GBV&C FENDER JAGUAR
SURF’S
UP!
FROM SURF GUITAR TO ALTERNATIVE ROCK,
THE JAGUAR HOLDS A SPECIAL PLACE IN
MANY GUITARISTS’ HEARTS. PAUL
ALCANTARA PICKS UP THE STORY…
Despite such innovations as the
headless Steinberger guitar, the Floyd
Rose-equipped ‘Superstrat’ and Line 6’s Variax
modelling guitar, the majority of solidbodies
manufactured today are variations on a handful
of instruments introduced half a century ago.
Indeed, it’s hard to name a design from the last
40 years that has had a comparable impact on
the marketplace. To quote Tom Anderson, “if it
doesn’t look like a Strat, Tele or Les Paul, not
too many will pay attention.”
Bearing this in mind, it is perhaps surprising
to discover that during Fender’s fabled pre-CBS
period (prior to 1965, when the company was sold
to the CBS corporation), Fender introduced just
four professional-quality electric guitars: the
Esquire/Telecaster, Stratocaster, Jazzmaster
and Jaguar. That Leo’s first two designs, the Tele
and Strat, have had the greatest lasting influence
is undeniable, but for a time in the early 1960s,
it was the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar that
ruled supreme.
...
SHORT SCALE
If Fender’s Jazzmaster was designed to lure
‘serious’ (read ‘jazz’) musicians away from their
Gibson-built archtop-electrics, then the Jaguar,
with its short, 24-inch scale length and 22-fret
fingerboard, was intended to cut further into
its rival’s sales.
Launched in 1962 and retailing at $379 (around
$30 more than the Jazzmaster) the Jaguar was
Fender’s most expensive electric guitar to date.
Like the Jazzmaster, it boasted a contoured,
sunburst-finished alder body complete with
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Fender’s patented ‘off-set’ waist, a design feature
intended to make the guitar more comfortable to
play when sitting down.
It also shared the Jazzmaster’s large
headstock and had a similar pickguard shape
– though in the case of the Jaguar, this
incorporated three chrome panels to which the
controls were mounted. Structural differences
between the two models included the Jag’s
24-inch scale length (the Jazzmaster, like the
Tele and Strat, had a full 25.5-inch scale) and
a 22-fret fingerboard, a first for Fender.
ELECTRONICS
The new model’s single-coil pickups were tall and
narrow with a white plastic cover, six polepieces
and a notched metal shielding ‘claw’. “The Jag’s
pickups are essentially the same as those fitted
to a Strat,” comments US pickup guru Curtis
Novak (www.curtisnovak.com).
“The two main differences are the bobbin
base and the fact that the Jaguar’s pickups
are wound a little hotter,” Novak explains. “The
potentiometers used are also different. The Strat
has 250k pots while the Jaguar has 1meg pots on
the lead circuit, and 50k pots on the rhythm
circuit. As a result, the Jag has a sound that is
brighter and harsher. To be honest, though, the
difference in sound between the two guitars has
as much to do with their respective scale lengths
and hardware as their electronics.”
The Jaguar’s control functions are similar to
those of the Jazzmaster. Both have dual-circuit
electronic controls – one circuit for playing
➔
rhythm, the other for playing lead. The idea is
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GBV&C FENDER JAGUAR
“Candy apple red was the
only custom colour that
wasN't a gm car paint”
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CANDY APPLE RED
that, once the desired settings have
been dialled in, the player can easily
flip between lead and rhythm
presets using the slider switch on
the upper-horn control plate.
Sliding this switch upwards
engages the ‘rhythm’ circuit, and
in this mode it is only possible to
access the neck pickup. The roller
controls mounted to the same plate
can now be used to adjust neck
pickup tone and volume.
When the switch is down, the lead
circuit is engaged. The knobs by the
jack socket can now be used to
control the tone and volume for both
pickups. The slider switches on the
lower horn can be used to select the
neck pickup, bridge pickup or both
pickups in tandem. With the guitar
held in the playing position, the
switch to the left turns the neck
pickup on or off, while the centre
switch activates the bridge pickup.
A third slider switch – sometimes
referred to as the ‘strangle switch’
– adds a capacitor to the circuit
that filters out low-end frequencies
for a thinner, brighter tone.
FLOATING WHAMMY
Like the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar was
equipped with a top-mounted floating
vibrato and a separate six-saddle
floating bridge. The latter pivoted
on two adjustable Allen screws,
a design feature that allowed the
saddles to move when the vibrato
arm was depressed, thereby
reducing friction.
The bridge also incorporated
a novel flip-up, spring-loaded string
mute. “With the Fender mute it is
no longer necessary to remove the
bridge cover and dampen the strings
with the hand,” company literature
➔
of the time claimed.
