A Very Rare Fiesta Red Jaguar with Gold-Plated Hardware

This 13 3/4-inch-wide Jaguar weighs 8.50 lbs. and has a "B" nut width of 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 24 inches. Solid alder body, one-piece maple neck, and curved veneer rosewood fretboard with 22 frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Headstock with matching "Fiesta Red" finish and decal with "Fender" logo in gold with black trim, "Jaguar" in black in bold letters, and five patent numbers in black below. With "Offset Contour Body" at the ball end of the headstock. Single "butterfly" string tree with nylon spacer. The neck is dated "1 MAR 65 B." Four-bolt neck plate with serial number ("L70402") at the top. Individual Kluson Deluxe tuners with oval metal buttons. Two white oblong Strat-like pickups with notched metal side plates and balanced outputs of 6.65k and 6.61k. Three-layer celluloid "green guard" pickguard. Two controls (one volume, one tone) and jack socket on lower metal plate adjoining pickguard on treble side, selector switch and two roller controls (one volume, one tone) on upper metal plate adjoining pickguard on bass side, and three slide switches on metal plate inset into the pickguard on the treble side. Black plastic Jaguar knobs. Jazzmaster-type floating tremolo and bridge with adjustable mute. All hardware gold-plated. Some body checking on the top and back, a few small marks on the lower edge, and a small ding in the center of the back of the guitar. A wonderful example of this totally original and very rare color Jaguar with special "factory-ordered" gold-plated hardware. The gold plating is as bright as the day it was made. Housed in its original Fender black hardshell case with dark orange plush lining (8.50).

"Not content with the relatively expensive Jazzmaster, Fender introduced a new top-of-the-line model in 1962: the Jaguar. [The pricelist offered a basic Sunburst Jaguar at $379.50; a similar Jazzmaster was $349.50]. Another offset-waist multi-control instrument, the Jag seemed an attractive proposition, but still failed to dent the supremacy of Fender's dynamic duo, the Tele and the Strat...The Jag used a similar offset-waist body shape to the earlier Jazzmaster, and also shared that guitar's separate bridge and vibrato unit, although the Jaguar had the addition of a spring-loaded string mute at the bridge. Fender rather optimistically believed that players would prefer a mechanical string mute to the natural edge-of-the-hand method. They did not. There were some notable differences between the Jaguar and Jazzmaster. Visually, the Jag had distinctive chromed control panels, and was the first Fender with 22 frets. Its 24" (610mm) scale-length ('faster, more comfortable') was shorter than the Fender standard of 25" (635mm) and closer to that of Gibson. It gave the Jag a different playing feel compared to other Fenders. The Jaguar had better pickups than the Jazzmaster. They looked much like Strat units but had metal shielding added at the base and sides, no doubt as a response to the criticisms of the Jazzmaster's tendency to noisiness. The Jag's electrics were yet more complex than the Jazzmaster's, using the same rhythm circuit but adding a trio of lead-circuit switches...The Jaguar was offered from the start in four different neck widths, one a size narrower and two wider than normal (coded A, B, C or D, from narrowest to widest, with 'normal' B the most common)" (Tony Bacon, 50 Years of Fender, p. 36).