Fender Jaguar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Yes

Does the hardware seem like it will last? Yes

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

Are the strap buttons solid? Yes

Can you depend on it? Yes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Don't wanna know

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

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

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

no flaws or problems

has taken 43 yrs of playing and still going strong.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

its guitar center. switched it out no worries

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

1965 sunburst

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This is the HH special addition. Same features as a standard jag, only with humbuckers and a tunomatic bridge. Read other reviews for all that jazz. I have played alot of guitars in my day, in this order, fender, ibanez, epiphone, jackson, gibson, esp, back to ibanez, prs, now back to fender. My original strat had alot of problems, but ill link that to being a "noob." I saw this jag at the musicians friend retail center and pulled it off the wall. The ease of switching from totally opposite sounds with a few simple moves sold me in all of 10 minutes.
Taking off 1 point because I would still like the original jag tremelo on this baby. Theres nothing like end of the world feedback/ noise AND a whammy bar!!!!

I have owned many guitars, about 15 in all, my current collection features an ibanez artcore, gibson les paul studio, pre fender jackson soloist, prs se, an esp viper, and now the jaguar hh. This guitar smokes them all in terms of versatility. where the viper and artcore have their niche sounds, they are one trick ponies. The jaguar was stunning to begin with, but I play on a 5150 with a roland jazz chorus for cleans. The super distorted sounds were a bit too "twangy?" for my taste at first, So I tore the bridge burstbucker out of my les paul and swaped it with the jags bridge hb. Instant gratification. The way everything is wired up helps to keep my tone when I roll the volume down to kill the gain, but in 1-8th of a second I can pull total death metal out of this "surf" guitar. I can get everything from sonic youth , chili peppers, industrial, country, jazz, and metal. The bridge really helps for sludgy death metal chugging. Im not counting off anything because I had to change a pickup, this thing is not designed for "metal" but I am taking off a point simply because for something to deserve a 10, it must be better than any guitar ive ever
"played." not owned, but played. The best sounding guitar Ive ever laid my grimey mits on was a heavily modified 70's les paul that will forever haunt my dreams.

Came setup mighty crappily, it was sitting on the wall for a bit, strings were dead, but there was just something about it that grabbed me despite the funk growing on the strings. I spent an hour or two at home and its good as new. In my hurry to buy the damn thing, I didnt notice that the neck joint was not so tight. About a 1/16th gap halfway down the joint. No bother though, it still plays and sounds good to me. Finish is black, yay. Looks good. Im gonna knock off 4 points for this obvious lack of pride concerning the neck joint. Looks like someone wanted to go party on a friday night instead of spending a few extra minutes with my neck. Since this was a display model, the crappy setup should not be fender's fault.

well, as usual, I figured I would have to replace the tuners. Good tuners/ tuning is my biggest pet peeve, and I have to say that Im happy with the stock vintage tuners. I have yet to have any knobs go loose or any other indication of shady workmanship. As for durability, the second night I had this baby was a party night, and in all of my drunken glory, I was distracted before I zipped up my soft case. well, I hoisted it up on my shoulder and felt all the weight jump off my shoulder. The thing hit the ground HARD!!!!!! Not even a ding anywhere. The thing even stayed in tune!!!! I lost an older epi les paul due to a dog knocking it over one time, so for the jag to take this like a champ.... tears of joy!!

The hell with fender customer support. I went through hell trying to get my old strat fixed when it was still under warranty.... the neck repeatedly bowed, and it was a problem with their badly crafted truss rod, not me being an idiot. Funnily enough, I have hopped on the fender saddle again, and I've yet to have to deal with them on the jaguar. I think they got it right this time, so Im giving a big fat no opinion!!!

kick ass guitar for anyone looking to getaway from conventional overpriced crap.

This is a followup review from the one below. Since I submitted that one I've come to learn what all the switches ACTUALLY do, and felt like a bit of a fool leaving it as is. Also I've since made mods to the guitar, and gigged it, so I have more input to give.
I still give the features a ten, it's still as versatile as always.
I also found out that despite it having what is definitely a '93 serial number according to Fender's site, the "Crafted In Japan" means it was made in '97 at the earliest. Wierd that.

Turns out that the switch up on the top arm is, as you would know if unlike me you did your research first, to switch between volume/ tone circuits, not pickups. On the rhythm setting you can only use the neck pickup anyway.
The other switches apply to the lead circuit, and are, in order from left to right looking down on the guitar, on/ off for the neck pickup, on/ off for the bridge pickup, and a bass cut/ boost.
Now, I know I said I loved the pickups, but the bridge pickup needs sorting. Gigging the Jaguar meant having to roll ALL the tone off for it to be used at volume. So I've booked in to have the bridge rewound fatter by Tim at Bare Knuckle to get rid of the harsh highs on it. Half the problem is also in the fact that the pickups aren't wax potted, but Tim'll sort that for me. Still adore the neck pickup too.

The crap stock bridge has been replaced with a Gotoh ABR TOM bridge. By some happy accident the Gibson bridge fits this guitar, and fixes all the problems the stock one caused. The neck radius doesn't match, but are you really going to notice, or care?
For that modification, the setup goes right up to a ten.

Don't need to cover this again. I've already gigged it, once you find the right volume to tone ratio on the bridge pickup you can keep going on this guitar all day.

Nope.

It's still not perfect, but it will be. If you want a very, very versatile guitar, get one of these, and kit it out. Kick ass.

Mine is a '93 CIJ Jaguar, I've been playtesting it for the past week, bought it today. Candyapple Red finish, matching headstock. Looks great, although there are a couple of knocks in the finish, nothing you wouldn't expect from a guitar with an albeit short history. I'm sure that if you're looking at the reviews you already know your stuff about the Jaguar, so I won't bore you. Anyway, I love it, I love the sheer variety of sounds you can get out of it with a mere flick of a few switches.

Pickups are a little noisy, but if you can pull your head out your arse and get over that, these are fantastic pickups. Your closest comparison is a strat pickup, but these are a little different. For one, your neck pickup isn't as bass heavy, and generally sounds more like the neck/ middle blend of a strat, it retains that jangle. Similarly, the bridge pickup is nowhere near as harsh as that of a strat, but can still get kind of tinny and skratchy at high gain, but you can just turn the tone control down a bit a bit and you'll be safe. I wouldn't change them.
As I mentioned earlier, the massive range of tones is astounding thanks to the rhythm/ lead circuit. As far as I can tell, one switch cuts/ adds mids, one cuts/ adds treble, and the third cuts/ adds bass. So as you can imagine, you'll have to play about a bit to get a sound you like. I know famous Jaguar users like Kurt Cobain tended to set the guitar to their favourite sound setting and then tape over the switches and forget they were there. I wouldn't want to do that though. I like being able to tweak my sound between songs, and using different tones for recording.
I think this is a guitar where it's very important to play around with it to find the sound that suits you, and that's probably what puts a lot of players off them, because they're not immediately playable to some. With this in mind, it loses marks, but have a tinker with it and you'll make a good friend with this guitar. There are no real boundaries to how you can make it sound as far as I can see, although it would definitely be unsuitable for you metalheads out there. If that's your thing, go and get yourself some spiky Dean heap of crap with flame graphics.

Now this is where the Jaguar falls a bit short. The saddles on the bridge are, well, shit. They buzz (although you won't hear it through the amp), de-tune, don't hold onto the string very well, and generally make a mess of things. But don't write the Jaguar off for this, you can spend like ??20 on some Mustang saddles (the Mustang bridge is otherwise identical). Much better saddles, very simple to replace. This is something I plan on doing first chance I get. But out the factory, this does make the guitar suffer a bit. I will point out though that this particular Jaguar does seem to be all to badly affected by these problems compared to others I've played, but that's just luck really.
On a plus, the floating is trem is brilliant for subtle wobbles, and manages to stay in tune quite well despite the saddles.

Solid as they come as far as I can see. I would gig this, in fact I intend to. Finish isn't bullet-proof as on some Fenders, but has held up nicely over the past 14 years. Hardware is nice and solid. Might want to get the bridge sorted out before getting on stage though, but not too worried.

Never dealt with them.

I've been playing now for 4 years, and will play pretty much anything except death metal. This is my 5th guitar. I currently own this, a 1983 Washburn HB35, a 2002 Gibson SG Special Faded, and have been through 2 American strats. This definitely beats both the strats and the Washburn, though my favourite is still the SG. I play these guitars through a Marshall AVT50 combo outfitted with a Celestion Classic Lead 80 speaker, with a Crybaby and a Vox Big Ben tube overdrive in between. This is a simple enough setup for me given that the tones I can get from the guitar itself are so varied. I love it. Other people may not, but that'd be their loss as far as I can see.

Got this almost a year ago, I was needing a 'proper' guitar, as all I had at the time was a terrible Westfield Strat Copy. I made the mistake of buying this as a relative beginner, which you shouldn't do: you'll need to basically set it up yourself.

Sunburst finish, with a lovely tortoise shell pickguard. The regular Jaguar set up as far as electrics are concerned: 2 single coil pickups, volume and tone knob for one, and another 2 dials for the other, up by the selector switch. There's also the bass switch, and 2 on/off switches for the pickups. it looks very, very pretty.

The bridge is awful however, i'll come to that later.

Jaguars have perhaps the most gorgeous tone in the Fender camp. It's quite thin, but it has a fantastic amount of bite and aggression. Very colourful. It suits all my styles (i.e. crunchy rock, post rock, blues). Probably not great for metal and heavy rock, unless you were to install humbuckers. The stock pickups are better than expected. Not bad at all, albeit not as exciting as i'd like. when I change them it'll bring out the full potential of the Jag sound. Which is totally unique amongst the other Fender guitars.

There was a bit of hum, but it remains to be seen if this was down to the pickups or the bridge.

This is the bad bit. The bridge. Horribly tacky, after a couple of months the saddles had started rattling, and turning on their sides (=/), knocking my strings out of place. My high e string was caught on the edge, and has little/no sustain because of it. Until now I'd been too afraid to make adjustments and risk screwing the guitar. Now I think I'll definitely install a Mustang bridge. The tailpiece too seems quite screwed: or at least the saddle for the trem arm. For some reason thing the thing just won't lock, but rather than replace it I'll just try and fix it myself.
The action is actually perfect, which I was pleasantly surprised by. I probably won't need to adjust anything.
The strings are getting a bit worn, I'll change them. The stock strings, like the pickups, were sufficient but not mindblowing. I'll maybe get some new ones that are slightly heavier.
Tuning pegs seem fine, not too loose, easy to reach around and operate.
The finish is lovely, theres no real problems that I can be bothered with sorting: it all looks very good.

As it was from the factory, I would definitely not gig with it, it felt horribly fragile, down to the bridge. But once I've set it up right I can imagine it being a lot sturdier and I'd be a lot more relaxed about playing it in a gigging context. I'd use a backup though, but that's me. I get worried. The strap buttons are fine as far as I could see.
The hardware seems ok just now. I've not really had it long enough to say.

Never called them.

I've only been playing for about 2 years, 10 months or so. I'm not incredible, but I can do enough. I'm 16, and here's no real taste for much other than punk rock/emo here in Edinburgh (Scotland), at least amongst people my own age, so I haven't been in many bands, I get offers I just turn down. My tastes revolve around things like John Cale, The Velvets, Mogwai, Yo La Tengo etc. For this the Jaguar is ideal. I had to travel all the way up to Kirkcaldy to buy it, as no other shops in Edinburgh/Glasgow sold Jaguars. :P So I knew it was something special, I'd hunted for it for ages, resiting the urge to buy a crappy les paul or something easier to find.

I own a nylon acoustic thats about 25/30 years old, a Boston steel-stringed acoustic, a Westfield E1000 strat copy which I tinker with and take apart for practice. I have a crap Meridian practice amp (which I'll soon replace with a Fender Blues Jr or Hot Rod Deluxe), and pedals-wise a Proco Rat 2, Boss DD-6 and Jim Dunlop Cry Baby.

The Jag is my only real 'good' guitar just now. And it's like the best guitar ever, trapped in a big treasure chest. It has the potential to be the greatest ever, but you need to get around the inital, crappy setup. Well no, I make it sound unusable. With pickups, bridge, and strings changed at least, I can see this thing being a monster. A genuine 9 or 10-rated beauty.

For the first year, I just didn't bother doing anything to it, but now I'm getting out of this stage and I'm going to really knuckle down and unlock this thing's potential. If it were stolen, I'd either hunt down the guy and feed him to my chemistry teacher, or get a new one: it's too good a chance to miss.

In conclusion, this could be the best thing ever: but you'll need to put in a lot of work to do it.

My Jaguar i believe was made in Japan in 1993, 62-63 re-issue. I bought it second hand a few months ago, in fabulous condition for it's age. The finish is metallic red, beautiful. Typical Jaguar, offset strat shape. The bridge is the original one, It's a little rusted now. Tuners i believe are Kluson, excellent tuners, still original. The neck is a slim C-shape. It came with the tremolo arm and a gig-bag. I'm not sure whether it's a solid or laminated top. The usual vast amount of controls that Jaguars come with. Two fairly weak single-coil strat pickups. The pickups are still the original ones. Passive electronics..and, the neck is maple with a rosewood fingerboard, 22 frets, and i'm very sure the body is basswood, since it seems to dent quite easily.

Well, it suits my style perfectly, or at least the guitar itself does. I play anything from heavy rock, down to grunge-esque material ridden with wierd effects and what-not. Experimental, is probably the correct word.

I use a Boss GT8, with an Ashdown fallen angel stack. I can eliminate all the squealing and buzz people usually complain about, with my GT8, so i don't encounter those problems. The pickups aren't very good though, but they're certainly not that bad! I will be upgrading to Seymour Duncan whenever i can afford it.

You can get quite a rich amount of sounds from it, from tinny treble with no bottom end, to a very thick bassy sound, whilst still retaining that typical Jaguar sound. Certainly sounds best with little distortion, but with the right effects you can do whatever you want. My only problem with the pickups, is that with them being weak, you won't achieve much sustain. New pickups are relatively inexpensive though.

I don't know how well it was set-up from the factory, it was second-hand. But, i have read that they're usually set-up very well. The pickups needed a little adjusting when i got it, but, everyone has different tastes, so it's only expected. The guitar came with a few dents, and one chip on the bottom...but again, it's expected with it being over 10 years old! Apart from that, the guitar is immaculate. The nicest guitar i've ever seen. The bridge though, is a pain in the arse. I seriously recommend that people change it to a Mustang bridge, you don't want the strings slipping when your playing live!! For the time being, i adjusted it so that the low-e string could not slip down, whilst playing. Jaguars require regular maintenance, but it's only a simple setup. The bridge is a little rusted, and the tuning pegs need changing, purely because i don't like how you have to poke the string into the middle of the tuning peg...they slip out if you accidentally knock the string. But again, they're inexpensive.

