NVGD - '72 Jaguar

Bridgehouse

Some of you will have spotted my WTB ad in the Classifieds a while back.. 

Well I decided to get all brave and stuff and take a punt on something unseen and quite a distance away.

I was browsing around (as you do) and spotted this '72 Jaguar for sale at a small vintage guitar dealers in Germany. Many emails followed, with video clips, pictures and investigations.. and I ponied up and bought it.

A nervous UPS-wracked 48 hours ensued, but it arrived today without any drama at all.

Beautifully packaged and much German writing on the package. 

It's most probably a '72. As you will know, there were very limited numbers of Jags made in the early '70s - in fact they were almost custom orders. 

- The neck shows a JULY 72 date.

- Pots are week 47 '72

- Pups are late 70 - common to use older pups on Jags in the 70's as the production numbers were so low

- Serial number puts it at late '72 early '73 (it's right on the cusp).

Everything seems to be original. Wiring looks untouched. Case is period correct. Even has the original bridge cover piece. 

Wear is just at a nice players grade without being excessive. No cracks or repairs, no refinishing or rebinding, and frets look original. 

Nut is 39(ish)mm so I reckon this might have been a custom slim (Jags were available with either slightly thinner or wider nuts as an option).

It plays really very well. I tried an AVRI Jag (new) in a shop which got me hooked on these buggers - and this one plays a lot better to be honest. It's a reasonably svelte (for a Jag, and certainly for a 70's Jag) 8 lbs and 1 oz, which makes me think it's pre-heavy wood era. 

Pups are simply divine. It has far more "Jaginess" compared to the AVRI I played - more richness and a broader tone. Lots of good overtones and chime. It really does sound like a corker to my untrained ear. 

For anyone interested - I bought from vintage-guitar.de - Steffen and Jorn from the shop were incredibly accommodating and went to inexplicable lengths to make sure I was happy. 

They also negotiated on price - and the surprising thing? All up (including shipping, insurance and all the rest) it came to quite a bit less than my original £2k budget... Yeah, it's not a '62, or even a '65, but it's got soul and mojo in spades and in my view knocked the AVRI I played into a cocked (wah) hat.

Most, most happy and pleased.. Obligatory pictures for pr0n purposes now:

richardhomer

Love the 'target' sunburst finish.

Lovely looking guitar, Sir!

Teetonetal

good work! and it's stunning

meltedbuzzbox

Looks great sir. I would echo the pickup thing you mentioned, fender seem incapable of reproducing the richness of their original pickups.

Great price as well

camf

Cor!

capo4th

Brilliant looking geetar

Moss

Absolutely stunning - 70s Jags and JMs are super cool

gusman2x

Oh man, i love a target burst!

lustycourtier

Lovely. I had a 72 I brought over from USA about 4 years ago. Total dog. Is still sat in a Denmark steet shop for 4x what I bought it for. Block jags looks the dogs bollocks.

lasermonkey

F**k me, that's gorgeous! I like Jags with blocks'n'binding.

robwright

Gurt lush!

Bridgehouse

Thanks all! It's going to need some setup tinkering to get it absolutely right for me - the neck width means some tinkering with string positioning as it's quite close to fretboard edge at both sides. Though strangely it's not slipped off once in playing it yet. Maybe the binding is deceiving my eyes! It doesn't feel wrong when playing.

Not too many buzzes at the bridge - saddles are nicely gunked up with age to hold everything in, and stays nicely in tune on trem usage.

The mute foam was totalled - and crumbling away, so I've crumbled the rest off and put a new one on. Given it a wipe over with virtuoso and looking back at the pictures now I think the sun has made the target burst pop - I'll post an indoor evening shot in a bit and you can see it's more natural muted colour a bit better. Still a nice burst of you like those early seventies targets..!

I'm really digging the tone though. The complexity of it is really quite unique. You can really hear the overtones from the strings behind the bridge - you can feel the bridge moving when you bend strings and the tone changes as the saddles squirm around a bit as you play. I didn't expect this and I can see why some people hate it. To me, it reminds me of the mandolin - you get a huge amount of the tone on a mandolin from the strings behind the bridge and in front of the nut and this definitely has this feeling in spades. It's a playing experience that's just not like any other guitar I've tried - and probably one that's really marmite.

I've been musing on how this one differs from a modern AVRI - to me, the new one felt and sounded more sterile and clinical. Almost like it was too good and lost some of the originals foibles. Or maybe that's just me imagining it, which is highly likely..

DaevidJ

Wow! That is quite a find...

Bridgehouse

As promised here's some inside pictures under interior lights. I've colour balanced them, and it's pretty close to how it looks IRL.

Had a play with setup tonight - it's going to take a while to master getting these bridges set up! Move one bit, it buzzes - move another, and it's loose etc.. etc..

I think I've got it close now though.. the bridge on this one has seen some action, and judging by my endeavours to find an equilibrium I don't think it's been set up for quite some time... )

I think as time goes on and I learn how to play with the setup I'll get used to the foibles of this particular bridge. 

freakboy1610

Wow that looks amazing. The burst looks better indoors. :-O

stickyfiddle

That, sir, is fucking brilliant!

gusman2x

Just sack the bridge off and get a staytrem. Not worth fucking about.

meltedbuzzbox

gusman2x;1061847" said:

Just sack the bridge off and get a staytrem. Not worth fucking about.

You had to open Pandora's box didn't you? :-p

P.s mastery for the win

dogload

Nice Jag

Another fan of the 'targetburst' here too.

Don't listen to all this stuff about bridges, just put a Buzz Stop on it

roberty

Congrats mate that's a stunner.  Glad it worked out for you!

Bridgehouse

No one's mentioned a Mastery bridge yet.. You lot are slacking

Edit: Apologies @meltedbuzzbox - didn't see your PS!