“Even with the simplified controls layout, this Jag is one of the coolest cats around”: Fender Player II Jaguar review

What is it?

They say a leopard can’t change its spots but no one said anything about the Jaguar. As with the best of Fender’s electric guitar designs, the Jaguar’s story is one of reinvention.

Launched in 1962 as Fender’s flagship model, the Jaguar enjoyed its time in the sun during the surf-rock era before falling into obscurity, and discontinuation, only to be later rediscovered by indie, alt-rock and punk players some decades later.

Modding the design became part of the culture of offset guitar ownership. It was inevitable that Fender would get in on the act, and over the years there have been some fundamental revisions of the Jaguar design. It should come as no surprise that the Player II Jag is not the same guitar as the ’62 O.G.

The biggest difference is the absence of the Lead/Rhythm circuit; there are no slider switches for the pickups. The electronics have been simplified to reflect the evolution in players’ tastes, perhaps to make the Jaguar less niche. Or, some might argue, less cool. All we have here are pots for volume and tone, plus a three-way selector switch for the pickups. Easy. But when part of the Jaguar’s appeal lies in that arcane switching, are we missing out here?

But let’s set aside the broader historical context for the moment. This also a very different guitar to its immediate predecessor in the original Player Series.

Just consider the updates. With Fender’s Ensenada factory really hitting its straps in recent years, the Player II Series is a blockbuster sequel to what was Fender’s top-selling range of all time. Gone is the pau ferro fingerboard.

We now have slab rosewood in its stead, with rolled fingerboard edges for your comfort. It is something that we have seen as standard from Fender-owned Charvel in recent years, as well as the higher-priced Player Plus series. Those Pro-Mod Charvel electrics come out of the Ensenada factory, too, so it makes sense for Fender to apply some of these premium player-friendly touches to its own lineup. Business types might call it 'synergy' but let’s not do that.

The hardware on the Player II Series has been upgraded, too. Here we have chrome-plated brass Mustang saddles and ClassicGear tuners. And the pickup configuration reverts back to a classic single-coil pairing, with each pickup sitting in a notched-chrome cradle – a circa ’63 touch that was intended to reduce hum and improve tone.

The simplified controls setup notwithstanding, Fender’s executive vice president of product, Justin Norvell, tells us that this time around it was less about reinventing the Jaguar new but restoring it to its quintessence with that pickup configuration.

“For a while, everything had been humbuckers, and louder pickups, like a post-modded Jaguar,” says Norvell, noting that the humbucker-equipped Jag moment peaked with the Blacktop Jaguar of 2010. “We felt it was time [for single-coils]. There are so many bands playing clean, arpeggiated stuff – and Johnny Marr – it was like we’ve done the humbucking Jaguar thing. We’ve overdone it. Let’s strip it back to what makes a Jaguar, to its essence. We wanted to restore the sanctity of the original vision of the Jag.”

And besides, Fender still offers modded Jaguars elsewhere in the lineup. You can get yourself a Jaguar with humbuckers if that’s your thing. The Mexican-made Kurt Cobain signature model comes equipped with a DiMarzio Super Distortion humbucker at the bridge position and a DiMarzio PAF 36th Anniversary humbucker at the neck. No shortage of power there.

While Norvell says this Player II Series is a return to the core sounds of the Jaguar, its simplified electronics suggest that those looking for a modern vintage take on the model should check out the Vintera II ‘70s Jaguar, or even the Squier Classic Vibe ‘70s Jaguar.

Johnny Marr’s signature model is another variant. It is based off his ’65 Jag, has a high-end USA build with a nitro finish, his signature Bare Knuckle electric guitar pickups, and a four-way selector switch that allows you to combine the pickups in series and in parallel, and it has a universal bright switch and an individual bright switch for both pickups in series.

The Player II Jag, then, is its own thing. But by splitting the difference between the old-school tones from a pair of Alnico single-coils and the simplified control setup, has Fender equipped the Jaguar to be the top cat in the Player II Series?

