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I may be getting a guitar, and Im thinking, that the Fender Jaguar, classical player with humbuckers
is the most versatile guitar in the market now, and one of the nicest looking.

Its got the coil tap function, so You can play single coils/hh not changing guitar.
You've got a shortscale, Youve got a updated nice tremolo. And lot of switching options, in terms of pickups.

Is that true,and is it as good as I think ?

the only real advice to give you is: go into a store an check it out...

I have one of the CIJ all black Jag HH's. I modified it for coil tapping in about 30 minutes. Of course you need 4 wire pickups and I sacrificed the filter switch for this but it sounds great.

I'd like to have one with the trem, but I never use it so it would only be for looks. I tried one of the MIM ones at the shop a little after I got my CIJ and they are both great guitars. It all comes down to preference.

I'd say the CIJ Specials are about as solid a Jag as you can get. I mean SOLID guitars.

hmm, interesting, interesting.

I would love to try guitars out, but Latvia is a strange country and we have really cheap squier things and really expensive Gibson/Fender things..
(and then all the Stagg etc guitars, whom are not bad, but dont have Jaguars/Jazzmasters etc)

For me, the HH CP jag in white is the best looking "new school" Jaguar out there.
I played a bunch of them from different stores and was impressed every time with the build quality and playfeel.
The pickups, albeit a bit weak, I found were very detailed sounding. Totally usable within a reasonable context.
The presence of a trem, makes this a real deal Jaguar as opposed to the CIJ HH/Blacktop, whom despite their excellent quality and legitimate catering to modern needs, simply are never going to sound like Jaguars. The modifications to the trem plate placement affords it a touch more sustain without entirely compromising the chimey bell-like resonance of the original design. The coil tap option, I don't particularly care for. I've never come across a coil tap I like and though the option to adjust the extent of the tapping on each pickup does seem like an interesting proposition, in practice reveals itself to be more a matter of being able to choose how shitty you want your pickups to sound.

Thanks for the info laterallateral , now I need to rethink if those humbrkz are worth it.
or just get some japanese jaguar, with no humbrkzs

Do an P-Rails, you won't

I would get a regular one, if you want to try humbuckers in it you could always do an hotrails and go back to stock/nicer traditional jag pickups down the line.

Split humbuckers definitely don't sound just like real single coils, so it's not a case of having one set of pickups that can pull double duty, exactly... nor do I think the pickups are the main difference between the two guitars. Between the TOM, pickups, fingerboard radius, fret size AND tailpiece distance/tension fiddlidge I'd venture a guess that the CP HH feels and sounds substantially different from a 60s spec jag, weighing the total experience of playing each that is (not necessarily trying to make them sound identical).

In short, if you played one and then the other they'd seem like totally different designs, not just a pickup swap. You really need to play both and figure out which one suits you better.

I have it and I like it alot, though for me the neck could be a bit thinner and I don't really care for the whole "blend" thing with the splitters. So what I plan to do (eventually) is take out the rollers and put mustang switches in their place so I get 3 sounds of the P-Rail pickups I also plan to install.

And the vibrato plate is a bit too close to the bridge for me because of how I play it just gets in the way. But I rarely use a whammy bar anyway so its alright.

So aside from a few minor things its about as close to perfect as I've ever gotten on a guitar

Now if it had a sixties gibson type neck profile...

I've got one of the Mex CPHH Jags...

I've bought a few guitars since then (albeit nothing flashy) but the Jag is the one I keep coming back to.

The pickups are defitely it's weakest point but they're not the worst in the world. I've put up with them for a year and half.

I've read that the build quality is inconsistent so I'd try a few out before biting on it. I must have decent one as it'll stay in tune for a week, even with bends and moderate trem usage.

I'll change the pots, caps and pickups at some stage... but for now it's the perfect 'live' guitar for me

If you can find one at a reasonable price... I'd say fire in.

I've always been fond of the Japanese HHs . Granted the pickups are not the greatest but its an easy switch . I will own a Jap Jag HH with a Bigsby and custom pickups before the year's over . Plus the black with the chrome is just fucking spiff.

I don't like splitting pickups.....volume drops and the like are too much of a hassle when playing live.

I was in the same position you are in not long ago. I decided I wanted the white CP Jag HH and all the features seemed perfect for me coming off my PRS McCarty. I went to Guitar Center near Forth Worth where they had 2 CP Jag HHs, one white and one Sunburst. The build quality is good, though the neck seemed really small at the nut, but I think it was in my head honestly. The pickups were okay, but the coil tap, (like all coil taps I played) was a little disappointing. I was hoping to dial in different combinations, but not as good as I hoped. In the guitar's defense, I was still learning the Jaguar controls at the time. I eventually decided I was more of a single coil guy and decided to go after a more traditional Jaguar. I plan to give it another try down the road now that I have mastered the controls. I hate the kill switch and would do something else with that.

In regards to the CIJ Jaguar HH, it's a nice guitar too. The neck is the best I have played besides my AVRI Jaguar. The pickups are okay, especially if you like a jangley clean and they distort pretty well. It's a hard tail, which could be a deal breaker if you must have the tremolo. It has the rhythm circuit like a traditional Jag as well. You will probably want to swap out the pickups and the ugly metal knobs for Bronco Knobs.

Both have okay pickups which you could swap out. The real issue is do you want a hard tail with a traditional rhythm circuit or moved Tremolo with the Coil tapping.

I think the CIJ model has 1 Meg pots and I am not sure what the CP Jag HH has. I still wouldn't mind one of each.

I'm not a Jaguar guy, but my brother had a japanese Reissue some years ago and currently owns a CP HH. Both are equally well built. The mexican one having the advantage of a screw-in trem arm. much nicer than the japanese trem solution. I preferred the japanese neck with vintage radius and frets, but that is up to everyone himself.

The splittable humbuckers of the HH give a much wider range of much more useful sounds imho. They don't jangle as much as the traditional setup, so if the classic Jag sound is a fundamental element of your sound, stick to the SC Jag. But if you want useful sounds, the HH configuration is better imho. That implies I didn't find the sounds og the jap. Jag too useful. It was a beautiful guitar, but we rarely ever used it.

izodiak wrote:hmm, interesting, interesting.

I would love to try guitars out, but Latvia is a strange country and we have really cheap squier things and really expensive Gibson/Fender things..
(and then all the Stagg etc guitars, whom are not bad, but dont have Jaguars/Jazzmasters etc)

Have you checked out ibanez/jackson/etc? What is your playing style? The sustain on my avri jag was abysmal for heavy lead playing.

I would expect the magnetic field to be different between a tapped humbucker and a genuine single coil. That might account for a difference in tone.

Jaguar Classic players HH, without it - voted

Best Jag is the new BT series ones IMO, they are stoptail/TOM, 9.5 fret board (or something) and HH. Cant beat that on a fender IMO.
AND, they're cheap!

Theoretically these are versatile with all the switching options but that does'nt mean they are the best buy around.
Like others have said, splitting coil's is different to a stock single coil, especially a Jaguar model because it is'nt quite as standard as most once you bring the claw into play. So this is already a modified Jaguar, does it still have the classic Jaguar tone? I dunno, not tried one.
The point i am trying to make is i would rather have three great options (like a Les Paul say) than six or more average options. Aside the Strat. Teles, SG's and LP's are still best sellers because they sound good with just three switching options (in most cases).

Go for the best model you can afford not the one with the most switching options