1997 Fender JGS-65 Jag-Stang Guitar Review

Aloha!

Today we are looking at a well-loved 1997 Fender Jag-Stang, that came to me straight out of Japan. I think that Kurt Cobain from Nirvana was a genius, and think that these instruments are a nice reminder of his contributions to the guitar world of today.

The Fender Jag-Stang was designed by Fender to meet Kurt Cobain’s needs. It is a 24-inch scale hybrid of the famous Fender Mustang and Jaguar guitars, with the Mustang’s Dynamic Vibrato bridge. Legend has it that the necks on these are an exact replica of the one from Kurt’s favorite Mustang. Believe it or don’t…

The original run of these guitars was made between 1995 and 2001 with basswood bodies, and the second run was made from 2003 to 2005 with ash bodies. The only two colors available were Fiesta Red and Sonic Blue. All of the guitars were built at Fender’s Japanese Custom Shop.

The electronics consist of a “vintage-style” single coil at the neck, and a “Special design” (or Dragster as they are know in Japan) humbucker at the bridge. My resistance checks showed these at 5.67k ohm for the neck and 7.60k ohm for the bridge. Each pickup has its own 3-position slide on/off phase switch, in addition to the master volume and tone knobs. Some people are pretty critical of the quality of these parts, but they sound fine to me. This is grunge, remember?

The instrument pictured here was built in 1997 (I think), and you can tell by the photos that it has a nice thick coat of Fiesta Red poly on it. It is a nice-playing guitar, with good craftsmanship. It sounds good, and the controls are useful for getting a lot of different tones from it. This guitar has been played a lot, and there is a bit of finish wear plus aging to the hardware, but this is honest playwear and not abuse. The frets are still in great shape and it is one of the easiest playing guitars I have ever owned.

The only gripe I have about the Jag-Stang is that it is so small that it feels like a toy when it is being played with my beefy hands. But on the plus side, its small size translates into a weight of only 7.5 pounds. Maybe I will keep this one around for a while…

Mahalo!

2003 Fender Jaguar JG66-85 Electric Guitar Review

Hi there!

Today we are looking at a really neat guitar, a Japanese model JG66-85 Fender Jaguar that I found on the secondhand rack at the Komehyo store in Nagoya, Japan. This model is a 1966 re-issue that originally sold for 85,000 Yen (this is why they call it an JG-66-85). From outside appearances, it is a very faithful recreation of the original. This is an Q-prefix “Crafted in Japan” model, meaning it was built in around 2003. When this guitar was originally sold, the Yen was around 107 to the dollar, which equals approximately $794, which was a heck of a deal back then for such a great guitar.

This one has pretty sunburst poly finish over what looks like an alder body. In keeping with this color scheme, the factory chose to use a fairly garish red tortoiseshell guard. The 24-inch scale C-shaped neck is super-nice, with good frets (vintage thin wire) and a very pretty 7.25-inch radius rosewood fretboard. It has the traditional headstock with the proper logos and vintage-style inline tuners. The rest of the hardware includes the fairly terrible vintage-style floating bridge.

The electronics are the typical Jaguar fodder, which means they are complicated. There are two single coil pickups with oodles of switches and knobs to turn the pickups on and off, and to provide different lead and rhythm tones. Ick. The pickups are strong and the electronics do not have any unwanted extra noise. It plays, sounds and looks just like a Jaguar should.

Like most every Japanese-made Fender guitar I have played, it is very well made, with level frets and good neck pocket clearance. After a dozen years, there are some nicks and scratches, but little wear to the frets and fretboard wear. It has not been abused and would be a nice addition to the collection of someone who is just dying to have a Jag. I have it set up with 0.009s and it is a breeze to play – it is the perfect surf guitar!

These are a bit hard to find in the states, but Fender has other re-issue Jaguars that they are selling here. Try before you buy though, as Jaguars are not everybody’s cup of tea.

Mahalo!

Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass Special Review

Hi there!

Man, there is a huge difference between the entry-level instruments of today and the no-name pieces of junk that were around when I started playing. I recently picked up a Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar bass as a gift for somebody, and it is a very nice instrument for the price, and does all of the basic stuff that a bass guitar should do.

I know that some of you may sniff at Squier products as they are entry level Fender models, but they have a track record of providing very good instruments for the money.

This one was made by the fine folks in Indonesia, and is finishing a tasteful 3-tone sunburst. The poly finish is even and there is no orange peel (or fish eyes).

The offset-waist body of this one appears to be made of 5 pieces of basswood. You will also get basswood on the crimson basses, and agathis on the black ones. They installed a 3-ply pickguard, which is classy for a guitar in this price range.

It is loaded with a split single-coil Precision Bass pickup at the bridge and a single-coil pickup Jazz Bass pickup at the bridge. There is an active bass boost circuit, so there is a battery box routed into the back. The knobs control: neck pickup volume, bridge pickup volume, boost circuit, and master tone.

