1966 Fender Jaguar in refinished Fiesta Red and in stunning condition…

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 has always been a little bit at odds with its other stable mates but has always found favour in the underground. Even so, there is no denying the iconic look of the instrument, especially decked out in custom colours and covered in chrome.

The first thing that strikes you about this guitar is the colour. Fiesta is one of those shades that just pops out at you. This has been well applied. Its hard to tell the original shade though the unfinished headstock implies sunburst. 

The neck feels really smooth and easy to play. Thankfully this escaped being refinished. There aren’t any signs here of damage as is exactly the same for the fretboard, which has a particularly beautiful grain on it. The original frets show signs of use but have life left in them. The headstock has kept that smooth finish and like the body hasn’t faded much at all. The logo is also still intact and looks brilliant.

Worthy of note at this stage is that this guitar has the desirable features of a dot neck with bound fingerboard. The neck date reads February 1966 which would indicate this is one of the last to have dot markers before the induction of the block inlays.

The bridge has come from a Mustang but other hardware is correct and in good shape. The pickguard is a WD parts replacement of the correct type for the year. It has an added string tree and it also appears someone has converted a lot of the internal holes to channel routes between the various control sections. No idea why but it probably seemed a good idea at the time...!

Electronically the guitar is correct with some of the solder joints having been disturbed.

Guitar comes with its correct hardshell case with a replaced handle and a bit of stencilling.

The guitar sounds fantastic. Unplugged there’s a vibrancy that isn’t always evident in these offset guitars. The stings that are currently fitted to the guitar are .11’s and suit this scale length well. Once plugged in, the guitar has a wide pallette 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.

Great chance to get your hands on a mid 60s Jaguar at a most reasonable price.