Specs

Launch price: $829/£729/€889
Made: Ensenada, Mexico
Type: Six-string electric guitar
Body: Solid alder
Neck: Maple / Modern C, bolted-on
Fingerboard: Slab rosewood, 9.5" radius
Scale length: 610mm (24 inches)
Nut/width: Imitation bone / 42mm
Frets: 22, medium-jumbo
Hardware: ClassicGear tuners, vintage-style floating Jaguar tremolo with Mustang saddles, 3-Ply parchment pickguard, nickel/chrome
String spacing at bridge: 55mm
Electrics: Alnico V single-coil (bridge), Alnico II single-coil (neck), 3-way pickup selector, volume, tone
Weight: 7.8lb/3.55kg
Options: Johnny Marr Jaguar ($2,549/£2,579/€3,299), Squier Classic Vibe '70s Jaguar ($459/£359/€499) Kurt Cobain Jaguar ($1,549/£1,439/€1,799), Vintera II Jaguar ($1,499/£1,149/€1,349)
Left-handed options No
Finishes: Hialeah Yellow [as reviewed], Aquatone Blue, Coral Red, Polar White, 3-Color Sunburst
Case: No
Contact: Fender

Build quality

Build quality rating: ★★★★★

First impressions can be everything. It’s hard not to be distracted by the finish on this Jaguar. Fender calls it Hialeah Yellow, and it’s a buttery, creme anglaise shade that calls to mind Rick Dalton's “bitchin’ yellow” Coupe DeVille in Once Upon A Time in Hollywood. It’s pantheon worthy, the Fender paint room at the very top of its game.

Other finish options include Aquatone Blue, Polar White, 3-Color Sunburst and Coral Red. Those other solid colour finishes are quite bright; this, for our money, is definitely the easiest on the eye.

Listing the Player II Series upgrades doesn’t do justice to how well put together this Jaguar is. There isn’t a hair out of place. It has a take-my-money fingerboard. That rsoewood is a lovely piece of timber, uniformly dark, smooth, and all that TLC with the rolled fingerboard edges gives it an upscale feel. The fret work is immaculate. Unlike a lot of satin necks, which can often feel like a naked piece of untreated wood, this has the smoothness while still feeling finished.

As for the fundamentals, we have an alder body, with the Jaguar’s 24” short-scale and sharper upper horn differentiating itself from its kissing cousin, the Jazzmaster. This body has not been routed for the traditional Lead/Rhythm circuit, which is worth noting if you had planned to retrofit this for a more vintage accurate performance. It weighs in at just under 8lbs.

A Jaguar can seem like a lot of body until you sit it on your lap, where it’s nicely balanced. The neck is maple, bolted to the body, and in a fashionable Modern C profile.

The hardware upgrades are welcome. Fender says its ClassicGear tuners have a vintage look and a modern performance, and that checks out; the 18:1 ratio and smooth action is top quality. This guitar holds its tune.

Fender’s 2-point synchronized tremolo design gets all the love but there’s something to be set about the floating system on this Jaguar, with that extra bar length making it somehow feel like an extension of your arm, and again, like the tuners, it’s so smooth.

Over the years, many players have complained about their strings popping out of their Jaguar’s saddles but that’s not an issue here. Again, Fender is in the modding mood; the Mustang saddles stop that from happening. It is a big upgrade. Bravo, Ensenada. This is tip-top.

Playability

Playability rating: ★★★★★

When you have been institutionalised to a Fender regulation 25.5,” the transition to a Jaguar is a little bizarre, in a good way. It might not seem like much. What is 1.5” really? It’s nothing. And yet you feel like Mr Tickle when you first play the Jaguar. Everything feels accessible. The geography is a little kinder. It’s like a city-break in Amsterdam; the fingerboard is easily navigable and you can get round it in no time.

Might those dimensions might feel cramped for players who take the same size shirt as Mr Tickle? Perhaps. But the 42mm nut width is in line with the Stratocaster et al, the 9.5” fingerboard radius is standard across all the Player II Series models, and all this allied to the welcoming Modern C neck shape makes it a super-fun to play.

Little wonder the surf-rockers were early adopters of the Jaguar because this is a guitar that flatters note-busy pyrotechnic rock ’n’ roll styles. That, after all, was one of the inspirations behind the build.

Times have changed, but the Jaguar could be credibly be considered an antecedent of the high-performance guitars of the ‘80s; seriously, it was a go-faster design, with 22 frets instead of the then-standard 21 found on Strats and Teles. Joe Pass was pure fire on a Jaguar.

