Let's talk electric guitars

I'm in the market for a nice one.
For 35 years I had a '62 Fender Jaguar. I was cheated out of it but that's another story.
Before than I had a Les Paul custom. That guitar played me, not the other way around. For me it had too much sustain, was too heavy, terrible to play sitting down and more like a piece of perfect furniture than a musical instrument. I found it impossible to express myself with it. People love them obviously, but I didn't.

One day I happened on the Jaguar in a shop. I'd never even heard of them. I gave it a play and had to have it. I'd paid £450 for the Les Paul, the Jag was £275 but I did a straight swap because to me it was everything I wanted in a guitar, it had a short scale, the tone was glorious, the wammy bar - I could go nuts on it and it never went out of tune. I could put that guitar down and pick it up months later - still in tune. The neck was like rock, unmarked even after the many times it fell over in my care. It had been refinished red - I chipped all that off with a penknife while stoned one day. It was great to play sitting down too and the shape kind of cool.

What could have been better was a wider neck at the nut end. they all seem to be what Fender designate as "B". A is more narrow, C wider. Re-issue Fenders all seem to be B.

Now I have a more modern Fender Strat American edition thing - hate it. Mainly the neck is too long for me, but compared to the Jaguar you have to play it very carefully or it sounds bad. I could let loose in my clumsy fashion on the Jaguar and it never sounded bad. The whammy puts it out of tune. Putting it down puts it out of tune. Playing it requires retuning over and over. The bar in the neck is barely tight, just enough to stop the nut on the end rattling. It's bad. IMO. I had a great Luthier do his best and it's a whole lot better but...

After considering what it is I want in a guitar it would be another early 60's Jaguar with a wider nut but AFAIK they don't exist.

I'm not a fuzz box distortion type of chap, neither do I play blues, but I want a guitar with the piano-like tone of the Jaguar's neck pickup and the crunchy tone of the bridge one, the overtones of the long part of the strings from bridge to tail.

Are there any alternatives? Budget not a consideration really, though I do not want to get into 5 figures £ and prefer not to have my pants pulled down. I'm considering a 63 Jaguar 100 miles away for £8,500 - looks good/real but I haven't played it. It's a lot of money but if it gets me back to enjoying playing again I'd say it's worth it and hey, I can always sell it, it's value will just keep increasing.

Thanks for reading and any suggestions you might have.

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With musical instruments it is always a matter of personal taste. I for one love my 80ies US Standard Strat, it is always in tune and even if I use the Whammy bar it stays tuned... love the neck, too. Go figure :D

Anyways, I think if it was me, I would simply look patiently for the specific guitar, even if it takes a year. Nit exactly the same, but I spent 1.5 years looking for that specific car model, you got to be patient. I left my details at all the car places, just in case they get one. I spent every lunch break and every evening on the web, going through my list of car sale pages...in the end I found it in small adds. It was worth it though.

The hardest thing for me was being patient about it, but from my experience, if you are not you end up with something you don't really like, or you pay way too much.

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When I was younger there would be 50 used strats spread over 3 shops in the same street, it was easy to find the best one. Now I'm lucky to find one and it's typically a bad one hidden in the back of a shop waiting for a collector to purchase and hang up like a painting, never to be played. It sounds crazy but Ebay seems to be the best place to look and of course they're spread over the whole of the UK and probably only one at any moment. I'll ask my Luthier if he knows of any, he deals with a fair few famous musicians around Liverpool.

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Nothing throwing money at wont solve...

Try DAngelico.

They have been around.
More people are playing them.
They base their models off other guitar styles and have a few Jaguar style bodies.
They are reasonable
Lots of great reviews and customer feedback.
Youll have to browse their models...

https://dangelicoguitars.com/guitars/


https://dangelicoguitars.com/guitars/premier-series/premier-bedford/

Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead is playing their Jaguar style model currently and has his own signature...

Elevated Jam Tracks on YouTube had an endorsement from them and used to play various models on the backing tracks .

https://dangelicoguitars.com/guitars/premier-series/premier-bob-weir-bedford/

[img]https://dangelicoguitars.com/uploads/dangelico/2021/07/dadbedbwmstctr-feature-4-768x559.jpg[/img]

They will work with you and carve out different holes if you want different pickups.
You can also look them up on Reverb, eBay etc..

I’m unfamiliar with Jags but assume they are probably 22 fret not 24 explaining the length problem you are having . Count the frets .
These are all 22 fret.
I dont know as to nut width.


They have many dealers in Britain
https://dangelicoguitars.com/dealers/


[youtube]3e-aVMjS-tA[/youtube]

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That's where I would look in addition to Ebay:

Gumtree has a few Jaugaurs listed, but I don't know all the different models. https://www.gumtree.com/search?search_category=all&q=fender%20jaguar

https://reverb.com/

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This one has a Flux Capacitor
[img]https://martperguitars.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/fzledgiujm66iuohean0.jpg[/img]

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@zedders please post a pic of whatever you decide on, always nice to look at people's gear...and let us know what you name you give it :)

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This has nothing to do with Jaguars but this lady is selling this guitar on ebay. Not sure what it is but does it really matter?


[img]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/PhsAAOSwddNhlBJh/s-l1600.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/5EYAAOSwQhFhlBJo/s-l1600.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/VgsAAOSwoXZhlBJ5/s-l1600.jpg[/img]

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@LittleWing I just bought 3 of them! :D

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is the G string missing on this one?

