Fender Jaguar, 1964 – Fiesta Red – 100% original, pre-CBS
Price: AUD $15,800.00
With vintage Fender (and Gibson and Martin) prices heading steadily upwards since the middle of last year, the core models of Strats, Teles, Jazzmasters, Jaguars and Mustangs are rapidly being priced out of many player's budgets, so this could well be your last chance to grab a genuine slice of history before it ends up as part of someone's super fund portfolio.
Matching headstock
Perfectly weighted, at just over 8lb, this is as chime-y and resonant a solid Alder body as you could wish for. Mated to a fantastic-playing solid Maple neck, topped with a dark Brazilian Rosewood fingerboard, (with clay dots*), the aged timbers all come together in probably the very nicest vintage Jag we've ever had in the door. Oh, yes, the Fiesta Red custom color also has something to do with that! Matching headstock, too.
PJ Harvey, Courtney Barnett, Tom Verlaine
From the special Jaguar pickups, with their staggered pole pieces, to the 3-ply celluloid scratchplate and Kluson Deluxe tuners, you're looking at one of Leo Fender's truly great creations. And great creations attract great names; PJ Harvey, Courtney Barnett, Tom Verlaine, Johnny Marr, Kurt Cobain, John Frusciante, Rowland S. Howard, Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys, Nels Cline, Sharon Van Etten… just some of the big name artists who have gravitated to Jaguars over the years.
Fender aficionados may notice the lack of Desert Sand undercoat in the couple of spots where the Fiesta Red is through to the timber, however, as Australian owned from new, back in the day, the majority of Fender instruments, (excluding Sunburst), arrived here "naked". Apparently a customs loophole allowed unfinished instruments into the country at a substantially lower duty rate. The Fiesta Red finish here would have been done on a contract basis for the Australian importer, with undercoat that also appears to be Fiesta Red. (For the purists, there is no "paint stick" mark in the neck pocket)
With a neck date of November 1963, and pots from the 8th week of '64, the guitar likely left the Fender plant in California sometime between late February and the end of March 1964, then onto a boat, and probably arriving Down Under five to seven weeks later.
Purchased in Perth thirty years ago by our consignment customer, the guitar has been unplayed for the last twenty, which has certainly contributed to its overall fabulous condition - including the frets! We're not sure about the origins of the Son Volt sticker, or the great Kinky Friedman pick, which was tucked away in a corner of the case. Perhaps the Kinkster borrowed the Jag for one of his early Australian tours…?
Original Australian case
Speaking of the case, this is the original Australian case. Along with that previously mentioned customs loophole for bare timber, due to the high shipping cost, most guitars in the fifties and sixties arrived in Australia without cases. One company in Sydney, and another in Melbourne, then provided "original" Australian cases. A tiny niche market has built up in the US for these.
Our sensational 1964 Fiesta Red Jaguar will add instant and enormous cool to your guitar rack. On stage, it will banish all other axes to that murky area behind the curtain. Girls and grown men will swoon in its presence. Our FREE COURIER DELIVERY to any address in Australia, will have it in your hands before you know it (Due to international restrictions on Brazilian Rosewood, this guitar cannot be shipped outside Australia)
PS: Want to know how all those Jaguar knobs and switches and dials work? Click HERE for a modern, but still applicable run through of the Jag's controls.
*Clay dots were not actually clay, or even ceramic. There has never been a definitive answer from Fender, but it has been suggested that several different materials may have been used, including a somewhat vague-sounding "composite", a trademarked product called Harvite, (used for poker chips and fifties/sixties hotel room tags), vulcanized fibreboard, and possibly Bakelite. Harvite is probably the one most likely candidate
Weight: 8lb 1½oz / 3.65kg