm muting, but it sounds a little different. When it came out in the early 60's, the Jaguar was Fender's top-of-the-line guitar.

The Jaguar is my main guitar in my band The Treblemakers. I'm going for a Dick Dale-type surf sound, so when I plug it into my original '63 Fender reverb and my '62 brownface Super amp, I'm in bliss! The Jaguar can sound really thin, really full, or anything in between. With the seven basic pickup/tone circuit configurations (any or both pickups with or without the "thin" switch plus the "rhythm Circuit" setting) you get alot of different basic sounds to work with. I use the Jaguar for surf, garage, blues (real blues, not SRV/Clapton/Hendrix rock music) and rockabilly, and it sounds amazing. I've owned many different guitars but the Jaguar is the BEST for my needs.

I got this guitar from someone who spraypainted it and wrote "Serge+Danielle" on it, so let's leave the initial setup/action/feel out of the equation. I refinished this guitar and I'm not a pro, but it looks good from the audience when I'm on stage, even though there's little flaws. The frets are original from 1965, so they are pretty worn. All the finish on the back of the neck is worn off, and the bare wood feels amazing. Much nicer than getting stuck to laquer when you're sweatin' and slidin' under stage lights. I have the pickups pretty high up and the action fairly low (but everyone tells me it's really high) at least by my standards. My strings are a set of .13 to .56 flatwounds. This guitar likes big strings.

This is a guitar from 1965 that's still playing and sounding great. I use it onstage as my main guitar. I always bring a spare guitar to gigs, but only because I'm paranoid...I've never broken strings (hey, they're .13s) and nothing's ever gone wrong with the Jaguar.

Never needed it.

I've been playing for about 14 years now (I started in '84 when I was 13) and I've owned ALOT of guitars. I'd go so far as to say an "embarassing amount" of guitars. I've had junk guitars, great guitars, Kays, Teiscos, Harmonys, Nationals, Supros, vintage Fenders, a Gretsch, you name it...the Jaguar is my favorite. If it was stolen, the thief would live out the rest of their days in mortal terror, as I would stalk them to the ends of the earth with murder on my mind. I love this guitar and it loves me back. When I play it on stage, my tone kisses me and I feel like God. This is the guitar of kings, my friends, the best you can find! I love everything about it from the way it looks to the way it plays, and the sound is so amazing, it's hard not to get sentimental and teary about it! I used to have a re-issue Jaguar before I got this, and it's not even close. It's like comparing a Hershey bar to Swiss chocolate, just totally different worlds!

This is a vintage 1963 model, not a reissue. I haven't seen any postings regarding the original Jaguars, so I thought that I'd fill in the gap with some information.
This model is an Oly White, with offset waist body (alder), 21 fret neck, 24" scale, medium sized fretwire, clay dots, 4-bolt neck, rosewood fingerboard, 6-on-a-side Kluson tuners, "B" neck, with two shielded single-coil pickups that have grounded retainer claws soldered to the ground lead of each pickup. The pickguard is tortoise shell celluloid with w/b/w layers underneath. On either side of the tortoise shell pickguard are chrome-plated pickguard extensions, one of which points towards the upper cutaway, the other, towards the lower bout. On the lower bout metal pickguard extension, you will find 1 vol, 1 tone control wired to both pickups. On the upper pickguard extension, you'll find a slide switch, and, next to it, two roller wheel pots which control a different tone/volume circuitry for both pickups. There is a chrome insert on the lower cutaway portion of the tortoise pickguard, and mounted to this are 3 slide switches; the first acts as an "on/off" switch for the neck pickup, the second acts as an "on/off" switch for the bridge pickup, and the third is a filter cut capacitor "on/off" switch wired to both pickups. The bridge is a floating-style, which rests in metal thimble posts mounted in the alder body. The bridge contains threaded rods which act as string saddles; the heights of these saddles are adjusted by threaded screws, and each saddle can be moved towards the neck or away for intonation by a different set of screws. The bridge is covered by a chrome-plated mute/foam rubber gizmo, which can be pressed down by the heel of your hand to mute all strings simultaneously. Lastly, the Fender floating tremolo is standard, and has a lock button which can lock the tremolo and prevent movement. The tremolo has a spring tension screw which can adjust the force required to rock the spring.
Overall, the instrument is very lightweight, comfortable to hold and play, and is balanced extremely well.

