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