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THE STORY BEHIND ONE OF FENDER’S MOST FAMOUS FINISHES
Though Fender applied non-standard
finishes as early as 1954, the company’s
first custom colour chart was not issued
until the early 1960s. Other than sunburst,
blond and, later, candy apple red, the
DuPont colours offered by Fender through
the 1960s were sourced from the US
automobile industry, most often from
cars produced by General Motors (GM).
NITRO OR ACRYLIC?
Though the finishes found on pre-CBS Fenders
are commonly described as nitrocellulose,
acrylic lacquer was often used for the colour
coat. Nitrocellulose has a tendency to yellow
when exposed to ultraviolet light and to avoid
this, DuPont switched to acrylic lacquer in
1956. By 1959 all of the new GM colours
were acrylics, though DuPont continued
to manufacture the earlier GM colours
in nitrocellulose.
Until 1968 (when Fender switched to
a urethane finish) nitrocellulose lacquer was
always used for the final clear coat. With time
this yellows, turning white finishes cream and
blue finishes green!
RUSH JOB
During the guitar boom of the mid-1960s,
pastel colours like fiesta red, foam green and
Daphne blue were often applied without either
a primer or clear top coat in order to speed up
production. To prevent oxidisation, metallic
colours required the protection of a clear coat,
so these generally underwent the full finishing
procedure.
It’s not uncommon to find guitars from this
period with a solid colour finish applied over
a sunburst, or for that matter, over another
custom colour finish. In a factory environment,
stripping and refinishing a guitar’s body was
simply not cost effective, so Fender treated
a less than perfect finish as an undercoat and
sprayed a new colour directly over it.
CANDY APPLE RED (METALLIC)
Available from 1963 to 1973, candy apple red
differed from Fender’s other custom colours
in that it was not GM car paint. This paint’s
supplier was House of Kolor, an after-market
custom car paint company founded in 1956
by world-renowned custom automotive
painter Jon Kosmoski.
Unlike Fender’s other metallic finishes, candy
apple red required the application of a metallic
basecoat. A translucent red colour tint coat
followed (House of Kolor ‘K-11 Kandy Apple
Red’). This, in turn, was protected by a clear
nitrocellulose topcoat. Though the process
was labour-intensive, it lent a depth to the
resulting finish, which looked like a candied
apple, hence the name.
Until 1965/6, the base coat was silver
(House of Kolor ‘B-2 Silver Base’), which
made the finish appear lighter and brighter.
At some point in 1966, the base coat was
changed to gold, which lends the finish
a brownish, root beer colour.
The original House of Kolor paints (as
pictured below) have been discontinued due
to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
auto paint regulations.
n Candy apple components:
House of Kolor 'B-2 Silver
Base’ and 'K-11 Kandy Apple
Red’ acrylic lacquer
GBV&C FENDER JAGUAR
“The Jaguar proved
a suprise hit with the
Californian surf crowd ”
The vibrato also incorporated
the ‘Trem-lok’, which, as its name
suggests, was designed to lock the
vibrato block when changing strings.
It could also be used to prevent
the guitar from de-tuning should
a string break during a performance.
CUSTOM COLOURS
Introduced in the early 1960s,
Fender’s first standardised custom
colour chart included 14 colours
plus ‘blond’. These were available on
all high-end models (the entry-level
Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic models
only came in red, white and blue)
at a five percent additional cost.
Both the Jazzmaster and the
Jaguar proved a surprise hit with
the Southern California surf crowd,
which may explain why original
examples of these two models sport
custom colour finishes, often with
a matching painted headstock, more
frequently than the Strat or Tele.
DESIGN FLAWS?
According to the Fender catalogue,
the Jaguar offered “the smoothest
possible tremolo action, returning
to tuned pitch without variance”.
Though this statement appears at
odds with most players’ experience
of the model, it should be borne in
mind that the unit was designed
to function with the heavy string
gauges typical of the period.
When set up correctly, the Jag’s
tremolo works well enough, though
it doesn’t offer a degree of travel
comparable with that of the
Stratocaster. It’s fine for a gentle
‘wobble’ but Hendrix-style divebomb
effects are definitely off the menu!
Another common complaint
concerns the bridge saddles, the
grooves of which are too shallow to
hold the strings securely in place.
Though it’s generally agreed that
this is a design fault, fitting heavier
strings will, once again, go some way
towards solving the problem.
Many players also find the
Jaguar’s relatively complex control
system less ‘intuitive’ to use than
that of the Tele or Strat. Finally,
as a result of their longer bodies,
the Jazzmaster and the Jaguar
are generally heavier than earlier
Fender models.
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE
Though there are just three years
between the two candy apple red
Fender Jaguars featured this month
– one dates from 1966 (dot
fingerboard inlays), the other 1969
(block inlays) – there are a number of
small yet significant differences
between them.
Both guitars display features
typical of Fender’s post-1965 CBS
period – a bound fingerboard,
‘F’-branded tuners and a large
‘F’ logo on the neck plate. The later
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FENDER
JAGUAR
PRICE GUIDE
The prices we have
quoted here as a
rough guide are
given in US$, for
unmodified guitars
in excellent or
better condition.
