Fender Jaguar

1995 - Japanese-made - 22 frets - Rosewood fretboard - Lead circuit: volume, tone knobs, pickup selector, phase reversal. Rhythm circuit: volume, tone. 2 pickups. Very smooth fretboard!

All the features I need plus more. The guy at the shop had no idea what all the controls did. Believe me, they're not just for show! This thing is versatile. I just saw my cream Jag with turtoise shell pickguard hanging on the shop wall and I stopped breathing. I've had for 6 years and I still feel the same way.

I play clean. I play alone so it's mostly rhythm. This is a complete tone machine. Nothing else sounds like a jag. It's bright and smooth with rich lows and peppy highs. I play through a princeton chorus but I'll buy a tube amp someday.

You can play anything with a Jag, plus nothing else looks like it. I play seated and it's very comfortable. I never have to adjust it or try to get the right position. It just stays put.

I love the shape of the neck and the body as well. I bought it new and the bridge can drive you to drink unless you strap on some 10 guage strings and have the saddles adjusted. I had 30 dollars of work done and now the strings never pop out anymore. No real flaws on the axe at all. Vintage tuners aren't the best I've ever used but it does stay in tune all the time.

I don't use the tremolo very often. With a little bridge work and some heavier strings you're ready to roll.

I've never had any problems aside from the bridge, but that was because I used 9 guage strings for 5 years. Doh! I bought strap locks because there's no way this grrl's hittin' the ground. The finish is just fine. Sexy guitar.

The saddle screws rattle once in a while. Other than that it's a nice piece of lumber.

I'll never lose this guitar. I even put a lock on my gig bag when I travel just to slow down a would be thief. I'd never sell it. If I own 15 guitars before I die, I'll always keep this one. Best feauture: SOUND QUALITY. Worthy of a really nice tube amp.

I've been looking for a Jaguar since I started playing guitar. Here, in Argentina the Jaguar practically doesnt exist, its very rare. Fortunately I got one for 300 bucks. It's a Japanese Re-Issue special edition for Fender's 50th anniversary from 1995.

Its a very versatile guitar, I play from Incubus to BB King and it sounds awesome. I think its the best guitar ever made, if you've got one, dont you ever sell it, and if you dont own one, then you should.

I didn't modify it much since I bought it used and the original factory set up was already modifiyed. I took it to a local store to have the tremolo adjusted properly as well as the annoying bridge, I had it set up for 0.10's, it sounds very "Frusciante" like now.

think its the best guitar ever made, you can play whatever you want and use it live, to record or to play for fun. Definitely a fine instrument.

dint try to get support yet

Buy a Jag, you wont be dissapointed at all.

a japanese one bought & crafted in 2002
so many controls! i love it

i play some alternative/noise rock and it fits very well to this kinda music there are huge sound possibilities and i can have a jazzy sound , or a surf music kinda sound , and with the amp's distortion , i can get a fuzz-like sound or a very high and noisy sound and , of course everything between this.the vibrato is also fantastic.

allright but not great

it looks ok

i play for a few years and i've alaways dreamt of this jaguar now that i own it i m the happiest man in the world i can do everything i want with it i love everything in this guitar

I bought a reissue 1962 Fender Jaguar, no less than candy apple red, always my dream guitar. I used to drool over Jags I saw in stores, on TV, and on album covers. Other Fenders are alright, but The Jaguar is the Jaguar. Along with my reissue '62 Fender Twin Reverb amp, my 1980(ish) Tube Reverb, I can flat make some kinda surf music, my favorite being the Astronauts from Denver, Clorado. I don't need fuzztones, phasers, choruses, flangers, etc. Just gimme that tube reverb sound. Oh yeah, gotta kick the reverb (pronounce Reee-Verb)now and then.

Sounds like a Fender Jaguar

Never had to.....

