player opinions

Squier Jagmaster

Squier Jagmaster

  1. Name: John

  2. Band: Low Watts

  3. Model Year: unknown

  4. Price Paid: $169 used

  5. Performance

  6. This is a great guitar. Body is exactly what you need and better design for whammy bar than on stock Jazzmaster. I replaced all the hardware — locking tuners, F neckplate, two Seymour Duncan p-rails with push pull pots on volume and tone to switch between humbuckers, p90's, single coil, parallel humbuckers.

  7. Performance Rating: 9

  8. Sound Quality

  9. You have to upgrade the pickups. The duncan designed models in this guitar are Horrible. But once you put on decent pickups, this guitar is a dream. Humbuckers on a Fender with whammy bar sounds very unique and great.  Listen to www.reverbnation.com/lowwatts or www.myspace.com/lowwatts and hear the whammy sounds on Flight of the Drone. The sound quality rating is AFTER the pickup upgrade.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. Very solid. Neck and frets are in great shape and well finished. I even finished the  headstock with a famous brand name sticker and now you can't tell it from any other $700-900 guitar like this, except it's better because of the pickups — only thing is it has no serial numbers. However the work on the pickups and refinish cost me more in time and hardware than this. BUT mine is unique and unmatched. Try those p-rails.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Dana

  2. Band: The Guilt

  3. Model Year: 2005

  4. Price Paid: $400?

  5. Performance

  6. The stock Duncan Design pickups suck. I replaced them with Dimarzio PAF in the neck and s.Dist at the bridge. I have no complaints and this performs as well as any MIJ Mustang I’ve played, providing you do modify it.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. Better than a Jazzmaster for sure. Dimarzio are the best sounding pickups in my opinion. The stock ones make this guitar sound bad.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. I was very surprised as my particular Jagmaster is a cic model. However, it doesn’t have even one flaw, the frets are smooth, finish is perfect, etc. I prefer a modified Jagmaster to a stock Jaguar or Jazzmaster any day, so get over the “Squire” on the headstock and save some money, because even if you buy a jaguar you still gotta get good pups. Fender pups suck no matter how good they say they are. The only other guitars I like are Mustangs if this helps.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Shane Gregory

  2. Band: Fire-Proof

  3. Model Year: 2003

  4. Price Paid: $375

  5. Performance

  6. The Jagmaster is very easy to play and has very low action which is great for tapping and soloing. I feel that it is a very versatile guitar. You can play some sweet blues riffs to hard rocking solos and never really lose your overall tone.

  7. Performance Rating: 9

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The Seymour Duncan pickups offer a very clear tone when you have the gain setting off. The Duncan pickups also offer a very mellow type distortion sound with the gain up and they still hold their tone, which is very important.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. The guitar weighs about 7 lbs. which is pretty good if your playing heavy metal or grunge. The fret board is very smooth.

  13. Construction Rating: 9

  1. Name: Chris Cardwell

  2. Band: Boddah

  3. Model Year: 2003

  4. Price Paid: £209

  5. Performance

  6. Very, very easy to play. I’ve been accustomed to using a Westfield Les Paul, one of the good points of which is a good action on the guitar. I found it harder than usual to pull chords like A (open) because the distance between the frets seems smaller than the Les Paul type, but the Jagmaster is pretty good at power chords.

  7. Performance Rating: 8

  8. Sound Quality

  9. Sounded pretty good once I’d got everything sorted, levels n’ stuff. On clean, the Jagmaster rivals my Crafter electro-acoustic for acoustic-y tones. Distorted, it’s a monster. Don’t know how much is the guitar vs. the amp, but it performs better than the Westfield. Humbuckers are a good thing. I dislike single coil pickups. So there.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 8

  11. Construction

  12. Feels solid. People who don’t know about Squire against Fender and so on think this is the real deal when they pick it up due to the weight. No probs at all with this wonderful guitar.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Moleskin

  2. Band: ISF or Warm Soda

  3. Model Year: 97/98

  4. Price Paid: $250

  5. Performance

  6. Taking into account that I am a screaming bass player most of the time, I really enjoy my Jagmaster. I wail on the thing for hours a day, and the performance doesn’t cease to amaze me. The humbuckers could... well that goes into the sound quality section, doesn’t it? No matter what I play, and the fact that I play it through a bass amp, it’s performance is fabulous. Good for both the beginner (myself) or the more experienced.