The 34-inch scale maple neck has a rosewood fretboard with 20 medium-jumbo frets set into it. It has a 9.5-inch fingerboard radius and a 1.5-inch nut and a true C shape. The matte poly finish on the neck feels smooth and fast.

The components of this bass work well together. With the PJ pickups and the active bass circuit, I was able to get a variety of thumpy and growly tones that cover all genres for me. I tried the single-humbucker model as well, and was unable to get a natural tone out of it. Stick with the PJ model (I have always been a fan of PJ basses, by the way).

The neck is fast and I was able to dial in a low action, and the body is well-balanced with no neck dive. This bass weighs in at a little less than 9 pounds, which is easy on the back.

There are a few shortcomings, however, which I attribute to the low price point. The tuners and bridge are cheap, and the saddles move around a lot when I am playing. My other gripe is that this bass was delivered to me with very sharp fret edges. It was a recent production bass, so I cannot blame it on fret sprout on an old inventory instrument. It took a lot of filing to make it pleasant to play.

But, you get what you pay for, and this bass was a stone cold bargain. You will find that the most attractive feature of the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Bass Special is its price, with a list price $329.99 of and a street price of $174.99.

If you are looking for an entry-level bass or a second bass to take your anger out on, this is the one.

Mahalo!

1970s Aria 1532T Guitar

Good day!

I have written about a lot of guitars that were made during the “lawsuit era”. These were 1970s Japanese copies of famous Fender, Gibson and Rickenbacker guitars. The guitar we are looking at today was made before any of the lawsuits were settled, but somehow does not copy anything terribly well.

This guitar was made by Aria, and the sticker on the back of the headstock identifies it as model 1532T, and I am going to say it is closest to a Fender Jaguar in style. But there are only similarities to the Fender as the shape of the headstock and body, and the layout of the electronics are all quite a bit different.

I found this guitar at a pawn shop in San Pedro about 10 years ago, and I think I paid about $200 for it at the time. It was probably made between 1968 and 1972, and was in original condition with no modifications that I could find.

The body is made of alder with a modernistic offset shape. The white finish yellowed nicely over the years. The vintage tremolo is kind of awful, but it never bothered me much because I do not use the whammy bar on my guitars anyway.

The bolt-on neck was very nice and did not show much wear for a 30+ year old guitar. It was straight and the trussrod still worked fine. Look at those tuners! Their base is cast as one piece, which is pretty strange in the electric guitar world. The 21 original frets were in good shape, and the rosewood fretboard showed no wear. By the way, the 1532T is a 24 ¾-inch scale guitar.

The electronics are a lot simpler than the Jaguar. The Aria just has two single coil pickups (big ones, aren’t they?), a three-way selector switch and volume and tone controls.

Don’t get me wrong -- just because this is a bizarre take on the original does not mean it is not a great guitar. It sounds good and is really lightweight and fun to play. You get a lot of guitar for the money with these older Japanese electrics.

While researching this I found that Aria has re-issued this guitar as model Retro-1532, with a list price of about $300. I have not had a chance to try them out, but they look right and come with a 1 year warranty. I am pretty sure they are no longer made in Japan, but the quality of Chinese and Jorean guitars can be surprisingly good.

I f you’ve had a chance to play one of the re-issues, why don’t you drop me a line and let me know what you think.

Mahalo!

1962 Fender Jaguar Guitar

This 1962 Fender Jaguar is not the Holy Grail of collectible guitars, despite being a pre-CBS model.

The original run of Fender Jaguars were built from 1962 to 1975. They were intended to be the top of the line model, but never became as popular (or collectible) as the Stratocaster and Telecaster. They were, of course, popular with the surf crowd and later with the grunge bands.

This one is all original and 100% complete. That means no changed parts, and no modifications. There is a lot of finish wear, with nicks and dings, but this vintage Jaguar is structurally sound with no cracks, breaks, or repairs. One of the tuners is chipped on the end, but it still works ok, and I chose not to mess with its originality. I hope I look this good when I am 48.

It has a very nice straight neck with great frets. The finish is worn off the back of the neck and it feels great. There are faint impressions along the top edge where someone wrote the names of the notes along the top of the neck. This is not a big deal, and it does not affect playability at all. Actually, it is kind of cool (I think).

The serial number is 94XXX, dating this one to 1962.

All of the electronics work fine and it sounds great, perhaps with less hum than other guitars of the era I have played. When I had it, it had a pro set-up with 9s, and I think it played as well as it could. It has a nice mojo, and was a good catch for a guy that actually likes Jaguars.

However, I did not like it very much. I had trouble adjusting to the shorter scale, and was never fond of the goofy tremolo set-up and had a very hard time finding strings for it that worked well for me. Add in the horrible control layout, and it was a pretty easy decision to move it on to another owner.

Live and learn.