Fender Jaguar

I bought this 1966 Jaguar used with the original black hard shell case, no modifications made to the guitar. 3-color tobacco sunburst. Mute and bricge cover missing. A couple of spots where the paint has chipped off, but at least it still has its tremolo arm. It has the neck with the white edge around it. It has lead and rythm circuits, the lead circiuit with pickup selector and high/lowpass filter. (You all probably know this, so no reason to go on and on)

I play mostly punk/heavy rock, but also classic rock. This guitar i really needs thick strings. The sound is very bright. Almost a little too trebly, but only almost. I play it thru my `65 reissue Twin Reverb Amp with GHS boomers 11-50 strings. I originally had plans to replace the pickups with some humbuckers (junior sized) but i changed my mind once i first played the guitar. It was not as noisy as i had expected, and i was blown away by the sound this thing makes thru a distortion or sustain pedal (or both at once, which I like the best). I have a EHX Big Muff for that Mudhoney sound and also a Boss DS-2 to lighten things up a bit. Of course you can also use it to get that famous surf sound. Also, changing the pickups would be to ruin this guitar, it's been like it is for 37 years, why change it now? Besides I think I would regret it later if i was to modify it. Better to buy a newer Japanese made one and experiment on that. (I have 2 other Fender guitars that have had pickup changes, but I just don't feel right about touching this one)
It could use a little more sustain. The tones die a little too fast. All in all this is my idea of a perfect sounding guitar.

The bridge on this guitar is a strange bird. I can't understand why Fender didn't just use a Mustang bridge in the first place. During rough playing, the strings are easily knocked out of position leading to detuning and so on. The tailpiece is also a story on its own. I didn't want to use the tremolo system, as I don't love tuning guitars that much, so I decided to take the tremolo arm off. Easier said than done. It was stuck! I had to take the whole tailpiece off and use a pair of pliers to get it off this pincer-like system that holds it in place. The trem arm looked like it had never been taken off before, (layer of old dust/filth) so maybe that explains the tight fit. The bridge/tailpiece has a superb design though, the strings running almost the full length of the guitar. I wouldn't trade it for anything.
The vintage pickups are very magnetic. A lot of pulling from them on the strings here. The knobs and swithches are surprisingly quiet other than a slight noise on the pickup selector. But what can one expect from electronics that are about to hit its 40s. No rust on this one. One of the tuners is a little hard to turn, i think this has to do with that it was hanging from it in the store(!!) Other than this, and a few small chips in the paint, this baby is perfect.

Well it's held up for almost 40 years, it will probably hold for another 40 at least.

Never dealt with Fender directly, but I have heard customer support isn't their strong side.

I have been playing for 8 years soon. This is my 3rd guitar and my favourite so far. (the other two are also Fenders) I have dreamed about owning this guitar since i was 14. If it were stolen I would buy another one. The combination of sound, the shape and the colour on the guitar is my idea of a perfect guitar.

This is Japanese made Jaguar. It's a very nice sunburst with reddish shell pickguard. I don't really know about what woods were used specifically, but it looks to be a very good quality. It has three pickup switches (two selectors and some kind of phase switch), another switch and volume and tone control on the upper part of the body, and the same tremolo setup as the jazzmaster. I got it with a case.

I love playing garage rock, blues, alt-type country, and just about anything else. I have a nice Fender solid state (hey, it's loud) and a variety of effects with it. I mostly use Fenders and have some strats and a tele.

I've played with this guitar endlessly, and for what I do and the tones I like, I can't take it out of lead mode. Everything else is just too thin and wirey. This obviously limits the functionality of this guitar for me. The lead mode seems to have a slight volume jump and rounds the tone out a lot better. I find myself leashed to this setting especially when playing clean.

Distortion helps this guitar out a lot, and I can jump around with the settings a bit when I overdrive it. It maintains its trebly character pretty well, but seems to prefer heavier overdrive, rather than all out distortion. One reviewer mentioned how the guitar seemd to get sucked away when distorted, and this pretty much sums up my experience. But with an SD-1, you get a great thiuck bluesy wail.

Very well crafted. Switches and knobs feel substantial and solid. Doesn't seem like a guitar which would be easily messed up...though I wonder about the bridge, which rocks back and forth (this is part of the design I'm told).

I think this guitar will prove to mostly be reliable. A bridge is not supposed to move, but I don't that effects it too much, I just have to be careful changing strings.

