Fender Jaguar

Other reviews have features listed, sunburst finish, oversized headstock, single coil...

The sound is very, very thin. It possesses very, very little bass, especially through a Vox Series 90 solid state and an AC30. It does sound better clean if you need a bright, poppy tone, but anything with depth it just won't kick out the mellow mids or any real bass. With the distortion on, it is just abnoxious, very sharp and lacking any real definition, sustain, or tone.

The guitar is a Fender. It was a new Custom Shop Jag, and the sunburst finish was beautiful. The whole guitar had a clean cut look with the natural oversized headstock, dot inlays were well apportioned with medium sized frets, off white pickguard and chrome plates were very clean and well constructed. The action was a hair high, but it had light strings on it, it played easy. The body shape gave it a funny feel when you had to stand up and play it, it was far from evenly weighted.

Being a solid body fender, this would double as stage guitar and self defense weapon. Though it was never used to fend off drunken hecklers, I knew that she would be there in a pinch. The guitar was used for live playing, my other guitars being a Coronado and a Sheraton, and I knew she wasn't going to fall apart.

I fix my own problems or take it to a good local shop in Quincy, Ill if any major work need to be done, mso I don't really deal much with the Actual Fender Company.

Other gear I had at the time I had it were the Jag, A 66 Fender Coronado II, and Epiphone Sheraton, and a Gibson Jumbo. I used two stage amps, one being a Vox Series 90 and a Fender Showman. At home, an AC30 was used to reherse. I have since sold it for two DeArmond M72's, and that was the best bet I ever made. The guitar was very limited to a bright, poppy, surf tone. It could do the surf tone, but really couldn't change it into much else. I also tried it through a friends Hartke bass amplifier, and it still just wouldn't produce any sound of depth. Very little midrange tone either. It is just a bright punky sounding guitar.

Japanese Jaguar , reissue of the 60s , as "good" as the american one.
Never saw such a poor hardware!!!
Nothing useful , effective.

If you want the sound of the smells like teen spirit's intro , it's your guitar , for the others go away!
The output level is so low that when I put it in my DS2 , it gives me a kind of crappy crunch (even in turbo mode).

BUT BUT BUT , he's not so bad , if you like clean sounds , and ONLY clean sound , she can be ok.

In a general way , think of a thine sound than a telecaster(you should choose the tele)

used guitar , no gig bag , nothing.

This is Fender , it can be ok for years and years.....

You can take the jag for gig , but as a complementary sound , not as your main guitar.

I started the guitare in 1997.
I bought it when i was a beginner just because i like nirvana.
But as you know nirvana is really easy to play , so I started playing Hendrix , or later Satriani , and I realised how this guitare sucks.
Now I have a strat , an ESP , and a JS1(ibanez) , and I'm an happy man.

Dont buy it , try the telecaster or the strat , with a good mutlieffect , you'll can make their sound thiner , just like the j'aguar's one!

July 1963 Jaguar: Bought the guitar beat up with knicks,dings and a bad baby blue refinish that had chipped half way off, one of the pickups had been replaced with an emg single coil. The reson I bought the guitar however was the fact that all that could be repaired. The main thing was besides that all the hardware was in great condition and all original. I have recently gotten the guitar profesionally refinished, and reffretted, the emg was removed and replaced bye a reissue pickup and a replacement tremelo arm has been put on. I am proud to say it's completely restored.

Some might disagree but for punk rock this guitar sounds great! Clean or distorted

The only problems whith my Jaguar is the bridge, the jaguar bridges were not leo fenders best idea, but It does not give me many problems when playing, the guitar is great for 38 years old

I got this guitar horribly beat up and it still sounded great, and way better after it was restored! The pre cbs fender is a guitar that will last!

Great guitar! although I would not recomend it for heavy metal. Grunge is as far in as it will go with the single coil pickups so if you want metal go for an esp or a jackson. This guitar has a wide veriety of tones and was fenders top of the line of pre cbs as they deserve to be one of the most classic guitars ive played

Not sure of the year,but, purchased used in 1965.

