American/Japan REISSUE. ?

m3dicated

Ok, I'm planning on buying a black American reissue Jag and it costs a bit. I could always buy a CIJ/MIJ variant which is way cheaper. So I'd like to know, what are the most important advantages of an American one over Japan? I have looked many articles about it, but still it isn't quite clear for me and i need to be 100% sure about what I buy.

Every single detail would be appreciated. ^^,

robertoriginal

american stuff is WAY better IMO.

first off.

the electronics are top notch and the pups sound amazing clean and overdriven.

the hardware(trem, bridge, nut, tuners)

are all of a much higher quility.

the paint job is nitro lazquer(nuff said)

the over-all feel of an american is alot better than a jap,

and if you figure that an american is only about 200-300 more than a jap its much better then it makes thing 10x better, plus you get a case with the american stuff.

dylon124

robert(original) said: american stuff is WAY better IMO.
first off.
the electronics are top notch and the pups sound amazing clean and overdriven.
the hardware(trem, bridge, nut, tuners)
are all of a much higher quility.
the paint job is nitro lazquer(nuff said)
the over-all feel of an american is alot better than a jap,
and if you figure that an american is only about 200-300 more than a jap its much better then it makes thing 10x better, plus you get a case with the american stuff.

I agree with all of that 😀

eddiebax

But if you cant afford an american do what I did to my number 1 - its an MIJ and I swapped the pickups for american ones. Sounds heaps better.

m3dicated

Thanks everybody. I found some info from there too:

http://www.fenderjaguar.net/jagfaq.pdf

page 7

One more question though.. I read that one of the Jag's biggest problem is staying in tune. Is it because of the tuners or the tremolo? Probably because of the tremolo and i read that "If you don't want the Jaguar to be a tremolo guitar, you can simply lock it by turning the adjustment screw round clockwise until it bites." I don't quite get it what they mean by it. What other consequences does it bring? Can I still pick behind the bridge and does it even sound?

/edit about the sound.. are Seymour Duncan SJAG-1 pickups better than original American Reissue's ?

Fran

The only thing that would hinder picking behind the bridge is fitting a 'buzzstop'.

The CIJ/MIJ Jaguars are excellent guitars but the pickups uaually need upgrading, i have two but i agree with robert. If you can go that extra $$ the US models are better.

Once you balance things up with the tremelo and set the bridge up correctly the Jaguar will stay in tune forever.

The main reason people dislike the Jag bridge/trem is because they dont understand it or/cannot be bothered to set it up correctly.

There is a diagram on the webrocker website showing you how the tremelo is locked off, its very simple, the only consequences are it means you cannot use the tremelo system once it is locked.. nothing else.

Aug

robert(original) said: american stuff is WAY better IMO.
first off.
the electronics are top notch and the pups sound amazing clean and overdriven.
the hardware(trem, bridge, nut, tuners)
are all of a much higher quility.
the paint job is nitro lazquer(nuff said)
the over-all feel of an american is alot better than a jap,
and if you figure that an american is only about 200-300 more than a jap its much better then it makes thing 10x better, plus you get a case with the american stuff.

yes and no.

The electronics are better, but the wiring is crap.

The hardware is the same stuff. Same tuners, same bridge, etc.

With nitro, you have to worry about burning your paint, should you rest the body on a guitar cord, but not if it's poly.

robertoriginal

the trem is definitly better, and if i remember correctly there are different grub screws in the avri bridge vs the jap.

phaeton

As for the trem lock button I don't see any point in it, i took my trem unti off and examined it and found that the trem lock button could not be used when its all strung up and could't get it to lock when the unit was off.

If you don't want it to be a trem guitar, take out the trem arm.

I use my trem arm all the time and the only problem I have is it goes a bit flat now and then.

Fran

phaeton said: As for the trem lock button I don't see any point in it, i took my trem unti off and examined it and found that the trem lock button could not be used when its all strung up and could't get it to lock when the unit was off.
If you don't want it to be a trem guitar, take out the trem arm.
I use my trem arm all the time and the only problem I have is it goes a bit flat now and then.

Its very usefull. If it is'nt locked and you break a string the tuning goes flat like a Floyd Rose system. Also, if you have it set up right and a string breaks with it off, just dip your bar and click it on... back in tune!

You balance it up with the tension screw and tuning, it shows you on webrocker how to do it.

phaeton

well that makes a little more sense, some.

so does the button clamp the floating plate to the unit ceiling or is it meant to create a gap between the plate and the ceiling?

I thought the button was designed to clamp the plate to jam the system.

eddiebax

someone said: about the sound.. are Seymour Duncan SJAG-1 pickups better than original American Reissue's ?

In my opinion the american pickups were better. They dont hum AT ALL even at ridiculous volumes, but they still have the trebbly retro bite of a jaguar guitar, mids are a little stronger but not overly so.

The Seymour Duncans I can only comment on the sjag1 and sjag3 - sjag1 was all mids and muddy - took away the trebly bite and didnt replace it with much. Wasnt overly impressed and I sold them. Sjag3 - WQuarter pounders against seemed to sound pretty high on the mids without the trebble surfy bite - and too hot for me without some trebble.

Best pickups ive used in my jags in my opinion are still Us stock jag pickups, Pete Bilcroft's p90 pickups for jags and MIJ pickups, and very new MIJ pickups are pretty good too if set up right.

m3dicated

Thanks. No need to change them, I suppose. Thought it would bring sound closer to the vintage.

Final question:

Is the pickguard color of a black jag more like brownish or black? At the musician's friend and other sites it seems quite black to me, but I wonder how it looks like in the light.

nirvana23freak

its the same as the tort on the sunburst ones

Fran

phaeton said: well that makes a little more sense, some.
so does the button clamp the floating plate to the unit ceiling or is it meant to create a gap between the plate and the ceiling?
I thought the button was designed to clamp the plate to jam the system.

It slides across underneath the trem plate so you cannot pull the bar up so yes it does create a gap to the unit plate, which of course means if you break a string it wont move by loss of tension either.

It is all clear here;

http://www.webrocker.de/jaguar/cms/2007/05/12/setup-the-tremolo-system/

Scroll down the page.

m3dicated

I'm still going for a MIJ - I realized that if I'm going to let someone buy an AVRI in US and then send it to Estonia, it would still include all kinds of shipping costs, plus some EU toll stuff and so on.. In the end it wouldn't matter if I bought one from the dealers here or do it my way. In here the AVRI costs about 1750

Fran

You wont be disappointed. Get them Antiquitys in and you'll be laughing.