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Umm, Jagstang?


jw10

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Yes, it's a real model. It was designed by Kurt Cobain. I believe his intent was to make a part Mustang, part Jaguar hybrid.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Jag-Stang

 

A lot of folks like them, but personally I think they're ugly as sin. Still, they have some of the sweetest, thinnest necks (in terms of depth) that Fender has ever made. So do most of the 94-95 MIJ Mustangs.

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I think they look cool but I probably wouldn't like how they feel. Aren't they short scale? I don't think Cobain was even that happy with how they turned out.

 

 

24" scale, 22 fret necks - just like the Mustang, although Mustangs made before the early 70s were also offered with a 22.5" scale, 21 fret neck as an option.

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Yes, it's a real model. It was designed by Kurt Cobain. I believe his intent was to make a part Mustang, part Jaguar hybrid.




A lot of folks like them, but personally I think they're ugly as sin. Still, they have some of the sweetest, thinnest necks (in terms of depth) that Fender has ever made. So do most of the 94-95 MIJ Mustangs.

 

 

thanks for verifying phil, I can't see how anyone would want that atrocity of a design.

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A lot of folks like them, but personally I think they're ugly as sin. Still, they have some of the sweetest, thinnest necks (in terms of depth) that Fender has ever made. So do most of the 94-95 MIJ Mustangs.

 

 

Interesting. Are MIJ/CIJ Mustang necks from a given year generally the same as a Jaguar neck of the same vintage?

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Interesting. Are MIJ/CIJ Mustang necks from a given year generally the same as a Jaguar neck of the same vintage?

 

 

I can't say with certainty, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that they're made from the same neck blanks. The scale length and number of frets is the same. However, it also wouldn't surprise me to learn that they're done differently, or kept separate. While Fender USA used the same necks for Musicmaster IIs, Duo Sonic IIs and Mustangs for several years in the 60s, Jag necks were different, and were stamped with different codes. They'll all still work interchangeably though. You can put a Mustang neck on a Jaguar, or vise versa.

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I can't say with certainty, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that they're made from the same neck blanks. The scale length and number of frets is the same. However, it also wouldn't surprise me to learn that they're done differently, or kept separate. While Fender USA used the same necks for Musicmaster IIs, Duo Sonic IIs and Mustangs for several years in the 60s, Jag necks were different, and were stamped with different codes. They'll all still work interchangeably though. You can put a Mustang neck on a Jaguar, or vise versa.

 

 

Cool. I think I've read in the past that you prefer thin necks, what Fender/Squier short scale neck of recent times is most to your liking?

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Cool. I think I've read in the past that you prefer thin necks, what Fender/Squier short scale neck of recent times is most to your liking?

 

 

That one. The '94 MIJ Mustang. Too bad the body wood for those years is basswood. But the necks? Fantastic!

 

What I like is a thin C profile. I like standard B width (1 5/8") necks, but I prefer the front to back distance be fairly shallow, and the "shoulders" of the neck to be thinner, as opposed to a U shaped profile.

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fKtLo.jpg

 

xDQeI.jpg

 

OK, maybe vaguely:

 

8gXBF.jpg

 

But seriously, what happened? He wanted the top half to look like a Jag, and the bottom to look like a Mustang. I think they took his poor drawings a bit too literally. First picture looks kinda hot, especially if they would've went with the Jag trem.

 

Same designer as the Firebird X, maybe?

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No, it's really pretty much his design, the way he shaped it. They have (or at least had) a bunch of the Jagstang development stuff (including that first drawing / mockup I posted) on display at the Fender Museum in Corona. The fiesta red prototype was over there, along with all Kurt's drawings, his cardboard full-sized mockups, etc. I have not been over there in a while, and they constantly update the place, so it might not still be up.

 

I don't think it turned out as well as he had hoped it would. Maybe he would have gotten the kinks worked out, or they could have refined the design more had he lived, but I don't think he was totally satisfied with it. Whether that dissatisfaction was partially aesthetically related, I have no idea.

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No, it's really pretty much his design, the way he shaped it. They have (or at least had) a bunch of the Jagstang development stuff (including that first drawing / mockup I posted) on display at the Fender Museum in Corona. The fiesta red prototype was over there, along with all Kurt's drawings, his cardboard full-sized mockups, etc. I have not been over there in a while, and they constantly update the place, so it might not still be up.


I don't think it turned out as well as he had hoped it would. Maybe he would have gotten the kinks worked out, or they could have refined the design more had he lived, but I don't think he was totally satisfied with it. Whether that dissatisfaction was partially aesthetically related, I have no idea.

 

I have to head over there one day and do the tour. Did they have the pictures I posted as well?

 

I think you're right, it was just incredibly unrefined. I read that one of his biggest problems with it was that it had no belly cut or forearm cut. Unfortunately he died, and they released what seems like a prototype to the unsuspecting masses.

 

That upper horn and the misshapen butt just kill me. :(

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I used to own a Sonic Blue one, a 1995 one as I recall.

 

I loved the way it looked but could never get on with how bassy and wooly the bridge pickup was. It sounded really crap and undefined which surprised me seeing as Cobains sounds were definitely more edgy.

 

Trying everything to correct it - slapped in a variety of replacements, straightened the bridge pickup route to line up the strings under the polepieces, replaced pots with 1megs, even bypassed the pots - still couldn't get the attack and brightness I wanted.

 

Eventually sold it at a loss after all the worked I'd done and got a Jaguar, then a Mustang. Never looked back.

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