Love my Jag, too bad we can't get married

My first ever baby was this '65 jag i found for half what it was worth. it has all the usual jag characteristics, two pickups, nice small frets, dot markers. all the hardware is stock, but the body has been refinished (not by me but looks fucking gorgeous, esp. under lights). also, one of the previous owners was obviously short sighted (or perhaps just stupid) and has had mega fret dots 'installed' (even i could do better woodwork than this...) in the side of the neck. they look real goofy. and for some reason the trem bar refuses to be removed from the body (i'd only lose it...). in general i reckon the jag is a great guitar, and cannot see why it has been so maligned. i really don't think that a strat is any comparison; it may be more slimlined that the jag but it is lacking in the personality dept. jags have the edge. (besides, who wants to play the same guitar as iron maiden or yngwie?)

plinkety plunk goes the jaguar. when i got it home and plugged it in the first thing i noted was how goddamned sharp the sound was. being such an old guitar, the attack was quicker and harder than anything i'd ever played before. What it lacks in sustain it more than makes up for in it's bright attack. sound wise it might help to think of a jag as the anti-les paul. pauls are warm n creamy, where a jag is an ice pick. that being said, the neck pickup is the sweetest damn thing i have ever heard. everything that is good about fender tones is concentrated right there, in the rhythym setting. the breadth of tones available with all the switches is impressive. from fat, sweet n bluesy to the thinnest chicken-funk twang imaginable. adding distortion can make things real interesting. clean is obviously it's bag, but run dirty the jag can offer some left of centre distorto-tones. i find the pickups to be fatter sounding than any other fender i have played (although i have never touched a jazzmaster). the neck pickup can do overdriven blues leads nicely (i don't move from this setting when playing in my blues band), and will even approach a kyuss-like sound (but with more definition) when put under extreme distorto-duress. the bridge pickup has some serious girth for a single coil. through a rat pedal it will cut like a knife, and through a big muff it sounds awesome, corpulent while retaining it's edge. i have used the jag to play every kind of music that i can think of, and it always has something interesting to offer, sonically. great for blues, funk, rock, jazz, punk, country, metal (yes, the jag can play metal, it just needs a little prompting. metal-style chunking and fast pickwork can be a little difficult on that bridge). great for just making noise, too. better through old amps, as it's edge can get a little surgical through those modern pre-master volume amps. the trem is too die for, think bigsby rather than strat.

old as it may be, the jag is in A1 condition, the exception being the saddles. with over thirty five years of playing, the strings have worn nasty little grooves into them. i was recently informed that these cost a princly Aus$25 EACH to replace, so i'm saving up for that little mod. apart from that it plays like a dream, although big benders will hate the jag. you'd be very lucky to bend a note over a step; because the neck profile is more rounded than modern guitars (including jag reissues) notes bent with bravado die a quiet death.

The jag is one solid motherfucker. It never goes out of tune, even with some creative tremming. so tuff, that if i were drafted, i'd take this little baby to war.

never had it looked at, but it was difficult to even find a quote on replacement saddles. bits for jags (well, anything that's not a strat or a tele) are hard to come by down under.

I bought this when i was sick of playing shitty sounding toy guitars and i just wanted a tone machine. it is certainly that. real nice guitar sounds, that's what you get with an old jag. if it were stolen i would violate the geneva code several times over. The thing i love most about it is the sound (OH THE SOUND!), and also how it's real comfy to play. it could always do with a little more sustain, though that's not a handicap. if you need sustain, buy a gibson. if you want real guitar tones, with a spiky immediacy to them, look no further than a vintage jag.

Year-Unknown, Made-in japan, 22 frets, I think solid top, Volume knob,2 other knobs and 4 swicthes, Two humbuckers, I think avtive, Maple, Transparent finish, Jaguar shape, Unknown brige.No tuner, thin i think,with gig bag

I suites my style I play from oldies, modern rock, and punk
I use chorus
It is louder on rythm setting
Rich cool clean sound when I have new strings
$ different sounds
I like

set up good
pickups are good
routed brige
no flaws

Withsand live playing
Everthing but maybe the brige
finsh a little thin
stap buttons are solid
dependable
yes

Never delt with company
no

the first owner unknown yrs me 2yrs. I also own an ovation
no
I would want it back
no
no

Ah.... My Jag of which i recently purchased in 3 colour sunburst. The pickguard is tortoise shell and a beutifully smooth neck with a rosewood fretboard. It came with a case coz my mum said "Its so expensive so it can't be broken". But i asked the person at the desk if it came with a mute and bridge cover but i was sadly disappointed. It has a cool rhythm/lead switch and a hell of a lot of buttons!

