ShortScale.org

I've noticed a trend in 80s guitarists that I associate with the Telecaster turning to the Jaguar in their old age... Will Sergeant, Johnny Marr and now Andy Summers. Is this due to the fact that as we get old we shrink a bit and they want a guitar that fits their declining stature... Or possibly their arthritic hands can't stretch as far so they go short scale.

dezb1 wrote:I've noticed a trend in 80s guitarists that I associate with the Telecaster turning to the Jaguar in their old age... Will Sergeant, Johnny Marr and now Andy Summers. Is this due to the fact that as we get old we shrink a bit and they want a guitar that fits their declining stature... Or possibly their arthritic hands can't stretch as far so they go short scale.

You have a point here. I would never play a jag before and i thought it was ugly. Now i play and im 27. Started at age 16 playing strat, epiphone (les paul copy) and finally at age 17 i bought my first fender mustang.

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

taylornutt wrote: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.

I think they maybe have been used to the guitars they've played for so long and never really thought about anything else because the Tele (in this example) "does the job". I think once a lot of guitarist find something that works almost 100% for then, why fix it if it ain't broken?

Idk, but teles and jags are my favs. And sgs

cause theyd rather pay like 3-4k for a vintage jag instead of ponying up 10k+ for a vintage Tele.

plus the necks are so comfy. 24" scale, 7.25 radius. plus having the money/guitar tech to get it set up perfect.

ykk211 wrote:Idk, but teles and jags are my favs. And sgs

and Strats and Les Pauls and Jazzmasters and on and on and on and on...

dezb1 wrote:

ykk211 wrote:Idk, but teles and jags are my favs. And sgs

and Strats and Les Pauls and Jazzmasters and on and on and on and on...

I dont really like strats. I cant afford to like les pauls and ive never played a jazzmaster but id like to

GUITARZ ARE GREAT GUYZ. ALL OF EM.



no seriously theyre all awesome. just some aren't suitable for what some people wanna do. I played metal through my silvertone with a Tele once. it's just not as METAL as using a flying v through a Marshall.

ykk211 wrote:

dezb1 wrote:

ykk211 wrote:Idk, but teles and jags are my favs. And sgs

and Strats and Les Pauls and Jazzmasters and on and on and on and on...

I dont really like strats. I cant afford to like les pauls and ive never played a jazzmaster but id like to

strats are awesome. and jazzmasters are awesome, I play my squier jazzy over anything usually. (except the Tele cause it plays better). but that's a setup issue.

you'd prolly like them though, they sound mellow and strummy and play like any other full scale fender.

Josh wrote:

ykk211 wrote:

dezb1 wrote: and Strats and Les Pauls and Jazzmasters and on and on and on and on...

I dont really like strats. I cant afford to like les pauls and ive never played a jazzmaster but id like to

strats are awesome. and jazzmasters are awesome, I play my squier jazzy over anything usually. (except the Tele cause it plays better). but that's a setup issue.

I dont think ove found the strat for me. Idk, I just cant get the soind I want with them

Jags are Nashville's "hip" scene.

Strats are most honky tonkers and classic rock cover band rigs.

I'm seeing more jaguars than ever anymore. I see a lot in "country" (still can't believe they still call it that) I was watching the CMA's Sunday night (just to see Stevie Nicks) and I saw a few Jags and a custom jazzmaster thing. Only a handful of teles.

I'd take a jag over a tele every time.

For me the neck pup on a jag through a clean fender amp is the nicest guitar sound you can get.

dezb1 wrote:I've noticed a trend in 80s guitarists that I associate with the Telecaster turning to the Jaguar in their old age... Will Sergeant, Johnny Marr and now Andy Summers. Is this due to the fact that as we get old we shrink a bit and they want a guitar that fits their declining stature... Or possibly their arthritic hands can't stretch as far so they go short scale.

All due respect .... You're wrong ...
Maybe there is a " trend " thing happening but when it comes to the old fogies playing Jags it has absolutely nothing to do with tiny arthridic fingers ..
A lot of those old fuckers were playing Jags when they were youngins and it's more or less a throwback to their youth . It's the hipster geeks that have made them " sheik " or " Cool" . And ungodly expensive. I loved Jags since the early 90s when Super Strats and shred guitars were king .. And Jags were almost untouchable since they discontinued them in the 70s . If it wasn't for the Grunge Era IMHO they would of been lost along with Jazzmasters .. Only reason they even played them is because they were cheap . Not so much these days ..
Guys like Johnny Marr , Will Sergaent , etc ? Follow their bios .. They were broke ass kids trying to catch a break.. Johnny Marr certainly didn't start with Rickenbackers .. Robert Smith's first guitar was bought at Woolworth. Prolly a Fakey Jag .. Then a Fake Firebird .. Because they were cheap and eccessible .
Surfers in the 60s played Jags because hey couldn't afford a Strat or Tele .. People used to hate Jags and shortscales in general were synonymous with student and beginner shit..
Then the 90s came ..
Then the 2000's where they made shitgobbs of Jags and offsets .
Then the 2010s where Hipsters just made them too damn cool for people to afford . Fucking hipsters..

Rox wrote:

dezb1 wrote:I've noticed a trend in 80s guitarists that I associate with the Telecaster turning to the Jaguar in their old age... Will Sergeant, Johnny Marr and now Andy Summers. Is this due to the fact that as we get old we shrink a bit and they want a guitar that fits their declining stature... Or possibly their arthritic hands can't stretch as far so they go short scale.

