Newbie getting a Jag soon

steve7

Would appreciate some help here from the experts. I am primarily a bass player who wants to pick up the six string again and I really like 60's surf music. (Diamond Head, Apache, Pipeline etc).

There are a couple of CIJ Jags I'm following on ebay now. A few of these auctions end tonight and I'm getting antsy to pull the trigger one. What I'd like to know is, are the necks on these CIJ'S similar to their american cousins?

Should I look for a Jag in which the pickups (ie Seymour Duncan hotrail) and bridge (tuneomatic) have replaced the originals, or should I look toward a fully stock model like the ones that come directly from Japan. (Big $ for shipping here)

I don't want to spend more than 600 if possible. Thanks in advance for your input. 😁

Aug

I don't see anything "wrong" with getting a jaguar with alternate pups, but since I do all my own mods, I'd rather buy it stock and work from there. But, that's just a personal opinion.

The only mods you will prolly be interested in are:

1. reworking the nut, should you choose to use larger strings (recommended)

2. replacing the jaguar/jazzmaster bridge for either a Mustang or a Modified Mustang bridge.

3. Replacing the existing pups.

Patrick

The necks are pretty similar as far as I can tell, but it depends to which 'american cousin' you are refering to. I seem to remember the current AV RI have a very similar if not slightly slimmer profile to CIJ jags, but thats only what I have read.

As for the PUPS - if you are looking to play surf or instro on it you definately do not want Pickups like SD hotrails, thats a ceramic bar which as far as i can remember gives a massive output so it never really does anything apart from overdrive. I think it will naturally overdrive a clean tone. Also i'm thinking you are going to miss out on the jaguars distinctive trebley highs with a PU like that. In my opinion Jags are rubbish with tune o matic bridges, especially when the original bridges do work with a good set up or like Augustus_McCrae just stated replacing them with a mustang or similar bridge. Tune o matics dont seem to get on very well with the floating trem, but if your planning on playing hard tail this may not matter.