This was advertised by an established store on Reverb as a "gently used return in mint condition" at a few hundred dollars off retail. Whenever a guitar is listed as mint, I feel confident any flaws would mean a no-money-lost return, so I bought it.
I assumed the guitar had been bought and returned to the same store I bought it from - nope. Labels on the box matched the serial # of the guitar and also conveyed the guitar was originally sold new in the UK. I bought it in the US, which says the store that sold it to me bought it as a return from someone else.
I'm pretty sure the reason a retailer took it back was because the 3 pots on the lead circuit are wired wrong, so the tone and 2 volumes either give you 0 or 10, and nothing in between. I'm not even convinced anyone bought it, because it still has all its hang tags, unopened case candy, plastic, and all. The trem arm has never even come out of its bag. Maybe the store in the UK noticed the pots and noped the deal. Being lefty, I've seen this in other guitars because it seems factories teach employees how to wire a righty, but don't actually teach them what's going on in the circuit. So they get confused turning things around wiring a lefty. I don't know why they pass QC that way, but many do. I don't remember how many pots I've had to rewire for this reason, but I know I can fix it. I'm surprised it was not returned to Fender.
So I have only played the lead circuit dimed, but it does sound really good. The rhythm circuit is neck pickup only, and is darker than the lead circuit in neck only. It might be darker than I am happy with, so I might have a capacitor to change there. After all, if you want to darken it that way, roll the tone knob a bit, right?
The action was great without any adjustment. The pickup selector was wobbly, but it tightened down just fine. I changed the height of both pickups to my ears' liking, and played it for a few hours. The only thing I can't gauge is the blend of the pickups until I rewire the pots. I like both pickups and the middle position, so I will probably find this thing incredibly versatile. I think the bridge super distortion and the neck PAF were great choices. Based on 100 demos I've seen, I had worried this guitar might only be good at grunge, but no, it is versatile!
Any guitar that has a long string path from the bridge to the tailpiece I refer to as a suspension bridge, and this is one. That means there is extra untuned string vibration in everything you play, which adds a certain character to the tone. Maybe I'm quirky, but for a lot of my music, I really like that extra texture and this Jag has more of it than my favorite Jazzmaster, so it's got that going for it.
One thing that bugs me a little is the missing switch next to the pickup selector. I am almost certain my OCD will make me decide on a purpose and put a switch there. I am currently thinking phase shift, but that may change. It will be over a month before I have enough time to open up the guts and resolder anyway.
It also bugs me a bit that they put the truss rod adjustment in the heel - I don't think the look is worth having to take a neck off for a quarter turn. So far, it doesn't need it, but I expect to dislike that again sometime later.
I swear the saddle positions look backwards to me, yet the guitar is intonated perfectly. Aside from the sharp edge neck binding, there is not a fit/finish flaw to be found. And since it plays and sounds great, and is much more versatile than I expected, it's a keeper regardless of the seller not disclosing the issue with the pots. I'll just leave him a bad review (because even after I told him they were miswired, he did not offer to help get that handled).
So please excuse the non-daylight pictures of this weary traveler born in Mexico with a tour in the UK, now immigrating with papers to the US. This is my first Jag-u-wah, and I like it.
Content above edited for correction, because Fender told me a guitar returned for this reason would not have been resold.