  7. Performance Rating: 9

  8. Sound Quality

  9. Hmm... the higher strings sounded a bit twangy, although I tweaked the tone a bit. I think that has a bit to do with the humbuckers along with the bass amp (I should probably get a guitar amp sometime soon...) and the sex pistols “God Save the Queen” sounds more like surf guitar (those first few twangy notes, that is) but heavier strings could fix that little problem. The lower of the strings sound grand, though, and I have no issues with them. Truly, a nice sounding guitar.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 8

  11. Construction

  12. Oh boy... even though I treat my guitar/basses like my children, I still drop them sometimes and such. Then, there’s times where I am walking through my house, and the neck is longer than I anticipated and I whack it into a wall. Then, it is the wall damaged, not me. Compared to my friend Goldie’s horrendously bright Yellow Ibanez, which chips if you look at it wrong, this thing is made of stainless steel. The reliability is nice. Nothing to beef with on this guitar! And they reissued it!

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Jan Collins

  2. Band: Delorean

  3. Model Year: 1997

  4. Price Paid: £350

  5. Performance

  6. Yer man! This guitar rocks. It was my first ever electric guitar and remains to be my only one. It is a great lead and rhythm guitar, plus the humbuckers sound amazing. Nice fretboard, pretty nice all-round beginners guitar.

  7. Performance Rating: 8

  8. Sound Quality

  9. Again the pickups are great. Good tonal range and I’ve only set the intonation once since I’ve had it.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 8

  11. Construction

  12. Good solid construction, basically will take a bloody good beating. Mine has been through a lot with me and it still gives as good as it gets. I love this guitar it rules.) I give it an overall 4/5. Hard luck everyone it’s discontinued he he he he!

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Bryan Green

  2. Band: Formerly of Gein Rock

  3. Model Year: 1997?

  4. Price Paid: $350

  5. Performance

  6. Once you get it dialed in, it feels great. I have 2 other Fenders. One American vintage, one Mexican. This thing rocks! But it has to be the Vista series one made in ‘96-‘97. It says it on the head stock, or you can look on the back of the neck and if it says Japan it’s the good one. Keep in mind that it is a 24.75 scale neck.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. OK. Stock pickups suck unless it is an American guitar. I changed the bridge to a Duncan JB model. Now it rocks. Whatever they used on it (wood) is great. So you do have to change that. So my rating is based on the new pickup.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 8

  11. Construction

  12. OK, I got drunk one night and beat it on the ground to make it look tough. I did chip the paint, but the neck stayed straight! I have had it for 4 years and never had a case, and it is solid still!

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Jim

  2. Band: The 3 Twins

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: £150

  5. Performance

  6. No complaints! I bought it and loved it the guitar performs excellent (after pick up replacement) I like the dirty grunge sound and that’s what it’s made for! I play through a We Dominator Mk2 and a range of boss pedals (MT-2, BF-2, DD-3, compressor) and it sound brilliant! If the stock pickups were better it would be a five!

  7. Performance Rating: 8

  8. Sound Quality

  9. I replaced the pickups in the master with a pair of Ibanez super 70s and now it’s the best! It used to sound muddy and indistinctive but now its crisp and sharp! The amp is a valve and at high volumes it give a distorted sound when clean. The only thing I can say wrong about the sound now is that it’s badly earthed so you get a lot of background noise. But this is easily solved by putting tinfoil all over the recess (underneath the scratch plate) and connecting it to one of the pots.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. This guitar is a Fender quality guitar and superbly made! Everything about the Jagmaster is made well. Nothing feels cheap or badly made! NUFF SAID!