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My first impression was “shut up and take my money “ as I reached for the wallet.

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I'd be after a real 62/63 not some re-issue/signature/ scumbled aged effort. I wouldn't trust fender to make a chair these days, the legs would be wonky. The one I have was over £1,000 and I had to finish it for them. They just cnc the bits and slap them together. If one by chance/law of averages turns out well they send it to the custom shop who tart it up and quadruple the price.

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Interesting! and there's a dealer 20 minutes away, I will certainly pay them a visit. I drove right past them today, it's a crummy little shop, not promising, but what do I know?

The Jag has 22 frets, the same number as a Strat, they're just closer together because of the shorter overall length between bridge and nut.

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Those crummy shops always have the greatest treasure.

That company goes back to 1930s.
Read the reviews. The craftsmanship from my understanding is great.

I was always told buy a Fender or Gibson that was built on a Tues , Wednesday or Thursday.
Meaning....their workers get lazy the other two days. If you cant actually play it, dont buy it.
Ibanez quality is also a trainwreck right now.

DAngelico is trying like PRS to build loyal customers so theyre adding features and quality for reasonable prices. Nothing wrong with that.
Its like Harley Davidson...everyone is stuck on the name but reality dictates there is better out there.

Based on what you stated earlier you were willing to spend, If you went this or another boutique build , you could upgrade or find really good pickups and still be within budget.

You definitl;ey sound like you prefer 22 fret model scale length.I am uncertain as to the nut width so thats where trying the guitar out is needed.

The PRS Silver Sky is another option.That guitar is 22 frets so shorter and the pickups are so good , someone said "They sound more like a strat then an actual strat.". I played them , they are great. They come in a $2000 version and a $600 version. John Meyer helped PRS design it. Pickups can be swapped so "sounding like a Jag" is an option without it actually being "a Jag".

I admire those DaAngelicos though. They sure are pretty.

Im a huge fan of this guys Youtube channel and here he is playing the Bedford model. He had an endorsement and uses them on his tracks. You can see it at the beginning and at the end.
[youtube]dWQOpShc0UE[/youtube]

The Dangelico appearantley uses Seymour Duncans and Im a huge SD fan so that would be all I needed to know if I were shopping.

Even if that dealer doesnt have that exact model in stock and has to order, you can at least check out the quality. Any model they have youll get an impression that its a good builder.
A good builder will round the fretboard because they care how the neck will feel as opposed to just slapping it on and calling it a day. A good builder will hide glued joints before the final coat so you cant tell two pieces of wood were joined together.The little things.
Its always little things that show they care.

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loved my Seymour Duncan Screamin' Demon (George Lynch fan here), had it installed on my old US Strat <3

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My first PRS , I tore out the pickups and installed a commen mod of a Seymour JB and Jazz .
My god does it scream! And clean ....smooth and creamy.

Theres a story Eddie Van Halen was a complete idiot when it came to hot rodding his guitars. He bragged he pieced things together and everybody thought it was sooooo cool.
Ted Templman his producer on Van Halen 1 and 2 told him he wasnt going to record with that bullshit and forced him to play a guitar with Seymour Jazz neck and JB bridge.
Hence the sounds on those two albums is that exact combination. On a PRS , it just screams and sings. I get harmonics without even trying. Eddie always said he got his sound from his cobbled guitar hackary but that really isnt true.

Besides Seymour got his start from Jeff Beck by saving Becks gig in 1974 when his pickup went out hours before a show. Jeff found his shop and he not only did he rewire it but Beck said that guitar was singing itself so he gave Seymour his start.

Thats good enough for me. I have alot of their pickups and love them all.Wont even consider anything else on a guitar. Bass I do other brands but not guitar ..always Seymour.

This doesnt even cover the awesome clean tones it gets...
[youtube]g9mpwqwYWkE[/youtube]

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You guys and your modding. I save that for air-cooled engines in my old camper. :D
Guitars - I'm not interested in modding anything whatsoever - what's the point in selling guitars you have to change things to make them good? Sounds like the Fender I have and do not like. I know nothing of pick-ups and...I don't want to know either, I just want to find then buy a guitar I like as it is and play it.

Little Wing - I bow to your knowledge but the number of frets is irrelevant to scale length. A 24" Jag and a 25.5" start have the same number of frets, they're just closer together on a Jaguar and THAT is what I like. To me playing the Strat is like trying to play chords on a bass, my fingers rebel. It's ok once I get up to the 8th fret but below there I just can't play it.

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Well I stand corrected then but thats okay as long as you know what your looking for! I will suggest when you go shopping around, try a PRS wile your at it. Look for SE and Silver Sky models.Necks are thinner.
Especially test drive the split coil functions. You can emulate Strats and Teles then with a flick of the switch, Go Les Paul/E335.

As for modding.. I dont think Im mentally, emotionally and physically capable of NOT modding anything I own. Its how I roll.
I never sell my guitars so thats never a worry. I either give them away or else play them until they fall apart.

All this guitar talk is making me want to buy and mod another one.

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I've got so much practical stuff on at the moment my hands hurt, I couldn't play a guitar, but winter approaches when I'll hunker down in my boat hopefully with a new guitar (I'm pre-bartering for the '63 Jag before I take the trip) and my nice new headphones that have shown me I'm not as deaf as I thought. Between now and then it's grinding rust, insulating and relining a boat while living on it. 'tis hell, but will be worth the pain. oooo my fingers are stiff!

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How about a picture or two of what you are doing with the boat? :)

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