are Jags Teles for the aging guitarist?

[Josh]

the reason that they didn't sell in the late 60's and 70s was SUSTAIN. Les pauls, teles, strats, etc all have mad sustain, all are string through or had a stoptail bridge. in the 70s everyone wanted chords that rung forever through giant Marshall stacks. that's why people were putting humbuckers in strats (EVH), the Tele deluxe was made, and there were so many les Paul knockoffs in the 70s.

in the 70s no one wanted plunky ass fenders with mad treble and no sustain like we do today. everyone wanted to sound like led zeppelin, t rex, the stones. and plunky fenders didn't cut it. today we all have such diverse tastes in music that these guitars are popular again and work with our respective styles of music. thx Internet.

back then almost everyone liked what we call classic rock, and it was all about sustain. and jags/jazzes weren't as solid so they didn't last.

there's nothing wrong with these guitars or how they play. they just weren't in style at the time. in the 60s there was a lot of plunky clean guitar, surf music, the dawn of fuzz and overdrive, reverb. all stuff we love and appreciate now but was kinda forgotten about in the 70s during those 10 min guitar solos. this is why Kim fowler made sure that the nuggets boxed set was created (LISTEN TO THIS, LEARN YR HISTORY).

[dezb1]

The arthritic fingers was a joke... But the oldies are claiming the jag for their pension tours.

[BearBoy]

Surfers in the 60s played Jags because hey couldn't afford a Strat or Tele

Eh? Jaguars were Fender's top of the line guitar in the 1960s and cost more than Strats or Teles. No-one would have been playing one because they couldn't afford a Strat.

[benecol]

So much bad wisdom about guitars in this thread. It's like someone shone a signal at the sky "n00bs assemble".

[dezb1]

So much bad wisdom about guitars in this thread. It's like someone shone a signal at the sky "n00bs assemble".

Aye... the ministry of misinformation.

[NickD]

So much bad wisdom about guitars in this thread. It's like someone shone a signal at the sky "n00bs assemble".

Aye... the ministry of misinformation.

Yup.

Anyone who remembers buying guitars in the late 80s and early 90s in the UK knows that you didn't buy Jags/Jazzmasters/Mustanges et al because you couldn't - there just weren't any around.

The first Jazzmaster I ever saw in person was the one I used in one of my teenage bands. And even then our bassist (who owned it) had gone to London to find it.

It wasn't all that cheap either - £500 for a new MIJ iirc when my Epi Les Paul Standard was about £300

[NickS]

Surfers in the 60s played Jags because hey couldn't afford a Strat or Tele

Eh? Jaguars were Fender's top of the line guitar in the 1960s and cost more than Strats or Teles. No-one would have been playing one because they couldn't afford a Strat.

Indeedy. Here's a '68 price list I found on line:

[BearBoy]

Interesting that sunburst was the cheaper finish in those days. Is that because all painted finishes were custom jobs?

[dezb1]

To this day no one I've been in a band with has owned a jag or a jazzmaster...

[71Smallbox]

To this day no one I've been in a band with has owned a jag or a jazzmaster...

I've been in 2.

[benecol]

You should have introduced yourself: "Hello Dez, I post on shortscale too! Do you remember me from your last band?".

[71Smallbox]

FWIW, Will Sergeant has had a Jaguar since at least '86, so he was hardly considered old then. This thread is pointless or I am just an old fuck who happens to prefer a Jaguar.

Oh, hello Dez, I post on shortscale too, do you remember me from your last band? I was the geezer who played the sunburst Jag albiet very poorly. That was probably due to the copious amounts of Buckfast I consumed!!!

[Noisy Cat]

Of course, now a bunch of kids in complicated shoes have ruined them.

This wins ShortScale.

[Rox]

Surfers in the 60s played Jags because hey couldn't afford a Strat or Tele

Eh? Jaguars were Fender's top of the line guitar in the 1960s and cost more than Strats or Teles. No-one would have been playing one because they couldn't afford a Strat.

Jags and Jazzmasters were considered their " Flagships " but just because they are " Flagships " doesn't mean they were good sellers ... Talk to Volkswagen and see how the Phaeton worked for them.. Or the Edsel for Ford .. Flagship by balls ....
Come the 70s and 80s a Jag and in a lot of cases Jazzmasters ( btw Jazzmasters were always considered " the flagship" despite price) could be had for cheap.. Trends ...
90s grunge brought on the offset revival..