I have been playing 14 years, and have settled on Fenders. They just do what I want them to do and feel great. In terms of feel, the Jaguar is definitely a Fender, but for me it just doesn't seem as versatile as it should. I'm not looking for a thousand different tones at the flip of a switch, I'm not even looking for ten. The Jaguar just seems "timid" compared to the rest of my stable. It doesn't seem to have any authority or grind like my favorite strat does when pushed.

It is a nice guitar though. I like it for general songwriting, and jamming, and it does great little surfy tremolo dips. I would not hesitate to bring it along to gig as a backup. I don't know that it would be my main guitar live though.

I can see why this guitar has appeal...it looks great and feels great. And though it's tones don't work for me in an overall sense, they are certainly not bad or unusable...this is guitar that's used by a lot of pros for a good reason - it has personality. Unless you got a real dog of a Jag, you can't go wrong.

I have a 2002 Candy Apple Red "Crafted In Japan" model, which looks good enough to eat. The Guitar has a LOT of controls, which are essentially 2 systems: a rhythm cicuit (top controls) which is a bit dull. The lower controls are where all the fun is to be had, switching the two pickups on and off, and cutting the low frequencies out. Everything on the guitar is standard, and I don't intend to change it... except the bridge. The bridge is the stupid crappy one that everyone here complains about. It is REALLY bad. I got a gig bag thrown in

The guitar isn't spot on for my style, but it is a very interesting play. I've not been using pedals with it, just my vox amp, although I have had it on a tremolo setting to get that 50's sound (Bo Diddley/whoever). The guitar sound itself makes you play stuff you wouldn't ordinarily. My other guitars tend to be more resonant than this, but of course I therefore get a sharper sound from my Jag. The Jag does make a lot of different sounds, but a really sonorous resonance isn't really one of them

Someone has meddled with the bridge, to try to stop it rattling. They failed. The bridge is just a design disaster as far as I can see, and so don't want to really consider it on what is otherwise a superb piece

This guitar is v solid. I can't imagine that it won't last forever. The Fender style of strap buttons don't get me excitd: they're designed to slip straps off them (not such a good idea, if you're accident prone)

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I've played for 12 years and got 5 other stringed instruments. I prefer my Epiphone Dot, for its rich sound, but still appreciate this guitar, which is a bit iconic. Not sure if I would buy a telecaster instead if insurance paid out. Favourite feature: colour matched headstock. Least favourite: bridge. The guitar is a lot of fun, but some people on this page have gone overboard. Maybe they never played another guitar, but it just isn't that amazing. If all my guitars went, I'd much sooner get my Dot back than this

It's a 1968 bound fingerboard green w tortoise shell pickguard. I bought it in 1976 for $400 Canadian. It is original except I lost the mute.

It sounds like a garbage can full of rocks being thrown down a flight of concrete stairs during the battle of Berlin. Then I hit the Rat pedal. Soundmen openly weep at the sight of it. I play it through an old Caliphone record player (tube, of course) which sounds better than any Fenderamp of any vintage. It is the most microphonic guitar in the world. I love it with all my heart; nobody else can stand it or keep it in tune.

I bought it when it was 8 years old. I have put new frets on it a decade ago, and have had to replace a switch and the volume knob, the victims of relentless gigging in hot, wet, smoky clubs. The action is easy to set up as is the intonation.

It is indestructable. I have worn through the finish to the wood and all the chrome is but a memory, everything is now brown with rust. It doesn't matter. Not only can I depend on it, I'd be lost without it.

If it were stolen or lost I would be beside myself. I own about 8 other guitars but they areall so different from the J ag that it would be unlikely that I could use them as a replacement. I wish Fender still made them with the bound fingerboards ( the necks are a hiar flatter)

Made in Japan with all the traditional Jaguar trimmings. Sunburst finish looks very nice. It's got a shorter scale (24 and 3/4?) neck with a nice slab o' rosewood on it and lots of chrome. It seems like it has endless switching features, with an on and off for each pickup, some kind of phase/bass cut switch, and then the famous lead circuit on the top near the neck pickup. Has the whacky Jag/Jazzmaster bridge and tremolo too.

I had always heard that Jaguars and Jazzmasters sound kind of plunky with below average sustain. And that's the truth. But it's great plunk.

The guitar is very bright, and doesn't seem to warm up all that much unless you adjust the controls of your amp. I've fiddled with the tone knobs mercilessly, and the guitar just keeps pouring out treble frequencies. But they're not really harsh or thin. I think of it as a mellowed-out Telecaster with a bit of an acoustic flavor to it. You do get a variety of tones being able to blend the two pickups or turn on the lead circuit for the neck pickup, but they're basically all derivative of my above description. It seems like a guitar that would appeal to those who have a base tone that they really enjoy, but like to make slight tweaks and have exacting control without losing that foundation.