Oh, it produces grand mellow sounds in the rhythm circuit and in the lead circuit with the lead modifying swithch and the bridge pickup on you can really whip out those vintage beach boys tones. I love to play wipeout the '60s surf tune.

The whole guitar was a success from when i played it in the store! One bad point though was the was the way strings could skip saddles if you played it hard and how the bridge could vibrate. But that was fixed in 5 minutes and i was off playing again!

It should last on gig and i wouldn't back it up with an extra. But a bad point with all fenders is that the sraps can fly off inadvertantly with your instrument flying to the ground but ive cought it every time!!! I need some Fender-Schaller straplocks bbut #18!!

Oh yeah, recently went into the shop i bought it from and asked for the fender bridge and mute cover.. The called them up and said they could provide tem but for #48!!

I had always been keen on the fender guiters but was going to buy a super strat, that was until i found out 100 jap jag's were coming to the uk, the shop had two and a jazz master which is still here a month later!! I wish it had the mute and bridge cover and i'd get another one if it was stolen. If you can buy one it's great!!!! Its' the best guitar ive played!!! :)

The guitar in question is a contemporary (2002) re-issue Jaguar made in Japan. Most of the other features have been well described in the other reviews.. so no need to reiterate. I would like to say that this particular plank has an immaculate blonde finish and is of absolutely astounding build quality. Vastly superior to all but the Fender USA models I suspect. I'd also like to add that whilst "Blondie" is decidedly right handed, I'm not so lucky.

I never bother buying lefties though, so merely hours after buying my long-sought after Jag.. I tearfully wielded my toolbox in its general direction in order to turn the nut around, swap the bridge saddles over and, worst of all.. relocate the strap button to the lower bout. The result is that this 'unusual' guitar now looks even wierder.. like what a Jag-Stang *should* be.

Testing the guitar in the shop was hopeless; someone had put rusty fusewire on it for strings, and the testing amp was a tinny little transistor jobby. To make matters worse, I was feeling increasingly crowded by the flock of wallet chain wielding 18 year olds that had been drooling over the guitar before I came along as though it was some Di-Marzio toting metal machine.

As I mentioned earlier, I'd been looking for a Jag for ages, so I decided to lose the money and take my chances. The faces of several of the shopkeepers were very dark as I completed the purchase, I think I must have just bought their favourite guitar or something. My incompetent attempts to play a right handed instrument in the shop probably didn't help their opinion of me either.

After I'd got Blondie home and performed the necessary surgery, I strung her with my customary 10-52's and introduced her to the rest of the gang. Namely my Laney LC30 valve amp, and my ever growing array of chorus, tremolo, delay and wah pedals. She took some time to wiegh up the opposition whilst I sorted her out a strap and lead; Fernandez, my trusty Bitzer Strat and Blade, my hot-headed young Delta-T telecaster.

I play alternative music and I mean alternative, If it sounds odd and/or cheesy, the chances are I'll like it. Plugging Blondie in initially resulted in a splending tumult of wailing and clanging.. I particularly like the way she headed straight for feedback country. I also liked the excellent 'rattlesnake' sound you can get by wobbling the 'wang-bar' rapidly in its mounting.. the large amount of string behind the bridge really helping those eerie scratching noise outings as well as proving great for a-tonal high pitched stabs. The body seems very reasonant, which no-doubt helps the amount of liveliness on offer. In short.. I had the feeling I was attempting to ride a very frisky young filly indeed (ooh err).

