Fender 62 Jaguar: A Surf Player's Delight
Written: Aug 16 '08 (Updated Aug 16 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great vintage surf tones, excellent playability
Cons: Price. Unusual design makes it less appealing visually.
The Bottom Line: The Fender 62 Jaguar is a player's guitar with terrific early 60s tone and good playability. It's expensive and the design is a little idiosyncratic.
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| buffoonery's Full Review: Fender '62 Jaguar Solid Body Electric Guitar |
Under review here is the reissue Fender American Vintage 62 Jaguar Guitar, which contributed so significantly to early 60s American rock. This puppy will run you around $1500 list so it ain’t cheap, but it will cost you a lot less from Musician’s Friend than an original vintage instrument. It’s a great guitar for devotees of that classic Fender twang sound, if you’re willing to pay the price.
The Jaguar was the follow on the 1958’s Jazzmaster, which in turn was the follow-on premier model to the Stratocaster. It had the characterstic “pregnant duck” look of the Jazzmaster, with a soft cutaway on the bottom and a harder one on top. It’s equipped with a short scale, 24” maple neck and rosewood fretboard. The “C” shape neck feels a little narrower than other Fenders and the soft cutaway offers very easy access to all 21 medium jumbo frets.
Frankly, the body design is a little idiosyncratic for me and, for the 60s buying public as well as the guitar wasn't an overwhelming success. Indeed, it was discontinued. However, you can't gainsay the fact that the access up the fretboard is excellent and the neck scale is very comfortable.
The alder body is available in white, black and ice blue metallic. The guitar is comfortable to play both sitting down and standing up. The short scale neck makes the action better and it’s a lot of fun to play. The hardware is chrome and the two pick-ups are special design single-coils. There’s a floating trem with a lock button and a kind of funky string mute.
The really funky thing, though, is the unusual electronics. First, there’s two on-off slider switches, one for each pickup and a third one for messing with the phasing. Then there’s another switch for selecting “lead” or “rhythm” modes. Under the lead mode, both pickups are operation and you use the volume and control knobs. In rhythm mode, only the neck pickup is in operation and in controlled with the volume and tone dials near the selector switch.
These electronics are likely to be a little off putting as well. I guess it was the 1962 version of a modeling guitar, but by modern standard the design is clunky.
Construction quality and intonation were excellent.
Who should buy this guitar? Plug this into a Fender Twin and you’ll now who. This thing positively screams Dick Dale and the Beach Boys. Palm muters and trem bar wizards have found a home. Lead lines are crisp and clean and sparkly. Chords sound full and can grab you where it hurts. You can even get some nice jazz tones out of it and country and Bakersfield sound guys will find much to admire. You may want to change to thicker .11 or .12 gauge strings to get a fatter, classic tone.
In sum, this is a vintage player’s guitar that will provide early 60s vintage tones. Hard rock, 70s vintage guys, and metal heads look elsewhere. Given the price tag, it should hold its value over the years but don’t expect appreciation faster than inflation. It's not the guitar for me and I wouldn't replace my Strat or Tele with it, but it's still an excellent guitar that will deliver the right sound for the right player.
Technical specs:
Body Alder
Neck Maple, “C” Shape,(Nitrocellulose Lacquer Finish)
Fingerboard Rosewood, 7.25” Radius (184mm)
No. of Frets 22 Vintage Style Frets
Pickups 2 Special Design American Vintage Jaguar Single-Coil Pickups (Neck & Bridge)
Controls “Lead” Circuit: 2-Position Tone Switch, Volume, Tone, “Rhythm” Circuit: Volume, Tone, Circuit Selector Switch
Pickup Switching 2-On/Off Slide Switches, One for Each Pickup
Bridge Vintage Style “Floating” Tremolo with Tremolo Lock Button
Machine Heads Fender/Gotoh® Vintage Style Tuning Machines
Hardware Chrome
Pickguard 4-Ply Brown Shell on:(800) 3-Color Sunburst,(805) Olympic White,(806) Black,3-Ply Mint Green on:(808) Ocean Turquoise,(857) Surf Green,(883) Ice Blue Metallic
Scale Length 24” (610 mm)
Width at Nut 1.650” (41 mm)
Unique Features 60’s Styling,Synthetic Bone Nut
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My effects and stomp box reviews:
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And you may also be interested in a few books such as:
Hugo Pinksterboer – Tipbook Amplifiers and Effects
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Michael Ross – Getting Great Guitar Sounds: A Non-Technical Approach to Shaping Your Personal Sound
Nick Freeth – Classic Guitars: Identification and Price Guide
Recommended:
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