New member, potential '64 Jag owner...w/questions

[joeybsyc]

Theoretically speaking... if I could somehow talk the seller down to the 1500-1600 range, how "bad" of a deal would it be then? Contrary to what I've heard here, I've spent the past 2 days searching Jags for sale on the internet and on ebay, and the closest thing I've found is a refinished white '65 with a painted headstock (yuck) for 2200.00 plus 45.00 shipping. Theres an original paint 62 Fiesta Red one I like, except its $8500.00.
I have yet to find a refin one comparable to this coral '64 I'm looking at for sale, and anything relatively close seems to be more money. If there are refinished pre CBS jags in cool custom colors out there for 1000.00-1200.00 Where are they?

[eggwheat]

I agree $2000 seems overboard in this climate. An original burst Jaguar just finished on ebay for $1400 in the last week I think.

[joeybsyc]

I dunno... maybe I should just stick to strats and tele's... I just thought this would be a cool affordable vintage guitar, and was something I really liked at a price I thought was within reason. I've paid much more for modern reissue/relic Strats and Teles. As I said before I really AM shocked there is so little love for these guitars that their values are kept so low. 2 grand doesn't even buy you the hardware off a pre CBS stratocaster, yet a complete 64 refin Jag at this price is considered too much even by the people who love them. I'm glad I asked, but the reaction is definitely not what i was expecting. I fell for this one, and thought it was a way cool vintage piece for under 2 k. I kinda thought people here would dig it too, but I didn't realize these are worth so little.

Thanks for the advise everyone, I really am disappointed to hear so many think its such a terrible deal, I really liked it and was ready to join the offset club with this one. I think I'm gonna just call the guy and tell him to take the hold tag off of it and work on forgetting I ever saw it.

[frippy]

I agree $2000 seems overboard in this climate. An original burst Jaguar just finished on ebay for $1400 in the last week I think.

I agree. Given the potential condition of the electronics and body, $1500 is a bit high too. There's a '63 Jag on e-Bay at the moment for $1000. The original finish has been stripped but it looks quite nice.

[Tweedledee]

I dunno... maybe I should just stick to strats and tele's... I just thought this would be a cool affordable vintage guitar, and was something I really liked at a price I thought was within reason. I've paid much more for modern reissue/relic Strats and Teles. As I said before I really AM shocked there is so little love for these guitars that their values are kept so low. 2 grand doesn't even buy you the hardware off a pre CBS stratocaster, yet a complete 64 refin Jag at this price is considered too much even by the people who love them. I'm glad I asked, but the reaction is definitely not what i was expecting. I fell for this one, and thought it was a way cool vintage piece for under 2 k. I kinda thought people here would dig it too, but I didn't realize these are worth so little.

Thanks for the advise everyone, I really am disappointed to hear so many think its such a terrible deal, I really liked it and was ready to join the offset club with this one. I think I'm gonna just call the guy and tell him to take the hold tag off of it and work on forgetting I ever saw it.

Don't get too down on it. It's still a cool vintage Fender that a ton of people would love to own. I think what's killing the "value" for people here (myself included) is the extra route and the non-original pickguard. The routing absolutely kills it for most people and an original guard would probably run you a couple hundred dollars. If it had been a '64 Jag with just a refinished body but nothing had been done to the neck, the pickguard was original, and there were no extra body routes then $2k would have been a perfectly normal dealer price (maybe even lower than most dealers would ask). Yes, occasionally a refinished Jag will sell for $1400 on eBay so people want to think that's all a refinished one is worth right now, but refinished ones also sell for much more than that on eBay as well - closer to the $2k price the shop has this one listed for. It's just that those refinished ones usually have the original parts and no large extraneous holes in the body.

Like I said before, if you love it and could get it for somewhere closer to $1500 I would probably do it. I absolutely love my refinished '65 that I got for $1500. I had to buy a set of original tuners for it ($200) and I refinished it myself ($50 in paint) but I'm extremely happy with what I have for $1750.

