Fender has introduced new Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitars in the Classic Player line. The Classic Player Jaguar and Jazzmaster are Mexican made with some very nice updates and improvements.

Notable updates/improvements are:

• Adjusto-Matic Bridge (somewhat like a tune-o-matic)
• 9.5″ fretboard radius (compared to the 7.25″ radius previously)
• sustain/stability improvements - increased back angle, tremolo plate moved closer to bridge
• dual humbucker option on the jaguar
• “hotter” pickups

These new Classic Player models should nicely fill the gap left when the Japan made models became no longer available. Just the bridge and fretboard radius improvements alone will make this guitar look very attractive compared to the much higher priced American Vintage Jaguars and Jazzmasters.

The dual humbucker sunburst jaguar will also undoubtedly be a favorite of the Cobain fans. Who will no longer need to go through the hassles and expense of getting one of the “Kurtified” Fender Japan Jaguars.

(Click pics for larger images)

We plan to have a hands on review posted in the future.

It’s been well known that there were 2 original prototype jag-stangs made by Fender at the time Kurt Cobain died. There was a sonic blue prototype that was played by Kurt on a few European tour dates. (see video in previous post) It was given to Peter Buck of REM after Cobain died. You can see Buck playing the lefty jag-stang flipped righty in the REM video “what´s the frequency kenneth”. Does anyone know where the blue jag-stang is today?

The fiesta red prototype never made it to Kurt. Fender was preparing to ship the guitar to Kurt when they got news of his death. It originally ended up in the Fender Museum. Forum member ‘prospect’ posted some of his great photos and information from the Fender museum which is shared below. [forum link]

These photos are from Fender’s Museum in California from a few years back. It is my understanding that this is now currently on display either in Seattle or Cleveland.

On Kurt’s drawing the surrounding information you see is for when it was scanned for “Journals”. The “blacked out” area is contact information for Kurt and his guitar tech which was to not be printed in “Journals”.

(Click images below for larger versions)

If you have any more info on the current locations of the fiesta red or sonic blue prototype jag-stangs let us know.

While Kurt wasn’t alive long enough for us to see him play the jag-stang very much there were some shows during the ‘94 European tour where he did.

Below is one of the better quality videos of Kurt playing the jag-stang on the song Dumb from the Slovenia 2/27/94 tour date. Thanks to Ryan for suggesting us post this on our blog!  If you see other cool jag-stang videos that we should post let us know.

Forum member iCEByTes has put together a gorgeous custom jag-stang project guitar.

For all the details on his project and all the folks who contributed to it visit this forum post.  [url] You could also post any questions to the creator there.

Some of the specs on the guitar are:

• neck: 24″ C shape (copy of jag-stang neck)
• body: ash (copy of jag-stang body ash), with straight humbucker and contours
• pickups: Seymour Duncan Lipstick SLS-n and Seymour Duncan JB

Below are a few photos of the project jagstang.

If you have a custom jag-stang, jaguar, or mustang project guitar send us your photos!  We’ll put up a post to show off your project.

It’s been a very slow few months for interesting alternative guitar stuff on the web. So here are a few random, but somewhat interesting, guitar articles I’ve come across the last few weeks.

Fender finally reveals the Costello Jazzmaster.
We posted about the Costello Jazzmaster last November. And now Fender has made it official. Check out the official Costello Fender link here.

Jimi Hendrix meets The Sims 2
[Recently posted by theaxevictim blog]

Why don’t girls play guitar?
Interesting article posted by BBC News Magazine.

Steve Jones Les Paul Custom
Initially introduced at 2008 Winter NAMM the Steve Jones LPC can now be seen here on the gibson site.

[Edit: Hope everyone had a fun April Fools Day and didn't believe anything posted today, April 1.]

It’s a Jaguar Bass. It’s a Mustang Bass. No. It’s a Jag-Stang Bass!

Similar to how the Jag-Stang was created it looks like Fender has taken features from both the Fender Jaguar Bass and the Fender Mustang Bass and created the Jag-Stang Bass. There are not many details available yet but we did get a hold of a couple images. Fender is expected to announce the Jag-Stang Bass at the Summer NAMM show.

Click for High-Res photo.

It’s hard to believe the Fender Jazzmaster was first introduced 50 years ago, back in 1958. While it’s not one of the guitars that has it’s own section here at jag-stang.com we do have a strong affinity for the Jazzy.

It’s very likely that if there was no Fender Jazzmaster there would be no Fender Jaguar and thus no Fender Jag-Stang ! And oh how sad that would make us!

Are you a current or former Jazzmaster owner? We would love to hear your thoughts on the jazzy and how it influenced your playing over the years in the comments to this post.

If you’re interested in more of the inner details of a 1958 Jazzmaster you should visit this fantastic web page. [link] That page has a lot of detailed photos and descriptions of one.

And here’s a few vintage Fender Jazzmaster ads to enjoy while reminiscing. (Click the images for larger versions.)

A bit more info is trickling out above the upcoming Billy Corgan signature stratocaster.

Fender blogs about some custom DiMarzio BC pickups HERE. Being called BC80 and BC89 they also have a photo on the blog post. If anyone has a guess as to what DiMarzio model these might be based on let’s hear it.

[photo via Fender Blog]