I don't particularly care for the lead circuit all that much, because it doesn't really seem to change anything...it's just a seperate set of controls for preseting a volume and tone level. If anything, I use it to set a slightly lower volume, but I find I don't switch it on that much.

The phase/bass cut switch is a fun little option. It basically makes the guitar sound thin and wirey, but it's great fed into a fuzz pedal for some cool garage blues jams. Switching it off puts you right back into "mellow twang" mode. A definite plus.

I pretty much use this guitar with Vox and Fender amps, and have played it through a Marshall. It seems to gel real well with the Fender clean. Putting it through the Vox seems to accentuate the more gritty qualities of it, but it just doesn't have that clank that a Tele has that sounds so good (to me anyway) through a Vox amp. It sounded pretty good through the Marshall too.

Whereas the Jag has a very lovely and versatile clean sound, it seems to loose a little bit of ground when you crank up the distortion. I have all the standards (SD-1, DS-1, TS-9, Big Muff) and many others, and it seems like the pedal simply takes over, as if to compensate in some way. It doesn't seem to want to exert its own tones the way my Teles and Strats do. The plunkiness of the guitar adds a great attack element though. It adds a little extra pop to rhythm lines and coupled with the brightness, makes single lines cut nicely. The subtleties of the the clean tones get flushed in distorto-mayhem, however...so unless you use the phase/bass cut switch the tones sound mostly similar from setting to setting.

Basically, I think it's a great guitar tonewise, and definitely a great way to go if you're sick of Teles and Strats and the like.

I bought this used, so I won't really rate it, just describe it.

This guitar looks like it was pretty well taken care of when I got it. The usual little knicks and dents, but nothing major. IT looks like it was played a fair amount, but certainly not thrown around or mistreated or anything like that.

I have yet to use this guitar live, and it seems like it hold up nicely. I do have some niggles about it though. The bridge shifts back and forth in its slots (which is what it was designed to do). This kind of troubles me a bit, as it seems like it moves fairly easily even under the tension of the strings. This could, at the very least, screw up your intonation and make you look kinda dumb if you don't watch it.

Everything about it otherwise feels very substantial though. The switches and knobs all feel very solidly and put together very well.

I've been playing a while, and love everything from blues to punk.

This guitar is a fine addition to my collection, but I'm not really all that attached to it. It doesn't exude that workhorse ethic my Telecaster and Strat have about them. To me, it's a guitar that I go to when I need something different and need to be inspired in a certain way. Just as its a quirky instrument, it brings out some of my more creative edges. It kind of seems to say "That line would sound ridiculous played on your Telecaster, but I gladly take up the cause."

I kind of wish it was the longer traditional scale (I guess I could've gotten a Jazzmaster). It certainly doesn't feel like a short-scale guitar, but sonically it drops hints all over the place.

I almost wish the lead circuit wasn't there...it just seems like too much. I feel like no matter where I put my hand, I'm going to end up knocking it on or something. I do love that phase switch though :)

Overall, I think this is a guitar that everybody will have a different opinion about. Everybody can somewhat agree in the most basic sense that Teles have great twang, Les Pauls have fabulous sustain, Rickenbackers have great jangle, and so on. I think there are some out there that would find this to be the worst guitar ever made, while others would wonder why anyone ever bothered making any other sort of guitar after this one. Even my buddies seem to be decidedly split on how much they like or hate this guitar.

It's definitely a killer rhythm instrument that seems to love complex chords (helped by the short scale). It's hard to say how guys who play primarily lead would react...it's a little too spongy for me to really go nuts on, but on the toher hand one of my buddies always grab its and does nothing but solo on it.

These Japanese ones seem to be had a pretty killer prices now. I'd say if it interests you in the slightest, and you can find one at a good price, go for it.

rating 10

Paid $400
Japanese reissue 1995
dual factory single coils triple sunburst blood red marble pick guard
all the factory bells and whistles and lots of chrome If I was another guitar I would make love to it. I've played many makes and models over the past twenty years, nothing comes close. Purchased from Chicago Music Exchange where the store boys bought it to strip parts to refurbish an original to get full price, can't blame them. All it was missing was the tremolo bar and string post nut. I custom made an oak bridge to accomodate heavier gauge strings which the guitar seems to enjoy. It never fails to amaze me the soul that seems trapped inside the instrument, I believe the two rails that run along the sides of the single coils, which have a magnetic pull like the center poles give the pick-ups a sort of triple-bucker effect, at first I thought it was just extra chrome decor but it has a strange secret, a wonderfully strange secret.