It sound unlike the other guitars that I own. Eg. strat, carvin.

The action on this guitar is very good. The neck need to be adjusted, it is slightly off. This guitar has been thought a lot with bumps and scrapes, but over all it is a pretty amazing guitar that get many good comments.

This guitar can be taken and played anywhere. the only thing with this guitar is I need to take into a shop to get the electronics worked on and also the neck. Once that is done I wouldn't have a problem playing without a backup.

I don't know at this time. Fender is in the area where I live, I'll check it out and get back to you.

Been playing 35 years. I also own a american standard strat, A185 carvin, ovation acoustic and classical guitar, fender p-bass. No. It would be very difficult to replace this (popular) blue guitar. The Metallic paint job and shape. I hate that I didn't give this guitar the care it deserves.

Totally nonmodified japenese made Jaguar bought recently used in mint condition.....and its great.

Im using a Marshall JMP late 70`s 2x12 combo and a fender Twin reverb
Sounds like it should, allthough Im thinking of replacing the bridge pu due to its a bit too-bright-for-me sound. A bit noisy but compared to my strat its acceptable. When I it my RAT od I know I`ll never sell her.

I did some adjustments. First of all I put on 011-049(3rd plain),lowered the action just a bit and then blocked the tremolo with a piece of wood. I bought it used so I dont know what the past owner(s) did or didi not. But now its great.

Live its a killer and for now it hasnt let me down-,and the attitude of this guitar is what its all about

I\ve been playing for 15 years, pro for the last 6. Ive always played modded strats`and the jaguars neck suits me perfect and the body is a major bonus.

I bought this used.It was made in 1997 in Japan.It is candy apple red and has 22 frets. It has alot of selections as far as tone goes. 2 single coil pickups,stock.Neck is maple with rosewood fretboard and the body is basswood.The Jaguar body is the best looking of all my guitars and I should know I have 15. The tremolo system is not the best but if you work with it,it will do fine. Mine came with a guitar center gig bag,but I bought a fender hardshell case made for the Jaguar/Jazzmaster.

I bought this guitar to play surf music like the Safaris,Challengers,Astronauts,Beach Boys,Chantays and it is perfect for that.I think the Jaguar was made only for this type of songs. At the present time I use a Fender Stage 100 for playing.I plan on getting a early 60's amp to get closer to the sound I want. The pickups are a little noisy but not that bad. The sound,what can I say no guitar sounds like the Jaguar. The tremolo system could be better.

I did not find any flaws in this Jaguar other than the tremolo needed a little adjustment.The finish was great and the color was beautiful.Everything seems to be working fine.I plan on taking it to a good guitar tech and have it set up properly just to get it perfect.

I believe this guitar would withstand live playing.Everything on the guitar seems like it is well made and would last.Finish is made to last,strap buttons seem very solid.I feel I could depend on this to play for a long time. I would not use any guitar without a backup.By that I mean anything is capable of malfunctioning.

Have never had to deal with Fender.Which might say alot for the quality or it could mean I have been luckier than some with the products I have bought from them.

I have been playing for 35 years and I own 5 Danelectro's,2 Rickenbacker's,Fender Telecaster,Yamaha AEX502,Strat copy,Les Paul.You get the picture.If this guitar were lost or stolen I would hunt down who ever took it nail him/her to a post and go buy another one to replace it.What I love about the Jaguar is the sound.I dont really hate anything except the tremolo system is a little annoying.The different sounds I get are my favorite feature and second it would be the looks of the Jaguar.The name is perfect for this guitar.I would rate it right up there with my Rickenbackers and the Gibsoin Les Paul.The only thing I wish it had would be a better tremolo system.If your trying to make the Jaguar play music it was not designed for then you will not be satisfied with it.I believe Fender knew what they were doing when the came out with the Jaguar.