This guitar will easily withstand live playing, if you do that one modification, the bridge. All but the bridge, is completely dependable. The tremolo arm is also the best i've ever used..it never sends the guitar out of tune, unlike the bigsby on my SG. The finish appears to be excellent, it's very thick. It's just the wood itself that isn't too durable, but you should be taking care of a guitar this expensive anyway! The strap buttons are not reliable, i bought cheap plastic strap-locks that do the trick :-). Once i've got it modified, i will absolutely be able to depend on it. I'd use it at a gig without a backup if i had to, no problem. I use both the Jaguar and my SG, for complete versatility.

Not needed to, and hopefully i never will! The guitar is superb, and i've heard very good things about Fender. Supposedly, they better customer support than Gibson...

I've been playing for 6 years, 5 hours at least, everday. I've owned a few guitars, firstly Encore for my first year, then a cheap Vintage strat, then i moved up to the Epiphone G400, which i still own, but it's completely modified. Only the body is original. It looks JUST like a real Standard SG, except it doesn't have the Gibson logo. I installed the Seymour Duncan's myself, and changed the electronics. I've played numerous Gibson Les Pauls, and SG's, and the Jaguar, for me, is the most comfortable guitar yet. If lost or stolen, i'd buy it again, same colour. I love it, it's extremely comfortable playing standing up, whereas my SG is neck heavy, and a pain in the arse. The neck is nice and thin, and fits my hands perfectly. All i need now, is to install some Seymour Duncans and change the bridge. After that, it will most certainly be my main guitar. Thank you Fender, for making such a beauty!

Mine is an American made '62 re-issue with the olympic white finish. I purchased it new about a year ago. It came with a brown hardshell Fender case and the various accessories that come with new Fenders. I have had this Jag for a year, and it is still stock. I haven't felt the need to make any modifications. I haven't even removed the string mute even though I don't use it. I will probably get around to removing it the next time I change the strings. The three standout features of the Jag are the short 24" scale length, the comfortable off-set body shape, and the versatile double circuit. I find the short scale length well suited to my smaller hand size and heavier strings. The body on this guitar is incredibly comfortable no matter how you stand or sit. And, the double circuit wiring allows you to go from a trebly twang to a warm jazzy sound with the flip of a single switch.

The Jag has a distinct sound. If you are trying to ape the sound of your favorite performers then don't buy a Jag. Buy whatever those guys are using. The Jag has that unmistakable Fender sound, but it is a Jaguar sound. The Jaguar has alot of character. The name "Jaguar" was an apt name for this guitar. Some people have likened the tone to a "growl." Furthermore, there is tremendous versatility possible with this guitar. You can coax mellow, dark tones out of the neck pickup using the rhythm circuit. And, you can get thin, trebly tones out the the bridge pickup using the strangle switch. There are also plenty of tones in between. Do not, however, expect the impossible. A Jaguar will never sound as dark and mellow as a Gibson hollowbody Jazz guitar. And, it will never sound just like a Stat.

The set-up on my Jag was just about perfect. I didn't even change the strings. It came strung with .11s and they are just about perfect for this guitar. The action was just right, and there wasn't the least hint of buzzing frets. The only flaw I could find was a small ding in the finish near where the body and neck are joined. But, I can live with it. There will be more dings in the finish over the years.

I have not experienced the problems other people have experienced with their Jags. I suspect there are two reasons for this. Number one, I believe most of the people doing the complaining own Japanese Jags. I believe the Japanese models produced in the 90s did have some problems. The most common problem was that the strings would jump out of the saddles. All Jaguars suffer from this problem, but I think the Japanese models may have been furnished with saddles that have shallow grooves. The bridges are often replaced with Mustang bridges or buzzstops were installed. It hasn't been much of an issue with mine. You should not be using strings lighter than .11s. The Jag was designed back when .12s were considered light strings (.13s were common). Number two, much depends on your playing style. If you really like to thrash your guitar this may not be the guitar for you. Jaguars are tempermental beasts. I suspect the reason you don't see alot of pros playing Jags in live venues is that the bridge, tremelo, and switches can be fussy. On stage, performers cannot take the chance that something will go out of wack. Otherwise, this guitar is just as durable as a Tele. It is a slab of hardwood with some hardware and electronic stuff on it.

Haven't needed it.

Back in the early 60s my older brother was a Ventures fan. He got a paper route and saved his money until he could buy a '64 Jag and Super Reverb Amp. I wanted to take up playing the guitar myself after watching my brother master Walk Don't Run, then Apache, etc. He lost interest and sold the guitar and amp to raise money for an apartment in the late 60s. I have played guitar since I was seven years old, but by the time I could afford a decent guitar nobody cared about Jags anymore. Jimi Hendrix was like some sort of pagan god when I was in high school and like everyone else I had to have a strat (there were, of course, no shortage of Les Paul fanatics). Over the years, I have owned more guitars than I can remember, and I have experimented with most styles of music. I never really thought about the Jaguar until a few years ago when I came across an old Ventures LP at a thrift store. I bought a Jag, and I am enjoying it more than any of the other guitars I have owned or currently own. If I could have only one guitar this would be it. If my reissue were stolen I would buy a '64 vintage model.

It was a stock 1999 CIJ Jaguar. I changed the saddles to Mustang ones, added a Buzz Stop, changed the pickups to Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder for Jag models. Also replaced the stock 1M pots on the lead circuit for Strat 500k ones. Sorts out the problem of getting a balance between the two circuits.

Wow. This guitar suits everything I like to play, short of thrash metal as there's only so far single coils can go before noise becomes a bit of a problem and you need 'buckers. For everything else though, it can do want I want and with such power and uniqueness that I can't help but love it. I don't award higher than a nine very often (one of the few others I'd mark a 10 is an SG Standard but it's nowhere near as versatile).

With the stock pickups, it was a hard beast to tame but I reeled it in... barely. With the SJAG-3 pickups in there, anything becomes possible. It makes sense to balance out the twangy nature with a pair of fat single coils to get better overall tone while still retaining the signature tone. It comes close to a P90 sound when gained but without losing it's Fender clean tones.

For me it's a rocking out instrument most of the time (bridge pickup, no treble cut), but switch to clean amp channel, rhythm circuit and your fingers and awesome jazz tone is spit out. Switch back to the lead circuit, engage bass cut switch and bridge pickup or both pickups on for an instant funk machine. Stoner rock, use the same setting as for jazz but with a fat fuzz and plenty of barre chords. I'm always impressed I can get that first QOTSA album tone without humbuckers. There's so much versatility with all the switching combinations and astute use of your volume/tone controls.

I cannot tell you how amazing it is to have a guitar that covers all the bases well but with something that most guitars don't have. I have a feeling that tremolo system has something to do with the unique tone. Of course there isn't much sustain, probably about the same as a Tele, but this makes you play in different ways especially when it comes to solos.

There is something to note. You can't just finger vibrato a sustained note and expect it to last a while like on a Les Paul, unless you have one of the new breed HH Jags with a tune-o-matic/stopbar setup. Not relying on sustain has made me a much more interesting player on lead breaks, especially when playing live. Therefore I don't miss my LP Standard or P90 LP Special much. More so because I can do full six string chords with lots of gain - often not just straight major/minor - and still retain definition. LP Standards turn to mud, for me at least.

Haha. Even if it was set up well from the factory, it'd still be poor. The reason is simple. In my opinion - and I'm hardly alone here - the stock bridge saddles and poor break angle of the strings over the bridge causes numerous tuning and buzz issues. It wasn't uncommon for some saddles to have lost threads and the bridge to have sunk after an hour or two of playing. Also, the bridge pickup was just TOO different from the neck one. EQ'ing to make both sound good was a pain in the arse.

Getting Mustang saddles, a buzz stop, changing the threads that hold the bridge up for screws and changing the 1K pots on the lead circuit for 500k ones - solved it. Also had the advantage of making it far less twangy, getting away from it's surf roots towards versatility. I shimmed the neck for a time, but after a little truss rod adjustment this wasn't necessary. It's worth having things a tad higher than maybe you'd like to make sure you don't lose what sustain there is from the 15th fret upwards. I have a medium action, a balance between ease of play and sustain.

The poly sunburst finish was flawless. The scratchplate is one of the darker tortiose ones, which looks alright with the black Seymour Duncan pickups. The neck was f***ing fantastic, the frets were a perfect fit and it feels really smooth. No need to sand it down.

Stock, the thing couldn't withstand any kind of playing. Modified, it'll withstand pretty much anything. The finish will last a long time, it's poly (although it won't age and check like the original vintage nitro finishes, a shame). Strap buttons are solid but I always use those plastic straplocks on top for when I'm throwing it around at gigs. Plus I turned the lead circuit controls round, so if you knock a switch down it'll turn on a pickup, not turn off as before. Better safe.

Since replacing the pickups (from covered stock units to open-coil Duncans) I've taped around them with black insulation tape to prevent anything falling in and damaging the thin copper pickup wire, or strings getting hooked under the lip. Both common causes of pickup death. And thanks to Eddie, this has the added advantage of making it look more rock.

Never had a lot of luck with Fender. People have moaned at Gibson but actually they've been very prompt and generally useful. I've sent Fender a couple of emails and got nothing.

I must give a big thumbs up to Strings Direct, especially Paul who took my order for Seymour Duncan pickups. He was a fast, polite bloke who quickly sorted out my problem when the first neck pickup I had was defective.

I'd like to give it a ten, but I've had to modify it gratuitously to make it the best guitar I've ever had. Whereas Gibsons generally perform great straight out of the box after a quick tweak to intonation and action. Some say Strats work great straight out of the box but there are a helluva lot of replacement pickups available so I'm thinking, not necessarily.

If it were stolen I'd take the plunge and get that Japanese-made 'Old Lake Placid Blue' finish version with pearloid scratchplate. The new ones are made of alder too, a better tone wood.

It's near-perfect. I have no gripes now.

I have a Fender Jaguar Sunbrust made in Japan.

I play, rock, punk and grunge style music.. and the Fender Jaguar is not the Grungey guitar, although Kurt Cobain used it in the Nevermind era. It's not possible to play grunge on it without pedals or sound effects.

I use a Digitech Grunge pedal and a Boss Overdrive/Distortion Pedal and the guitar sounds great with the grunge pedal on. I feel its kinda noisy, but that soothes me well, i love feedback sounds and just making noise.

I feel its not much variety on the sound, but i havent really experienced much with it.. i just found a sound i wanted then taped over the switches.. (like Cobain).. and the two switchers that you dont take up and down, but side ways, (the two ones that are not taped over) i cant seem to find out what they are for.. so if there are other Jaguar owners know this please e-mail me (tor_e_steiro@hotmail.com)

I basiclly doen't know this much about guitars.. so i just fixed what i could to make it more into the Kurt Cobain jaguar.

But to other Kurt Cobain fans who would like to get the jaguar to make it into a Cobain Jaguar. Dont buy the reissue from japan. the sunbrust finish is much more darker that the Cobain guitar. And on the other stuff you must open your wallets...

I've changed the tone and volume knobs, but Cobain had another volume knob. And change the Pickups, buy another strap lock and put on the right wing. and the neck is different than form the cobain guitar.

I've used it for live playing.. and it works great. and i treat it pretty roughly, throwing it around and using stuff like knives to scrape off the finish, and then stabbing the knife several times into the guitar. The finish holds up well, exept when i use a knife.. but thats obviouse... the strap locks are very solid indeed. And i can depend on it. but i always use my two guitars on shows. for different sounds and stuff like that (my thired are in the mail)
but i could and have used only the Jaguar on gigs, without a backup.

I've been playing for about four years now. I Have A Yamaha Strat model. and a Epiphone Les Paul Special is comming tomorrow or monday.

If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else? I would maybe buy another Fender Jaguar.. but maybe an old 60's jag, made in america.

Mine is a 2001 American made, 62 re-issue. Ice blue metallic. I bought it a week ago from ebay. Everything is original, including the bridge ;-). Before buying this guitar I had read all the reviews on this web site, including some other websites, too. So, after buying MY jaguuuaarr (:-DDDDD), I decided to write a review to help other lucky people who are trying to decide on buying one. The previous owner of my guitar was left handed, so the guitar was restrung left handed, though originally it is not. The strings on it are special flatwound fender jaguar/jazzmaster strings. Its strap is the vintage style leather. Like everyone else says, this guitar is a beauty. When I went to pick up the guitar from the previous owner, she opened the box, and everybody (including random people around) had their eyes WIIIIDEEE OPEEEN!! Jaguar is a beauty. This guitar has tons of features, you can always find/create a new tone that you have never experienced.

I like playing different stuff. I try to add some ethnic sounds to solos and riffs that I create. I have been involved in music for around 10 years. I like so many different stuff from radiohead, nirvana, pearl jam etc. to jimi hendrix, cream, and some ethnic musicians from different cultures, like turkish, azeri etc.)

Jaguar has very broad scale in terms of sound. I believe, even though it is designed for surf type stuff, it definetely sounds INCREDDIBBLEEE with OD. I have a crappy old zoom 505 effect pedal that I bought 6-7 years ago, and it was used when I bought it. I directly hook up my headphones to the output of the effect pedal, and hook up the guitar to the input, that's it! When I play some stuff from Hendrix, yardbirds, and zeppelin, it sounds just like their recordings (i am not saying I play as good as them :-DDDD). Generally, jaguar has a bright sound, but I get full/rich sounds from it, too, and it makes me FLYYYY!!!!

From the previous setup, the action was a little high. But I took the guitar to the fender service center and asked for a little lower action. This is a second hand guitar, but it has only a very very tiny imperfection on the finish. It is really hard to see that flaw if you do not look for it. Other than that, I think the finish is pretty good.

I did not play it too much. I have had it only for one week now and I have not had any problems. However, as every body else says, there might be a posibility that you would have a problem with the bridge. But I think if the guitar is setup professionally, even the bridge should not be a problem, unless you try to play death metal and stuff... I will not change the saddles, because I do not want the sound to change at all. I will try to keep everything as original as possible. Jaguar is very comfortable to play. The strap buttons are solid. The guitar feels strong. But the thing is; it is soo beautiful so you do not want to use it roughly, you want to be gentle with this beauty...

I called them only once, before buying the guitar. I asked if it was made in the USA or Japan. I gave the serial number and they were really helpful and it did not take even 5 min for me to learn where the guitar was made (it was in corona, california, USA in 2001). (I know there are a lot of differencies between japaneese and american jaguars, but I just wanted to make sure) On their web site they have all the dealers' and service centers' contact info and much more...

This guitar has been in my dreams for almost 10 years (looong time to wait). I could not buy it before, i did not have enough money ;-) Now it is mine, and I enjoy even looking at it. I thank God whenever I look at it. I am soo greatful that I have it. What I think is; Jaguar is not for surf music only. It can be used for almost any kind of music. It is beautiful. Its sound makes me fly, it puts wings on my shoulders. It is so gorgeous, it is my little wing ;-)

This is A Review for an '02 CIJ Jaguar. We'll start with the neck, It has that U or V (don't remember which) shape to it which feels perfect and perfectly lacquered right when you pick it up, 22 frets.
Mine is a Lake Placid Blue color, nice finish, the average nicks dings and belt rash of used guitars. One Volume knob, one Tone knob.
I'd change the stock pickups to Seymour Duncan Jaguar Vintages.
The bridge is the biggest pain in the ass on the face of the earth, change it, in fact if you're ordering the guitar order one with it, or drive to your local guitar store and ask whoever works there the options availible on it, the tremolo is fine really, other than it falls out alot, but that's a floating tremolo for ya.