The limitations to the sound are endless if you know how to listen to the instrument's inner voices and modify and pull them out, it will outshine any other guitar at any style of music where an electric guitar is mandated

I own a white MIJ reissue jag. still have the orginal factory pickups. It's got all the switches and knobs mentioned in previous reviews. you know the deal. It could use a better nut and some locking tuners. It would help its little flaws. A bridge screw popped out on me too but thats a small problem. besides, what you really want to know is what it sounds like.

I used to run it straight into a solid state fender princeton chorus. don't make that mistake. you won't get the sound you want...no matter what your style is. Now, I run it through a mesa boogie v-twin. Good god. It sounds awsome! Like many have mentioned before, this is not a metal guitar. Youre not going to get the bottom end that you would get from an ibanez thats for sure. But you will be surprised by the tones you can squeeze out of this thing. I think it might be the size of the single coils that give some meat to it, Im not really sure. but whatever it is, its good. Clean, it sounds like a dream. Keep in mind that your choice of amp is going to make a huge difference in sound. The pickups are pretty squealy, but plugging it through the v-twin takes care of alot of that. I do wish it had a tighter bottom end though. I would have to say that would be the one thing I would change. In the future I may get a couple hot jag replacement. But as for the time being I'm content. You can get a nasty growl from it. and it doesnt sound like anything else.

I bought this guitar used from music-go-round (i know..crazy isnt it?) And surprisingly it had not one bit of fret buzz, played great. although it was set for 9's. Believe me, you want 11's or at least 10's on this monster. its not made for rubber bands. I figured that out pretty quick. White was not my first choice but it grew on me.

Ok, we all have heard about the bridge. it bites. Again I think i must have gotten a good one because I dont have much trouble keeping it in tune and Ive never had the strings jump out of the saddles when I play. Its always good to have a back up, no matter what youre playing. I dont care if you have a 3000 dollar custom PRS. have a backup. you never know what will go wrong. Far as I can tell this guitar holds up really well. No finish problems or major hardware problems. The frets kinda suck on mine though. It could use some more durable jumbo frets. WOuld definately use it play out though.

never dealt with fender. If something goes wrong Ill fix it, my friend will fix it, or a guitar tech will fix it.

I have been playing for 11 years, and I wouldn't trade this baby in for anything. It feels great, looks great, sounds great, and plays great. I used to have a mustang reissue. and compared to this, the mustang is a joke. they were student guitars for cryn out loud! For what I payed for this guitar, I doubt I could find anything that compares to the sound and look and feel. I hear mustang bridges are a cheap mod you can do to fix the problem of the faulty jag bridge. I might just do that. The MIJ jags (if you can find them for a reasonable price,) are a great guitar for the money. Ive never played the american reissues, but they are ALOT more expensive. So much more that I can't understand why you wouldn't just buy the real vintage model. All I can say is I love my jaguar. You might love yours too. If it was stolen I would hunt the SOB down and make him eat his own liver. Dont mess with my Jaguar!!

2002 Candy Apple Red Jaguar, Japanese but probably the most beautiful guitar I have ever seen (apart from the White Gibson Les Paul custom a la James Dean-Bradfield). Normal 2 single coils, floating trem blah blah blah blah blah. Full of stuff, I don't even know where to begin. I have a Squier Venus which has a volume knob and a selector and now I've got this, some fat red thing with umpteen-squillion rollers and shiny bits and switches and ARGH! Oh, the headstock is the same colour as the body, which rules! And the neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard. Pearly dots, rather than blocks and no binding.

I've used it with my Marshall Valvestate and have been thrasing out some barre chords with just the amp's distortion. I'm not really good at describing sounds but if you listen to "The Truth Is No Words" by the Music I've managed to get that tone out of it (geez I'm hopeless at this!). I like the way it plays though it buzzes sometimes and I've only just realised what this is - the saddles. They have little grooves so you can just push the strings over them. This is the main problem I have found with this guitar (oh, and the confusion with the controls but that doesn't matter because what other guitar has that sorta stuff? Go on, FIND ONE!! :D).

The action is good, seems nice and low and pretty good. I don't think there's been much done to it but it plays OK, not quite as well as my Gibson Les Paul Studio does but I think that was set-up bigtime before I bought it.
The finish is flawlessly applied and there are no problems with anything, no slightly loose screws, no nothing. There is buzzing but as I mentioned before, this is due to the saddles thing. You can move the strigs back easy enough anyway.

