'Under the Bed for Fifty-Six Years - A Near Mint 1966 Candy Apple Red Fender Jaguar

1966 Fender Jaguar

This near mint October 1966 Candy Apple Red Jaguar weighs just 8.10 lbs. and features a solid alder body, contoured on the bass side. One-piece maple neck with a nut width of just under 1 5/8 inches, a scale length of 24 inches and a wonderful medium neck profile rising gently from 0.85 inch behind the first fret, to 0.86 at the 3rd, 0.89 at the 5th, to 0.91 at the 7th, to 0.93 at the 9th, 0.94 at the 12th and 1.00 inch at the 15th fret. Bound veneer rosewood fretboard with 22 original medium/thin frets and inlaid pearl block position markers. Headstock with matching "Candy Apple Red" finish and decal with "Fender" in gold with black trim, "Jaguar" in black and beneath "Pat 2,960,900  2,972,923  3,143,028  2,741,116  Des 186,826 Pat Pend" with "Offset Contour Body" at the ball end of the headstock. Single "butterfly" string tree with nylon spacer. Individual Fender "F" Tuners with octagonal chrome-plated plastic buttons. "F-Series" neckplate with the serial number "172883" stamped between the top two screws. The end of the neck is stamped "15 OCT 66B". Two white oblong Strat-like pickups with notched metal side plates and strong outputs of 6.85k and 7.72k. Three-layer, white over black plastic pickguard with ten screws. 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. The pots are dated: "137 6634" (CTS August 1966). Jazzmaster-type floating tremolo and bridge with adjustable mute. A truly spectacular example in totally original condition with just some very light playing wear to the first six frets only and no visible 'divots' on the fretboard. There are three very small areas on the sides where the body has 'rubbed' against the lining of the case, otherwise the guitar is as new - under the bed for fifty-six years. The Candy Apple Red finish is bright and unfaded and we have given this time capsule a strong (9.25++) near mint rating. Complete with the original tremolo arm and bridge cover. Also included is the original black leather guitar strap, original twelve-page hang tag/instruction manual with matching serial number, original twelve-page Fender Fine Electric Instruments catalog for 1965-66. Housed in its original Fender three-latch rectangular black hardshell case with dark orange plush lining (9.00++). The finest '66 CAR Jaguar we have ever seen…

In late 1965 a white binding was added to the neck, but it was not until mid 1966 that the favored "dot" inlays were replaced by the "later-style" rectangular "pearl-block" markers.

Automobiles in the United States had more social influence than just about anything in the fifties and sixties and the vast array of colors that Fender used on their guitars during that period originated directly from the cars of the time. Candy Apple Red is a color that was introduced by Fender and used between 1963 and 1973.

"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).