I generally play grunge/metal or just flat out rock music, it works great, the cleans (with stock pickups) sound amazing, out of my 4 electrics (soon to be 2) this is THE best sounding. The stock pickups generally feedback, ALOT on high volumes, which is ok for me, but stand at least 15 feet away from your amp to prevent this.
When distorted, can sound very crunchy, or very dark, great for the style of music my band plays. The tonal versatility is absolutely wonderful, you can pull about 5-10 different tones out of a Jaguar, the rhythym switches let you select the frequencies that come out of the guitar, and the roller knobs control the volume of each pickup when the rhythym switch is disabled.

Everything seemed to be in decent condition when I got this guitar, I bought it used, so I don't know if they worked on it at the shop or not.

The thing about Fenders is you can beat the living hell out of them and they hold up. I've smacked it into walls a few times and nothing breaks, dings, scratches, etc.

Never had to deal with Fender themselves, the guy I deal with is a Fender dealer, and generally says they're good to deal with, but as with any major corporation money is king.

I've been playing 3 years, I have 4 electrics (soon to be 2)An Ibanez RG370DX(I'm selling), a Washburn Tabu TB300 (I'm also selling, rare guitar), An American made Strat, The Jaguar, and a Washburn D12SCE. I have a Crate GX212, which is being replaced by a Blue Voodoo half stack in about a week. I usually run the Jaguar like this :Jaguar, Wah, Big Muff, Chorus, Delay, Flange, Amp. I think if it were stolen i'd probably either kill myself, or by a new one, most likely the latter.

This is a review of a 2004 CIJ Fender Jaguar. It has all the same controls, switches etc as an original '62 but minus the mute pad. A few things to note about these Japanese Jags. Firstly, the designation of CIJ/MIJ is totally meaningless. This was an arbitrary and cosmetic change that does not in any way relate to a difference in specifications in the models. Therefore, many of the earlier CIJs were identical to the MIJs. Secondly, the more recent models such as this one were upgraded to incorporate materials similar to the American ones, such as the use of an Alder body instead of a Basswood one. In fact, bar some of the wiring and the pickups, it's near enough identical to a US '62 re-issue.

Fender Jaguars have traditionally been tempermental beasts and this particular incarnation is no exception. I give this a 10 rating based on the mods I made and not on account of what it sounded like straight out of the box (6/10).

The main change to be made is the pickups. The stock aren't atrocious but hardly inspiring either. There are many after-market pickups out there so choose one that best captures your style. For me, I wanted the sound of a Fender Jaguar as it sounded in 1962 BRAND NEW (ie NOT vintage) and so accordingly I went for Fender's American Vintage '62 Jaguar pickups. And a sound investment it was.

Now to the sonics. Plugged into a Vox Cambridge 30R, it growls! Not the type of adjective one would immediately associate with a Fender but then Jag pickups tended to be over-wound presenting a 'hotter' sound than a Strat or a Tele. The frequencies are perfectly balanced, no real ice-pickery except occasionally on the bridge but then maybe you need that kind of feel for surf. Actually, I didn't find this axe particularly well suited for surf. I mean, it works if you want growly surf (which sounds terrific, btw) but if you want to mimic the legends, the Strat will do a far more authentic job. The Jag works best as a garage punker, a dirty, impolite and almost unmusical tool. Use of a good '60s-style fuzzbox such as the Vox ToneBender yields White Light/White Heat syle disgust. No smooth, warm distortion here - just all-out violence and unsociability.

My favorite position is both pickups on together which gives the axe a nice full sound. Also don't neglect the rhythm channel! Many of the less-cultured owners of this instrument tend to ignore it but you're losing out if you choose to follow their example. Invoking the rhythm channel beefs up the sound immeasurably and gets the Link Wray sound and vibration in no uncertain terms.

Sustain is limited on these things and that's a good thing. It forces you to approach it from a different angle to other guitars.

This is where the hard-work and research come in. Out of the box, I'd say 3/10. Do not buy this guitar unless you are prepared to make the relevant changes required to get it to play not at an optimum, but just getting it to play at a basic level.

First issue is the bridge. No matter what you do, no matter what gauge strings you use or how professionally you get the guitar set up, there's no getting around it. It sucks and has to go. The rattling isn't such a problem since you can't hear it once it's amped up but the strings continually slip in the saddles, the saddles themselves tend to rotate at the command of their own free will and the result is that many of the notes end up having a 'plunk' quality (and that's if you can even get a sound out of them at all). Solution: stick on a Fender Mustang bridge. This one change will revolutionise your guitar and turn it from ugly duckling into beautiful swan.

Secondly, I'd recommend minimum .11 gauge strings. It will never stay in tune otherwise and generally that's what these tremolo bridge style guitars were built for. I seem to have finally settled on Thomastik JS111s which is an ultra-classy set of flatwounds - great for surf and rockabilly.

On the positive side, the action is great, arguably the best of any guitar I've ever played. The neck is a full, C-shape and funky as hell. Great for little soul licks and snarling riffs though I wouldn't recommend it for lengthy soloing excursions (why would anyone interested in that kind of playing be reading this, I wonder). And the vibrato system on these current Japanese Jags is much improved. No tuning instability and really great dipping effect too.

I've owned this for around 18 months and I went through a period of really loathing it. It takes time and research to figure out the flaws and the fixes. So to sum up, adjust the following:

1. Pickups
2. Bridge
3. Strings

And get a professional set up. Once these tasks have been accomplished, you will have an instrument that sings, baby! By far away it's my favorite in the Fender family. The tele is too tinny, the strat too mainstream, the Jazzmaster too mild. This is the tough-guy Fender, an axe that adds grunt to yer surf tones and chaos to your garage riffs. It does a pretty mean soul 'n' funk workout too. The retro vibe is awesome and it only takes about a week to figure out how to operate the switches.

Although it is a versatile instrument, I would say that this guitar will appeal primarily to those who want to capture a '60s Fender single coil vibe without the tedium associated with their more popular models. Popularity has pretty much killed the appeal of those instruments for me and what makes the Jaguar special is that, like a Danelectro or a Gretsch, it will always be an instrument for connoisseurs and not the average clod who cannot figure anything but the most obvious systems out.

Even with the mods, it still works out cheaper than the US version is almost identical and hence I'd have to say that this is fantastic value for money.

This is a review of a made in Japan Jaguar that I've been borrowing from a friend for the last few weeks. It is two tone sunburst with heavy flame pattern. I suspect this flame is fake, as this guitar dates to the time when Fender unfortunately used their photo-flame process to print seemingly amazing, but fake, wood grain directly onto their bodies. If I had to guess I would say the body is basswood.

This guitar has all the standard Jaguar features, except the bridge pickup has been replaced with a mini Seymour Duncan humbucker (not sure what kind), and mustang bridge saddles have been installed.

It has vintage style slotted tuners, which I usually like, but these are pieces of junk. If this were my guitar I would replace these tuners with real Klusons or at least decent reproductions immediately.

The neck is a little thin for my tastes, and the frets are tiny. On top of that I usually prefer maple fretboards, and this (and every other Jaguar I've ever seen) has rosewood. I like the short scale, but overall the neck is not really my cup of tea.

This guitar rates high in the number of features, but not so high on the actualy usability of those features. My favorite one on the guitar is the strangle switch.

I play in folk-rock band with lots of jamming. I play through a Rivera M60 1x12 combo, usually with only a clean booster and a tubescreamer for effects.

Ok, the best sound on the guitar is the neck pickup on the lead setting, with the strangle switch on. This is the sound of surf rock, and it's great for other stuff too. Without the strangle switch the neck gives an ok full Fender sound. It's not as round and well defined as a Strat neck sound, but still sounds fine and is usable. I can even get a very good jazz tone with the strangle switch on and the tone turned all the way down.

The Seymour Duncan humbucker sounds good too, if just a little too trebly. The pickup is not a smooth humbucker tone, but a little more harsh. It's kind of fun to go from happy surf tones to heavy riffs with the flick of a switch.

Everything I've said so far has concerned the lead settings. That is because I think the rhythm setting sounds terrible. Too bassy with a real lack of definition to the sound. Your playing just disappears. To be fair, the rhythm section on this guitar may not be wired as stock, so that might adversely affect the tone.

As I said before I suspect that the body of this guitar is basswood. I've owned a Japanese guitar with a basswood body before, and in my experience this wood has to be the worst for tone. You can get all the same sounds out of the guitar, they just aren't as full or lively. I never found a tone I loved from my last basswood guitar (even after changing pickups), and I haven't found any tone that I truly love on this Jag.

This is where this guitar really fails. It's one of the worst quality Japanese guitar I've ever seen. The tuners are crap, the switches are cheap as possible (one was broken when I first got the guitar, the internals of the switch had just fallen out), there are gaps between the control panels and the pickguard that are so big you can look down into the control cavities.

On the other hand, the action is nice, the frets are finished nicely and it plays nicely. The finish is well applied, even with the tacky fake flames. Still, this is a Fender product and I would expect them to get the hardware sorted out better.

A final good point for the Jag is that it has excellent electrical shielding. Each control cavity has a copper plate at the bottom and the pickguard has a copper plate on the underside, all connected to ground. This guitar is very quiet as far as hum is concerned.

Will this guitar withstand live playing? Yes.

Will this guitar be a pain in the butt to play live with? Yes.

It's a solid guitar, but it doesn't stay in tune well (those damn tuners) and the switching system is a joke (in my opinion).

I've been playing for 14 years with a strat as my main guitar for the last 9. I like the short scale of the Jag, as it can make some things more comfortable to play, but I'm not a big fan of some of the uniquely Jag features.

My dream Jaguar would have Strat pickups and switching, the Jag bridge with Mustang saddles, and a maple fretboard with medium jumbo frets. Unfortunately I doubt anything like this has ever been made by Fender, so I'm out of luck.

When it's stock, though, it just doesn't have the playability or variety and quality of sounds that I prefer. I wouldn't buy one for myself, and when my buddy asks for this one back I'll give it up without too much worry.

After playing this Japanese Jag for a while I can say this: it really makes you appreciate the solidness, sound and reliability of a good American Strat.

1965 Jaguar / US made / 22 frets / All original ( Nothing is modified or altered or replaced )

The exact same model as appears in the book " Electric guitars, the illustrated encyclopedia " / Page 73 ( The middle one with 3-color sunburst ) / Also appears in the same book ( Page 75 ) / Farthest right one in the Fender's 1965/66 catalog

An original hard-shell case included / An original guitar strap & wiping cloth included /

I played through a Musicman amp 112 RD with a foot switch. / Rich & bright sound created /

Guitar is in excellent condition / Everything was set up right by the previous owner. He bought it in 1965 and put it in the storage since 1975.

No rust visible. The body ( Wood ) is 99.9 % excellent since very tiny dings are visible.

Everything is durable and solid. I assume that this Fender Jaguar 1965 guitar will last another 30 to 40 years.

One of my associates is an excellent electrician. He can repair anything, therefore, I do not need any warranty. He has repaired some of my guitars in the past.

I have been playing guitar since 1965.

I was born in Tokyo, Japan. When I was a teenager, we copied the Ventures music from the US & the Shadows from the UK. My father bought me a Japanese electric guitar in 1966 and he paid $ 165. In those days, an university graduate's 1st month salary was $ 150. The Fender guitars were $ 2,000 to $ 2,500 since there was no import and export of US guitars. The Venture's model Mosrite was also $ 2,000 to $ 3,000.

I came to San Francisco, California in August, 1971 and started to look for a Fender Jaguar guitar. I found one but the paint was almost off and too many dings and dents were all over. The seller asked me $ 2,000 for that 1966 Jaguar guitar. I did not buy one since the condition was terrible.

We have over 30 electric guitars at home.

In my humble & one-sided opinion, the Fender Jaguar guitar is one of a few best guitars in the world. I wish I knew how to restore guitars. I know how to restore Japanese swords but I do not know how to restore guitars. I know that the Japanese swords are the best weapons in the world. So are the Jaguar guitars.

its a 62 reissue. made (not crafted) in japan in the late 80s. you know the features. a shit ton of switches. this thing was a pain to rewire. the shorter scale can be fun for finger stretching, but not especially good for high neck chording.

the sound is great, however the stock pickups are not. bridge pickup squeals horribly. if you replace the pickups or find alternate ways to use this effectively it is a very versatile insturment.

factory set ups are always bad, and the bridge is an atrocity as everyone already knows. ive heard the mustang saddles can help. i dont care much for the trem system, i lose tune when i use it. everyone says to use heavier strings and i agree. i generally use .11 on my other guitars but on this i use .12 or .13 gauges. i personally dont know what Leo was thinking on this one.

it is a fender and it really is a little tank, however if i were to choose a guitar to gig without a backup, this would probibally be my last choice. not because i am afraid it would break down, but more so because it has alot of problems with intonation and noise.

never dealt with fender, but only heard great things.

been playing for 8 years. i also own a custom strat and a 72 reissue thinline tele. next to those this guitar seems incredibly crude. there is a time and a place for the jaguar, and i appreciate it for that. i have a love - hate relationship with the jag, through all of its shortcommings i still love to rock this thing out as long as i can before something messes up. dont buy this as a starters guitar. you will know when you are ready.

I got a USA '62 Vintage Reissue in 3-tone sunburst. Alder
Neck Maple, ?C? Shape, and Nitro-Cellulose Lacquer Finish.The neck is Rosewood, 7.25? Radius (184 mm)and has 22 frets. Scale is 24".

