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Why is the Jaguar called a Jaguar?
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:01 pm
by benecol
I know the thread title sounds like a bad joke, but it's a serious question. How did the Jaguar get its name? My guitar-geekery runs to such depths that I know how the tele, strat, jazzmaster etc. came by their monickers, but I've no idea why the Jag is called a Jag.
Now for the embarrassing admission that prompts my question: me and my son were listening to Six Organs of Admittance in the car at the weekend, and the guitar sounded ace, and I said to my son "It sounds like a leopard, doesn't it?" (He's three - I have to try and keep him interested or else he insists I put Dolly Parton on). Then I thought to myself "Hang on - that's a Jaguar!"
What I suppose I'm asking, shortscale, is did the Jaguar get its name because it can sound like a jaguar?
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:15 pm
by Doog
I guess Fender just got in on the whole "animal/car" name thing.. gives it MANLY RAW POWER or something.
The Viper, Mustang, Jaguar, Lynx, Cougar, Hawk, Firebird, Bobcat... Lemming..
(One of these may not have been a real car name)
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:22 pm
by Mike
Clearly not, I dunno what you're eating but I'm pretty sure that Leo Fender and his crew weren't pioneers of Synesthasia and Hippie Pseudo Wank.
We know the Jazzmaster came first, and that the Jaguar was the next stage on. To me it seems smaller, faster (shortscale) and more brash than the Jazzmaster. Jaguar.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:34 pm
by Doog
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:36 pm
by benecol
Mike wrote:Clearly not, I dunno what you're eating but I'm pretty sure that Leo Fender and his crew weren't pioneers of Synesthasia and Hippie Pseudo Wank.
We know the Jazzmaster came first, and that the Jaguar was the next stage on. To me it seems smaller, faster (shortscale) and more brash than the Jazzmaster. Jaguar.
Hence 'Stratocaster' and 'Telecaster' - made up words, suggesting, variously, flight, communication and futuristic-ness? Clearly they were eating the same thing as me, you miserable cur.
And how do you know that a 'Jazzmaster' (as a concept, not a guitar) is bigger than a jaguar? And who said jaguars were brash? They may be very mellow creatures.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:40 pm
by aen
Yeah, bt they also go RARRRRR and tear the throats out of herbivores.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:49 pm
by benecol
aen wrote:...bt they also go RARRRRR.
Exactly. I'm sticking to my 'sounds like a jaguar' premise, with a nod in the direction of Doog's (undoubtedly correct) answer.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:51 pm
by Mike
benecol wrote:And how do you know that a 'Jazzmaster' (as a concept, not a guitar) is bigger than a jaguar? And who said jaguars were brash? They may be very mellow creatures.
How do I know it's Bigger? Because it is. The Body is noticeably larger, you fuckin' n00b.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:57 pm
by benecol
Mike wrote:We know the Jazzmaster came first, and that the Jaguar was the next stage on. To me it seems smaller, faster (shortscale) and more brash than the Jazzmaster. Jaguar.
No you
dick, you said it seems smaller, as if the nomenclature was chosen because the thing it was named after was smaller than the thing the Jazzmaster was named after. Also, if you're implying that the Jaguar
sounds brasher than the Jazzmaster, hence Jaguar, then you are secretly agreeing with me that they must have named the Jaguar, at least partly, after how a Jaguar sounds.
Ha.
And I know, because I've had a proper Jaguar with a nitro finish and everything.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 2:59 pm
by Mike
I know if I had to fight either a Jazz musician or a Jaguar I would find the Jaguar more brash in a fight.
Men are bigger than Jaguars also. They're big cats but they ain't all that.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:02 pm
by benecol
I love the fact that I have lured Mike into my psychedelic, synaesthesic world, and we're now rowing about the fighting styles of big cats.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:02 pm
by Mike
This is the worst thread ever mate. Seriously you and I could be the Rabbit one and that other one.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:04 pm
by benecol
I'm so getting you kicked out of Stannah Industries (or wherever it is) Corbett.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:11 pm
by robroe
this thread sucks
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:15 pm
by benecol
Thanks for your input. Any idea how the Jaguar got its name?
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:17 pm
by aen
There's a theory or two
HERE
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:18 pm
by Ty
Doog wrote:I guess Fender just got in on the whole "animal/car" name thing..
I'm agreeing with Doog here, it's a huge possibility that Fender was using that idea to market their guitars.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:18 pm
by benecol
Not allowed to watch it in Blighty, it would appear.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:28 pm
by Mike
Colombo to the rescue again.
Posted: Mon Apr 20, 2009 3:31 pm
by BobArsecake
Because he wanted there to be confusion when an Englishman is in a guitar shop in America and asks for a "Jag-u-ar".