First year, Sonic Blue 1962 Fender Jag anyone…? Yes, this is one helluva rare guitar and probably one of the first Jags ever made, especially in a rare custom colour!

We bought it from the previous owner of some 40 odd years who alas did not fully understand what a rare guitar he possessed and stripped it in the 70's. Luckily he did a terrible, amateur job and left the original sonic blue in the cavities for Neil Ivison to paint match. If he had left it alone, then we would be looking at probably one of the rarest, most desirable Jags on the planet and a price tag of well over £30k..

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. 

The first thing that strikes you about this guitar is the colour. Sonic Blue is a rare shade and combined with a slab board Jaguar makes for an eye watering combination. This refinish has been expertly carried out by our good friend Neil Ivision of Ivision guitar who has painstakingly restored this guitar for us. He used the colour of the headstock to match the yellowing of the clear coat as thankfully this still had the original finish. He used what paint was left under the pickguard to match the blue as well as the desert sand undercoat before refinishing. 

The guitar came to us having been stripped in the 70s and, as you can see from the pictures, having had its neck epoxied on. This has meant that some repair work has been carried out on heel. No other repair work was required on the guitar. 

The neck is in great shape and feels very comfortable. The neck has been over sprayed some time ago and a lot of this has worn off the back already. The fretboard shows signs of wear and has been refretted recently. The headstock face thankfully has the original sonic blue paint and a neck date of April 1962 - just about as early as you can get for a Jag.

Plastics are in good shape.

The hardware is free of too much corrosion, the saddles being the worst off. 

Electronically some solder joints have been disturbed and one lead from the selector switches to the tone pot for the lead circuit was replaced. The pickups have both been rewound by Montys. The potentiometers for the lead circuit are not familiar to us so could be replacements though the capacitor looks correct for the period. The rhythm circuit controls are correct 

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.

Comes with a correct brown Tolex case.

First year Jags have something special about them and this one is no exception. Grab it before it gets away.