You get the standard P/U switch and tone slide switches, and 2 Special Design American Vintage Jaguar Single- Coil Pickups (Neck & Bridge). Also comes with Vintage Style Floating Tremolo and
Fender/Gotoh Vintage machine heads. Chrome hardware (NICE) and 4-Ply Brown Shell pickguard. Unfortunately you also get the RUBBISH threaded bar style bridge saddles (more on that later). Got a hard case with it and after spending a grand I would have demanded it! But it comes as standard anyhoo

I play indie rock'n'roll and was looking for a different sound and to the usual suspects (this means you Strat and Les). I use a Marshall Bluesbreaker combo, Wasabi AO-1 OD, Crybaby Wah, Boss Phaser, Boss Flanger and Boss DD-6 delay.
THIS IS PERFECT FOR ME. You have to mess around a tad to get a sound you like but with the switching tone controls its worth the effort. Nothing sounds like a Jag so some my hate it. It's not super versatile like a Strat but the bright, sometimes twangy tones I get out of it suit my setup like a hand in a glove..thats been made specially for that hand..by a team of crack scientists in Poland....There are some (in my opinion) rubbish settings..like when the guitar gets too muddy and no definition, these pickups are at there best on higher frequencies. They are also weaker than what i was used to, but any excuse to crank the amp giving a sweet tone

ARGGGHHH...absolute rubbish..the shower of fecal matter that are the Jag style bridge saddles...sod Vintage they are just BAD..quick remedy though replaced the saddles (NOT THE WHOLE BRIDGE THAT IS JUST SILLY AND EXPENSIVE) with Mustang saddles (Part no: BP-2146-001 #18 from www.allparts.com or www.allparts.uk.com). DO NOT REPLACE THE WHOLE BRIDGE ITS JUST A RUSE TO GET MUSIC SHOP RETARDS THAT EXTRA SOMETHING FOR THEMSELVES. Other than that the guitar is flawless, superb action, excellent finish everything is SWEET..rating is 4 with the original saddles and 10 with the refit...its that important

This will never break in normal use..never its FENDER!! I'd never gig without a backup as a matter of course but IF i really had to...not a problem this beauty could withstand the flak..EASY

Not delat directly..used the website however...informative and easy

Been playing for about ten years now. I own a Yamaha Pacifica 112 and a Epiphone Les Paul Goldtop with a Seth Lover model P/U in the neck and '59 in the bridge. The Pauls ounds good but the Epiphone factory is obviously full of chimps who cannot make a guitar...wiring fails, tuning heads pop off..rubbish compared to my #180 Yamaha nad the Jag whoops them both.
Wish Fender would stop being sentimental and just replace the saddles maybe I'm crap but the guitar is infinity billion times better with the Mustang saddles. If it were lost or stolen I'd weep and weep some more..the Jag is essential to my setup and my music. I love everything about it...now. I didn't like the...well you know

My Jag is a '62 reissue made in Japan(shocker)I think its an '03 but I'm not sure. 22 frets short scale with a thin neck.It has all the regular controls, woods, a.d factory pickups.It's Red sparkle or glitter or something. It has the regular Jaguar bridge and saddles,which I hate.I'm going to put a Mustang bridge on it.It has Kluson tuners.I didn't get any accesories with it at all.They weren't even going to give me the trem arm, I had to ask.But I got a case at a different place.

I play punk/grunge/and everything from beatles zeppelin and plus I like to use a glass slide and the trem arm lots of distortion and make 30 minute noise/sound collages.I have a shitty crate right now but I'm gonna get a fender amp soon.It squels w/distortion but I'm gonna get seymore duncan hot for jag stacked humbuckers to fix that.Other than that it sounds good.

I got the action set-up the best I can until I get a professional set-up done.Other than needing a set-up(as most new guitars do) It's been great.

I think I might put straploks on it,but thats the only thing keeping me from beating the shit out of it completely.

Never tried CS.

I've been playing a few years and I've always wanted one, and with a few tweeks it'll be my dream guitar.If it were stolen I'd cry.This is the best guitar ever.For me at least.

Mine is a 90's Japanese Reissue. It is a nice off-white with a reddish tortoise shell pickguard. It's a great looking guitar.
The pick-ups are selected by the upper switch. Next to this toggle are two dials, one for volume, the other for tone. The bridge pickup features a knob for volume and another for tone, but can be further shaped by three switches. they are: on/off for neck pick-up, on/off for bridge pick-up, and a hi/low boost. You can shape the sound quite nicely with these, though it isn't incredibly practical. The fact that the bridge on/off switch is directly in the path of your strumming hand means that it's not uncommon to find your guitar turned off mid-song. It only has to happen a couple of times before you smarten up, though. I would hope.
22 frets, nice hardware, etc.
The Jaguar bridge is a joke, and I recommend replacing it with a Mustang bridge. It's a common mod, one that I wish I'd considered in the ten years I used the Jag bridge. The problem? Strings routinely pop out of place, and the saddles slip down (see more on this later).
The thin neck is great for playing, and takes nice heavy strings really well.

Wow, this is where one begins to run into trouble, almost immediately. The pick-ups that come with the guitar are, to be totally honest, shit. They will squeal at the slightest provacation, can't handle distortion, and the output is laughable. You'll find yourself turning up your amplifier by a fair amount to get a matching sound to your other guitars. And we all know how bad that can sound, especially with an unruly guitar given to fits of shrieking. Luckily, replacement pick-ups are easy enough to get, and do a remarkable job of fixing all of these problems. I used the Hotfor Jag by SD.
There is no sustain on this guitar, which can be very disappointing. However, the guitar has so many idiosyncratic qualities that you tend to accept it's shortcomings, and even begin to appreciate them. Sounds odd, I know.
Post-mods, I've used the Jag with all kinds of amps, and it always retains it's Jag sound. Any Jag owner can even begin to pick out the guitar on recordings. It's a very textured sound, you can hear the whole body and neck of the guitar, as well as the bridge. It has a brightness and cut that makes it unlike any other guitar. Except the Jazzmaster, of course.

How well was the guitar set up at the factory? I'm not even sure that it was. Here's the thing: you'd better buy a box of locktite or threadglue. The guitar is loaded with tiny screws that want nothing more than to collapse. Seriously, there's 14 in the bridge alone. Be sure that your tech knows this as he sets the guitar up--before you take it home. Or get the Mustang bridge.
The finish was flawless.

I played this guitar for years without any mods. It was an absolute horror to gig with, but I had no other option, so I made do. The aforementioned strings popping out of place, squealing feedback, and difficulty to set up/intonate made for some interesting moments. I learned to love the guitar regardless, but was relieved when I was able to afford my next guitar, the Guild S-100. I found I missed the Jag's unique sound, and with the mods (Mustang bridge, HotforJag p/u's, as well as trying heavy gauge strings-Recommended) I found that there was a beautiful guitar in that snarling mess. Who knew? It's now more reliable, durable, and I could gig without a back up, but why? Are guitars really that heavy? Bring two guitars if you have them, lazy.

Can't say I tried. What would they say? Sorry about the design? They've probably been saying that for 40+ years.

I love this guitar. If you are just starting, or are trying to select your number one guitar, the Jaguar isn't the wisest choice. There are more well-rounded guitars out there that have almost as much cut and tone. A Tele perhaps? But if you are after a truly unique guitar that will provide you with a lot of resentment and rage, but also a deep admiration, it's this one. It's like entering a relationship, no joke. Good luck. Oh, and be prepared to spend a chunk of cash fixing this guitar up.

Ok so my Jag is a Japanese '62 reissue. I guess it was made in the late '90s but it was second hand and I haven't checked out the serial number so I can't be sure.
22 frets short scale, all the usual controls (rhythm/lead circuit, dual volume and tone, alder body (although if you look closely at the graining it seems to have been made from two pieces glued together!!!)
Classic three-tone sunburst with red tortoiseshell stratchplate.
The standard floating trem (although the locking mechanism doesn't work). Kluson type tuners. Plastic nut. Blah blah blah.

The sound is pretty good and has a lot of flexibility. I also have a korean squier strat (my first guitar) which is a lot more brassy and has more bite. But the Jag's sound is quite delicate. Some of the pickup settings can be a little thin espectially compared to my Strat, the sustain is also a problem. I mostly play post-rock, shoegazing, etc, with a balance between quiet and loud. I play through a Marshall 80W combo (not valvestate sadly) with an effects loop containing a Boss DD-6 delay and a TC Electronic phaser (set to stun!). I can get some great sounds on it when turned right up. There was some terrible highpitched and uncontrollable feedback when I first got the guitar; I found the strings were too thin. Changed them for 10-gauge Slinkys and never looked back. Feedback is varied and controllable (although there is quite a lot of noise off the pickups when using a treble sound)

Factory set-up: can't comment. The action is great once you get the strings at the right height.
The bridge is a big problem (and I think contributes to the lack of sustain which a lot of people complain about.) There are two problems really: the 'screw-thread' saddles which do not hold the strings properly, even if you play really carefully, plus the 'floating' bridge does not stay still, which can put the guitar out of tune. If you play chunky damped chords at any point you NEED to put the side of your hand back against the bridge - this is pretty much impossible with the floating bridge. I fixed mine temporarily by enlarging the ideal position for each string on each saddle with a file, plus i lowered the bridge right down and used a couple of small coins to hold it rigid against the body. This does the job for now (although there is still some buzzing fron the bridge as the saddles move around sometimes, also the allen bolts in each saddle can loosen themselves (mostly happens with the low E) but I'm going to get the Mustang bridge saddles sent over from the US, plus a Buzz-Stop bridge attachment.
Other problems - the sliding volume and tone controls on the rhythm ciruit are a quite crackly with some dead spots. This is a shame as the guitar is not that old - I'll have to replace them at some point.
The tremolo arm that came with the guitar is too short, too. It seems shorter than the arms on vintage Jags I've seen, plus it's bent in a different place. I lengthened the arm that came with my Strat and I'm using that one at the moment until I get a replacement vintage arm.

I couldn't have used this guitar live until I fixed the problem with the bridge. It still needs some TLC, not like my Strat which I could beat hell out of without any problem. But it stays in tune pretty well. Strap buttons are very solid, couldn't understand the guy who said he had a factory new Jag where the strap buttons came out with some 'pink plaster' (body filler?) Nah - that's been (badly) repaired at some point. My Jag is definitely my #1 guitar, once I have the new bridge and saddles it'll be fine.

n/a (second hand guitar)

I've been playing for more than ten years before I got this guitar. I always wanted a Jag more than anything else (honestly mostly because of the look... they are just the coolest guitars ever made). I totally understand some people would buy Teles because they are solid, reliable guitars - but I would rather die than own one - they are ugly ugly ugly!! The problems with Jaguar bridges are well documented, it's not that difficult to fix, and once you do you have a versatile, playable, and above all cool-as-f*** guitar. Considering the price I paid for mine (about $400) I'm still over the moon about it. I love my Jaguar. If it were stolen or lost I'd cry. If I had the money I'd buy a pre-CBS '62/'63 vintage Jag to replace it... but I'd probably still have to replace the bridge saddles.

A good old japanese re issue jag, Stock pickups, vintage white with tortoise shell scratch plate. Purchased a few or a couple of years ago, im sure I put a review up for it when I got it but I can't find it anywhere, it was singing the guitars praises thats for sure. Anonymous at (02/23/2003 15:04 on the 62' reissue page) Reason for this review, I'm so pissed off with the thing, It basically does nothing well which I would refuse to admit back in my first review as I loved the thing. it could be just mine as everyone else seems to love theirs and have had success with them but I thought I'd share a few problems that appeared a little later after I had bought it. It has the usual jag type things, Annoying floating bridge, pointless tremalo lock that does aboslutely nothing. 2 single coils etc

It sounds alright clean, when distorted the sound is very gainy. Anyone who is getting one as Kurt Cobain had one and the guitar sound for Nirvana was so big be warned. Its not going to happen. Luckily seymore duncan do Hot for Jaguar, which are stacked humberkers to fit in the single coil slots so that can fix it if your like me and didn't want to cut up the guitar as It does look lovely. It is a cool sound for surf music or something twangy. I personally don't mind the sound of it as when clearn it has body and when distorted it gives off a good snarl wich is perfect for the kind of music I play, 60's stuff like kinks, beatles etc. I use a marshal DFX250 with a rat pedal or when recording a digitech valve pre amp plugged into amplitude valve amp simulator which does the trick nicely. For some reason the electrics have a bad connection so I have to turn the lower volume knob a bit to get it to stop crackling which is everytime I use it. The most annoying thing is that I really looked after the guitar and all this stuff just happened with nothing to instigate it. The thing just started to fall to pieces.

Yeah it was set up nice from the factory but as you will find out because the bridge was designed by small chimps after a while of playing the individual nuts come loose and vibrate, mine has lost several which I have had to replace and basically when you have to adjust it it has to be just right so as it says on websites it should only be adjusted by either someone who knows guitars very well or a tech. This happens so often its unbelievable, remember the sound you got from it when you first purchased it as this is the only time it will sound that good. The rest of the time it spends with you it will sound buzzy and horrible. sustain in nil! I've sat for hours tring to do the action, I almost had it at one pointbut whatever I tried the high E would not stay in tune down the fretboard. I've played guitar for many years and know how to set guitars up and know what I'm doing but this is just stupid.

Well this is where I rant more than ever. If you want to play this guitar live then you might as well take it to pieces, hit it and use it as percussion or alternatively if you like big endings to your gigs, this could be your throwing guitar, if you want get into contact with me and I'll throw it for you as I refuse to throw mine as I refuse to let that shit of a guitar get the best of me. I paid money for it and I'm going to sort it out! but back to the point, I was in a gigging band a couple of years ago, we played grunge/punk/rock so the music was kind of lively so much rocking out on stage was required. If you choose to rock out on stage with this be warned that there are many bad consequences. Floating bridge is the main problem. The strings sit in the threads of screws which aren't deep whatsoever so you might have only strummed the guitar twice and you would have knocked the strings down of up a couple of threads thus making the guitar out of tune. The first ever gig I played with it this happened after the first couple of bars of the first song. I just couldnt understand why everything sounded so nasty and then I looked down and realised. luckily if you realise quick enough you can just as easily put the strings back with your hand but really if this was a good guitar you shouldn't have to. Next is about the little flick switches, a cool part of the jag i think but somehow during gigging I've managed to knock 2 off, it didnt even take that much to do so, I wasn't beating the crap out of it just strumming quite fast. The strap nut at the bottom of the guitar also fell out after a while taking some of the pink plaster type stuff with it what ever that was, the hole that it screwed into just turned to dust. I was able to screw it in again though using a bigger, heavy duty screw which is much better than the original as it is stronger, wider and goes a bit deeper. I was gutted though as it made the guitar fall to the floor and ding the paintwork. If you use the tremalo arm, good luck cos if you so much as move an inch the thing will fall out. The guitar looks brilliant and has potential but if you want to get the most out of it you have to be willing to spend money on it, replace the bridge and pickups. As I can remember it was everything I wanted and expected the guitar to be when I first recieved it but this is very short lived so be warned.

If I had rang up customer support everytime I had a problem with it I would be on first name terms with them. Hell I'd probably be sending/recieving christmas and birthday cards to/from them. I might have built a great friendship and gone on holiday with them. Who knows.

Has potential but really fails to deliver. I'd love to give it a 10 but it just seems they had the opportunity to make a great guitar and completely blew it. Shame on you fender, shame on you. If it was stolen I would miss it for some reason as it was one of the things that people remembered about my band, the fact that I had a nice guitar (jags are very rare around here) and someday I hopefully will get it sorted out to make it the guitar it should have been. I think if I had known about the problems back then I still would have purchased it because it has character and is more than just a guitar, its an interesting thing to look at. I wish it didnt have the floating bridge, that is the source of a lot of it's problems really. If it was fixed, chances are this re-review wouldn't have happened. My advice to anyone who wants to buy one is that if you really want one then go for it as I probably would've kicked myself if I had turned down the offer later on. But remember that there is a high chance you will be having a lot of trouble with it later. I don't know, considering how angry i was with it at the beginning of this review I'm looking at it now, I just can't stay mad at it.

