Vintage Modified Jaguar 2012
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on october 04, 2012 2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 255
Purchased from: Andersons
Features: Crafted in Indonesia 2012. This model is Surf Green - the coolest of the colors available. It has a maple neck with vintage-tint gloss finish, 9.5"-radius rosewood fingerboard (feels more like 12" to me though) with 22 medium jumbo frets and parchment dot inlays, 24 inch scale length, white-black-white pick-guard, Jaguar (Duncan Designed) single-coil pickups, circuit selector and tone circuit switches, pickup on/off switches, skirted black control knobs (lead circuit) and black disc knobs (rhythm circuit), vintage-style bridge and non-locking floating vibrato with vintage-style tremolo arm, vintage-style chrome tuners and chrome hardware. Body basswood - although it feels heavier than other basswood guitars I've had. Not too heavy though about normal Fender weight. It looks the business - just like the real Fender Jag. // 10
Sound: The pickups are great as far as I am concerned and I can get a good variety of sounds out of them - there is no noise from them which I expected there would be. I have a Squier Jagmaster with Humbuckers and this Jag is just as noiseless as that. I have only played it through a Roland Cube which has a good selection of effects and amp models built in. All the knobs and switches do as they should - lead circuit etc. I've never played a Jag before but the way you can set it all up to switch from neck to bridge or neck to bridge/neck with appropriate tone settings is quite easy to get used to. I only play for my own enjoyment but I think these Squier Duncan Designed pickups are very good. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: This Jag comes strung with 9s which are no good at all for short scale guitars. I don't know why Squier ship them with these as it seems everyone changes them for at least 11s. Anyway I always take strings off new guitars and give the frets a polish before restringing - I have had a good look at the finish and apart from a tiny little spot of polish that has hit the fret board it is very well made - Better than a Mexican Strat I owned. (by tiny spot of polish I mean pin point, I only noticed it because the strings were off and it caught the light. The only problem is the bridge (well known on all Jags) but with 11s on and I don't tend to hit it hard, the bridge is fine. I may try some tape wound 11s or 12s with wound 3rd to see what it would have been like in the sixties. Tuning stays stable (after a bit of a stretch of the new strings) and returns to tuning when the vibrato is used. The tuning pegs seems OK too. I am giving this 9 because I reckon Squier could have gone a bit un-authentic and put a Mustang type bridge on and heavier strings as standard. // 9
Reliability & Durability: I don't and probably wont gig this but it certainly would stand up to gigging. The hardwear seems solid enough and I wouldn't expect it to fall off the strap, any knobs or switches to come off in my hands or the vibrato arm to drop out. In fact the vibrato arm stays just where its put and doesn't Swing down after use. All that said if it was treated roughly and thrown in and out of a van over a period of time it may suffer - but that goes for any guitar! // 10
Impression: As I said It only has home use and I play lots of different styles I even burst into heavy rock when the spirit moves me (not too often though!) I have a few acoustics, a Martin, a Crafter Jumbo, a Loar Archtop and a Godin Archtop. I also have an Italia 12 string electric, a Tele I made from bits of other Tele type guitars, a cheap bass guitar and a Tascam 4 track recorder. I basically play about with music when I'm in the mood. Keeps off the dementia they say! I've tried Jazz, folk, pop, country etc and this guitar plays 'em all. I have wanted a Jag for some time now and I bought the Squier Jagmaster about a year ago. That was my first Squier and I was so impressed with that I just had to have the Squier Jaguar when it came out. I am not at all disappointed with either of my Squiers. I reckon they are really good value for money and if like me the real thing is beyond your pocket, they are a terrific alternative. The Jagmaster has a fantastic neck and plays like butter so I was a bit unsure whether this Jaguar would have as good a neck and I was prepared to swap them if need be. In the event the Jaguar has a neck that is almost identical to the Jagmaster. So that has convinced me that Squier guitars can be consistently good. Next item on the bucket list is a Mustang 'cos I really like short scale guitars. // 10
Vintage Modified Jaguar 2012
Reviewed by:
maxpowweer, on november 15, 2012 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Purchased from: Music Room - Leeds
Features: My Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar 2012 in surf green was "Crafted" in Indonesia, in 2012. It has 22 frets on a rosewood fingerboard, but they are a little bit tight for my stubby fingers, but since I usually play bass it is a bit of a leap. The finish on the body is flawless, and is a Vintage surf green, which is a bit of a marmite love it or hate it colour. I love it. The neck and headstock are laminated which gives it a nice, smooth finish. The neck is a short scale at 24” as apposed to the usual 25.5” of a Strat or Tele. This does mean that if you’re the kind of player to detune, then look elsewhere, as I find tuning lower than half a step the strings are a bit too slack. Drop D is okay.
