What's the differcne between jazzmaster and jaguar?
 

So, I'm thinking of buying a new guitar and I was thinking about a jazzmaster or a jaguar but what's the difference?

the smell

If you cannot see the difference buy a strat :)

different pickups, different wiring, the jag has a shorter scale, and the jag looks more awesome. Iunno what to say, play both and choose yourself!

I have a jazzmaster and truly love it.

vs

^^

Fuck no, I hate that guitar.

I can see the difference, but I'm talking soundwise.

As mentioned the Jaguar has a shorter scale but it has 22 frets as opposed to 21 for the Jazzmaster. Both have great clean tones, the Jag has maybe the best clean tone of the two but the Jazzmaster takes distortion much better and as a result is more polyvalent.

I really love my Jazzmaster especially played on a good Fender tube amp.

Alright thanks, sounds more like it's a jazzmaster for me.
Would prefer a longer scale and I won't play so much clean stuff.

When I'm using it it will probably be together with a bunch of pedals.
I'm not originally a guitarist, I'm a drummer.

Isn't the Jaguar cheaper too?

Pretty easy to spot the differences if you look. Pickups, build, tone. The Jaguar is flashier, and has more options, but the Jazzmaster is Fender's masterpiece in my opinion. General sound is somewhere between a strat and a tele (not as punchy as the latter), but it's more versatile than either.

I don't know. I don't have a Jag and haven't played one in a while, but I'm pretty sure I'll be a Jazzmaster guy for life. Jag's are more complicated and tend to fall out of tune more easily because they have so much going on. Really hard to find "your tone", but once you do, it's sweet.

Just play both and pick. Or listen to a bunch of Kevin Shields and J Mascis.

Overall yeah, but Jags can run pretty high if they're fully loaded.

I think Jags are kind of a pain in the ass, but sweet sounds they do indeed make.

Despite people always labeling them "sibling guitars" due to the looks, they sound completely different. That always annoyed me a bit when reading about them.

Jaguars can often require more work on them to get them sounding the way you want, and they are only wired for single tone pick-ups, so as mentioned they can have a wonderful clean tone but can be tricky trying to use pedals with them.

I say go for a Jazzmaster personally and get a Jaguar down the line if you can; They're both well worth it in the long run.


Take this for what you will, I think the Jazzmaster feels lighter (to me, anyway) but due to the slightly longer neck the Jaguar is more comfortable. That's probably my preference though.

~Jeremy~

Yeah, Jag's heavier no question.

I dreamed of having a Jazzmaster for over a decade. I knew it was my dream guitar the moment I first heard the name. I was actually more of a Gibson guy before I actually played one, finding Jags too cumbersome, Tele's too limited, and Strat's kind of boring.

one is clearly for cunts, the other not. choose wisely.

to jump in this debate. I was raised on heavy, long-scale, double humbucker pickups running through shit-loads of effects, which of course requires a lot of wiring and fine tuning to get the right "feel" and "sound"

however, when I began to play in jam bands, in blues bands, in reggae bands, and got out of the Steve Albini side of distorted guitar oriented music, I discovered the joy of the Strat. I initially also never could get into the strat or any single-coil set ups because as has been pointed out several times over on this thread, when it comes specifically to effects and over-driven guitar work, the Strat can be tricky, but have we all forgotten the pioneer inovator of guitar noise and feedback?



So we are all talking out of our asses if we suggest with any integrity the an effects chain is lost or wasted on a Strat, and that Strats and single-coils are for clean channel playing. True, the Strat is superb for clean channel, and if you have the purity of Jerry Garcia and want to buy surplus NASA equipment to produce absolute clarity at a 1/2 mile, well then a Strat can do it.

However, we also know that with a bit of effort you can get great distorted sound from a strat or a single-coil. I discovered this myself when I started playing Strats in reggae bands, and then later jam bands, and I was in those situations desiring perfect clean sound, however the distortion in me also found expression through the Strat.

Now.. that I have properly wired, adjusted, toned, and tuned my Strat and other single-coil guitars, I must admit that I adore them. Yes, when I want a wall of distorted or some heavy open chords I get my double-humbuckers which I have gutted to just growl, however, when I want something more intricate, or say something with subtle play with a delay and distortion, then I've noticed the Strat can pick up the subtle nuances more accurately and creatively. Also, while the humbuckers can make some serious noise, volume, and distortion while maintaining the over-all integrity of the note and tone, if you opt to play at a slightly lesser gain and volume, you can actually get MORE versatility on the Strat then with the humbuckers, it just takes a bit more technical and mechanical effort and preparation. So distortion on a single-coil may be a bit more calculated, but this should not negate its potentiality.

That being said, if you want a lot of chunk go for the Jazzmaster and gut it, I even suggest going all out and buying the Tony Iommi Gibson pick ups, they keep their integrity even when tuned down three whole steps and with high gain!! However, the Strat and other single-coils should not be demonized by the noise guitar community, it has a lot of potential given the right amount of effort.

I like the strat over the Jaguar in this regard, the Strat is a lighter, more ergonomic guitar over the Jaguar when it comes to the single-coils, and I love the Jazzmaster for being the heavy hitting Fender that can take the Pepsi challenge against any metal head Gibson

or, we could follow Kurt's genius and get the the best of both worlds with the Jagstang