Mine is a CAR(candy apple red) MIJ(made in japan) built in (i believe) 2002. It has the standard Jag/Jazzmaster Dual-circuit wiring; a warmer rhythm circuit and a brighter punchier lead circuit. This means more tonal possibilities, but I've heard many people complain that with more wiring, there's more that can (and sometimes does) go wrong. But so far mine has been solid and faithful.

It's got two passive single-coil pickups with a serrated "keeper" or "claw" that is supposed to boost the mids and make it more punchy.

The stock Jaguar/Jazzmaster bridge is notorious for being unstable in tuning and intonation, though I've had guitar techs swear that they just need to be set up right and that they are among Fender's finer bridge/trem designs. I don't agree. A common upgrade for these guitars is to put a Mustang bridge in place of the stock one. (the mustang saddles have a single string slot, whereas the stock bridge has several slots that the string can undesirably slide around in.) I bought my Jag partly because it already had this mod done. Although the radius is supposed to be diiferent and that's supposed to affect intonation and whatnot, again, mine is aces. I've had no problems. They do sell Mustang saddles with adjustment screws to counteract this if it's a problem.

Here are the official specs:

Fender Jaguar-

Body: Alder
Neck: Maple (7.25"/184 mm)
Machine Heads: Vintage Style
Fingerboard: Rosewood
No. of Frets: 22 Vintage Style
Pickups: 2 Single Coil
Controls: "Lead" Circuit, Volume, Tone, "Rhythm" Circuit, Volume, Tone, Circuit Selector Switch

Bridge/Tremolo: Floating Tremolo with "Tremolo-Lock"
Pickup Switching: Lead/Rhythm Slide Switch, Bass Cut Slide Switch
Pickguard: Brown Shell
Scale Length: 24" (609 mm)
Neck Width @ Nut: 1.625" (41.2 mm)

One of the main selling points for this particular model of guitar for me was the unique tremelo. It has a long arm that makes for smoother vibratos than many other trems. I like/play a variety of different styles of music, but I bought this one with Shoegazer Pop in mind. You can hold the trem arm in your hand while you strum and occasionally dive the bar down creating a warpped tape sound that, by itself or under a mountain of fuzz, reverb/delay, and modulation, makes for unique and psychedelic sound not easily duplicated with another guitar. (see My Bloody Valentine)

Lately I've been running it into a Boss GE-7 EQ into a Danelectro BLT Slap Echo into a Boss DS-1 Distortion into a Boss DD-5 Digital Delay into a 70's Fender Vibrolux(silverface) tube combo. Sometimes I put a reverb in front of the distortion to get that grainy ominuous soaring crunch when playing single notes. (see Godspeed You! Black Emperor)

These pickups definitely have their pros and cons. Pros: middy, punch, bright sound that cut through the mix and gives you a nice chimey plucky tone. Cons: they are noisy. I love feedback, but these often squeal and give your eyes an unhealthy shot of unapplealing banshee scream if you stop playing while running through a high gain signal path. This can be rather frustrating. Seymour Duncun sells replacements that are a bit hotter and less noisy. I've been researching putting SD Quarter Pounder in the bridge, but wired in such a way so as to get the same hum-canceling you do on a strat in the 2 and 4 positions (the in-between settings). I think it can be done relatively easily.

The sound, especially when strummed clean, can be very surf-rock. If you're looking for the warmth and richness of a strat in the neck position, You're probably not going to get quite that sound. But these(or at least the neck position) have a charm and character all their own while still being very Fender.

These guitars are notorious for being set up poorly and loosing intonation and tone fast. Mine has been a complete exeption. I have no electrical qualms, the thing holds a tune rather well, and is as intonated as a guitar not in the hands of a tech will be. (see above for bridge issues)

The scale is a little smaller than that of the Jazzmaster, making it a bit faster. To tell you the truth, although I'm all about the baseball-bat-sized-neck, I don't really notice a huge difference. But i don't shred at all, so maybe the difference is huge to someone who plays leads exclusively.

Not that I care all that much about the finish, but it's nice. This is a pretty guitar. All the extra chrome plates and whatnot, shiny red finish... I get a lot of compliments. But I am a sucker for Fender finishes. (as long as it's not a squire) I had originally wanted a Jag to modify to the hilt, but this thing is so pretty I'm afraid to mess with it.

I don't know if I'd gig without a backup. So far, it's been great, but I'm always a little leery of all the wiring.

Three of my friends own Jags, and they've all had problems. Two with wiring, one with the bridge/intonation. But maybe they don't have my skills for finding a killer guitar at a great price? Mine has been used as a backup more than once.

I guess you sacrifice reliability for versitility. I'll always carry a strat as a back up, but I could never get the sounds out a strat that I can with this.

Bought it used. N/A

I've been playing for about ten years. For guitar stuff, I have a Mexi Strat, a Crate GX-60C solid state combo, a Fender Vibrolux Tube combo, and a host of pedals and effects. If it were lost or stolen, I'd be a very sad boy. Until I bought another one. Only, with locking Kluson tuners. And a Jazzmaster pickup routered into the bridge. And a microphonic pickup behind the bridge (as the strings are stretched about four inches from the bridge to the trem. ideal for those ethereal higher pitched filler noises.(see Sonic Youth)). And possibly a graphite nut. Maybe.


I compared this to a Strat and a Jazzmaster. The strat is a bit smoother, but less bright and middy, has a bigger scale and all around a simpler guitar. The jazzmatser is smoother as well, but has a bit less output. It also has a bigger scale. Beyond that, the Jag and Jazzmaster are virtually the same.

I Love this guitar. I can't say anything about other's Jags, but I give my own a 8.999.

1997 Jap, white with red immitation tortoise shell plate, rosewood fingerboard. Purchased as standard, u know the one?.?? i have since fitted two seymour dunc quarter pounders, a good quality tune-o-matic saddlepiece with individual string height adjustment and a bone nut. And of course schaller stap locks. Threaded with XL 11's.

Following my recent purchase of Sonic youth's latest album 'Nurse' i have embarked upon a nostalgic voyage of reokjn bollox.......!
simply a hugely diverse instrument in the hands of somone who has the patience and creative intuition to tame the beast.
Boss turbo overdrive, Boss srv 30/30 digi reverb, Tl audio valve compressor, cry baby, Boss super chourus (stereo to two ac 30's), rotovibe.

Factory set up rubbish as usual when u buy Fender in UK.
Crappy christmas cracker style saddle piece can be easily changed, check out all parts.com (somthing with 2 1/6" E to E spacing)plug and re-drill.
Fit some tighter springs to the trem or block it up all together with maple, the floating trem thing is essentialy a rickety piece of shit. (rating judged after mods)

mine has been on tour twice and it still works ( hiscox lite-flite recomended). Obtained loads of dings and scratches but nothing has snapped off it yet, why buy a custom shop relic when u can make youre own?

Think i might send it back to Arbiter UK and say 'the paint is chipped'.

I would'nt play anything else.

Fender's Reissure 62' Jaguar has the fastest neck ive ever played.Thin but not as thin as a mustang neck for leading playing as well as chiming chords.Features include slide switches and dual circuit pickup combinations, which can seem complicated at first.Researching this guitar years ebfore buying one,i was fully aware of its advangates and drawbacks,mainly being the bridge. Initial buzzing and tuning problems were fixed with a mustang bridge,which changes the tone into a more mellow mustang sound. Being the USA Reissue,this guitar came with a very nice vintage style case.

Fender went to great lengths to make this guitar quiet,icluding metal pickup claws and metal shielding taped underneath the pickguard.While this guitar's stock pickups offer a great clean sound,under moderate to heavy distortion they can produce alot of hum.Very bright on bridge settings,and somewhat dark on most neck settings.Both pickups together produce a nice combination of both sound qualities. I later replaced the stock pickups with fender gold lace sensors for a more bassy strat/mustang sound and lower noise.Perfect for Clapton/Henrix styles under tube distortion. (Mesa Triple Rectifier)

TThe neck pickup selector shorted out after some time with heavy usage.I assume this is a factory defect.Switch was replaced with little hassle or cost.Guitar fretted out at the higher registers as buzzed at the low E string.

Ive mostly owned humbucker equipped guitars up untill now,all being medium to high output.This guitar is nice for strat players looking for something a little different or a humbucker lover looking to change their sound dramatically. Wanting this guitar for years now i can say i am satisfied with it. In a sense,a dream come true.

My Jaguar was purchased in 2004. Made in Japan ... some kind of reissue I guess. All the same features as described in other reviews.

The tone of this guitar was a major disappointment. Although it is the "coolest looking" guitar in my collection of 27, it had one of the worst sounds. The pickups sounded muddy and even after they were replaced by Seymour Duncan "Hot Jaguar" pups, the sound was still only OK. Usually SD's make a guitar scream, but not this one. The rest of the sound problem was in the bridge. The Jaguar bridge is a MAJOR ENGINEERING FLUB. The bridge wobbles to accommodate the tremelo, but it is a guarantee for being out of tune. Adjusting intonation is a nightmare. The saddles also wobble, thus further throwing the guitar out of tune and out of intonation. Finally, the strings lie on an adjustment hole which kills sustain. I am purchasing a replacement bridge from Stew-Mac in hopes this will cure the problems. Does anyone out there have any ideas that could help me??? Coming from a country (Japan) with such incredible engineering capabilities, the Jaguar saddle will go down in history as one of the most ill-conceived devices ever designed.

Other aspects of sound from this guitar are pretty unique. It has more switches and dials than a 747. I still haven't figured them out fully, but I suppose it's possible. This is another case of extreme over-engineering. The hardware looks cool, but it isn't easy to use.

Factory set-up was totally inadequate, probably for the reasons enumerated before. I don't this the factory was any more capable of dealing with the bridge problem than I and my luthier were. In addition to the bridge problems, the tremelo was also set up poorly. I had to bend the tremelo arm so there was enough play to actually drop the pitch enough to make the tremelo useful. As previously noted, use of the tremelo is almost guaranteed to put the guitar out of tune.

The rest of the guitar bore excellent Japanese-level quality. Paint, finish, frets, etc. were flawless. The tuners seem to work well.

I'm a play at home person, so I can't comment on how this guitar would hold up on the road. Until the bridge problems are solved, it's a mute point anyway, because the guitar won't sound good and is likely to be out of tune anyway. I can't imagine a professional picker using this instrument for live or studio work. It is more a museum piece of an era gone by, not meant to be played. The quality of the wood, neck, tuners, etc. is otherwise excellent, so I suppose I'll have to give a middle score for this measurement.

How is Fender going to help with a guitar bridge they mis-designed in the first place. Absolutely shameful in a guitar with a list price of over $1,000.

I've a guitar "hobbyist" whose been playing over 40 years, but have never past an intermediate level of skill. I own 27 guitars ranging from a Gibson T2000 to a Lyon Strat copy. I've got 6 Alvarez, 3 Fender Teles, 2 Strats, 3 Dillions, 2 Agiles, 3 SX's, and others. I think my wife will kill me if I buy any more. With all of these guitars I've never had as much frustration as I've had with this Jaguar...so If it were lost or stolen I sure wouldn't be rushing to the store to relive this nightmare. It LOOKS really cool hanging on the wall ... otherwise, FORGET IT!!!

Ok its a japan reissue from 98, ive had it since nearly new.I learnt to play on fake strats etc and a jag was my wet dream since i was a sonic youth obsessed gimp.With the arrival of 98, i had a steady job(more than 3 days) and decided it will be mine. SO i went to a shop and bought one after 3 hours of playing for 430 pounds.I was more chuft than i ever could be for a week, then the tingly little flaws that id been ignoring became more obvious.I had to change these or i would grow to kill my hard on.So i got to work, i changed the bridge for a mustang bridge i took of my jagstang, i filed it down a little so the strings werent going anywhere, it looked just as authentic and did the trick.Then there was the whammi bar.That was irritating, the magnets are nowhere near strong enough so i wondered what all those other jag monkeys did to prevent picking it up every 30 seconds, i smothered the heel of the bar in sellotape then peeled it off and stuffed the bar in. It goes round well and doesnt come out witohut a good tug.I have to admit thats really crap but what else what i to do, advice appreciated.Apart from painting a picture of betty boop on the back heel of it i havent changed anything else.Its sunburst and plays with gauge elevens.I used to argue tens were better for this guitar but i grew to love the low end sound it blasted through with elevens.The electronics and pickups are fine, the necks a dream, and as a standard sunburst jag it basically looks great.As a japanese reissue it has proven far better than any japanese strats or telecaster reissues i have strummed, and it and a silverface fender twin seem to go like bread and butter,and electro harmonix inbetween does the trick.

The clean sound is brilliant,amazing, perhaps the best ive ever heard,a fender amp goes well with this fender guitar, i dont think it needs all these pickup changes, you can get all the sounds you want from it and if you cant then change your equipment.Apart from harmonic ease i guess.The sustain issue that some see in distorsion can be sorted by a big muff or other pedals with sustainers.

change the bridge as they can rattle like hell, but with a mustang bridge its, as smooth as a proffesinal strat,harmonics,upper fret access all seems to be too good, the finish is just too good, though quite chipped now,in places.Removal of too much beer and arrival of better strap locks are helping this.

I dont think ive ever dropped a guitar as much, as the possibly clumsiest guitarist in scotland,ive gave her hell.I play it everyday for a long time and it hasnt needed anything changed. Thats pretty reliable and durable.

The shop wouldnt help me if they had a gun to their heads, though i havent needed anything from them yet.

Its just good ok, better than most japanese reissues for sure, i dont have a big wallet so havent had the chance to play other good guitars for years but i know this one will be remembered.Ive bought other axes like my mustang or les paul custom replica and lets say they dont really compare, so theres a challenge.

Bought me '64 tri-colour sunburst "Maria" back in May of '79. Had taken an Ibanez Les Paul Custom copy into photo class for a portrait session. Instructor told me he had a '63 Jag for sale, if interested, for $200. 'Twas me best-ever I.R.S. refund purchase(asidem: when it arrived, with hardshell carrying case no-less, there were several spots in the black paint which were starting to flake; "aw man, it's nicked" this hipster complained, so he offered to drop the price to $150; "nope, we agreed on $200 & that's what I'm paying"). Inside the orange-felt-lined case was a short mono chord, a leather capo, & a "Jazzmaster" instruction manual(which still has the allen-screw wrench string height adjustment attached). Alder body, 4-bolt L-series maple neck with rosewood fingerboard & gold-coloured clay dots, 22-fret short scale, tortoise-shell pick-guard, stock threaded saddles over patent-pending floating tremolo with sliding lock, "custom offset body" is mentioned on oversized peghead with transitional lettering, stock Kluson tuners, which are a pain to re-string, but stay fairly-well in tune dispite heavy-handed abuse, & petrified rubber mute. Stock single-coil pickups were slider actuated, & one had April 9, 1964 stenciled on its' side. Frets are still stock, but are starting to get ground down! Was told Maria was stock when purchased.

