The Delta Snake Review: Musical Gear Review and Music Article Archive: Review: Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar

Guitar Review: Squire Vintage Modified Jaguar

The Fender Squire vintage modified guitar series, almost all priced at 300.00, has to be one of the best bargains on the new guitar market. It will undoubtedly go downstream into the used category as even bigger ones.

Note: Fender did raise the price later on, and after the advent of COVID-19, it became more of a mid-priced model with a higher resale price. However, I'm going to leave most of the text as-is, so consider this piece a reflection of the time and what was appealing about the guitar back then.

In the case of the Squire Vintage Modified Jaguar, you get a replica of the original Fender classic that's more feature-correct than just about any the company has ever put out in the lower price line. In fact, from a distance, it looks just like the Japanese-made version that costs almost a grand.

There are cost-saving measures, of course, like a basswood body, but there's a whole cult of 80s Japanese Stratocaster fans that didn't mind that type of wood, and the pickups are Seymour Duncan designed, as opposed to actual CDs or stock Fenders. Unlike other later variations, the pickups have the old-style single coils, which were a key to this guitar's sound.

It's not a heavy guitar; its body shape and short-scale neck made it an instant hit with me. I have small hands, and the neck has a great solid but fast feel. Others will find it comfortable, and as I said, very fast.

As far as the sound, it sounds pretty much like an old classic Jaguar, though not enough to satisfy a purist. The pickups appear to be designed for a hotter, thicker growl for the ever-growing number of alternative musicians, making this one of the guitars of choice for that genre (along with the Jazzmaster).

The surf music crowd was the most common Jaguar users before the Punk and alternative rockers. It was supposed to be a step up from the Strats and Teles with a more complex set of controls that theoretically gave the player more sound options, but by the 70s, it was not only a rarity often found in pawn shops but also could be had much cheaper than a Strat or Take.

That's pretty much how its story would have ended, except that as a cheap used Fender, it was picked up by many of the early Punk and alternative artists who couldn't afford the more popular models and now is one of the standard types available, literally, back from the dead.

The other distinctive feature of the Jaguar is the famous buttons all over the place instead of toggle switches, etc.; it doesn't control the tone any different than a modern setup, but it can affect how you switch between pickups, etc., and may result in more than a few unusual tonal variations.

In a 300.00 guitar, more complexity can go wrong, so we'll see in a year or two if the buyer finds the various switches reliable with heavy use. Offhand, the things look a bit lightweight, but there's probably no problem for leisure.

What this Jaguar does well is give you a different look. Most modern guitarists like a clean look like you get with a Strat or Tele, but the Jaguar gives you a cool, cluttered, gadgety, and almost clutzy look that would appeal to someone looking for something that doesn't look like yet another Strat.

How it sounds depends on the amp you intend to use with it. If you're going to play it on a little cheapie that doesn't have reverb, it's likely to sound a bit thin, with a flat distortion that doesn't have a cool vibe. I tried it out on a few small amps and found that its sound was good, but nothing that would make me buy it. That changed once I put it on better-quality amps (like the Fenders).

Use a tube amp, or at least an excellent practice amp with good gain and effects like reverb, and a little mojo begins to come out. The nice growling chords and notes start to pop out. With what you save on the guitar at its bargain 300.00 price, make sure to buy an amp that can bring out the best in it.

Since guitars can differ in sound or feel within the same model line, my experience was probably due to trying one that might have been a bit off. Though basswood has its detractors, it's not a bad wood for a lower-priced guitar if it's well crafted.

This is one reason you should never try out a guitar on some huge Marshall amp at Guitar Center if what you have at home is a little 99.00 solid-state unit. A good amp will make just about any guitar sound good, but even an expensive Gibson Les Paul will sound like crap on a cheap amp (though being an expert player can mitigate that to an extent).

If you do have a decent amp?

Then, for 300.00, you have a feature-correct Jaguar copy that has a decent clean tone and an absolutely ripping sound at higher gain. It's a guitar built for alternative players, its virtues come out at higher volume (which, to be fair, that's how it's going to be played), and I like its growl better than on most of the cheap vintage surf guitars I've heard (except for those with Dearmond pickups).

If you want to buy it as a surf guitar, by all means, go ahead. It won't quite have the tone to recreate those great 60s records, but it will do just fine with a lot of the 80s neo-surf and punk surf. Besides, it may not be your intention to sound like some old record. If sounding like an old surf record is your goal, you're better off with a higher-priced Jaguar model or a Mosrite.

I enjoyed playing it; it's a fun guitar. I already have some vintage oldie axes, so this one didn't stay in my collection. However, from time to time, that nice package at 300.00 comes back into my head, so maybe there will be a Jag in my future.

I'll leave that possibility in God's and Fender's good hands....

- Al Handa

2013

Note: This review first appeared on the ePinions.com site in 2013. This and other reviews were short takes that accompanied the link to a business that sold the guitar. As a rule, the guitar had to be at least examined and played by the reviewer (and ideally owned). In my case, a severe case of GAS made it possible to have at least owned the reviewed instrument for a short while. I'm reprinting these as having another source on a guitar never hurts, even if the reviews aren't definitive. Other than minor corrections, these short takes are unchanged from the original text. I figure that it might be helpful to keep the older perspective.

The Quitturz by Al Handa