This 21st-century Jag reminds us of this, even if still feels a little iconoclastic to play a ripping solo on a guitar that has for decades been associated with alt-rock and indie, chord work, wiry riffs, alternate tunings, and a well-stocked pedalboard.

But why not, right? The wheel of pop-culture is forever turning. Maybe it’s time for the shredder to co-opt the Jag. Stranger things have happened.

Sounds

Sounds rating: ★★★★1/2

Paring the Jaguar’s tone menu down to three core sounds and a master tone control, Fender is placing a lot of faith in these single-coil pickups to do the trademark Jaguar thing and do it well. The problem is, what is the quintessential Jaguar tone? And can we get it without a Lead/Rhythm circuit?

Jag fans often talk about jangle and chime. What we are looking for is total clarity and chime on the neck pickup, maybe a sort of spiky assertive treble on the bridge pickup, and a mix position that gives us a full-fat option. You’ll get all of that here.

Sometimes a tone control is just for decorative purposes on a guitar but this one – which like the volume control is an amp-style knob mounted on a metal control plate – is going to get a lot of use, invaluable for taming the puckish twang of the Alnico V single-coil at the bridge. That pickup is bright. It will cut through a mix. And it takes a drive pedal well.

Playing it unaccompanied through a tube amp with a little compression, it makes me think that lot of country players are missing a trick with the Jaguar. But then of course, Luther Perkins played one. Who better to endorse the Jag’s country guitar bona fides than one of the Tennessee Three? Well, those gnarly old Johnny Cash licks sound a treat on the Player II Jag.

The Alnico II pickup at the neck doesn’t quite have the same level of spank as a Strat, but it sure has that Fender attack to the note, and a similarly magical elasticity as it blooms and decays. It’s a great jazz guitar voice. Roll back the tone if you like your jazz tones dark. Better still, deploy both pickups together – now there’s a sound that works magic on single-note lines played clean, but also shows its teeth with some overdrive.

We are also looking for a guitar that that takes pedals well. Justin Norvell tells us that this idea of the guitar as a pedal platform is a “huge consideration” for Fender. Throughout its history, the Jaguar has been an enabler of guitar effects frontiersmanship, first with spring reverb, tape echo and tremolo pedal, and then with fuzz pedal, distortion, delay, modulation, as it became a tool alt-rock, punk and shoegaze et cetera. Well, it’s good to know that all three pickup positions welcome pedalboard assistance here.

It’s remarkable how a Boss Waza Craft CE-2W Chorus pedal takes some of the sharp edges off that bridge pickup and thickens it up. Of course, once you step on the chorus pedal you are in Johnny Marr territory, and, before you know it, you’ll have tuned up a whole tone and find yourself exploring highlife chord progressions, which, to circle back to the playability of this Player II Jaguar, are made that little bit easier by the scale and that neck.

The cleans are a blank canvas. Piling on the gain can yield all kinds of overtones and harmonics that you just don’t hear in other guitars. One of the big epiphanies from tangling with the Player II Jaguar is that the quintessential Jaguar tone is a moveable feast and at the discretion of the player.

Verdict

Of all the Player II Series models, it is the Jaguar where the updates feel the most significant. Are they enough to assuage the purists who mourn the absence of the traditional Jaguar controls? Probably not. But who knows. The Player II Jaguar has some serious powers of persuasion.

The big-ticket items mentioned are the top of the page do not disappoint. That Alnico V/II single-coil paring is all charm. As on the Player II Stratocaster and Telecaster, the controls are responsive; the tone knob does a lot of heavy lifting.

We have Mustang saddles on the bridge to sweeten the deal, better tuners, and an altogether super-stable guitar, and a Fender neck that is bettered only by the American Ultra II Series. That vibrato is magic, too. And then there’s the price – £729/$829 is a square deal for a guitar that is exceptionally put together.

The Jaguar’s history is a strange one. Here we have this flagship guitar from a blue-chip brand that fell out of the mainstream before enjoying a second (and third) act as a cult classic. Maybe because of that it encourages a certain player to pick it up – the player who things a little differently. If that sounds like you, the Player II Jaguar is one wild cat you should consider domesticating.

MusicRadar verdict: Even with the simplified controls, this Jaguar is one of the coolest cats around, and it is still super versatile. With those Player II Series upgrades, it feels and sounds like a serious instrument. Serious, but still quietly radical with its short-scale and offset silhouette.

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