Bypassed the volume-n-tone controls as they were more hassle than help. Replaced the stock output jack with 1/4" Ratio Shaq stereo jack. Direct-wired the stock pickups for stereo access via slider activation, with mono humbucking configuration available when series connected. 'Twas ok, but still sonically lacking. In 1990, replaced the stock plastic nut with brass for better sustain-n-tonality. Wanted to replace the stock pickups with those much lauded Seymour Duncan quarter pounders. "No you don't", my tech advised. "For your style of playing(open chord blues-n-rock)you'll be happier with Dimarzio HS-3s". Right he was! Via slider manipulation, each pickup can individually go from single coil configuration to stacked humbucker, as well as out-of-phase. In single coil mode, it's retro-Fender kewell; in humbucking, there's that stock Jag chunk-o-plank skank! You can even have one pickup in single-coil mode & the other humbucked, along with that out-of-phase option, for a truly individual tonal palate of expression! Unleashed from the stock tone-n-volume control limitations, Maria can caress or growl or singe or soar when need be! She has no problem rockin' along with Bowie's Ziggy-n-Alladin Sane-era mania, or gently weeping comfortably in a blues vein! One hipster, humbled to be playing a "real" vintage axe after several years living with an '80's-era Strat, said playing Maria "...was like driving a '54 Corvette"! Amplification is via a modded Sherwood S-7100A, which can go from retro-Fender Santa Ana sparkle to faux-Marshall sonic sledgehammer, depending on where the bass tone control is positioned. A modded outboard '80s-era Realistic mike mixer helps those 2x12" cabbed Celestion Vintage 30s roar, along with an out-of-phase wired Celestion G10T-75CE for added overdrive(although it might eventually be replaced by an Eminence Ragin' Cajun). Whilst compilin' this article, noticed that Maria picked up stray computer hum in single-coil mode. Humbucking mode, however, silenced that interference!

Since Maria was purchased used, had to adjust her to me preferences. Action is now low-n-fast! As previously mentioned, Maria was compared to a '54 Corvette in performance! The fingerboard HS-3 pickup has a black-coloured housing, & the bridge pickup's is red; so Maria is more colour-coordinated with her still-stock sunburst finish than the stock white pickup housings were. Beside the aforementioned flakes in the black finish, there are two screw holes on the alder body's backside from over-zealous replacement pickup installment! There are also a few solder bubbles left over from those pickup installments, also.

Maria could definitely withstand gigging, as she has in the pre-Cobain daze! Nowadaze, though, she'd be preyed upon by any number of five-finger-discount Freddies! Maria is a studio-bound tone-mistress & stays home with daddy! Stock strap supports were replaced with black Shaller strap locks for convenience & added colour coordination. Since Maria has survived a quarter-century of her 4-plus decade life @ this hipster's heavy-handidness, her durability is testament to Leo Fender's Santa Ana factory craftsfolk!

Fenders were designed to be mod friendly, & still take the abuse unruly gigs could heap upon them! But a Fender tech would probably shake his head @ Maria's blasphemous modifications!

Have been playing for a quarter-century, for thereputic reasons mostly! Have a '76 Ibanez Les Paul Custom copy, along with a mod project 50th anniversary Squier strat. Having nearly lost Maria on several occasions back in da stoned age, would hunt down whoever stole her & give them a pedal suppository! Maria is harmonic heaven! ... In Guitar magazine's 1989-90's Buyer's Guide, Dan Forte & Teisco Del Rey quoted, in their "Bull Market" article on the burgeoning vintage guitar market, this postulation by Skip Henderson of Brunswick, New Jersey's City Lights Music: "I'd say Jazzmasters will increase(in collectability & value); Jaguars I don't know - simply because the playability & sound aren't there, & they've got the shorter-scale neck. For $550 for a Jaguar, even in a custom color, people would rather buy a new Strat. But it's the same old story; if Jimi Hendrix had played a Magnatone ... if one guitar hero plays a Jaguar, or whatever, it'll all change". Less than 5 years later, Kurt Cobain & Jaguar were joined @ the hip! For others, Jaguars will always be asociated with Roebuck "Pops" Staples!!!

features were standard as any other jaguar, all these dials and switches which i guess at the time fender made it were considered somehow "modern" and therefore exciting. It was made in japan. it had an awful bridge and i'll get to that later

we used this with a couple amps, namely my fender deluxe 112 and also some awful crate - which, by the way, made a wonderfully chunky, destroyed sound because the jaguar's signal was too loud. the sound of this jaguar was actually really good, a great guitar sound, full bodied-and rich.

here's where things start sucking. i don't know what happened to this guitar but the strings would have absolutely no sustain above the 7th fret. my friend who owned this guitar always claimed he was going to replace it with a mustang bridge and thus solve the problem (never did, that deadbeat) and so this guitar pretty much stayed sucky and unplayable for any practical use.

this guitar has potential but right now it's shit. all it needs is for the bridge to be fixed, but until then...yeah.

1997 "Crafted In Japan" Stock everything, you know what it's got and that's what's it's got. It's white with the dark pickguard. I'm told the "Crafted In Japan" Jag's are something special, but hell, who knows! Either way, I love the guitar. The Kluson tuners on this thing are great and I would never consider changing them at all, nor would I ever change the pickups.

This thing is perfect for the style of music I play which is everything from 60's psychedelia to 90' grunge. I love how it sounds with my Big Muff pedal and Hendrix Wah. It's actually my backup guitar but it's gets used damned near as much as my Mexican Strat. The tone configurations I get with the switching is outstanding for my playing style as well and I would never change the pickups in this guitar.

I bought this guitar from an ebay auction and when I got it in, I was impressed with how well the action was and how great it played but I was a little upset over the fact that the guitar is 'reliced' pretty bad to be just a 97' model. I was aware of the fact it had a few dings and whatnot but hell, this thing looked like it fell out of a pickup truck going down a gravel road! Butnow, I FUCKING LOVE IT!! I don't have to worry about dinging it up or it falling over and it's already had a few bumps due to this attitude and the bastard stays in perfect tune!

As I mentioned, it stays in tune even when banged and bumped, I jack the hell out of the whammy bar and it still plays perfectly unaffected. It's sound is out of this world and I could depend on it in a heartbeat. As far as the strap buttons go, I can't tell you a damned thing about em' I put Schaller strap locks on ALL of my guitars.

I've been playing for over Ten years and besides this guitar, I own 2 Mexican Strats, a 96' Jagstang, a 60' Musicmaster, a homemade Strat made of a Mighty Mite Strat body, a Mighty Mite neck and all Fender hardware and Dimarzio pickups. Out of all of my guitars, this jaguar is my number 2.

us reissue...natural finish including tolex case and some 60s style strap and lead!! If it wasnt brand new and mint I would be fooled into thinking it was an original and I know my guitars. Features..well its a jag..thats what it is.

retro sounding...very cutting in the mix a bit like the bridge pickup on a tele but can also roll off to some jazzy tones if need be. A lot of room for experimentation...its not a one sound type of guitar but it makes some noises that i just couldnt get with any other.Tremlo sounds great with lots of atmosphere. I think you have to adapt your style to it ...its not a guitar that you can just thrash around on ...needs to be treated like a woman and if you treat it right it responds in kind.It suprised me how blusey this thing can get...real blusey but i cant recall it ever being used much in that field.
Personaly i play just about everything depending on my mood swing but i draw the line at punk or country and western!! Im presently in my robert smith meets the cocteaus with some bunnymen thrown in phase at the moment.

erm...well the setup is pretty bad. So why did I buy a new guitar thats basically buzzing more than any other guitar in the shop and needs a little retune everytime i pick it up? Well im sure that i can slap some heavier strings on it and set it up a lot better than it is at the moment but the thing about this jag is that i just dont care...let it buzz a bit...its all part of the charm....if say my lp tele or musicman develop the slightest hint of buzz then i go insane but this is a totally different animal and thats why i have it...good therapy.

seems solid enough and they do seem to stand the test of time. All this taking a backup along bit isnt exactly rock and roll...break a string...well change it...lets face it how many people here play in front of somone who cant wait a minute while you change a string and if anything else goes wrong ..well the guitar is probably just crap or badly maintained. The finish is superb by the way and looks like it will survive ..the bridge may not take a lot of abuse but then i dont trash my guitars.

no idea

well ive been playin 25 years and own lots of really good guitars. This jag inspires me to write music that i wouldnt dream of doing otherwise...very haunting and atmospheric..a real vibe...i used to think they looked cheesy...but now i love the look..the feel..very well made. If this was to be my only guitar then i probably might have gone for the jazzmaster but since thats not the case im totally content. Obviously technology has come a long way since this guitar was designed but its those dated design features that give it a very unique sound, tone and feel.

I just picked up this American Made '62 Jaguar Reissue. I'm not sure what year it was made, but I'm guessing 2003. I won't go into the spec's, as it has been stated before.

I find that this reissued Jag has great tone throughout the range of combinations of settings (and there are many). The brights are surfy and the rhythm settings are rich and full.

Factory setup was less than desirable, intonation was way off, and action was set to "cheese-cutter". Pickups seemed to be adjusted o.k.

I havent banged on it enough at this time, but it seems to be solid enough for my style of play (classic rock/blues) to use on a gig without a back up.

Comes with the typical "lifetime" warranty, though I'm not sure who or what's lifetime this refers to.... No warranty issues yet . . .

I bought this guitar because I had the pleasure of playing a Vintage '64 (on loan from my bro in law). Once I determined that the price of an Original Vintage Jag was out of my range ($2000 US minimum), I checked out the Reissue and found it to be very worthy at about half the price.

I have a jap jag i bought as a senior in high school based on looks alone. it remained the same candy-apple red, thin-sounding guitar I had bought in 1990 until 6 years later, when i stripped the finish on the body. It still had the same thin sound and intolerble intonation problems/bridge problems. It remained largely unplayed until it's next round of changes last summer. I put a Gibson tune-o-matic bridge on it (it fits into the existing holes with a little reaming) and a roller on the tremolo plate(to increase the angle of the strings to the tailpiece). I disabled the trem(you can unscrew the stud and flip the button to do this. I tore out ALL the electrics(pu's, switches, knobs etc.) and chucked in 1 Gibson P90 at the bridge. A toggle switch turns it off and on. A volume pot is the only other control on the guitar.

It now sounds meaty beaty big and bouncy. The lightweight poplar body has little sustain, but the p90 growls and screeches and plonks away. and hums. I have turned this guitar into a punk rock monster...

The factory set up was pitiful. I always assumed i was a bad guitar player, but it was all the guitar's fault. It looks strange now...the toggle sticks out of the rhythm/lead switch hole; the 3 lead channel switch plate has empty holes in it as does the rhythm volume/tone plate;the neck pickup is gone...in it's place is just the cover. It's slathered down with a gloopy coat of baby blue rustoleum spraypaint, which is weathering quite nicely.

My mods have turned this overchromed tinny piece of chintz into an indestructible road monster. Toured in Belgium, Netherlands and up and down the east coast with no probs. It used to go out of tune and tone...not to mention the butcher job the old selector switches used to do on my knuckles. I've yet to break a string on it...of course I do use a set of 11s...

I've been playing guitar for over 15 years. I have a tele ('81) and a les paul (also '81). I find myself drawn to fenders after my les paul's neck cracked on a flight to europe. but the fender pickups are crap. A tele is a tele and a strat is a strat...you can't mess with that. But the less popular fender pickups are awful.
I plat through a hiwatt lead 50r w/4x12 halfstack cab. With the monster jag, I am unstoppable. I would do the same conversion to a crappy strat if i lost this guitar...the jags lines are just a bit fussy...there's a lot to get tired of...

Brand New (probably made in '03) "Crafted in Japan" Jaguar as sold in Musicians Friend. Not really considered a "reissue" I don't believe- some difference from a true reissue such as no mute device on bridge. I believe that the wiring and switching is the same but this is my first Jaguar so I'm only guessing. Alder body is very lightweight with a beautiful Candy Apple Red finish. Smallish neck and short scale works well for someone like me with "tiny paws" as Angus would say. Typical Jaguar/Jazzmaster tremelo- kind of clanky but works well for the surf music/instrumental stuff that the guitar was bought for. I give it a 9 assuming that the person who buys a Jaguar pretty much knows what they're getting and isn't looking to play Slayer tunes on it.

Like I said, this is my first Jaguar and I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of tones available with the somewhat complex switching system. But again, I am playing surf/instrumental music- the tones range from trebly to somewhat less trebly which is perfect for me. It's fun to monkey with the all the switches and sliders, hook it up to a POD and you can tweak all day. It's very easy to get the kind of sound I am looking for, and it even sounds good distorted. I tend to like a more focused, crunchy type of distorted sound rather than sludgy, nu-metal grind. Should I replace the Japanese pickups with Americans? Who knows- I'm pretty happy with what is in there right now. Should I throw in a Dimarzio humbucker? No- buy a Jagstang or a Warlock if that's what you're looking for. It gets a little weird hearing people buy one kind of guitar and then try to turn it into another kind of guitar. It's not that hard to determine the best kind of guitar for metal, country, blues etc.

Beautiful finish, well executed. I can find no flaws in the fit or finish. There is some sharpness in the frets- I'm going to let it aclimate to it's new surroundings for a little while before I decide if I want to dress the fret ends or not. As far as action goes, right off the bat I removed the 10's (?) that came with it and, after tightening the truss rod a bit, put on on flatwound 11's. So far the action has stayed good (not too high or low) and as yet I haven't had any of the buzzing problems that I have read in other reviews. We'll see what happens in time and after some playing. I can see where people who really play hard would have trouble with strings moving on the saddles, so far it's not been a problem for me. Maybe the 11's help hold things down a little better. I rate this category an eight, my only slight gripe would be the fret ends.

For me reliability/durability is not really an issue. My surf band "The Double Naught Spies" broke up years ago so now my only audience is the occasional cricket in the basement. Overall, this guitar seems as sturdy as any of the many Fenders I have owned over the years. These things are built for playing and with reasonable care and maintenance they should last for many years. And if something breaks, I can usually fix it myself...and I ain't no genius!

I've never had to deal with Fender. I believe it comes with a limited one-year warranty.

I have been playing for about 7 years now and have had up to 13 guitars at any one time - Gibson, Rics, Gretsches. But I always come back to Fenders for the vibe, the sound and the value. To me Fenders are America's guitars- workman like, not too fussy, and they can get cranked up when the time is right. Wherever you are Leo, God bless ya. You gave a technically challenged screwball like me the opportunity to play and for that I thank you. And kudos to Bill Schultz for rescuing the company. If only Gibson could get the right management team ( $16K for a Jimmy Page Les Paul ???). My overall impression is that for this kind of money I got one heck of a fun guitar that does everything I would ever ask it to. What else can you ask for? Now go hit the waves!

