First year, Sunburst 1962 Fender Jag anyone…? 

Billed as ‘faster and easier to play’ due to its shorter scale length, and equipped with some of the most advanced switching options of any Fender to date, the Jaguar cut quite a swath when introduced in the spring of 1962. Its sports car looks and catchy ad campaigns meant to appeal to the growing youth market showed Fender taking huge strides into the new decade with the Jaguar as its headlining instrument. 

This guitar is  in fine condition, showing some minor battle scars of a life well lived. Retaining the vibrant hues, particularly the red, this is an excellent example of early 60s sunburst finish.

The neck is in great shape and feels very comfortable. The fretboard shows no real sign of wear and the original frets have plenty of life left in them. The neck date is February 1962 and would have been amongst some of the first Jaguars to leave the factory. 

The original tortoiseshell pickguard hasn't shrunk very much and is in fantastic condition. Noteworthy is the fewer number of screws holding the pickguard, a feature of very early Jaguars as is the slot head pickup adjusting screws.

The hardware is in great shape too.

Electronically everything is correct. There is one solder joint that had to be remade as the wire to the volume pot had broken when we opened the control cavity. The black ground wire over the pots also looks like it has been reheated and possibly extended. The pots read week 32 of 1962. Other solder joints haven’t been disturbed.  

The guitar comes with its correct Brown Tolex hardshell case.

The guitar sounds fantastic. Unplugged there’s a vibrancy that isn’t always evident in these offset guitars. Once plugged in, the guitar has a wide palette of tones available and both pickups work well so as to make any option a good one, again a statement that can’t be made about all Jaguars unfortunately.

First year Jags have something special about them and this one is no exception..