Features include a maple neck with vintage-tint gloss finish, 9.5”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 22 medium jumbo frets and parchment dot inlays, tortoiseshell (Three-Color Sunburst and Olympic White models) and white-black-white pickguards (Candy Apple Red and Surf Green models), Jaguar single-coil pickups, circuit selector and tone circuit switches, pickup on/off switches, skirted black control knobs (lead circuit) and black disc knobs (rhythm circuit), vintage-style bridge and non-locking floating vibrato with vintage-style tremolo arm, vintage-style chrome tuners and chrome hardware.
Jazzmaster - An authentically styled Jazzmaster now joins the Vintage Modified family, with present-day touches including full, clear Duncan Designed™ pickups and a modern fingerboard radius. Squier’s new Vintage Modified Jazzmaster has the model’s most distinctive hallmarks, too - such as the dual-circuit switching and controls, floating-vibrato bridge and classically colorful Sonic Blue, Candy Apple Red, Olympic White and Three-color Sunburst finishes.
Features include a maple neck with vintage-tint gloss finish, 9.5”-radius rosewood fingerboard with 21 medium jumbo frets and parchment dot inlays, tortoiseshell (Three-Color Sunburst and Olympic White models) and white-black-white pickguards (Candy Apple Red and Sonic Blue models), Jazzmaster single-coil pickups, circuit selector switch and pickup selector toggle switch, white Stratocaster®-style control knobs (lead circuit) and black disc knobs (rhythm circuit), vintage-style bridge and non-locking floating vibrato with vintage-style tremolo arm, vintage-style chrome tuners and chrome hardware.
Squier's Vintage Modified guitar and bass range is designed to take old school designs and make them work for contemporary players on a budget. And that's exactly what the new Jaguar HH we have here is all about.
You get the classic offset body, gloss finish bolt-on maple neck, a big CBS-era headstock and, well, that's pretty much all the vintage stuff covered.
To bring the guitar's performance up to date, Fender has fitted it with beefier pickups, dropped the old school vibrato that made the original guitar an acquired taste and worked in a 241mm (9.5-inch) fingerboard radius (in place of the original 184mm/7.25-inch) for improved string-bending and general playability.
"Kurt Cobain played a '65 sunburst Jag with DiMarzios, and that sums up the player Fender is trying to hook here."The recessed Stratocaster-style jackplates and stacked concentric '62 Jazz Bass controls are also obvious departures from Leo Fender's original blueprints. The chrome knob on each control handles volume duties, while the bottom ring part is a tone.
You can also tweak the action and intonation with the six individual saddles. The rear of the bridge is secured with a single large screw that can alter the angle of the whole unit.
Build
Our Jaguar has a four-piece basswood body. Basswood is known for providing good sustain and has become the go-to timber for many modern rock guitars.The bolt-on maple neck has a shallow 'C' profile and a rosewood fingerboard studded with 22 medium jumbo frets. Incidentally, there's no maple board option on this Jag.
The guitar's 610mm (24-inches) scale length is shorter than the 648mm (25.5-inches) of the Jazzmaster and other classic Fender models, the Stratocaster and Telecaster. This makes it considerably easier to bend the guitar's supplied 0.010 to 0.046 Fender USA NPS (nickel-plated steel) strings.
The HH part of the VM Jaguar model name signifies two humbuckers in the engine bay - specifically Duncan Designed HB-102 bridge and neck humbuckers with zebra bobbins. Packing Alnico 5 magnets, this set is based on the popular Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB Jazz Blues bridge and the SH-2n Jazz Model pickups.
As mentioned earlier, the Jaguar HH comes with a Strat- style jackplate and '62 Jazz Bass controls. These are the guitar's Marmite bits - the jackplate looks odd to us; a bit out of place. The controls have an annoying habit of snagging on each other, meaning both move when you're trying to adjust only one.
Sounds
Kurt Cobain played a '65 sunburst Jaguar fitted with DiMarzio humbuckers, and that sums up the type of player Fender is hoping to hook with this Squier version. It's basically a rock beast with retro charm and a bridge humbucker with enough wallop to satisfy most fuzz fiends.It cleans up well but then again, that's not really a surprise. If you've played any twin-humbucker guitar, you'll know what to expect.
If you're a bit cheesed off with pointy headstock guitars with lollipop stick necks, the Jaguar offers a very cool alternative.
As mentioned, we're not keen on the jackplates and super- sized controls, but in every other regard our time with the Vintage Modified Jaguar HH has been great.
It's vibrant, easy to play and comes loaded with great sounding pickups. Yes, Fender has squeezed an incredible amount of juice out of its old classics, but when the result is an instrument that playa and sounds a step above its price bracket as this does, few will be complaining - big knobs or not.
Verdict
It's not the prettiest Jag of all time, but its beefy tones are perfect for hard rockers and Kurt Cobain devotees.Source: http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/guitars/electric/6-string-solid-body/vintage-modified-jaguar-hh-422337/review
The buzz
Like the Vintage Modified Jaguar, the new VM Jazzmaster represents an affordable version of the classic Fender model with a more traditional setup than its hardtail-equipped predecessor.Video
Tech specs
Body: Basswood
Body Shape:
Jazzmaster
Series: Vintage
Modified
Neck: Maple,
"C" Shape
Fingerboard:
Rosewood
Finger Board Radius:
9.5 inches (24.1 cm)
Frets: 21, Medium
Jumbo
Scale Length: 25 inches
(63.5 cm)
Nut Width: 1.650 inches
(42 mm)
Hardware: Chrome
Tuning Keys: Vintage-style
chrome
Bridge:
Vintage-style with non-locking floating vibrato
Pickguard:
(500,505) Tortoiseshell, (509,572) 3-Ply White/Black/White
Pickups: Duncan Designed JM-101B
Single-Coil Jazzmaster Pickup with AlNiCo 5 Magnets Duncan
Designed JM-101N Single-Coil Jazzmaster Pickup with AlNiCo 5 Magnets
Pickup Switching:
Neck pickup only (rhythm circuit); neck only, neck and bridge, bridge only (lead circuit)
Strings: NPS,
Gauges: .009, .011, .016, .024, .032, .042
Unique Features:
Duncan Designed pickups, vintage-style bridge and floating vibrato (non-locking), gold-and-black Squier logo, engraved neck
plate, parchment dot position inlays
