Introduced in mid-1962, the Fender Jaguar model quickly found use in California’s growing "surf" music scene. This short scale (24" instead of 25.5") guitar was considered a high-end instrument and for its time very flashy, thanks to its chrome plated control plates, mute and bridge cover. Like the Jazzmaster, at the time of its introduction, it was considered Fender's top-of-the-line model but unfortunately the general public and guitar hero’s of the day had other views, and like the Jazzmaster the model struggled to get noticed. Imagine if Jimi Hendrix played a Fender Jaguar instead of the lower priced (at that time) Fender Stratocaster, I suspect if he had, things would be very different now.

The Jaguar shared the rhythm circuit with the Jazzmaster, but the lead-circuit was wired differently. Unlike the three way toggle (a la Les Paul) on the Jazzmaster, the Jaguar used three two-way slider switches (two were on/off switches for the pickups and the third was a “bass-cut” or “strangle” switch that adds a capacitor to the circuit when on - resulting in an even thinner sound).

The Jaguar looks similar to the Jazzmaster and they share many common features. Both have the same body and headstock shape (the body dimensions are slightly different), floating tremolo/bridge and both use two pickups. However, in addition to the Jaguar pickups being more powerful, they were better shielded which eliminated some of the hum (background noise) problems associated with the Jazzmaster pickups. Since the overall sound of the Jaguar is thinner and the combination of a short scale, tremolo/bridge design and the pickups result in a sound that is often described as percussive that has less sustain.

An interesting feature is the string mute, a device that was meant to help the player mute the strings. Because both the Jaguar and Jazzmaster were equipped with chrome bridge covers, it was difficult for a player to mute the strings with his hand as it would be resting on the cover and not the strings. While the mute offered a solution, it was never popular with players because it allowed zero control over the muting and it often detuned the guitar. Often when the mute was engaged and pressed against the strings from the bottom (directly in front of the bridge), the resulting relatively low tension of the strings would cause the tuning to go sharp. Players had their own simple solution, to remove the bridge cover! In fact these covers were so unpopular that most players immediately detached them and either discarded them or store them in the guitar case.

I purchased this Jaguar from Norms Rare Guitars as a mate for my Jazzmaster. She remains 100% factory original and in very good (or better) condition. The only complaint I have about this model is the scale length. I prefer the string tension and feel of a 25.5” scale length guitar over the Jaguar’s 24” scale length and as a result this guitar does not get played much.