All due respect .... You're wrong ...
Maybe there is a " trend " thing happening but when it comes to the old fogies playing Jags it has absolutely nothing to do with tiny arthridic fingers ..
A lot of those old fuckers were playing Jags when they were youngins and it's more or less a throwback to their youth . It's the hipster geeks that have made them " sheik " or " Cool" . And ungodly expensive. I loved Jags since the early 90s when Super Strats and shred guitars were king .. And Jags were almost untouchable since they discontinued them in the 70s . If it wasn't for the Grunge Era IMHO they would of been lost along with Jazzmasters .. Only reason they even played them is because they were cheap . Not so much these days ..
Guys like Johnny Marr , Will Sergaent , etc ? Follow their bios .. They were broke ass kids trying to catch a break.. Johnny Marr certainly didn't start with Rickenbackers .. Robert Smith's first guitar was bought at Woolworth. Prolly a Fakey Jag .. Then a Fake Firebird .. Because they were cheap and eccessible .
Surfers in the 60s played Jags because hey couldn't afford a Strat or Tele .. People used to hate Jags and shortscales in general were synonymous with student and beginner shit..
Then the 90s came ..
Then the 2000's where they made shitgobbs of Jags and offsets .
Then the 2010s where Hipsters just made them too damn cool for people to afford . Fucking hipsters..

You are utterly and completely wrong in regards to no one playing/buying jaguars. It was the top of the line fender. If you loved jaguars in the early 90s, you should have loaded up on them when "vintage" just meant old 15 years ago.

People moved away from them because everything changed. Were it not for hendrix, we could have been flipping out over squier stratocaster reissues a couple of years ago.

I completely agree that most of the modern "famous" players associated with them bought them because they were affordable. J mascis bought a jazzmaster because he couldn't afford a tele (so the story goes). But to say that jaguars and jazzmasters were unpopular in their day is just completely and utterly incorrect. Then there is teh kurdtz which is a different argument all together.

And onto the hipster argument. Yeah people who are "hipsters" buy gear that emulates what they see, as everyone else does. Thankfully, the demand has grown enough to warrant an increase in supply (*cough squier cough*). But believe it or not, the people driving the price up are the bl00z lawyers and aging rad dads that want an investment in a vintage fender and can't afford the 10k buy in for a pre-cbs strat.


TL;DR Jaguars were really popular. Jazzmasters kinda flopped then caught on. Strats were tanking. Then the 70s and cocaine happened.

[youtube][/youtube]
Biggest band in the world. Free fender guitars. Anyone, who was anyone before the beatles hit, owned a jaguar.

Jags and JMs were not that popular in the 70s .. There's a reason they actually stopped making the Jag . And don't say it was CBS ... For the sound of the time they weren't that desired .. Surfers that couldn't buy Mosrites had them . They were " too bright" .
Call me wrong .. Shit . I lived through part of it .

Rox wrote:Jags and JMs were not that popular in the 70s .. There's a reason they actually stopped making the Jag . And don't say it was CBS ... For the sound of the time they weren't that desired .. Surfers that couldn't buy Mosrites had them . They were " too bright" .
Call me wrong .. Shit . I lived through part of it .

superfuzz wrote:TL;DR Jaguars were really popular. Jazzmasters kinda flopped then caught on. Strats were tanking. Then the 70s and cocaine happened.

The reason they stopped selling, was as you're probably aware since you lived it, the world got turned on it ear. Between the beatles, vietnam, drugs and then the hippies (and then cocaine and gas crisis), the futuristic shapely jaguar became attached to the ideas of a world before the cold war. The future wasn't a bunch of switches on a hovercraft, it was shitty cars and the colour grey. Then people stopped caring about what was efficient and cost effective, and started caring about what was interesting.

Also, as I'm sure again you're aware, they weren't just in surf music and pop music, but also in country western.

What superfuzz said. The Jazzmaster was intended to be the top of the line guitar over the Strat/Tele, and it cost more. When surf rockers began using them en masse rather than jazz players, Leo tweaked it into the Jaguar with even more trebz on tap, bass cut switch and foam mute. It wasn't a student model adopted by surf rockers, it was a guitar designed with bright, plinky trem-arm surf rock, fast tremolo-picked lead playing and muted verby tones in mind. It's 24" scale was longer than the 22.5" duo-sonic or musicmaster student models, with the 24" variations and Mustang not being released for another 2 years. One of my dad's business partners was a rich Cali coast brat in high school in the mid '60s (though I always picture him looking like Zack Morris when I imagine it) and he had a Jaguar. It was a hot item.

People in the late '80s/early '90s who couldn't afford a cool old Strat/Tele bought the only '60s Fender they could afford, which was cheap by then because it was seen as obsolete, kinda like how we view those old Japanese guitars that you know are going to have mile-high action and tackhammer frets. Cobain's rare lefty '65 had DiMarzio humbuckers and a tune-o-matic installed by the time he got to it; the same shit being stuck on every Les Paul that wasn't nailed down in the '70s/'80s (and probably a few that were nailed down just for extra double-creme swag). Jags spent like a solid generation being borderline unsuitable for any Top 40 playing.

There was a bass guitar in that range too, the Jazz Bass or summat. Of course, now a bunch of kids in complicated shoes have ruined them.