The Jag has a Vintage style bridge with a non locking floating vibrato. With this you can bend the strings to make a lower note such as with a Strat tremolo, but also you can pull it back to make a higher note. Don’t think for a moment that this is some kind of poor mans Floyd Rose mind. I did get a couple of cheeky metal sounding squeals with a lot of distortion, but this was at the cost of an E string. The tremolo arm also doesn’t screw in, and is held in because it goes in about 2”, but it can just drop out, as I found out at the shop. The Vintage style bridge is the main downfall. The saddles have loads of ridges in them, and so the strings are able to pop out and about now and then. They just aren’t held in place very securely.
Perhaps this can be changed, and maybe one day I will. The controls are indeed the Jags party piece. It has two circuits in the guitar, lead and rhythm. Starting with the top controls, there is a 2 way switch and two rollers. With the 2 way switch in the up position it is in the rhythm circuit, and is just the neck pick up and the bottom controls are switched off. One roller is for the volume and the other for the tone. In the down position it is in the lead circuit. This activates the bottom three switches and the main knobs. The far left switch turns the neck pickup on or off and middle switch does the same with the bridge. The far right switch is a high pass filter, and simply cuts out some of the lows when on. Then the knobs act as the master volume and tone as you’d expect. // 8
Sound: With the rhythm circuit on, it produces a thick warm tone that can be useful in rock, especially with a bit of distortion. Using the lead circuit, with just the bridge, it’s not as thick as the rhythm and has a bit of a clearer sound. With just the bridge pick up, it’s a very thin crisp tone, which sounds very beach boys like. Listen to Fun Fun Fun or Surfin’ USA and that’s exactly the tone you’re gonna get. With both on it still has that beach boy’s sound, but the thickness of the neck pick up takes away some of the sharpness and balances it out. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: When I got it home the action did need a bit of tweaking, as there was a deal of fret buzz. On every string. Though I can’t say if that’ll be with every Jag, and it is just a bit of fiddling with an Alan wrench. Overall for the price you pay, there aren’t any complaints in this area. In fact because this is a top end Squier, the only difference between this and a MIM Fender is the logo on the head stock. And about £300! The finish is very nice, and feels like it’ll last forever. So if you’re going to want that road worn look, then it’s going to take a long time, playing in lots of hot sweaty pubs! The frets are ever so slightly a bit rough when running your hand along the neck. // 10
Reliability & Durability: I haven’t gigged with this, however it is built like a brick sh*t house. I think the bridge and string issue might be a bit problematic gigging though. Can be a nuisance putting the strings back in place and it can knock them out of tune when they do, although they tend to find a position they like after a bit or trial and error. Playing small gigs with this is fine without a back up. However playing larger venues in front of a couple of hundred people, possibly drunk and usually unappreciative of your fine art, would be unwise without a back up no matter what instrument you’re playing! // 9
Impression: I play all sorts of styles, and this suits most of them. It is at home best in the rock, indie, pop styles though I think it sounds cracking playing Iron Maidens stuff. It doesn’t really do heavier metals, mainly because of the drop tuning issue to be honest. I use an EQ pedal with it so with that, a play with my amp knobs and add some distortion I can actually get a decent heavy tone out of it.
Overall I think this is a really well put together instrument, with cool Vintage looks, though it would have been better if Squier had included modern style bridges instead. This is the only downside, but the upside is the large array of tones and the fact it looks the sex. If you are thinking of getting this, definitely go to you local guitar shop and play with one. Properly. The qwerky bridge may put you off, and the shorter scale neck may not be best for you. Think about if you’ll want to use drop tunings. I’d also compare it to its big brother the Jazzmaster if you can, side by side. Looks similar, but is a different animal, so it might be more suited to you but with the same look.
