ItsaBass
New member
My boss asked me to help him pick out an electric guitar for his son, so the other day, we went to my favorite local shop. After looking around and demoing some guitars for him, he ended up getting a Squier VM Jaguar. I honestly had NO IDEA how great these guitars are for the money. I had never even considered them when I was making my big Jaguar search early this year. I was truly blown away by the level of guitar for 300 bones.
$300 is a nutso bargain for what you get. It's beautiful, it's well built, and it sounds just like a classic Jaguar sounds. It's wired like a "proper" Jag. The frets are better end dressed and polished than any Mexican Fender (and many American Fender, and certainly Gibson) frets I've ever seen. The fretboard is dark and the edges are smooth. The fit and finish are good. The hardware works fine. The finish is flawless (and a gorgeous, ever-so-slightly orangey, version of Candy Apple Red). The knobs are a cheaper variant of Jag knobs, the nut had a little flash on it, the modern style truss rod access is ugly IMO, and there is no tune lock on the vibrato...but other than that, I have zero complaints, and tons of praise for this guitar.
And I say all this as the owner of an [exorbitantly expensive] American Vintage '65 Jag. Yes, my guitar is superior when you get into the details...but it isn't a dramatic difference in real-world functionality, even though the difference in price is huge. After setting it up the way I set up Jags, I would have no qualms whatsoever gigging with this Squier in my AV's place – bone stock outside of setup.
The shop put 11's on it, but I have the guitar right now, so I can shim the neck before X-Mas. It'll be even better after that. The stock bridge is almost decked – no neck angle at all.
So, if you have ever wanted to try a Jag, but never really wanted to fully commit to an expensive one, I'd try out one of these things. I am a harsh critic, and I was quite impressed. It's an incredible bang for the buck.
$300 is a nutso bargain for what you get. It's beautiful, it's well built, and it sounds just like a classic Jaguar sounds. It's wired like a "proper" Jag. The frets are better end dressed and polished than any Mexican Fender (and many American Fender, and certainly Gibson) frets I've ever seen. The fretboard is dark and the edges are smooth. The fit and finish are good. The hardware works fine. The finish is flawless (and a gorgeous, ever-so-slightly orangey, version of Candy Apple Red). The knobs are a cheaper variant of Jag knobs, the nut had a little flash on it, the modern style truss rod access is ugly IMO, and there is no tune lock on the vibrato...but other than that, I have zero complaints, and tons of praise for this guitar.
And I say all this as the owner of an [exorbitantly expensive] American Vintage '65 Jag. Yes, my guitar is superior when you get into the details...but it isn't a dramatic difference in real-world functionality, even though the difference in price is huge. After setting it up the way I set up Jags, I would have no qualms whatsoever gigging with this Squier in my AV's place – bone stock outside of setup.
The shop put 11's on it, but I have the guitar right now, so I can shim the neck before X-Mas. It'll be even better after that. The stock bridge is almost decked – no neck angle at all.
So, if you have ever wanted to try a Jag, but never really wanted to fully commit to an expensive one, I'd try out one of these things. I am a harsh critic, and I was quite impressed. It's an incredible bang for the buck.