The shielded single coils, due to the presence of the metal clips and extra coil windings, actually are pretty hot compared to a strat or tele pickup from this era. There's not a lot of hum coming from the pickups. The sound, depending on the settings you use, can really cover the surf to ska scene quite well, and take on pop rock and jazz with ease. It sounds really great with Fender amps, but I think that other Class "A" style amps, and Marshalls, can wring some additional tones from this axe. It's not metal, thrash, or speed; yes, it can punk out if you get the proper pedals/effects. No, it can't emulate humbucker sounds, unless you were to drop a pair in like Kurt did -- but that's in the past now. Let's just live with the instrument as it comes.
I have a lot of respect for this particular guitar model in terms of sound -- it may be that the alder + pickup combo is the reason behind this (have yet to see or play an ash Jaguar).

The action on the "B" neck is narrower than the standard Fender necks of the '60's -- almost like a Rickenbacker width at the nut. However, the action is incredibly fast and comfortable -- I have standard-sized hands and fingers, but with a 24" scale, creeping christ on a cross! You can leapfrog all over the neck like Hendrix! I suspect that the Mustangs and other short-scale Fenders must have similar playability. The body contours are really cool and comfortable, and you forget sometimes that the guitar is strapped to your body. Really good balance.
The downside of the jaguar is the need to slide the switches -- these are not so easy to get to while you're playing, and it takes too much time to figure out which ones you need to move next to get the sound you want. I suppose that if you played on the jaguar every day, then this would become second nature.
Another problem with the jaguar design is the bridge. The strings rest in the threaded grooves of the saddles -- just like the grooves on a screw. The strings can and do slide off the saddles, particularly the lighter gauge strings (G, B, E). Mostly true is you try to do string bends. If you move to heavier gauges, this problem more or less disappears, but so does the playability (unless you want to drop string bending from your playing). There's a device made for the Jaguar which bolts onto the tremolo and acts as a tensioning device to force the strings down on the saddles. I haven't tried it, but I have heard that it does the job (at the cost of increased string tension, of course).
The tremolo, considering its simple design, does return to tension very well -- I've not had to fool around too much with retuning after using the unit. Considering that we've go Kluson tuners here (the worst ever made), that's pretty amazing.

The maple neck/alder body could be used by Mark McGuire for an entire season of home runs and would probably still be playable in the off-season.

Being a vintage instrument, don't expect any support. They want you to buy NEW instruments.

With 20 years of playing experience, I have to rank this guitar among the best Fender instruments ever made. Yeah, the circuitry is weird, it's not as tonally "cool" as the Tele or Strat, and the bridge/saddles are imperfect, but once you get the tones you want (and memorize how you got them), the rest becomes easy. I know that there are many people out there who have modified these vintage instruments to correct many of the problems that I and others have pointed out, but mother of babbling god, let's leave some of these instruments alone and live with them on their own terms. Sometimes, in music, it's more rewarding to learn how to charm the instrument. You'd be surprised at what you can get from the axe.

i got my jag in 1994 when i was unfortunately hyped about getting cobains tones. well, my tastes have changed and my jag remake from japan has come in great handy the past 4 years. the two single coil pickups are as cold as ice in the lead setting but put on the rythem setting can carry enough low end to not require a bass guitar. my guitar has a vintage white finish and a basswood body. its not too heavy but at teh same time not too lite. it has a locking trem which has worked against it due to the fact that its hard to play aggressively and still keep a good tune. i got the jag with a hard shell case although i was told by my local music store owner (a butt in his own right) said i should have gotten a tweed case with it. oh well, im happy. with a pick up config with all those buttons how could you go wrong

if you cant get the sound you want from a jag, then you cant get it. im a rythem guitarist in a christian rock band and ive used the different settings from drop d progressions to high end ska rythems. the only problem is that with a stomp box it will pull quite a bit of feed back. the pickups are really hot. the sound is cold cold cold on the lead setting but attains tons of low end on teh rythem. it has proven to be extrememly versitle and useful for anything i need.

the action is ok, i constantly have to mess with my bridge due to the fact that my strings will get so close to the neck that when im on the 15th fret i practically have no sustain. the pickups were adjusted fine although ive never tried to mess with em. the saddles really dissapointed me. they are barrel saddles with notches cut in them and the pressure of the smaller gauge strings would rub groves in them makeing them practically touch the neck again eliminating sustain.

this guitar is a power house. its been dropped, thrashed, pounded, and beat and still only has 3 niks in it. the hardware is still in perfect condition and the finish is super strong. i had a bit of trouble with the strap buttons coming out but a wood dowel fixed that. its my #2 guitar next to my 61 gibson les paul but i wouldnt trade it for anything. i would and have used it for gigs without a backup.

nada

ive been playing for 5 years and this guitar has always been there... i have no major bones about this guitar.....if fender would make the jag with a stacked humbucker it would be THE guitar. (im to lazy to do it myself.) but over all its a great versatile guitar. i love the tones, feel, vibe, and sound of teh guitar but it definatly lacks in the fat department. an ivestment well made.