The Squier Jagmaster
Created | Updated Oct 22, 2003
"The Squier Jagmaster"?
What's that then?
Well, it's a guitar. Nothing special about it really, it's just a guitar.
Oh right. Well, you'd better tell me a little about it, i suppose.
There's no need for sarcasm...but anyway,
The Squier Jagmaster is a guitar still in production at the Mexican and Japanese Squier factories1. It used to be made from around 1996-1998, but it was discontinued.
How come it's back in production then?
Ah, well you see, Squier, being just a branch of the mighty corporation that is Fender, has a little stigma attatched to it. You see, the 'Fender' name on your guitar's headstock is 'cool', 'happening' and 'hip', whereas 'Squier's' is 'square', 'heavy' and uh...'more square'. Due to this, and also the dip in the guitars construction quality at Squier, force the company to sell Squier guitars at much cheaper prices.
What?
Well look here...
A Fender Standard Stratocaster costs approximately £400-ish.
A Squier Standard Stratocaster costs approximately £200 to £250-ish.
...see?
There's not really a lot of difference between them. Just the Fender one says 'Fender' at the top, and the Squier one says 'Squier'. The quality of construction has some variation but not a lot of difference at all.
So what does this have to do with the Squier Jagmaster?
Forgive me for going off on one, but in order to explain fully, It's a necessity...
Back in the Fifties, Fifty-eight to be precise, Fender introduced a guitar called the Jazzmaster. It had a high construction quality, odd-shaped body and was very, very expensive. Then, a little later in Sixty-two, Fender introduced a similar shaped and sounding guitar called the Jaguar, again, very expensive. With limited success after a few years, they were discontinued, and eventually became much sought-after gems. Fender, realising this, brought the Jazzmasters and Jaguars back out as re-issues, which are still in production. Nevertheless, Fender and their greedy hands were still asking a bit too much money - A Fender '62 Re-issue Jaguar will cost around £650 to £700.
That's where the Squier Jagmaster comes in. With a subtle blend of the Jaguar and the Jazzmaster, they came up with...
The Jazzuar?
No, sadly, the Jagmaster. Combining the off-set, odd bodies of the guitars with modern electrics, Squier could produce a cheapish Jaguar/Jazzmaster equivalent. You can get a Jagmaster for around £250-£300
Okay, I understand the history, at last, what about the guitar?
Well, they're not exactly common. I know I've said they're cheap and accessible, but you see a lot of, ahem, 'bands' around today that play Tha Kool New Ibanez or Jackson or something or other2. The point is, that, even though i've made it out to be quite a really wise choice in a guitar selection, not a lot of people actually like it.
Why?
Don't know. They're very odd people, humanity.
So, what does it look and sound like?
Okay, rather than give a less than second-rate description of the guitar here, I'm going to rely on external sites.
http://members.tripod.com/~AFH/jagm.html
This one's a little out of date, but has a bit of good information.
http://www.tonefrenzy.com/2/Fender_Jagmaster.htm
Not a lot on here either, picture and some sound files. Not to worry...
Just go onto Google and search for Jagmaster.
Is that it?
'Fraid so.
If you want to find out more, or if you own one and just want to talk a little about it, advice and tips and the like, give me an e-mail at
[email protected]
I hope it helped a few of you waste a few mintes taking a look on here
Love and nothing,
marquis cha-cha
X