Easing off the gain and effects a little, Blondie also showed her softer side. The 'rythm' circuit gives a very pleasent wooly tone, suitable for some light Jazz chords (greatly facilitated by a wonderful vibrato system). Switching to the lead circuit, the tone is toppy, but very tight. Sustain isn't great.. but clarity and definition are excellent. The guitar works very well clean with chorus, the 'transparent' tone suits modulation effects superbly. Although some might find the sound a little too bright, you can easily tone it down using the controls. I found some of the distortion sounds alarmingly reminiscent of a 'hot rodded' strat tone. Particularly, the bridge pickup gives out an icy blast of a sound under gain.. responding well to palm muted 'chugging'!

Above all, I'd say the Jaguar is a versatile guitar; it has a very wide range of tones, but never ever comes close to sounding quite like anything else. In this way it reminds me a lot of a Danelectro U2.

I can't really comment on the factory set-up, as the first thing I did was turn it all upside down for left handed use. The Build quality is simply outstanding though.. utterly brilliant.. flawless.

Fender really needs to stop shipping all of its guitars set up with 9 guage strings though. The Jaguar needs at least a 10 guage, preferably with a wound 3rd, or the strings will just pop out of the saddles.

The neck is very straight and properly finished (none of this bare wood nonsense) and the fretwork is brilliant. The guitar will actually take a much, *much* lower action than I've set it up with, at the usual cost of tone and sustain though of course.

Overally the durability seems excellent.. although I'm a little worried about the tremolo arm becoming 'floppy' with use.. I like it to stay where its put.

Don't know.

I've been playing 8 or 9 years (I think). I've gigged a fair bit too.. and I'm frequently complemented on my sound by others. I keep things relatively simple, and make sure there is never any duff gear to get in between my fingers and the punters ears.

I love the Jaguar for its individuality, I'd been looking out for one for a long time before buying this, so I guess I knew what I was getting myself into. The best thing about the Jag is that whatever it does, it seems to do it rather well.. it never sounds cheap or lifeless. Even with a wah pedal cutting out all the bass it sounds edgy and keen rather than thin. It works great upside down too; balancing unexpectedly well on a strap and feeling generally more comfortable to play than my leftie strat. The bridge/trem has come in for a lot of stick but, honestly, on a new or well maintained Jag its fine for light tremolo work and doesn't go out of tune unless you abuse it.

I dont really care what year a guitar is made so I didnt bother finding out, but this was obviously used and had been partially re-painted (dark navy blue). Other than that a typical Jaguar with all the switches (I think they are passifiers of some kind) and knobs. I'm not really up on terminology but the neck is kind of thin (nice). Whenever I buy a new guitar I replace the pick-ups. Stock pick-ups are always too bright (even for a single coil) on guitars higher up the range so I fit pick-ups from shitty cheap guitars to get a nice muddy sound.

I play mainly my own songs in a band, but we also play covers by Mudhoney and the smashing pumpkins and is perfect for both. I love noisy pick-ups and get a beautiful muddy sound on the neck, and a nice chug on the bridge (I fitted pick-ups from a damaged Squire Bullet [I wish you could buy shitty pick-ups somewhere]). With the new additions it is nice and warm on the neck which I use most of the time. The switches take a bit of getting used to and if you have had too many beers when you are performing on stage and you knock one it is very bewildering trying to focus on why your guitar has stopped making noise. I use a Marshall 100CDR head (I hate fucking valves what's the point of paying double for inconsistency?) and it sounds lovely

When I got this guitar it was beautifully worn. I dont give a shit whether you've got birds on your fucking fret-board, you are obviously a fucking mug for paying too much for a guitar (one man's trash..). I play in a dropped tuning and had to get my friend to set it up (it was terrible when I got it). Surprisingly the switches work perfectly. One machinehead needed adding (it was missing the high "e"). Satisfactory, good second hand if looks aren't important.