I would rely on this guitar with my life, probably, unless I was playing a ten hour gig, in which case I would probably break my collar bone. I've played strats and looking at the Jag you'd expect it to be the same weight, but it isn't. It ways an absolute ton, and I know, as I had to carry it round Music Live with me when I bought it. Still, it's good, it shall serve me well, I'm sure.

The guy I bought it off was nice, I bought it direct from Fender at their stand at Music Live and he gave me a free gig bag, so I was pleased.

I've been playing 5 years and as well as this Jag I have a mid 90's Gibson Les Paul Studio in Wine Red, which is good, a Squier Vista Venus is seafoam green which is the most fun I have ever had, a Takamine EG560C which sounds a bit crap plugged in (well, through my VS65R anyway), a Peavey Milestone bass, a 70's Fender Solid Top acoustic and an old Hohner Classical guitar. I have to say my Gibson is the best guitar, it just feels completely perfect. The jag is my second favourite though my venus is more comfortable. All in all, The jag is up there with the best, a very VERY close second to my Gibson. I think it's just the fact that the Jag seems to weigh more than the Les Paul! What's going on there?!

it was made in the grand ol' US of A.... i think its about 5 or 6 years old... i really cant remember. its got all the standard stuff everyone else has mentioned, and i cant be bothered repeating it when noone will read it anyway! put it this way.... no other geetar has as many features as a jag.... NO geetar at all!


i have just one problem.... the bridge, although a wonderful design and great sounding..... has crap saddles on it which have very shallow grooves in them. this means that sometimes when i'm playin, and this might just be me as i'm a very vicious player, well i knock the bottom E string out of its groove and this can be a real pain. i may file the saddles down a bit so the string fits better - BUT THATS THE ONLY PROBLEM WITH THIS GUITAR

(its fitted with two seymour duncan 1/4 pounders, which increase its output whilst still keeping the original tone, although i still own the original single coil efforts)

the sound is gorgeous... at first i only really like the rhythm and neck pick-up sounds.... i hated the bridge pick-up so much i was considering putting in some sort of di-marzio or seymour duncan humbucker once i got the money.... since then i had a change of heart n i now actually LOVE the bridge pick-up! i guess it just takes a while to get used to it as its so unusual.... please dont hack up your jag with humbuckers.... i really think you'll regret it at a later time......

well its second hand so it was set-up pretty good..... personally i cant really see much wrong with it at all. i really like it!

its very reliable, no problems with it at all, even when i jump around like a goon...... like i said, the only problem is the saddles... thats it really

i dont have a clue seeing as i've never had a problem with my jaguarrrrrrrr

i've been playin six years now..... i also have a les paul studio which is crap compared to this motha!
if stolen i would contemplate suicide.
i lurve pretty much everything about this geetar.... its well sexy!
the best feature is its sound and variety of sounds, and its GORGEOUS look!

some people complain about its sound when combioned with distortion pedals.... all i can is that in a way i do agree with you and in a way i dont...... i have a DS-1 which is good for solo-ing but rubbish for rhythm.... doesnt really give u a bluesy or punky/grungey sound whatever you try with it, although it works fine with my jap strat and les paul. i then went out and bought a metal zone and its great with the jag! gives a fantastic crunchy sound (the lead player in elastica used one, so go check out their debut album to hear how it sounds) and its great for a variety of tones.... (maybe i should do a review for this pedal too?)

final note: this is just my life story basically...... a week after i bought this geetar i saw a music man axis sport come in for 700 quid. shit! still glad i bought this though - even though it was expensive!

My beauty is a '98 re-issue of the '68. It has dual controls for the two pickups (tone and volume for each), and a pickup selection switch.

I play all sorts of music from Neil Young to Nirvan, and everything in between. The sound of this guitar is just so damn versatile that it fits anything you could even try to play. It is the best sounding guitar I have ever heard played.

I bought this guitar in an auction. The only problem I came across was two of the knobs coming loose. I plan to replace the bridge with something I can get a little bit better use with the tremolo bar out of. There were no factory flaws, just common wear and tear from everyday use.

This guitar will bring down the house played live. I recomend running it through either a Marshall tube amp or, even better, an Egle. If I were to ever gig without a backup, this would be the guitar that I would choose. I have put no money into it, and it holds tune phenomenolly.

None so far!

I have been playing for about two years and this is by far the finest piece of equipment that I own. I used to play out of a suped-up strat-replica, and even stock parts blow that out of the water. I highly recomend this guitar to an music enthusiast, because it's a fricken Jaguar, the most versatile, unique and beautiful guitar ever designed.