My Jaguar is a 1962 vintage sunburst its American made. I bought it used but its in great condition i think their is like one small ding on the back of it, its body is made of alder, and it still has all its original parts and it also included a Fender gig bag.

This guitar is awesome! its not a great guitar for metal heads but it suits my style great, I have an all girl grunge band and it really sounds awesome, if you like to play modern rock and other stuff like that this guitar is great for you!

The setup on this guitar is pretty good but it gets out of tune pretty easily but i didnt change the bridge i want to keep all of its origianl parts, other than the bridge this guitars setup is great.

this guitar plays very good live, ive done a few small concerts with it and it played good, the hardware will last a life time! i deffinatley give this a 10!

I give the overall rating a 10, this guitar has it all!

Well, no need to explain this again, up to 6 different tone selections possible on the jag so its very versatile...

its a 63 sunburst jag, all stock exept for the brige pickup, i changed this to the Quarter pound for jag from seymour duncan because i needed a little bit more gain and punch for my band (modern rock cover band)
i know this is almost blasfemi butt i saved the orgininal pickup and im defenitly not selling it.
the neck is in good shape, lots of wear and tear butt no bumps or dents....

the body is also in good condition, some ugly places on the back like someone poked it with a screwdriver or something...

with the quarterpund pickup it sounds more like my style, a little bit more gain and response.. nive warm sounding overdrive and also better on the higer gain settings...

40 years old... what can i say, i dont want to adjust to much on it because im scared im going to damage something...

40 years of well use and its still in good shape... fender is defenitly the best !

never used them

cool nice guitar with a lott of emotional bagage... rocks like a bitch and sounds like a satisfied woman !

rock on !

1965 pre-CBS L Plate the neck is stamped 1 APR 65 B (the 1 is for Jaguar ..APR 65 is the neck date [duh! lol] and the letter B denotes the standard 1.675" nut width) solid alder body , 22 fret maple neck with rosewood fingerboard, sunburst finish with tortoise shell pick guard. klutson tuners .. everything on this guitar appears to be original with the exception of one pickguard screw and the bridge cover is missing if the guitar is supposed to have one... the guitar also came with the original case

I'm very impressed with the tone of this guitar. The pickups are relatively quiet for an old Fender guitar and the tone is a warm rich tone with a bit of brightness on the high strings but not too sharp such as the tone of the bridge pickup on a strat.. I'm playing this guitar through a Fender Blues Jr tube amp. Good guitar for early style rock and roll and some blues and rockabilly

this guitar is over 38 years old so I can't comment on the factory setup but the guitar has held up very well over the years...the finish is well worn in the proper places from many hours of playing time yet the hardware is still all fully functional... tuners work great ..the bridge saddles are still functional... the the 1/4 phone jack is a bit noisy however..wiggling the guitar cord at the jack creates some static and sometimes cuts out... I believe a little cleaning will help ... the action is light and personally I prefer a longer scale length or maybe a slightly wider neck width but my options are very limited when it comes to vintage equipment ... my opinion is that Fender never put the greatest finish on their guitar bodies and that is why so many of them were "refinished" over the years

Reliability and durability is excellent judging from the condition of this 38 year old guitar and the evidence of extensive playing time... the hardware has withstood the tests of time.. the finish is well worn in the proper places.. I haven't owned this guitar long enough to comment on live playing but I used the tremolo bar a few times and the guitar did not go out of tune... the bridge on the jaguar doesn't have the best reputation but I don't predict any problems in this area

the guitar is 38 years old so I supect that the warranty has long been expired

I've been playing on and off for 30+ years ..I also own a stratocaster, BC Rich Bich and a Les Paul ... what I like most about this guitar is it's tone... the tone is great yet completely different than any of my other guitars... my main dislike is the narrow nut width in combination with the very short scale length is more suitable to someone with a smaller hand than I have. I findit alittle difficult to play the faster riffs on this guitar but if I wnat to "shred", I have other guitars taht are designed for that style of playing. My main reason for purchasing this guitar is that I wanted an orginal pre-CBS Fender guitar and also a guitar that is different than the ones I allready own.

it was made in 1967 in the USA, 22 frets, the usual jaguar controls, the mute, original tuners, jag pickups, sunburst finish...basically the same thing as Graham Coxon's 67 Jaguar, but another one in better condition...

It gets a bit noisy at times, but overall the sound is great...so so awesome...

Everything is Superb on the guitar. The switches are functional, there are a couple of dings, but everything is out of sight...definitely killer for a 36 year old instrument...

the finish is IMMACULATE, as is the sound. It buzzes like nobodys business and has some feedback, but overall, the guitar stays true to its reknowned sonic perfection...

N/A as it is so old...however the factory did send me the applicable bridge cover for it...

At first it seemed a bit pricey, but man does it rock! So so so worth it!

1962 non-reissue, made in USA back in the days when Leo himself was makin sure everything was A-Ok
21 frets
switches for each pick up, plus "strangle" switch treble booster. Also seperate "rhythm" circuit with heavy bass capacitor and volume/ tone.
2 single coil pickups
Alder body, maple neck with BEAUTIFUL brazilian rosewood slab fretboard
Bridge replaced with unit out of Mustang (an essential upgrade)
original single-line Kluson tuners (its a shame how many old guitars have had the original holes drilled out for new tuners. Many people think the old tuners were bad when they simply need to be lubed.
With original brown case and Fender leather strap

The Jag is truly underrated compared to a Strat or Tele. The neck pickup is especially lusicous and glassy (very much like a Strat). The bridge and neck pickup together gives a nice growl, and one feature Fender goofed up on the reissues is that originals in this pickup combo become humbucking. The bridge pickup can be very trebley, but the same thing is true for a Strat! I use this with a silverface Fender Deluxe Reverb, Pro Reverb or Champ, also a Supro Super from the late '50's. Replace the original bridge with a Mustang bridge, and VOILA, much better sustain and playability. The only negative with mine is that it has an "A" size neck which is a bit small on the first 3 frets. Once I get used to it its no big deal. The Jag/Jazzmaster body shape is both sexy and very comfortable, to me much more comfy than a Strat, and the contours push the neck to a good place which makes playing the guitar a breeze.

Original setup unknown. The original frets are still in great shape and the quality on these pre-CBS Fenders is simply amazing! Everything is tight as a drum. Reduced to an "8" simply because of the fact that original bridges kinda suck...

Going strong for over 40 years. Save a few extra hundred bucks and buy an original instead of a reissue. It will continue to increase in value, and they are simply much better guitars. I am malicious with the whammy bar and this sucker stays in tune like Pavarotti.

I've been playing since I was 5, 23 years ago. I own quite a few other collectable guitars and amps. If it were stolen, I'd be sad and buy another for sure. I have loved the Jag/Jazzmaster since I was a kid and am extremely lucky that I own a kick ass example of each. BUY THEM WHILE YOU CAN!!!! PRICES WILL KEEP GOING UP!!!

My jaguar is a Japanese made re-issue mad in 2003. It has 22 frets on a rosewood fretboard. It has a volume and a tone controll, individual pick up on/off switches and a treble boost. In addition to this it has a rythem circuit, this is activated by a switch on the guitars upper bout, and it uses individual tone and volumer controlls. It has 2 single coil pick-ups, they are slightly over-wound and hot, they are standard Fender passive pick-ups. I think the body is made of alder. The body is finished in a good quality gloss finish. The body has a cool ofset waist desighn. The bridge is unique, its kind of like a tun-o-matic. The tuners are normal vintage Kluson style one, they look good and work effectively. The neck is a shorter 24" as compared to a strats 25.5". The neck is quite thick but not to thick.

This guitar suits my music style a lot, I mainly play punk, grunge and ska. But this guitar would also be good for surf. I use a marshall MG30DFX amp, a Electro Harmonix small clone chorus, a Boss DS-1 distortion and a Dunlop Cry baby wha wha for my effects. It sounds good trough this rig. The pick-ups can be a bit noisy but this is easily solved by turning off lights and electrical appliances, and the hum is no worse than most single coils. The sound is quite full when the rythem circuit is engaged but normaly it is bright. The guitar can make quite a good veriety of sounds. I like most of the settings on the guitar, but the guitar cna rattle and buzz a bit, but this could b solved by a good set up.

The factory set up was Ok, bu some things (such as intonation) require some furthure atention. The pick up asjustment was perfect. The only real flaw I can find is that the strings can skip the bridge sadlles when played hard. I fixed this by fitting it with Mustang bridge saddles, ($30 form allparts.com) this fixed most of the problems and was worth the money.

After the bridge modification (which was very easy to do, i didnt even need t unstring the guitar) the guitar would be great for live playing, theough the pick-ups can feed back quilte alot, but only at ver high gain settings. The hardware is very robust and seems as thouygh it is built to last, as does the finish. The strap buttons are very solid and robust. I would use it in a gig without back up.

The waranty lasts for 1 year (in England any why). I bought another guitar from fender and i ordered it in the past, I didnt think Fender's customer service was very good.

Ive been playing about 2 years. I love the profile of the neck and the sound of the pickups. The only thing I hate about it is the bridge (the strings can skip the saddles). But this was fixed easily by replaicng the saddles with ones From a Fender Mustang. I think this is a worthwhile upgrade as it makes it a very good guitar, but you might not play quite as aggresively as me.

i can't write english verry well so pleas excuse the little information obout my jag. but i'm just so happy that i got it! it's a japanese 1962 RI from 2002 in vintage white

sounds great.
my music style is like nirvana and so i got what i needed
i use it with a marshall avt 150 combo

the only thing i have ti nag on my jag is the bridge whitch is lodly snareing.
hopi i get a mustang bridge

a problem is the white color.
every scratch can be seen but....
looks faster vintage :)

nothing broken yet

this guitar is the best i have tried in ages, a 2002 japanese re-issue. i have a squire jagmaster, which comes close but no cigar. The pick up swithch is useful, for those who like kill switches, two tone and two volume controlls. And the equiliser switches at the bottom are a gold mine of sounds giving you a very warm sound to a very hard and sharp sound. a short scale neck for comfortability and the body sits very well. and the trem bar just slips in and out, useful for not havin to waste time unscrewing the damn thing. it alos has a nice finish to the body and neck givin it a really raw but scrumdidliumptious look to it. the only complaint, as i have seen a lot on here, is the bridge, but callin it a re-issue means it is a copy of an older guitar so the bridge isn.t to standard. the strings kinda jump about givin it a very nasty de-tune prob.neck is a nice size, not to thick or thin. good hold on it.

I play mostly grunge and metal so this guitar can make some wicked sounds, driving lots of distortion through it can make it come alive and the sound gets well hot. I use a lainey half stack and a ibinez smashbox dist pedal, very useful for that big sound. wit the different selections of sounds you can give a really fat rythum sound or a nice crunchy lead sound, which ever suits you best, bein clean is the same.

as a whole the guitar is generally fine, a pain in the arse of a bridge though, that being my only complaint. i mucked around with the action a bit but the buzzing wont go away, but apart from that its perfect.

well im giging with it soon, so i'll have to see how it will sound, my bet is as log as the bridge stays put it should be ok. but i tend to thrash so we will have to see. it looks like this guitar may be in for a long time of use, i got it and hardly put it down. the finish is another problem, its nice but easilly chipped or dented, i got mine with a dent in the paint. nothin major though. i always use strap locks so i dont trust strap buttons anyway.i would keep a back up just in case anyway but i think this should just do the trick.

N/A

i have been playin about 6-7 years and this guitar has been my favourite for all of them. i own a squire jagmaster and a copy rickenbacker, both have eventually failed me, the rickenbacker fallin apart and the jagmasters pickups blew twice costin me alotta money. if it were stolen i would definately replace it, but i would only hope i had the money. i love the whole thing (accept the bridg) very nice to play and feels good too. I only wish they would replace the bridge with a mustang bridge so that the strings would sit better, which i may acctually do.

I got an American '62 Reissue. It came with a "vintage" style case and 1/4" cable. This guitar is very versitile. With two circuits, you have a lot of options when it comes to tweaking that perfect sound. You can get a wide range of tones out of this thing. The neck is smaller than most guitars, 24" as opposed to 25.5" which doesn't seem like much, but believe me, when you play it for a while and then play another guitar, you'll feel the difference. The tremelo arm was loose when I got it, but a little teflon tape around the base fixed it. The string mute is a little cheesy, and just doesn't sound as good as muting the strings with your palm. Overall, anyone who likes to play around with different sounds will like this axe.

I mainly play punk and surf, and the Jaguar does a pretty nice job in both of these genres. I play through a Marshall Valvestate series, and it sounds great, both distorted and clean. The only effect I use is reverb, which, of course goes great with this guitar. It's got a very trebely, thin sound, but it's very crisp. I mainly use the lead circuit through the bridge pickup, but the rhythm circuit with a gainy distortion gives it a very fuzzy sound.

The guitar has very low action, and as stated earlier, the shortened neck is very comfortable to play. The guitar was in pretty good shape when I got it, but like I said, the tremelo arm was loose. I consulted a very knowlegable person on the issue who suggested plumbers teflon tape, which corrected the problem without me having to give the guitar some surgery. The pickups were a little hot, but with a little tweaking, everything sounded fine.

The Jaguar uses very heavy strings, so breaking one is quite a challenge. I came from playing a Strat with ultra lights which I broke constantly, so that was a nice change. It's very depenedable, though I haven't used it at a gig yet, but the way I play I know it would do fine. My only complaint is the bridge. I hear a lot of other people complain about the same thing. When I'm playing, the strings have a tendancy to jump around on the saddles,which can take it out of tune as well as give you a lot of fret buzz. I've had to play with it quite a bit to get it to work right. Using the mute screws it up, so I don't use it. The finish is "vintage," I think its called celliouse or something. As long as your bridge doesn't give you trouble, this is a very realiable and durable guitar.

I haven't had any severe problems with it, so I don't have anything to say in this department (I guess thats a good thing!!).

I've been playing for 5 years, all with a Fender Stratocaster. Owning a Fender Jaguar had been a dream of mine for like 3 years before I got it. I've been into instrumental surf and this guitar is THE guitar for that genre. If it were stolen, I would definitely buy a new one (provided my current one was gone for good). I love this guitars tonal range, I love the neck, and most of all, the thing that made me want this guitar originally was it's look. It's a very sexy guitar (if that's possible). The only thing I wish I could change about it is the weight. It's heavy like a Les Paul, for anyone familiar with those guitars, but other than that, I love it. If you're looking for a solid-built guitar with lots of buttons to push (or in this case switches to turn on and off), and a nice warm sound, check out the Jag, for it is as Bill and Ted would say, most triumphent.

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)

N/A

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.

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!

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.

I have 4 pre-CBS Jaguars. All stock. All custom colors..

The jaguar has its own sound in a world of faceless tone. Most Fenders of the 1950's and 60's had their own voice. It is easy to appreciate them all.