ok kids, here's the deal, i was buying these when i could get them for $200, i've owned three. a '64(miss that one) a '62(ok) and a '72(not bad at all). the weaknesses are #1 the dumbest idea Mr. Leo came up with..."the floating bridge" shared with the jazzmaster, and mustang..."you are the weakest link", #2 the short scale is lame for skinny assed lanky no ass rock stars like me with long fingers, once you get past the 9th fret it's easy to "slur" a note because the frets get closely spaced. the bodies on the jags and jazzm's are sexy, satisfying and sensual. a big plus is you don't get the "beer commercial sound" as you would with a strat, way overplayed. these were the top of the line for fender when originally sold. previous flaws mentioned...these are still high quality instruments. unfortunately not the steal they used to be.

some fixes though are to get a "buzzstop" or machine your own equivalent, they require no extra holes and provide more "angle of attack" before the strings hit the bridge, greatly adding sustain, tone and tuning stability(unless you are into the whammy thing). the best improvement though is to replace the stock bridge with a mustang bridge(not as easy to knock the low E off it's saddle when played "hard") also wrap the posts of the bridge with electical tape so it doesn't "float". this is the one part of your guitar you don't want to be unstable, robs all the sustain, tone and tuning stability. my current guitar, a jazzmaster(luckily bought as is) has the original bridge thrown away the holes filled and a gibson tune-o-matic retrofitted. NEVER goes out of tune, sustains and has tone like you would not believe. if you love the guitar and never want to part with it...go for it. these are the height of Fender quality so please don't butcher a pristine one, the pickups are great and sound unique...you don't want to sound like every commercial on tv(maybe you do, your choice).

ok, single coils are noisy but i like the hum, remember you'll get much more high end and dynamic range from an alnico single coil live with it or buy a reissue and screw that up. humbuckers have more punch but not nearly the rsnge or dynamics of a classic fender pu. i mine with class A classic tube amps and some old ibanez "square button" pedals an overdrive II and compressor II, these help. all i really need though is a responsive amp a good guitar and the nuances of where to hit the string(by the neck, by the bridge) and which pickup setting to use. if you want to hear some of the virtuosos of this instrument think sonic youth, j. mascis(dinosaur jr.) john frusciante(chili pepper), eddie hazel(funkadelic). the jag can sound a bit "shrill" but just use it with a warm amp, many people find using a fender guitar with a fender amp(twin, bassman, any of the higher wattage 40 +) to be to bright, just use a class A amp or something darker sounding(many of the more powerful fender amps are too "bright" w/some fenders). dislikes...hmm, i can't afford them anymore because everyone else wants to be....

Caveat Emptor!

i wouldn't have nuttin to sweat.

my guitars are older than i am...so i am my own support network

yawn...

1965, made in the last week of pre-CBS, but has sort of transitional features seen on earlier Jags such as clay dot position markers. I think that looks much better than the Jag necks with block position markers and binding. This guitar was already brutalized when I traded a weird '68 Gretsch for it in 1982. I made it beautiful again but also took it further into the world of customization. It seems all Jags I saw in the early 80's were weirdly and stupidly modified in some way, did no one like them the way they were? At least I did not change the pickups! It has a mustang whammy on it, (a very cool improvement and I think I was about ten years ahead of my time; see: JagStang) the original hole for the old trem filled with a block of wood. Those knobs up top were destroyed so they're gone, and the hole now houses a battery for a booster type mini switch thing. One volume knob. No tone knob. New custom pickgard B-W-B, on black refinish. The neck had been refinished, logo gone. Now it says "Hot Wheels", a decal from 1970! My tuners are Schallers, but the originals are on this bizarre Jap guitar that all my vintage leftovers went onto, and they work just fine.

Kinda thin but totally Fender, my first Fender and I just laughed when I got it home and cranked it up, it sounded SO FENDER! I now play in a SURF band and also have a Strat, and a Mustang. I put the strato-blaster type battery thingie in it to make it louder but I was just a stupid teenager and it didn't really need it. If I could afford a Twin Reverb I would but it sounds awesome through my Sears Silvertone Twin Twelve I got for $10. What helps is my Fender Reverb unit that I nabbed for $50!

