A Guitar And Gear Support Forum

The back-story: Middle age Europeans considered left-handers evil, to the extent the word sinister took on that meaning (that's Europeans living in the middle ages, not middle-aged Europeans). As a result, the Latin word sinister meaning lefty now means evil. Fast forward a few centuries and Fender USA despises lefties, verified story.

But woo-woo being a regional thing, Japan (predominantly Shinto) never vilified left-handedness. Instead, their demons related to things like disease, misfortune, other hardships. I know, but no, being lefty is not a hardship, just an alternative. And it came to pass that Fender Japan often offers lefty Jaguars without the need of a custom shop or the accompanying upcharge.

Devoid of mystical lefty othering tendancies, Japanese engineers saw within their CAD software the ability to mirror parts from righty to lefty at the drop of a single menu option. Again, it's true. Making a lefty part simply requires a sufficiently open mind to realize there are more people in the world than merely those considering themselves typical. Behold, therefore, the rare and funtastic MIJ lefty Jaguar, not even a Cobain model. They get me. They know I'm just snarky, not evil.

So I only had to look 6,051 miles away. As the invoice came in, the final cost including shipping and insurance at the randomly timed exchange rate was half of what Fender Mod Shop configured close to the same Jaguar. What I dislike about the guitar are 2. First, it has the threaded rod saddles, which I find annoying because string spacing tends to jump around on those. I can fix that by replacing either the saddles or the whole bridge for a Mustang style bridge. The second thing I wish was different is the truss rod, accessible only by taking the neck off. I understand that's a visual cue of olde-days 60s Jaguars, but honestly it's just a pain in the neck, literally. And taking the neck off too often leads to chipped finishes around the neck pocket. So I'm just hoping once I set the relief it stays consistent. Enough regrets, the rest of the guitar looks great.

They shipped it Sunday, and here it arrived Wednesday afternoon. It amazes me how guitars from overseas usually arrive faster than guitars from other parts of the USA. On top of that, the international packages tend to arrive in much better shape too. At least that's been my normal experience.

Now finally the guitar... I love it. Fender Japan has not let me down yet. This is my first brand new MIJ. The guitar is flawless in construction and unlike my usual, there is nothing I want to change in its setup. The action is great, so I don't even have to adjust the relief. Intonation is spot-on. The pickups sound great where they are. Most unusually for a lefty, the wizards at Fender Japan wired it correctly. I won't have to go changing things around. It's even dead-quiet when I'm not playing it. I've heard people say the neck is a little thick, but it feels great to me. It's even easier than my other shorter scale guitars, which I have to guess is because of the neck shape. I replaced the same bridge on my Jazzmasters, but so far this one is behaving perfectly and might stay on. I bought this guitar knowing I could sell it for more used in today's market than I paid, but it's a keeper. It's staying and I'm having fun this week with the elusive lefty Jaguar that is finally off my search list.

Now I'm going to have to keep an eye on the inventory at Taniguchi Gakki because this is an A+ NGD.

Great review and some fabulous writing. HNGD!

BatUtilityBelt wrote: ↑Thu Oct 31, 2024 9:58 am Couch.jpg

Now I'm going to have to keep an eye on the inventory at Taniguchi Gakki because this is an A+ NGD.

At first read I thought we switched from guitars to the local Izakya but in all seriousness, I regret not pulling the trigger on a MIJ Daphne Blue Jaguar last year before it disappeared here in Bangkok.

Congrats on the new guitar.

Tonray's Ghost wrote: ↑Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:39 am At first read I thought we switched from guitars to the local Izakya but in all seriousness, I regret not pulling the trigger on a MIJ Daphne Blue Jaguar last year before it disappeared here in Bangkok.

Yeah, the lefty Jaguar search was so arduous it put me on a tirade, sorry. I'm much better now.

HNGD!

I sense a 3 color tobbaco burst offset trend going here.

andrewsrea wrote: ↑Fri Nov 01, 2024 6:01 pm HNGD!

I sense a 3 color tobbaco burst offset trend going here.

Thanks! It was what they offered, and I'm glad to get it. For this model, I'd have rather gone matching headstock metallic somethingorother, but I'm ecstatic with this one.

Great story - but you had me at "NGD Jaguar". Oh man - great guitar. I love Jags. I've been thinking of upgrading from my Squier CV Jag for a while but the options out there are so limited - or expensive. Maybe I should look closer at MIJ.

What pickups come with yours? What's the neck width? Is the neck chunky? How's the trem feel?

Is that enough questions?

Tiga wrote: ↑Tue Nov 05, 2024 12:56 pm Great story - but you had me at "NGD Jaguar". Oh man - great guitar. I love Jags. I've been thinking of upgrading from my Squier CV Jag for a while but the options out there are so limited - or expensive. Maybe I should look closer at MIJ.

What pickups come with yours? What's the neck width? Is the neck chunky? How's the trem feel?

Is that enough questions?

Ask all you want, I wish I knew more about these before! I've heard others describe the neck as chunky, but it's not the baseball bat some of my guitars have. To me it feels like a nice medium, just barely beefier than average. It's kind of a U shaped neck that might be a little thicker than my other short scale guitars because it doesn't feel as cramped to play up the neck as, say, my MIJ Mustang or the Cobain Jaguar.

Width at the nut is 1.592"
Width at 12th fret: 2.017"

On pickups, MIJ Fender specs are not very informative. Specs say the pickups are Vintage-style single coil Jaguar pickups. It doesn't go into magnet types or strengths. I measured each pickup with a multimeter and got 6.01 kOhms at the neck and 6.03 at the bridge. They get that jag sparkle well without being quite shrill. It's easy to get tone I like with them, but that's going to vary across different people. The trem doesn't dive bomb, but feels like butter, very natural and I'm not getting any of the odd tink sounds we sometimes get from this type of trem.

Since you mentioned the CV... The jaguar I'm building received its pickups and most of its electronics from a wrong-orientation CV Jaguar I bought with body damage. So everything was good except the body, which I needed to swap for a lefty body anyway. Its pickups are not quite as strong as the MIJ Jaguar's pickups, but I'd say they're very close. Tone is pretty similar. When I can commit to a finish on my build, I'll have 2 Jaguars I love, but I think the MIJ will outclass my build.

I love a good Jaguar! Fender Japan makes some nice instruments. Congrats!