The Jaguar has a thin tone, not too much low wned at all. There are a few switches to come up with some alternate sounds, but these are surf machines. So if you want a Strat or Tele tone, walk away from the Jaguar.

The scale length is not comfortable for my hands, its too small. Gibson players would like it though, its the same scale.

The tremolo tailpiece is outdated. It basically functions similarly to a Bigsby. You only can bend a few steps with it. It also is not the best in the tuning reliability area.

Pre-CBS perfection

They are great guitars. If you avoid a heavy hand with the tremolo arm, you will be all set. It will be there for ya.

Fender has just begun making the correct replacement parts for these. Made in Japan parts do not retrofit! If you have an old Jaguar, and need parts, Fender is doing them right once again! But warrenty repairs are out of the question.

I think anyone who plays a certain guitar consistantly would appreciate the Jaguar as a nice change of pace. It will have you playing differently!

I plan on owning more of these if possible. I may even try a Made in America reissue.
I love the feel of the body, and its the most comforatble guitar to sit and play. The looks are very nice too with the flashy chrome control panels and dial controls.

1999 jap re-issue,,great syncronized floating tremlo,22frets.

good for all styles,especialy for grunge.Good clean tones and heavily distorted fuzz.

exellent finnish,good low and high action.

exellent,you can slam it down and it wont break.

Best guitar i've ever had,it will last a life time

Its a cool gitar but it has gibson pickups on it my dad put them on He Had it New since he was a teen. I souds great but Who knows what it really sounds like.The Body is great. Its curvacious and cady apple red It has a plastic and metal pickgaurd. Tons off Switches Unlike a regular guitar especially one with humbuckers.
Its original. 1970or 60 something or other.

Read the other thing i wrote.

Its great kept up great for 30 some odd yeaars.

As Dependable as Richard Simons is Homo.

No warrenty.

I have a candy apple red re-issue jaguar. its was made in 1996 and is still pretty much all stock. I got it second hand with a hard case.

Ive got wide range of style i play metal to jazz and blues. The jag cannot and should not play metal or harder rock. All you grunge people out there hoping to get a Kurt Cobain guitar will be sadly miffed at its poor efforts for hard rock. get a double fat strat or something if you want humbukers. Anyway, it is perfect however to play mellow jazz and blues. Its high end tight sound give is great for anyone hoping to pay softer stuff. I play with a multi effect pedal and any big amp i can find, other than that, my crappy fender front man amp (it may be small but size doesnt matter). This guitar gets super noisy on high distortion and squeels like a girl (crap feed back). I like to make weird sounds from a guitar like sonic youth or nirvana but this guitar just cant do it. Its floating tremelo is cool but other than that its basic sounds.

When i got the guitar it wasnt the original set up, the one i got it in was good though. The pick ups are fine except the 6th string sometimes touches the neck pick up and buzzes. Every one says basswood is a crap wood for guitars, but i cant really tell the difference. Everything else was fine

Its now got a millon dings and stuff but nothing major as yet, ill probaly brake somehting though. Its plentey heavy so if you get into fight on stage you could brake a nose or two and not damage your guitar. finish is a bit weak but not as bad as some guitars. I play this guitar sometimes 4 hours a day and its never had a problem.

Never delt with fender but i'm sure they're nice people.

Ive been playing for about 5 years, its my favorite guitar. my freinds say it rubbish and cant understand why i like it so much, but hey.... if it was stolen i would probaby try and get a vintage one. i paticually love the shape, its such a good looking guitar, a real babe magnet (an extenable penis if you will). I hate the lack of a feed back sound and the fact it cant play grunge and hard rock. probably got a jag because kurt cobain had one and they looked good, then i got it because it play and sounded good. I wish it had humbukers, no i dont maybe i do, not sure. I used to be a blue person, now i'm a shade of yellow?

Back in 1975 (when I was 17...) I answered a "for sale" ad in the local paper and found a 1963 Fender Jaguar (and a 15 watt dynochamp practice amp) for eighty-five ($85.00) dollars. It was collecting dust bunnies under a bed, three strings left on it, and the original sunburst finish was wasted beyond repair. I now know I should have left it alone, but I stripped it to its natural wood grain (which matched the neck perfectly!) and just gave it multiple coats of deft varnish. I removed the mute at the bridge (still have it in a shoebox), and use all the rest of the original pick-ups, tremelo, switches. I'd go into all the details, but just refer to other reviews or original early 60's Jags.

I've been playing in Weekend bands for the last 25 years. All styles from Country Rock, 50's rock and roll, jazz, blues, old tyme polkas, and big band. The Jag has been my main guitar over Gibsons, Epiphones, Peaveys, and an assortment of other makes (a Gibson L6S with 24 frets and 5 position pick-ups was close, but didn't feel as natural in my hands. I've played this '63 Jaguar through many different amp set ups, and I use a minimum of stomp boxes for effects. (an Ibanez tube screamer for distortion, an MXR phase 90 cuz I'm a 70's kinda romantic, and a cry-baby wah just because...) Whether I'm playing clean or dirty, thin or full, its tones are clear and controlled. There is sometimes a little buzz, but that's part of playing live. Having shorter fingers, I really appreciate the smaller scale and the contours of the guitar itself make it the most comfortable electric I've worn for hour after hour. I agree with a lot of the likes and dislikes in other reviews. The strings sometimes slip out of the grooves in the bridge, It's hard to switch a lot of tones on the fly, that's why I set it for clean mostly and then use the stomp boxes, and then adjust for tone between songs.

Since this was very used back in 1975, I was pleasently surprized, by how few adjustments I had to make after I refinished it. I did have to shim the neck when I rebolted it to better line up with the bridge. ( I didn't want to try and re-sink the bridge for a small fraction of an inch off...). Some of the chrome was showing its age, but I just left it as it was. Some of those details won't affect the sound of the instrament. The tuning pegs are still tight after 37 years, but the on/off switches do get a little hard to move at times.
The neck is straight and I keep the action at a comfortable distance.

I've played this guitar in more smoky bars and beer-soaked wedding dances than I can even try to remember. Many times it's the only guitar I've taken and other than the occasional broken string, there have been no problems. Very reliable. It's due for a refinishing and I haven't decided if I'll put on multiple coats of poly or have professionals re-apply the sunburst finish. It still has the tortous shell pickguard and all original decals on the headstock. Of course, I'd hate to admit that I put a multi-hundred dollar un-original sunburst finish on a guitar that I paid $85.00 bucks for!

Never needed repairing. Bought used back in 1975....Warranty????Warranty?????.....we don't need no stinkin' warranty!!!!!!!!!

I've been playing both full and part time for the past 25 years. (Now, it's more of a hobby.) I double on Bass and Saxaphone. I usually keep the instruments I've collected over the years including a 1963 Epiphone Coronet (double cutaway with the batwing fender headstock), a late 1970's Rickenbacher 4001 bass, and I just purchased a Fender 41 accoustic/electric with the fishman pickup system. The Jag and the Epiphone (I paid $65.00 for that including a matching Epiphone amp) would be hard to be replaced if anything happened to them. That doesn't mean that I wouldn't try replacing any of them. So, the history and emotional value makes those two '63s very important to me.

"L" series neck plate, Oct. 1963 stamped on neck. Purchased in 1969 used (and abused) from a music store (trade-in). Bridge was shot (height adjustment screw threads were stripped; fore and aft barrel adjustment - phillips cross-pattern on screw-head gouged-out) - replacement w/mute ordered. Both single-coil pick-ups worked fine, but ground wire had to be reset to stop buzzing. Hard case included.

Bad re-paint job (coral pink) with plastic stick-on flower on lower body (those were the psychedelic "flower power" days). Maple body and neck, rosewood fret board. 24" scale. Half the decal was gone and there was a crack in the headstock where the guitar had been dropped.

We didn't know better back then, so the entire finish was removed, including the remnants of the decal. The neck cavity revealed the original color to be a darker reddish-pink. The body was finished with a clear polyurethane coat over the natural wood and remained that way for three decades.

I got a replacement decal and sent the guitar out for a professional re-finish in Burgundy Mist Metallic, with matching headstock. This should be completed within two weeks. Saw another Jaguar "re-finned" in Candy Apple Red by the same guy - MAGNIFICENT! If mine comes out anywhere close, I'll be afraid to play it!

Other than the bridge, re-fin, and decal, everything else is original: pickups, controls, pickguard, tuners, vibrato tail, hardware, chrome plates, knobs, switches. I'm tempted to replace the tarnished screws, but will refrain for now.

The case, in black Tolex, needs to have the latches replaced and the leather bindings re-stitched.

I'm a refugee from the '60s "garage band" era. The Jag has a bright sound suitable for my "surfing" instrumentals, yet the sound can be "shaped" because of the rhythm and lead circuits. I have a number of tube amplifiers: most are Fender models, black and silver face from the '60s and '70s (Twin Reverb; Bandmaster; Bassman; Quad Reverb; Dual Showman Reverb) and other manufacturers (Teisco; Silvertone).

I do not use "effects" devices or circuitry on any "modern" amps.

It was not the factory's fault, but I had to make adjustments and replacements because of the abuse heaped on by the prior owner.
Fender sent a technician to Hawaii in 1995 for a set-up session with guitar owners: a free re-string and set-up for a donation to our local Food Bank. I took in the only Jaguar done at the clinic and a '72 Telecaster Thinline. The tech noted that a good "re-fin" would be beneficial as everything else was in great shape, including the cracked headstock which was repairable.

I've had this guitar for over 30 years and can't wait to get it back.

The local authorized dealer was able to get me the replacement parts without difficulty. They do stock some replacement parts for guitars and amps. Other parts can be purchased over the internet.

Playing (sort-of) for 35 years. I also have a re-issue Japan-made Jazzmaster, which I find amazingly close in sound and play-ability to the "original" vintage Jazzmasters and Jaguars of the '60s. I also have a standard (Mexican) Strat, '72 Telecaster Thinline w/Humbuckers and Bigsby tail, '73 Fender Mustang (should have kept my '66), Mosrite Ventures "knock-off," and a Harmony-built Silvertone Jaguar-styled solid body electric.

I'd certainly buy another Jaguar, original '60s model if possible, though I doubt I'd get it for a "C-note." All told, my original cost was $100, plus $150 for various supplies, parts (bridge, mute, decal) and electronics work over the last 30 years, and $475 for the "re-fin" to be completed.

My jag is an original '65 Fender Jaguar. My dad got the guitar in the late 60's and eventually gave me the guitar as my first. The jag is a sunburst with a tortise pick guard, two single coils, rosewood fretboard, and tremelo.

Well, the guitar was made in the 60's so if you like twang then this guitar is for you. Don't get me wrong, the guitar has a vintage warm and mellow tone but if you want rock/punk/metal ect. then look elswhere. I do like the fact that it makes the cheapest guitar amp sound like a vintage tube amp. But however the sound doesn't fit my taste.

I guess 35 years ago the action, fit, and finish might have been a little better but now that is one of the reasons why I don't like to play it. There is a lot of buzz in the frets and severly frets out around the 12th fret when a bend is made. One of the things that I do not like is the bridge. The strings lay over the bridge so when I pluck the strings on some Chili Peppers the strings move out of position. Also the guitar has bad intonation problems which causes the guitar to sound out of tune when played.

WOW, after 35 years the guitar is still in great condition. The neck is not warped, no bad scratches, and nothing broken. When they built them back then they built 'em good. Very dependable!!!

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I've been playing for about 8 years but not much to show for it (laughs) and I own a Peavey Ultra 2X12. This amp will make any guitar sound good, especially cheap twangy pick ups like a '65 Jag. If my Jag was to be stolen I would be very upset because of the guitar's sentimental value. I would really like to try out an ESP MX-3 but no stores carry this guitar or at least none that I can find. Keep on sharing and caring!!! Peace I'm outta hear, Got Jesus?

I do not know the year my Jaguar was built, but it was made in Japan. This is my third Jaguar. I have an original 1962 model purchased new, and a 1966 that I ran across a few years ago. All of them in Olympic white with tortise shell pickguards.
The only difference between the reissue and the originals is the deletion of the bogus string mute found on the originals. I always removed this anyway and replaced the rattle prone standard bridge with a Fender Mustang bridge. Any of you out there who play Jaguars or Jazzmasters and are unhappy with the bridge, I whole-heartedly recommend this change.
The Jaguar has a lot of tonal variation. It has two thin single coil pickups with some sort of sawtooth metal shielding device on both sides of each pickup. I presume this is done to cut back on any noise and it seems to wrk as the Jaguar records very cleanly for a guitar with single coil pickups.
Like a Jazzmaster, the Jaguar has a separate rhythm circuit complete with independent volume and tone controls. This circuit gives a nice fat, mellow tone not just for rhythm use but for lead work also. It is especially nice in playing jazz or standards.
The normal lead circuit features a separste on/off switch for each pickup and a bright switch that rolls off nearly all of the midrange and bass. In live playing, I seldom if ever can find a place where the bright tone can be used, but in recording, the bright switch used in the on position with both pickups turned on gives a great thin rhythm sound especailly good for R&B or funk.
The guitar features one volume and one tone control, an excellent tremolo that feels very much like a Bigsby, and lots of chrome trim.
The most endearing feature to me is the ultra short 24" scale with 22 frets. I love some of the olng reach chords that can be played with ease on such a short scale. Even though I have very large hands, a 25 1/2" scale gives me terrible thumb cramps.
I have heard some carping about the Japanese Jaguars and Jazzmasters not being as good as their vintage siblings. This is a bunch of bunk! I will admit that I like the neck on my '62 a little better than the one on my reissue, but my '62 has thirty-seven years of break in on it. The reissue across the board is a better guitar than my '66. I cannot tell much difference in the sound of the reissue as opposed to the vintage axes. I play through a mid-sixties Fender Deluxe Reverb amp.
The tuners are copies of the old deluxe tuners found on my '62 & '66 and they work just fine. I won't change them until I need to. The guitar stays in tune beautifully.
I didn't opt for the hardshell case. Instead the dealer tossed in a very nice Fender gig bag at no additional cost.
I have found over the years that the best sounding string for the Jaguar are Darco light guage (.010 -.042). The Darcos have a nice dark un-twanggy tone even when new and they seem to last forever.
My other Jaguars have all turned the typical yellow over the years. I hope Fender has solved this annoyance with my new one.

This guitar offers a very wide range of tonality from extremely bright to wonderfully dark and moody. I find it to be extremely versatile. I also play a big Epiphone jazz box and the contrast between the two guitars I find very enjoyable. As I said earlier, I use a mid-sixties Fender Deluxe Reverb and the only outboard effect I use is an Ibanez Echo Machine.
I really like the offset waist design of the body. I do a lot of recording and the guitar is very comfortable to play while seated.

The initial set-up of the guitar was typical (read: awful)! The action was off, as was the intonation and pickup settings. These of course are easily remedied. I have never played a guitar set up at the factory that plays or sounds the way I want it to. You need to adjust the guitar to fit you and the way you play