Vintage Modified Jaguar 2012
Reviewed by:
unregistered, on august 02, 2012 0 of 10 people found this review helpful
Price paid: £ 255
Purchased from: Andertons
Features: This is a brand new model. First range of the VM Jaguar that looks exactly like a Fender Jaguar. It is essentially a Fender Jaguar except where it says Squier instead of Fender. It is a short scale 22 fret neck. The usual lead/rhythm circuit controls with volume and tone for each circuit. 3 switch control plate which allows for the turning on/off of pickups, as well as the third switch which is some kind of filter which knocks the bass off of the sound and ups the treble. It comes with a whammy bar into a well-known Jaguar bridge with what looks like a modified Mustang bridge. // 7
Sound: I run the VM Jaguar through a Vox 15R. It sounds pretty good. It's a very bright guitar. This is my first venture into single coil pickup guitars after starting with a Stratocaster. I use a Epiphone Les Paul as my main electric guitar and also own a SG, as well having a Epiphone Dot in the past. The sound seems like a suitable replacement to a Fender Jaguar. It's maybe 6/10's of a Fender Jaguar. // 6
Action, Fit & Finish: The set-up is terrible. It somewhat weirdly comes fitted with 9's. Despite the fact that nearly all Jaguar players and enthusiasts state that a thicker string is better. I fitted 10's on it but it's still not good enough. It looks great but badly done Squier. // 1
Reliability & Durability: At the moment, this guitar wouldn't stand being played live. It needs a new set of strings (as I am going to move up to 11's) and a professional set up. I think the guitar will last for a few years, it seems like it has been produced well but hugely let down by the finishing touches (the strings and etc.) // 3
Impression: My overall impression of this guitar would be that it looks great, but needs work, I bought it for £255 but will have spent another £50 to make it up to my standard. It will be good but sadly will take too much work. Go and buy a Marauder from the Fender Modern Player range. That is twice the guitar for only an extra £100. // 4
So the only problem with the guitar is the strings it came with and it gets a crap score in reliability, setup and overall impression just because of that. Just no.
Go and buy a Marauder from the Fender Modern Player range.
Woah, Fender has a model called the Marauder? That's pretty funny, I just recently sold my old Gibson Marauder which incidentally is almost more like a Fender than a Gibson, what with the bolt-on neck and the '72 Tele style pickup configuration.
I don't like it when people rate guitars too high, but I don't like this either...
Just because it came with a string gauge .001 smaller than you prefer doesn't make it among the worst 10% of guitars. VM Squiers are great in my experience. I would gladly take your 50 to change your strings though.
If you ordered it online from Andertons you shouldn't have expected a well set-up guitar. I agree that the 9's are a bad choice but you can't expect a guitar with as tempermental a bridge and tremelo as the jaguar to sit in various warehouses, fully strung up, for months without the set-up suffering.
If you brought it from the shop I apologise, but in that case I can't believe they would have had it out to play without setting it up.
Reviewer lost me immediately when he said "into a well-known Jaguar bridge with what looks like a modified Mustang bridge." Doesn't know what he/she is talking about.
i ordered a sunburst one a last week from Andertons but then phone them back to a few days later to change the colour to surf green,i should get it around the 20th as they have to re-order it from fender because of my colour change,the service from Andertons is brilliant, i have used them before ,the guitar looks cool as **** , as for string gauge well that's just a preference , change the strings and tighten the spring screws on the bridge (quick and easy fix)
I was very surprised to read this review and can only agree with others that a) Jaguars being short scale need at least 11s b) that all new guitars need a bit of a tweek to meet individual requirements. I can only add that this is the guitar I have been waiting for for some time and that Fender seem to always be a bit slow on the uptake when introducing new Squier models. Look how long it took for them to get on the Squier Tele Custom bandwagon when popular groups had been using them for years. Kids buy what they see their heros playing - it aint rocket science!!!! When will we see the Squier Gilmour Black Strat? When Floyd have passed beyond the dark side of the moon I suppose. Tip to Fender, make a good selling custom guitar - make a Squier model soon after, sell more stuff!!!
I was very surprised to read this review and can only agree with others that a) Jaguars being short scale need at least 11s b) that all new guitars need a bit of a tweek to meet individual requirements. I can only add that this is the guitar I have been waiting for for some time and that Fender seem to always be a bit slow on the uptake when introducing new Squier models. Look how long it took for them to get on the Squier Tele Custom and Squier Vintage Modified Telecaster Deluxe bandwagon when popular groups had been using them for years. Kids buy what they see their heros playing - it aint rocket science!!!! When will we see the Squier Gilmour Black Strat? When Floyd have passed beyond the dark side of the moon I suppose. Tip to Fender, make a good selling custom guitar - make a Squier model soon after, sell more stuff!!!
I am very interested in this model. I have been giging a 1963 jaguar for over 20 years and find it very reliable even though its nearly 50 years old. Refretted 18 years ago and apart from changing strings nothing else has needed doing until recently. Stays in tune better than any other guitar i have owned and those of other band members too even though i use the trlem alot.The Original bridge Saddles rusted and only recently some intonation screws seized so replaced the whole bridge with one off the new Johnny Marr jag. This bridge is very well designed and solves all the common bridge problems And gives the guitar bags more sustain even unplugged.i would fit one to the squier jag from the off .
If you watch Anderton's reviews... cap'n lee suggested that if you feel like the bridge is too unstable and too loose, he suggested that you switch it up with a mustang's bridge..