This has looked on its last legs since I first bought it but it manages to still work after a year. It looks like it has been dropped on the floor thousands of times but I havent yet dropped it (it would probably dematerialise if I did). I like the dark navy finish that was added buy the previous owner. You can see that it was red before.
I never gig with a back-up as it looks like you are saying "check-out how rich my parents are" (yes I mean you you fucking 15 year old american wankers with your gibsons).

Whenever I have a problem I just get in touch with my mate so this is a non applicable. Anyway I dont count a split gig-bag or chipped paint work as a problem. Fender would think I was joking if I handed them this anyway. What's a warranty?

To some middle aged, PRS weilding snob who plays 60's covers in the dead man's tuning of "e" whilst drowning his sorrows with pints of Gregor's dead olde Ferret ale this guitar would be left in the shop. But I love its character and originality, and I have managed to get a nice warm sound out of the thing. If it was stolen I would kill the cunt because this is 1 in a million. Lovely. Maybe a tad expensive for its condition but good for a Jaguar that works.

I believe mine was a '66, purchased used in 1986, white , Heavy!, probably an alder body, 4 bolt maple neck with rosewood board, MOP dot inlays. the previous owner put a middle pickup (Dimarzio stacked humbucker, made for a strat replacement) with an additional mini toggle to engage it, and Schaller mini tuners. no vibrato bar and a crappy aftermarket case, not bad for $300. I stuffed the case with foam and wedged a standard cheapo Fender bar in the tailpiece and off I went!

The guitar had one basic sound , though the three different pickups changed the tone a bit with regards to treble/bass. the filter cut switches did nothing in my opinion. The guitar is TWANGY, a nice twang, deep and throaty, and very satisfying for that type of 60s vibe. I recall really loving the heck out of playing "Wild Weekend", Duane Eddy tunes, and blues. A very authentic vintage vibe!!
HOWEVER; this guitar has no real sustain, and no chance of playing metal, fusion, etc. GREAT for garage punk/noise when cranked through a cheap amp a la Peavey, etc. I would not try to get a "Good" sound out of this or play it through a Marshall, etc. It is a one trick pony, period. The main things working against it are the crappy roller bridge, the lame pickups (Microphonic, lots of string pull magnetically, no matter how low you adjust them) and the short scale (24"). On the plus side, the bridge and pickups give it the twang, and the short scale is nice for much smaller hands.

This one was set up quite nicely, low action with little buzz, and the schallers kept it in tune very well, even when cranking the whammy bar. The BEST thing about this guitar for me was the body shape (same as a Jazzmaster, etc). I felt it was extremely well balanced and despite its considerable heft, one of the most comfortable guitars I've ever played, standing or sitting. Again, I felt the 24" scale, despite the ease in stetches, made the feel too mushy. You could put thicker strings (11-52) on as I did and get a nice rhythm tone but that kind of kills the twang factor - so what's the point?

Built like a tank overall, though the bridge was pretty cheesy and the electronics were too complicated for their own good. (too much crap for so few tone varieties); lots of crackling and fizzing, which I don't think a simple clean and lube would have fixed. Had I kept it back in 1987 I would have ripped the guts out and slapped a single DiMarzio super distortion in, nice and simple with one volume knob. I think Fender's stolen my idea and done that since then, though.......

never dealt with

If you want a specific vibe, you really can't go wrong with one of these - they have THAT sound - if you have to ask, make sure before buying! I think the reissues seem just as good as the old ones, maybe not quite as nice re: body wood (remember these were top of the line for Fender back then!).
I would NOT however recommend one as an only or main guitar, or for someone who wants versatility or a very rich sounding instrument. You could modify it but you'd probably be better off getting something else that gets the twang along with other sounds (Hence the greater popularity of the Strat, I gather!!) I would not buy one again only because of the scale length; I had thought for awhile about getting a Jazzmaster instead to get the 25 1/2" scale but there are other choices; long scale Mustangs, the newer imports (Jag-stang/etc hybrids from Fender and Squier) and even the same body shape from custom parts suppliers. I may just get me a nice light weight Jag body from Warmouth but slap a Super Distortion in the bridge, one vol. knob , better bridge and tuners - and off I go!