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Fender Jaguar Review
I was sitting here inbetween playing awesome riffs when I thought it was time to review my main guitar. Now you're probably thinking since it's my main axe I'm going to rave how awesome it is and stop reading. Well, I wouldn't be the great critic that I am if I didn't nit pick. So with that........on with the review.
For those of you not familar with the Jaguar, it was created in 1962 for surf guitarists and had as much popularity as William Hung. It didn't make a comeback till the 90's with the alternative rock music. By then a vintage Jaguar would set you back $500.00. This particular model seems to be cashing in on the 90's re-insurgence rather because it feature dual humbuckers. Well, I should say "Special Design Dragster Humbuckers. Why they are Dragsters I have no clue, maybe they move very fast? Anyway, since we are dealing with humbuckers you won't get the surf tone ala Dick Dale or anything but if you bought it for alternative rock (like I did) it'll do that no problem.
The guitar features dual circuits, one rhythm and one lead. It gives you the benefit of having two different tone and volume settings and being able to change them with a flick of a switch. Now the rhythm circuit does tend to get muddy with the tone backed down so you'll probably end up using it with the tone all the way up or darn close to it. One would assume that rhythm is for playing rhythm and lead is for solos but honestly, if I'm the only guitarist in a band, I'll be on the lead circuit. Rhythm is kind of dull and boring that it should be fill for another guitar.
The lead circuit has some better sounds. Not that the rhythm is bad, it just doesn't have a lot of uses. The bridge is bright crisp and the neck pickup is more what the rhythm pickup should be, a fat, thick sound. Now Fender claims these pickups are low output but I find them overdriving my preamp. I wouldn't blame the guitar for that though. It doesn't take much to overdrive my amp. The lead circuit is what I use 90% of the time.
Also featured is the low end filter. This was put it to cut out the bass and give the surf guitarists a treble accented tone. While I do like having the option I just don't find need for it when you are dealing with humbuckers. If you have them, you want a fat bassy sound and cutting out the bass seems kind of pointless. However, it is nice when I want to play surf and it gets me one step closer to that sound. Now only if I had more treble and a lot more reverb. The filter is nice to have, but not often used.
Onto the construction, the guitar is built solid and lightweight. Ideal for shoulders that don't have a lot of padding like mine. The 24" neck makes it easy to move around on and the lower tension makes barre chords easier than colouring inside the lines. The 10's that come standard with the guitar are easier to fret than the 9's on my strat. This could be bad if you are used to heavier strings but you can always change them. The neck pickup rocks a bit but only if you touch it and it never cuts out. That's not to say rocking it back and forth won't cause it to fall asleep. The bridge buzzes a bit as is common on Jaguars but it is not noticeable and only seems to do it if I play the G string open. I was surprised it had this problem as it's not a standard Jaguar bridge, it's hardtail instead of the tremolo bridge the 1962 ones come with.
Overall, it is a great guitar. If it were stolen, I wouldn't buy another, because my insurance company would at that point (sorry, couldn't resist). If you want to escape Stratville and Teleland I recommend giving Jaguarburg a visit.
P.S. Anyone ever played it's Squier counterpart?
We're not gonna listen to you, because we are open minded.
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