A Rare Fiesta Red Jaguar

This 13 3/4-inch-wide Jaguar weighs 8.40 lbs. and has a "B" nut width of just over 1 5/8 inches and a scale length of 24 inches. Solid alder body, one-piece bound 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 beside it, and five patent numbers in black below. "Offset Contour Body" decal at the ball end of the headstock. Single "butterfly" string tree with nylon spacer. The neck is stamped "1 SEP 65B." Four-bolt neck plate with serial number ("123657") between the top two screws. Individual Fender "F" tuners with octagonal metal buttons. Two white oblong Strat-like pickups with notched metal side plates and outputs of 6.76k and 6.70k. Three-layer (white/black/white) plastic pickguard with ten screws. Two controls (one volume, one tone) and jack socket on lower metal plate adjoining pickguard on the treble side, circuit selector (rhythm/lead) slide switch and two roller controls (one volume, one tone) on upper metal plate adjoining pickguard on the bass side, and three pickup selector slide switches on metal plate inset into the pickguard on the treble side. The potentiometers are stamped "304 6409" and "304 6543" (Stackpole March 1964 and October 1965). Black plastic Jaguar knobs with white markings. Jazzmaster-type floating tremolo and bridge with adjustable mute. This guitar is in exceptionally fine (9.00) condition. There is some slight marking on the back of the guitar, a few small surface chips on the back of the guitar where the fullaplast primer is showing through, and three tiny chips on the top edge. The sponge for the mute has been removed. This is a wonderful example of this totally original and very rare custom-color Jaguar -- not at all faded. 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).