[superfuzz]

Surfers in the 60s played Jags because hey couldn't afford a Strat or Tele

Eh? Jaguars were Fender's top of the line guitar in the 1960s and cost more than Strats or Teles. No-one would have been playing one because they couldn't afford a Strat.

Jags and Jazzmasters were considered their " Flagships " but just because they are " Flagships " doesn't mean they were good sellers ... Talk to Volkswagen and see how the Phaeton worked for them.. Or the Edsel for Ford .. Flagship by balls ....
Come the 70s and 80s a Jag and in a lot of cases Jazzmasters ( btw Jazzmasters were always considered " the flagship" despite price) could be had for cheap.. Trends ...
90s grunge brought on the offset revival..

Dude, I'm not trying to be harsh but c'mon. The Edsel wasn't a flagship for FoMoCo, it was to compete in the spaces between Ford, Mercury and Lincoln. It was a brand that was designed to compete with Olds, Desoto, Pontiac and Buick. It truly failed because of the 1958 recession, and the whole vagina grille (I'd argue more in regards to the split bumper but I just don't like split bumpers). The FoMoCo flagship has been Continental, which is technically a subsidiary of the Lincoln Motor Company, but feh. And the MKII Lincoln is arguably the best car that ford ever built, and it lost like a grand on each one that they sold. That is the definition of a mass production flagship.

The Jaguar was its flagship, and it was also a hot seller. Fender never lost money on the jaguar. You're right in a sense that the jazzmaster was the "flagship" as it was everything new for 1958 (strange how that takes place during a recession and flops too innit?). Then, it sat around for a couple of years not getting a whole lot of jazz attraction, but was a popular rock and roll guitar. Then surf, then the jaguar became the number one fender.

ALSO, by 1960, the stratocaster was 6 years old. Picking up a second hand stratocaster would be VERY doable. Much cheaper than plopping down nearly 400 bucks on a surf machine.

No one is arguing that the now famous alt rockers of the 80s and 90s didn't spark a revival, I'm just trying to say you need to go back through your fender history and give it a second look. In comparing sales numbers.

[71Smallbox]

Rox, I think alot of people here would be less critical of what you say if you simply dropped that awful sig. I don't even read your posts anymore because I don't want to look at it. Also Rox, Have you ever seen a picture of the Beach Boys in the 60's? Google it. They weren't poor either.

[honeyiscool]

Perhaps in their older age they realize their is more than just strats and teles and embrace something new.

Uh, boom?!
Maybe they are looking for a new sound too. The Marr jag has the seriies/paralell switching. Tons of sonic options.

He did get that idea from Tele modders, though. They had the 4-way Tele switch way before it was ever put on a Jaguar.

[torchindy]

I saw my dad this past weekend and I was showing him the Jag, which he was pretty excited over. Said he hadn't seen one in years. He was saying that when he was in high school in Seattle in the mid 60s, Jaguars were the hottest shit you could buy, holy grail guitars, and all the coolest kids had them and were playing surf. Then Hendrix came home from the UK and played a show in Tacoma using his bought-for-cheap-because-somebody-traded-it-in-for-a-jag Stratocaster, and everything changed.

[paul_]

Interesting that sunburst was the cheaper finish in those days. Is that because all painted finishes were custom jobs?

I don't know why for '68, but certainly in the pre-CBS era deviating from the "standard" finish (butterscotch '50s Teles, white blonde early '60s Teles, sunburst Strats or Jags) was a custom order and added cost because it wasn't done to any certain number of them at a time. The Teles and Jags also got different pickguards when they were solid colours (except the oly white Jag). A lot of "Custom Color" Strats from the early '60s were even factory refins sprayed over an existing sunburst finish... so the sunburst strats and jags were the ones that were always good to go out the door, whereas ordering a custom model at the wrong time of the year could result in a painted-over sunburst body, perhaps.

SRV's '62 Fiesta Strat and a Custom Shop Relic that references this:

► Show Spoiler

[Fran]

It seems to me the Jaguars popularity happens periodicly, usually with the same kind of players in or around the tag 'alternative'. It was inevitable that Marr would use them at some point.
Will Sergeant predictably used them in the 80's, not often but there is definitely some footage somewhere.

It is now a legacy design of course, repackaged, with its Surf connections long forgotten.
The reason it was reborn and became popular the first time, we must have discussed a thousand times.

Interesting to hear it is becomming popular in Country Music though, yet another twist in its history.