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Al

  2. Band: The Klassix

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $270 & 180 used

  5. Performance

  6. I have 2. Both perform well but I haven’t been able to get one set up as well as the 1st. May have to take to a pro. I picked the Jagmaster cuz I love Fenders, wanted humbuckers, love the Jag body style, and found the neck very comfortable. Both came with left-handed vibrato bars which I have since replaced with righties. Tuners are a weak link but are pretty good on one, just fair on the other. On the just fair one, the 3rd string (G) goes out easily. Finish and workmanship are very good on both (typical of Japanese Fenders). Strat-type vibrato and bridge offer lots of adjustment from separate intonation for each string to easily changed vibrato feel. Neck feel is great. Very easy to play. If you’re looking for smaller, more vintage sized frets these have ‘em! Frets squeeze a bit close together way up high but not a problem as my hands are not big. A great concept from Fender. Can’t believe they have stopped production. A very nice instrument for very reasonable price.

  7. Performance Rating: 8

  8. Sound Quality

  9. I rated the stock pickup’s as just OK. They seemed a bit weak, nothing bad but no sounds to stand out either. I use a multi-effects unit so that perfect blues tone is not critical to me but I did decide to upgrade the sound. I changed the pickup’s on both my Jagmasters. I put 2 stock Gibson humbuckers in one and 2 Fender Lace Sensor Humbuckers in the other. Also replaced tone pot with a push/pull pot on the one with lace sensors to enable both pickup’s in humbucker mode or both in single coil mode. The Gibson’s really give it a growl in bridge position and much higher output overall, but darker tone. The lace sensors with extra switch gives lots of variations but are almost too bright. Single coil mode approaches my strat’s bright, glassy sound for surf & instrumentals. I didn’t want make any permanent changes likes toggle switches, etc. but if you wanted, you could put in 4-wire humbuckers and get phasing changes too. My 3 rating is for sound with stock pickup’s. With fairly minor changes & not much more cost, the new pickup’s push the sound rating to 4 or 5.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 6

  11. Construction

  12. These guitars are solid! Very nicely made. They do not feel cheap. Only negative feel is the tuners but again, one guitar has good tuners the other, only fair. That is the sign of quality control variations one would expect with a lower priced instrument. I’ve used one as my main guitar for about a year, with weekly practices and occasional gigs and it’s worked 100%. The necks and frets are well done and I can’t find any defects in the paint. The pots, knobs, and 3-way switch all work fine and don’t feel cheap either. These are very nice guitars for the money which can be played as is or upgraded easily and still keep the total cost to very reasonable. I really can’t see why they were discontinued. I just wish I had a sunburst one.

  13. Construction Rating: 8

  1. Name: Dave

  2. Band: Brain Massage

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $250

  5. Performance

  6. Take a short scale Jaguar neck, bolt it on a Jazzmaster body, put on a vintage Stratocaster tremolo & two humbuckers from a Les Paul and you have a cool guitar. Better pickups and tuning machines would make this a five.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The pickups are a little harsh and need to be upgraded.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. The guitar is solid as any Japanese Fender. Nicer than some US models. The turners are fake vintage Fender tuners and have chromed plastic knobs and need to be replaced.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Aaron Burns

  2. Band: Just Add Talent/Three

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $315

  5. Performance

  6. When I first bought it, the neck was slightly warped, so it never could stay in tune, but a simple truss rod adjustment fixed that. It plays very well, the action is pretty low, despite the heavy strings I put on it. The stock humbuckers are decent, but not exceptional. The tremolo is alright, but Ii don’t use it often. Tuners are good.