GROUP 1
Sunburst finish –
$2,000 to $3,000.
First year (1962)
examples are more
expensive.
GROUP 2
Custom colour
finish – $4,000
and up.
example, however, has moved
further from the model’s pre-CBS
specs with large pearloid block
fingerboard inlays, a black Fender
logo and an aliphatic urethane
(better known as polyurethane)
finish. Though the difference is not
particularly apparent in a
photograph, the thicker poly finish
that Fender adopted in 1968 marks
a clear break with the earlier
nitrocellulose-finished instruments
that were produced through the
company’s pre-CBS years (for more
on Fender finishes, see box on page
92). Note that the 1969 guitar has
lost its bridge mute.
END OF THE LINE
Though Fender’s 1969 product
catalogue continued to extol the
“show-stopping character of the
top-of-the-line Jaguar,” the model’s
➔
best years were now behind it.
The price variation
between pre-CBS
and CBS-era
Jaguars appears
to be less marked
than in the case
of Strats and
Teles. Rare colours
command the
highest prices.
GBV&C FENDER JAGUAR
n The Jaguar's pair of
single-coil pickups are
constructed very similarly
to those of a Stratocaster
This was the era of Jimi Hendrix,
Cream and Led Zeppelin. The
sunburst Les Paul was rock ‘n’
roll’s weapon of choice and those
who favoured Fenders chose the
Stratocaster – or even the humble
Tele – in preference to the
Jazzmaster or Jaguar. The
abundance of chrome, knobs,
slider switches and gizmos that,
a few years earlier, had given the
Jaguar its space-age appeal now
made the guitar look dated.
The last Jaguars were shipped in
1975, while the Jazzmaster limped
on until 1980. As the value of
pre-CBS Strats and Teles soared
in the emerging vintage market,
Fender’s once top-of-the-line models
languished, unloved and unwanted,
readily available in pawn shops and
small ad columns at bargain prices.
RESURGENCE
Perhaps it was their affordability
– or maybe the fact that they
embodied the antithesis of
corporate rock star glitz – but
the Jazzmaster and Jaguar found
a new group of admirers in the
FENDER JAGUAR TIMELINE
Mid-1962
The Jaguar is introduced in
Fender’s 1962 catalogue, and
is the first Fender to have
a 24-inch scale length and
a 22-fret fingerboard. Like
the Jazzmaster, it has
a contoured alder body with an
offset waist, a bolt-on maple
neck, an unbound Brazilian
rosewood fingerboard with
‘clay’ dot position markers and
a large single-sided headstock
with Kluson Deluxe tuners.
Electronics comprise two
single-coil pickups, a slide
switch and two roller knobs on
the bass side of the body and
two knobs and three slide
switches on the treble side.
Hardware includes a floating
tremolo and a separate,
six-saddle floating bridge with
a metal cover and a built-in
string mute.
A 10-screw, three-layer
celluloid tortoiseshell
pickguard incorporates three
chrome panels on which the
controls are mounted (note
that while sunburst, blond
96
and white guitars have
a tortoiseshell pickguard,
most custom colour
examples have a white
or celluloid ‘mint green’
pickguard).
Though the model comes
with a three-colour
sunburst finish as standard,
it is also available in a wide
range of custom colour
finishes.
1965
Pearl fingerboard dots
replace ‘clay’ dots. Plastic
replaces celluloid for the
tortoiseshell three-layer
pickguard. Binding is added
to sides of the fingerboard
by late 1965.
1966
The Jaguar is the first
Fender guitar model to
change to ‘F’-branded
tuners. Block fingerboard
inlays replace dots by late
1966.
1968
Black Fender decal.
Polyurethane finish replaces
nitrocellulose lacquer.
guitarbuyer NOVEMBER 2009
1975
Last original Jaguars
made. [Model
reintroduced as the
Japanese-made ‘62
Reissue Jaguar in 1996,
soon followed by an
American-made version.]
post-punk, new wave generation.
Elvis Costello, Tom Verlaine
(Television), Thurston Moore (Sonic
Youth) and Kevin Shields (My Bloody
Valentine) have all played Fender
Jags or Jazzmasters at one time
or another. John Frusciante (Red
Hot Chili Peppers) and Johnny Marr
are also fully paid-up members of
the Jaguar appreciation society.
While few would claim that the
Jaguar matches the brilliance of Leo
Fender’s earlier designs, it remains
a worthwhile instrument that, when
set up correctly, plays and sounds
as good as any other Fender guitar
(judicious use of the Jag’s tone
controls will tame its shrill top end).
Vintage examples are no longer
cheap but they are certainly more
affordable than a Strat or Tele from
the same era. Add to this the fact
that more Jags and Jazzmasters
were shipped with custom colour
finishes than other Fender models
and perhaps it’s time to wax up the
surfboard, load up the woody and
head for the beach. Surf’s up! GB