It needs a fret job. The action is really low. It came with a brass nut. It has a nice black finish and is quite a looker, a head-turner to most Fender freaks. The headstock is a little rough, not shiny at all, dull varnish which I painted over in black by hand with Testor's, careful not to mess up the HotWheels logo.

It never breaks strings, but it is a backup guitar and usually just sits on the stand looking pretty. It did alot of gigs in my early days before the Mustang, and then the Strat came along, and was just great. In those days I used a Peavey Classic amp which suited the Jag just fine.

If I had known about retro parts by Fender, this poor baby might have had a chance, but it is so far gone now there is no return. This is a one of a kind custom Jaguar. Call it the first Jag-Stang ever, sans humbuckers, which seem like a bad idea to me anyway, Fenders have to have single coils, at least if you're a surf-picker!

Overall a neato axe that you gotta have if you are a Fender freak, it is nothing like a Strat or even a Mustang. Never had a Tele, don't know why! There's still time left! I have a mirror image Squier Super Sonic in all white (like an upside down Jag) so it's like good guitar vs. evil guitar. If this Jag got ripped off I would not need to replace it, it would find it's way home, it's too unique!

This guitar has been making me drool for months now. I intend to buy it when I get the money. The Fine Foxy Axe is a vintage 62', sunburst finish,tortishell pickgaurd, 2 STOCK single coil pickups, 2 pickup selectors, strangle switch, rhythym and lead circut's, and all the chrome hardware includng the floating tremelo as well as the whole guitar itself is in excellent playing condition. Even without the bridge cover and string mute, this guitar is loaded.

I play metal and grunge and I have never seen a single-coil equipped guitar convince me it could sound fat, gain infested, and heavy, that is until I played this one. I first tried it out through a Mesa Boogie Heartbreaker. On the Heartbreaker, the clean brought out a nice bit of twang for soloing, not to mention with both pickups on it Emulates a Les Paul with the pickup selector in the middle position. Ditstorted through the Heartbreaker, this guitar turns into a savage beast worthy of the name JAGUAR, it sounds fat and heavy with that kind of punch that goes well with something like Metallica's "Master of Puppets". I think all of the Kurt heads should buy the Jaguar, save the money for the humbuckers you DON'T NEED, and buy a better amp. The key to Jaguars, and generally all single coil equipped guitars, is that if you want shred or metal, get something like a Mesa Triple Rectifier or a Peavy Bravo. The only bad thing on this guitar is the pickups hum, but I wonder if it might just be that I was too close to the speakers on the amp (I'm Probably Right).

For a 38+ year old guitar, it has held up well as a performer instrument. Everything was adjusted so the action was fast, the trem had more travel than many a Floyd Rose I have encountered. The strap buttons even grabbed the strap like the guitar was holding on for dear life. I'm only taking off a few points because the guitar looks a little beat up (but thats just for all the people who don't like character).

For being a 35+ year old guitar, and having its only problems being pickup hum and having to have some scratchy pots cleaned, I' still give it a ten, and with that tremelo I almost always forget it's not a Kramer or a Jackson. Forget surf, this thing shreds, talk about one ironic guitar.

It does the job for me, right. If it gets sold to someone else i might hunt down another vintage Jaguar, or, buy a reissue (one of the American made ones) and equip it with a pair of strap locks (Fender just does not make strap buttons like they used to). I am a major Jaguar fanatic and have been for years.

