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Old 06-11-2021, 04:55 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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I've alluded to this in a few other threads, but here's my official NGD post

Last week I bought this Wildwood American Vintage '65 Thin Skin Jaguar reissue. And this is just about a month after I put together a parts Jaguar, which started out as Fender Squier 70's Jaguar reissue. Although the only thing left of the 70's reissue is the: body, the strap pins, and the vol/tone knobs, so I call it the "Parts Jag".







Why two Jaguars?

Well I wanted to see how the one that I built up, compared against one of the finer American built Jags. And for those who don't know this, Wildwood Guitars in Colorado commissions special runs that are at a custom shop level. In this case, it's custom color Jaguar (with matching headstock), with a real nitro/lacquer finish (with no poly undercoat), and vintage style frets. It differs from my other Jag in that it has a alder body vs poplar body, rosewood fingerboard vs paduak, and it also has a locking trem, mute system, and a bound neck with a 9.5" radius fretboard.

How do they compare? The '65 reissue sounds more vintage Fender style (kind of rubbery sounding lows, and brighter highs), my parts Jaguar is more balanced across the spectrum. I prefer the 7.25 radius on the parts Jaguar for feel, although I got the '65 reissue playing really good after tweaking it for a few days. Which one is better? I prefer the parts Jaguar. The poplar body on it resonates like crazy, and every part on it was handpicked by me, and I didn't stop working on it to it was absolutely perfect. It's the perfect hot rod! This new one is also a VERY GOOD guitar.

Here you can hear the '65 reissue with it's rubbery sound in the main lick of this song, and for the lap steel style slide parts in the bridge...



Here's the parts Jag with it's big tone throughout...




Last edited by rockabilly69; 06-11-2021 at 05:20 PM.
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  #2  
Old 06-11-2021, 09:43 PM
Song Song is offline
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Congratulations on your new guitars! They look and sound great to me. Spankin'!
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Old 06-12-2021, 06:31 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Congrats! Interesting that you find the parts caster better than the American but it's great that you prefer something you assembled by hand. Are you going to keep the American?

I checked these at just now at Wildwood and of course I got distracted by Greg Koch playing a Strat version of it. He's an amazing player.
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Old 06-12-2021, 10:44 AM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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What a terrific project Daniel!

First, I really appreciate your recordings!

Second, how cool is that to build you own guitar to your own preferences! Good for you!

They both sound cool! I can see, however, why you like your parts Jag.

Man! Good for you!

- Glenn
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Old 06-12-2021, 02:01 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Song View Post
Congratulations on your new guitars! They look and sound great to me. Spankin'!
Thanks, Spankin', yeah that's a good word for it

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dru Edwards View Post
Congrats! Interesting that you find the parts caster better than the American but it's great that you prefer something you assembled by hand. Are you going to keep the American?

I checked these at just now at Wildwood and of course I got distracted by Greg Koch playing a Strat version of it. He's an amazing player.
Dru, for more than a few years I did guitar repair, so I think what puts the parts Jag over the top, is that I have applied every skill I know into setting it up, and there's not one part on in it that is not equal or better in quality than the American one, as matter of fact I think the bridge and trem are higher in quality than any part that Fender makes. That's not to say that the American stuff is bad, it's just the Halon stuff is made to ridiculous tolerances and the metals are the best available. And the body and neck on the parts Jag are both ridiculously resonant, along with the pickups being wound to my specs. So in a word I adapted the parts Jag to me, whereas I am adapting to the American one. I will most likely keep the American one though as the more I play it the more I like it, although I may change the bridge saddles to the brass Halon ones, as they ring like a bell!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Glennwillow View Post
What a terrific project Daniel!

First, I really appreciate your recordings!

Second, how cool is that to build you own guitar to your own preferences! Good for you!

They both sound cool! I can see, however, why you like your parts Jag.

Man! Good for you!

- Glenn
Glenn I always appreciate you taking time to respond, and I love that you are such a musical person exploring and recording all your favorite old songs.

I would love to sit with you in my studio (or yours) and discuss recording techniques, as I know you are getting into that more and more. You always move the standard of your recordings up with each new song, and you are getting the best out of those new microphones of yours. I think you and and I are at similar junctions, we are done buying recording equipment, as we have enough to get the job done, and learning with each new song.

As for these Jaguars, they really are fun, and as I explained to Dru, the parts Jag is a reflection of my guitar setup skills and tailored made for me. People complain about quality of import guitars, but the body that was on the Squier Jag sounded great even with the first neck on it, it just had a sound when I knocked on the wood that was musical, as so did the neck that came from Mexico. There is some serious tone in those pieces of wood, and the new pickups are slightly microphonic so they pick up those tones. And the the metals in the hardware also ring like a bell. So in many ways it is more of a high end guitar than the American.

To be fair though, although it's a great guitar, the American is not safe from me tinkering with it in the future It's got exemplary fretwork, the nut is cut perfectly, and the woods are good, so it's got good bones!
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Old 06-12-2021, 06:12 PM
Glennwillow Glennwillow is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rockabilly69 View Post
...Glenn I always appreciate you taking time to respond, and I love that you are such a musical person exploring and recording all your favorite old songs.

I would love to sit with you in my studio (or yours) and discuss recording techniques, as I know you are getting into that more and more. You always move the standard of your recordings up with each new song, and you are getting the best out of those new microphones of yours. I think you and and I are at similar junctions, we are done buying recording equipment, as we have enough to get the job done, and learning with each new song. ...
Hi Daniel,

Yes, I would love to do a recording project together. Think of what we could learn from each other!

We are pretty far apart in terms of miles, so it likely will never happen, but it's great that we can at least connect this way.

I'm probably done buying equipment, too, though you never know. Being retired and no longer working, I'm living on a tighter budget than I once was!

I have wondered recently about building my own Strat or Tele from parts from Warman or someone like that. But I have so many musical projects going, I'm not sure I have time for a building project. Also, it would cost money and I already have plenty of both acoustic and electric guitars! But I can see where that would be really rewarding.

I am really pleased for you on this Jaguar project. Well done!

- Glenn
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