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Wow! Fender Jaguar.

#24
I had a Jaguar for a year, and it took a lot of shielding, an eventual pickup replacement, and some switch repairs before I got it to my liking. I even found a pearloid guard to match the inlays. It sounded better in passive, but it certainly had a lot of tonal options. Kind of wish I'd kept it; might grab another at the right price--which would be around $450 for me.
 
#25
AltGrendel said:
The shape I can understand, but what's wrong with the rest of it? The Squire VC Jaguar guys all love theirs.

I'm torn between that and a used Fender jag, so I'd like to know.
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I just got one of the VM Jaguar and I don't think you can really compare it with the Fender Jaguar. One has a PJ configuration and it is passive while the other has the 70s J pickup spacing and lots of different active controls...

You need to know what you want, I think they're completely different instruments.

But the discussion here makes me question... What really makes a bass a Jaguar or a Jazz or a Precision?

I always think about the pickups used on the bass, but if you look at the Fender website, you can see that models like the Frank Bello and the Reggie Hamilton are considered J, even though they both have the PJ configuration...

Or even the Mark Hoppus, which just have one P pickup and is listed as a Jazz Bass (and it says Precision Bass on the headstock, go figure)... So I think the name comes after the body shape only and that's why the Squier is a Jaguar, like it or not...
 
#26
Well, let's see. Here's my 6-stringer of a Jaguar:

5410276032_c227d11342_b.jpg


A Jaguar is simply the sexiest axe in the world, a gaudy thing with a lot of switches and chrome, it makes people go, WOW! but what the heck do all those switches do?

This bass nails it, it definitely captures what a Jaguar is:

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Even the screw holes are in the right places. Now, I'm sorry, but this ain't it for me:

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A Jaguar 6-stringer is a Jaguar because of two things: chrome and scale length. The Squier Jaguar Bass has neither chrome nor is it short scale. As a result, it looks closer to a Jazzmaster:

1960_Fender_Jazzmaster_50169.jpg


Once again, none of this matters to someone who is merely a bassist who wants a different looking instrument, but to someone who loves Fender Jaguars, I'm really disgusted lately by the Jaguar name being watered down.
 
#27
Is there any tonal difference or playing difference between a Jaguar and an MIJ Jazz? Obviously the Jag has more options for achieving different sounds, but when you run a Jag passive and straight wired, it sounds and plays just like a Jazz, right?
 
#29
Bobby B said:
when you run a Jag passive and straight wired, it sounds and plays just like a Jazz, right?
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I assume you mean with the active circuitry bypassed.

I imagine. I really haven't bothered to compare mine.

With the same strings, the Jaguar in passive mode should sound similar to a Geddy Lee. The pickups and neck dimensions are supposedly the same. Aside from strings, these are certainly among the primary factors that influence tone.
 
#31
honeyiscool said:
Well, let's see. Here's my 6-stringer of a Jaguar:

A Jaguar is simply the sexiest axe in the world, a gaudy thing with a lot of switches and chrome, it makes people go, WOW! but what the heck do all those switches do?

This bass nails it, it definitely captures what a Jaguar is:

Even the screw holes are in the right places. Now, I'm sorry, but this ain't it for me:

A Jaguar 6-stringer is a Jaguar because of two things: chrome and scale length. The Squier Jaguar Bass has neither chrome nor is it short scale. As a result, it looks closer to a Jazzmaster:

Once again, none of this matters to someone who is merely a bassist who wants a different looking instrument, but to someone who loves Fender Jaguars, I'm really disgusted lately by the Jaguar name being watered down.
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Again, I suggest you to take a look at the Mark Hoppus Jazz Bass:

0138301301_frt_wlg_001.jpg


It doesn't look as a Jazz Bass, it doesn't have a J neck as stated on the headstock, it should sound as a P Bass because of the pickups and, still, it is listed as a Jazz Bass, and I can only assume it is because of the body shape.

We can disagree all we want (I certainly think the Mark Hoppus is much more a Precision than a Jazz Bass), but at least Fender is consistent with their naming procedures, taking only the body shape into account and naming the Squier Jaguar accordingly. If Fender decided to release a higher end version of the Squier, it would likely be called a Jaguar too, chromeless, long-scale and all, because that's not what Fender thinks names a bass, it is only the body shape.

And I'm pretty sure that Fender wouldn't want to call it a Squier Jazzmaster anyway because there is already a bass that was named after the Jazzmaster and it already have a little bit of history behind it :)
 
#33
honeyiscool said:
Now, I'm sorry, but this ain't it for me:

Invalid Link Removed

Once again, none of this matters to someone who is merely a bassist who wants a different looking instrument, but to someone who loves Fender Jaguars, I'm really disgusted lately by the Jaguar name being watered down.
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Ok, so...don't buy one. :p

Squier must have hit on something with the VM Jag, because they're releasing a few models this year based on the same body style. Most of the people interested in the Squier Jags are probably not worried that they don't look like the original Fender Jaguar bass. As you pointed out, they want a different looking instrument. For a lot of potential buyers out there, I'm guessing the Squier Jag is close enough.

As for the Jaguar name being watered down, well, I honestly don't see the problem. It's not like the Squier Jags diminish the value of the Fender versions. At least you can always brag to those who have an interest that you own a "real" Fender Jaguar, and not of those pretenders.

And to the OP, grats on your NBD.
 
#35
Thanks for the replies. I've never owned a Jazz bass, but I have a Jag and love it. After I bought mine, I noticed the finishing wasn't that great on the frets (not unusual, especially at this price point), so I gave it to my tech for a fret dress and setup. Now the frets are smooth to the sides of the neck and all equal height. It really plays well, and sounds great.

A couple years ago, someone posted this wiring diagram and instructions to deal with the noise problems in the preamp. It worked great. It's not as big as would be ideal, and the forum may shrink it even more on the attachment, so I am also including a link to the full size (as big as I ever saw it anyway) image.

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5211/5508392878_f06e39abaa_o.jpg
 

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#38
I really like my Fender Jag and I'm not nuts about frets. Mine arrived with some shipping damage, so rather than deal with FedEx, the Seller sent me a modest rebate which covered four replacement switches. I had Jim Mouradian gut the bass, I shielded every nook and cranny and the back of the replacemnt pickguard with copper tape, and Jim put it back together. He removed a fair bit of wire length under the hood, as he said that many of the wires were far too long for what was needed. Now it has just a trace of noise active and it's dead silent passive; and that's with Fender nylon tapes on there, which obviously don't help with grounding like metal strings do.
 

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#40
honeyiscool said:
It's listed as a Jazz Bass but it says Precision Bass. Surely you can't use an edge case like that to prove anything.
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I don't think it's an edge case, it is simply how they name their basses. Take the several PJ configurations listed in the Fender website. Some are considered Precision (Tony Franklin, Duff McKagan, American Deluxe and Deluxe Active) and some are considered Jazz (Reggie Hamilton, Frank Bello). The thing that separates them is the body shape.

The name on the headstock apparently tells you which kind of neck the bass have (Mark Hoppus have a Precision neck and the Duff McKagan has a Jazz neck), but Fender names the bass after the body shape, so it is a Mark Hoppus Jazz Bass and a Duff McKagan P Bass.

So, calling the Squier a Jaguar is consistent with their naming procedure... I had never thought about that before, but it makes sense at least, it is not something that Fender creates at their will depending on the bass.

I think it creates some weird cases, too, as those I cited on my posts, but I now can at least understand what Fender is doing while naming their basses :)
 

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