First off, I'm writing this review mainly to get straight the design and operation features, and the sound features of the Jaguar. There seems to be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding(probably first, due to the lure of some people to the jaguar just because Kurt Cobain played one[though modifiied], and second, due to the sarcasm, frustration, and hyperboly directed to those Kurt-heads by others who were/are sick of the Kurt-heads doing the following:
1. Cutting up vintage jaguars just so they could put humbuckers in,
2)always asking obvious/stupid questions on various quitar forums-ie: "I just bought a jaguar last week It was either this or a mustang. what i wanna know is howcome my jaguar doesnt have that full distorted nirvana sound?my pick ups must be busted pleas help me-Kurdtdt #128394",
and 3. Driving up the prices of Jaguars due to the " I have to have one cuz Kurt did" problem that has occured.
ANYWAY, I will try to give an informative and un-biased(or at least more intelligent than other ppl who have reviewed this guitar) opinion of the Jaguar. READY?! OH-KAY!!
The guitar in question was made in japan in the mid-90's. It has a body of Alder(not basswood, like the late 90's "crafted in Japan" Jaguars)and a slim, 24" scale rosewood-on-maple neck. The finish is the limited edition"foto-flame"(basically a burnt amber to very dark brown burst with faux flame figuring). There are 22 frets, and the body has an offset waist body design. The guitar has 2 separate circuits-The lead circuit controls are found near the bottom horn and include 3 slider switches, the first and second are the on/off switches for the neck and bridge pickups, and the third one is the "thin switch"-it cuts many of the bassier frequencies. The Rhythm circuit's controls are found near the upper horn, and includes one slider switch(selects either the rhythm, or the lead circuit)and two roller knobs, one for volume and one for tone. The Rhythm circuit is different because through it only the neck pickup is in operation, plus the some of the highs are taken out of the signal regardless of the tone knob setting. The pickups (2) are single coils with metal "toothed" shielding around the pickup covers. The bridge is unique because it was designed to rock slightly on it's two posts with the string's movment during tremolo use. This is to prevent de-tuning. There is about 6" of string length behind the bridge, before the strings anchor to the guitar via the unique tailpiece. This bridge system is what gives the jaguar(and jazzmaster for that matter) much of it's character-generally less sustain than most guitars. Probably because the angle of the strings doesn't change more than say about 20 degrees when it comes over the south side of the bridge.
In any event, the jaguar is packed with features. Most don't like that, but some, like me, love it.

This particular jaguar has been played through a Mesa Boogie Studio .22 combo and a Fender Hot Rod Deville 212. The Sounds range from very bright and spiny (bridge pickup/thin switch in lead mode of course)to vibrant and percussive(neck pickup on lead mode) to surfy, bouncy, and plunky(lead mode, both pickups)to dull and mellow(rhythm circuit). This guitar has been misunderstood and misconceived in that some people think it will give you are very gainy sound(the kurt-heads think this) and others think you can only can a lfeless, thin, sustainless tone(people who mainly play les pauls will more likely agree to this statement, as well as ppl who have only plugged a jag into a low volume, small amp, with .09 gauage strings on the guitar). The truth is that The equipment you are playing the jag through does have an effect on the sound you get. Don't me wrong; the jaguar is more trebly and clangy and less sustainy than most guitars, but it's not like there aren't any useable, even great tones available. In fact, I'd say the jaguar has *rich* tone. Oh, it may not be gobs of chunky bass-sustain for 3 minutes bluesy tone, but it bis rich in it's own characteristic way, and I find that characteristic way to be chimey, very percussive, smooth, soft, clanky and all around not lacking tone.

Many people agree that jaguars do better with heavy strings(11's and up)- stronger tone and more sustain, less buzzing. If you use heavy strings, you'll have to adjust the trem spring to make it stronger by turning the middle screw on the tailpiece. On Japanese guitars the string might not even be strong enough for some of the bigger gauges of strings.
Many Peopl hate the bridge becuz of the rattling of the barrels some ppl experience. The lightest formula of Lock-tite applied to all buzzing parts on the bridge will fix the buzzing.
For some ppl, the problems never seems to end concerning the set up and maintenance of their jag. This could be due to bad parts, or just the wrong approach to the set up. The guitar I am reviewing(11'sfor strings) has never had any serious problems at all.

So there. I hope I pushed away some ppl's misconceptions without creating new ones.