Fender introduced the Jaguar in 1962 as their new flagship model. It was intended as the next step forward and was meant to outperform both the Stratocaster as the Jazzmaster. The Jaguar's basic platform and body shape was the Jazzmaster but Leo changed the scale length to 24” to provide easier chording. Metal control plates were added for visual appeal.

The pickups were designed narrow and with a metal “saw tooth” like claw that was made with the intention of concentrating the magnetic field, providing a punchier sound than the Jazzmaster. The switching was updated as well: the pickup selector toggle switch was replaced with slider switches and a high-pass filter was added. The vibrato and bridge of the Jazzmaster were maintained but a string mute was added to provide easy muting with the bridge cover in place.

This Jaguar is from early 1965. It has typical features of this year of production like pearloid dot position markers, an L-serial number and a very comfortable wide but somewhat flat neck profile. The wiring, shielding plates, switches, pots and caps are all original, as is most of the hardware like the patent # tremolo, control plates, bridge, knobs and frets. When we got this guitar the pickups were already replaced with no-name, probably Japanese pickups, so we decided to upgrade these and added Fender AV65 Jaguar pickups. These pickups are very accurate reproductions of the grey fiber bobbin pickups and are a perfect match for this guitar.

This guitar appears to have been factory refinished at some time in Olympic White, as it has some additional markings in the neck pocket. However this finish was already badly damaged by cellotape residue (added for a Van Halen type look) when we got the guitar. Even while we tried hard we couldn’t buff out these markings, save the finish or do a convincing matching partial refin that lead to a visually satisfactory result. Eventually we decided to have the body refinished in black nitrocellulose lacquer. This refinish was done with some crazing but no dents or artificial playing wear were added. With all the chrome and the beautiful original tortoise pickguard this Jaguar looks great.

The neck is in great shape. It has a very nice fretboard made of extremely dark rosewood with no divots and factory frets that appear to have been barely played. The neck has its original finish that is worn to a very comfortable feel. The tuners are vintage F-tuners but the neck shows traces of earlier Klusons. I presume the F-tuners were placed when the factory refin was done. It’s also possible that the guitar was factory refretted at that point. The nut appears original but was shimmed at some point. The logo is original and appears almost new.

The original case was unfortunately lost but this Jaguar is sold with a new solid tweed case.

Additional specifications:

• Serial Number: L562xx
• Neck stamp: 1DEC64B
• Potentiometer codes: Lead circuit wk50/’64
• Modifications: original nut was shimmed, new neck pocket shims added, F-tuners, body refinish in black nitrocellulose, Fender AV65 pickups, reissue whammy bar, reissue strapholders.
• Setup: D’Addario EXL116 .011-.052 strings
• Case: non original square tweed case