Fender Jaguar Lake Placid Blue 1964
Fender Jaguar, refinished Lake Placid Blue, made in USA 1964. What a showstopper. The Fender Jaguar debuted in 1962 as a top-of-the-line offering from Leo's house of delights. The list price for a sunburst was $379.50USD, significantly more than the Strat, which was $259.50 the same year. This excellent example was allegedly factory finished in Lake Placid Blue, but got a fresh coat sometime in the 1980s, as was common in that era. It's yellowed and mellowed in the decades since, with a hue now bordering on Ocean Turquoise Metallic. The original electronics are all intact, although the tuners and bridge have been replaced. A previous owner brought this into the 21st century with a new set of jumbo frets, taking the opportunity to re-radius the fretboard to a 9.5" at the time. It's fitted with a 9.5" radius bridge by the UK's StayTrem to match, which is a handy functional upgrade. That means this plays very smoothly indeed: the body is light, the neck is slim and agreeable, it's acoustically loud and resonant, the vibrato system is stable, and you can bend notes up and down the whole neck to your heart's content. The original pickups deliver the goods too: assertive thump and piano-like clarity down low, sparkling shimmer and chime up top, creamy richness through the mids. The contrast in tone between the rhythm and lead circuits is significant too, so that's a lot of fun to play with. It's hard to find pre-CBS examples in Australia that play and present this well, so if you've been hankering, don't die wondering about this one.
Model: Fender Jaguar
Made: USA, 1964, Fullerton factory
Serial: L25557
Finish: Lake Placid Blue, gloss nitro, refinished 1980s
Body: alder
Neck: maple, Brazilian rosewood fretboard, clay dots, 24" scale, 42mm nut, slim C shape, 9.5" radius, jumbo frets
Weight: 3.790kg
Mods: body refinished, re-fretted, fretboard radius adjusted to 9.5", Staytrem bridge installed, tuners replaced
Pickups: Fender Jaguar single coil 1964 x2
Accessories: original case, no docs
Cosmetic condition notes: minor finish wear. The headstock has scuffs and dimples on the end and edges, an extra string tree hole and some scuffs on the front and some dimples on the back. The neck is clean and smooth in the hands, rub wear and scuffs on the back and some marks from the re-fret on the board. The back has minor dimples on the both horns, the bottom edge and elbow area, as well as a small dent on the back edge up from the rear strap pin. The neck plate has the original owner's social security number engraved in. The sides have minor dimples around the whole body, no major marks. The front has a filled chip on the top horn, dimples around the tailpiece and some scuffs around the jack, bridge and horns.
Overall: very good condition (8/10)
Playing condition notes: Action is low, neck is straight, intonation is good, truss rod works. All electronics tested and working properly. Wearing fresh 11/49 Moonshiners strings.
Fret life: 8/10, minor wear only