  7. Performance Rating: 8

  8. Sound Quality

  9. I like the variety that of sounds this guitar produces. I use it for everything from metal to jazz, and it sounds good for most everything. The pickups are bright for humbuckers, especially the bridge pickup. I’m considering changing them. It sounds better unplugged than any electric I’ve ever played.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 8

  11. Construction

  12. Aside from the aforementioned problem with the neck, everything has been great. It survived getting lugged around in a gig bag, until I could afford a hardshell.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Dave “Studabaker” Blanko

  2. Band: The Blanko Brothers; Superette U.S.A.

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $450

  5. Performance

  6. I first tried out the Jagmaster because I liked the Jaguar looks with the Strat trem and two humbuckers. It just seemed like a great concept. The guitar is very easy to play, with a nice chunky shorter-scale neck (like a Jag’s) so string bending is a bit easier. Fender has ceased producing this guitar... but I think if we all yell enough then this great player can come back on the market.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The Jagmaster is a good sounding guitar, with some bite from the humbuckers, but not too much. The controls are very responsive. The pickups are actually the weakest part of the guitar, but overall sound just fine. Maybe a little “plastic-sounding”, but it is a “budget” guitar. Slapping some PAF’s in here would make a monster, though I’ve considered some DiMarzio’s since they still make a white-colored humbucker, I believe. The trem is great for surf and boinging sounds, and even when I really yank on it the strings stay in tune well (I keep Teflon lube in the nut slots). It’s a great Blues/Noise-Pop/Country-Rock guitar, especially for the $$$.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 8

  11. Construction

  12. When I bought the guitar, the neck that was on it was terrible... so try a lot of them! A new neck solved that problem. The pickups move around some and seem like they could have been mounted a little better, but no problems from this. The fit & finish are great, and it feels very solid. It had a few bumps on stage and suffered none. All the controls are laid out well, and there are even extra screws around the input jack, which is pickguard-mounted... so somebody really thought this guitar through. Fender shouldn’t drop this one, it’s a big mistake... find one now!

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Matt Lewis

  2. Band: Umbrella Ernie; S.T.H.G.L.P.W.T; and one or two others

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $350

  5. Performance

  6. This guitar is exactly what I was looking for, it feels like it was cut to fit my style. My only complaints are that tuning can be a hassle and that my strap comes off the strap buttons sometimes, but these are minor problems that are easily fixed. It’s got a quick Jaguar neck with a simple tone setup and switch setup and a simple Strat bridge.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The pickups on the guitar are rather weak but aren’t that big of a deal. Soon, I’m going to put a pair of DiMarzio’s in to replace the stock humbuckers probably a PAF in bridge and Super Distortion in the bridge. The trem works well but I don’t use it that often.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. This is one of the most solid guitars I’ve ever played, it easily stands up to my friends American Standard Stratocaster. The frets are smooth and allow for easy sliding. The neck isn’t a strong point but still works well. And the finish on the Jagmaster is incredible, I would cry for weeks if it was stolen. For those who don’t own one: Find as many as you can.

  13. Construction Rating: 10

  1. Name: Jonathan Lewis

  2. Band: Amalgam

  3. Model Year: -----

  4. Price Paid: $300 (used)

  5. Performance

  6. I’ve had this guitar for about 18 months, and played it almost every day since. I mainly got it because of the Humbuckers and it just looks sweet. I have no complaints as far as playability goes. I have also beat the crap out of this thing; its been tossed, kicked, dropped, and partially burned, and its one of the toughest suckers out there.

  7. Performance Rating: 10

  8. Sound Quality

  9. The tone is perfectly wonderful. I play mostly rock stuff, and the cleans are comparable to some Nirvana tones. I play through a DOD Grunge pedal, and I’ve actually gotten tones (through days of experimentation) comparable to a Strat and a Les Paul.

  10. Sound Quality Rating: 10

  11. Construction

  12. My only complaint here is that the pickups do move around a little bit. I took off the cover on the back to access the springs, but a lot of people do that. I’m keeping this one around for a while.

  13. Construction Rating: 8

links

  1. Average Ratings
  2. Performance: 9
  3. Sound Quality: 8.5
  4. Construction: 9.7
  5. Ratings Key
  6. 10: Excellent
  7. 0: Useless
  8. Available At Guitar Center
  9. Squier by Fender Jagmaster Electric Guitar 3-Tone Sunburst Rosewood Fretboard
  10. Company
  11. Squier

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