[secndshft]

I'd check the for sale section. One of our fellow OSG mates has just put up a pretty cool Jag up for sale.

[phread]

So $2000 for that guitar isn't just high, it's ridiculously high, especially in this economy. Yeah, it may be cheap as to what you see on
GBase, but sometimes eBay can be your friend. Remember that a seller can ask for any ridiculous amount he wants, but what counts is
what instruments actually *sell* for!

One thing to point out when looking at the Fender off-sets. Some people think Jazzmasters are worth a bit more since they use the same
scale and neck length as a Strat or Tele. I know lots of guys who have paid more than $2000 for a Jazzmaster neck so they could build a
Jazz-o-caster. I have one Jazzmaster neck that has been on 4 different guitar projects at one time or another. A Jaguar limits you to
what you can build...

Cheers,

Phread

[eggwheat]

I dunno... maybe I should just stick to strats and tele's... I just thought this would be a cool affordable vintage guitar, and was something I really liked at a price I thought was within reason. I've paid much more for modern reissue/relic Strats and Teles. As I said before I really AM shocked there is so little love for these guitars that their values are kept so low. 2 grand doesn't even buy you the hardware off a pre CBS stratocaster, yet a complete 64 refin Jag at this price is considered too much even by the people who love them. I'm glad I asked, but the reaction is definitely not what i was expecting. I fell for this one, and thought it was a way cool vintage piece for under 2 k. I kinda thought people here would dig it too, but I didn't realize these are worth so little.

Thanks for the advise everyone, I really am disappointed to hear so many think its such a terrible deal, I really liked it and was ready to join the offset club with this one. I think I'm gonna just call the guy and tell him to take the hold tag off of it and work on forgetting I ever saw it.

If you are willing to lay $2000 out then if you keep looking you will no doubt find an all original burst Jag for that price.. maybe even less.

The Jaguar has never been near a strat or tele in value...bottom line...its a short scale fender..

[Tweedledee]

I'd check the for sale section. One of our fellow OSG mates has just put up a pretty cool Jag up for sale.

The OP can't see the for sale section because he doesn't have enough posts yet.

Interesting. The Jag Pacofeliz is selling in the for sale section is absolutely beautiful refinished custom color one and priced at $1750. There's already one person who has responded to his post saying it's a "very good price" and I doubt anyone would here would tell Pacofeliz that he should be selling it for $1200 to $1400. And yet it's a CBS era Jag with a full body and neck refinish, a random shallow extra route under the pickguard (though not a full pickup route), and a pickguard that he admits might not be original.

The Jag the OP in this thread is asking about is a pre-CBS one with a full body and neck refinish, extra pickup route, and non-original pickguard but some people are saying $2k is absolutely crazy and it should be $1200 to $1400. Hmmm....

[eggwheat]

I'd check the for sale section. One of our fellow OSG mates has just put up a pretty cool Jag up for sale.

The Jag Pacofeliz is selling in the for sale section is absolutely beautiful refinished custom color one and priced at $1750. There's already one person who has responded to his post saying it's a "very good price" and I doubt anyone would here would tell Pacofeliz that he should be selling it for $1200 to $1400.

And I should hope they wouldnt do that..I think thats just basic manners isnt it? Telling someone how much they 'should' be selling something for.

[joeybsyc]

Correct, I can't see the classifieds because I don't have enough posts... which IMO seems sorta silly, because if I don't OWN an offset yet, and AM in the market for one, but I doubt I'll make 50 "meaninful" posts about something I don't even own. So... I'll either never get to see the classifieds because I don't have one, or if I buy a different one and make the 50 posts, I will have already bought an offset and won't be in the market for one anymore! Not sure what the theory behind that is, but I guess its been debated before, and I'm not here to do that. I can guarantee I'd make way more posts than that if I actually had one. But I digress! I'm not interested in a 1750.00 CBS era refin anyhow.


I DO have an update to this saga though! Against my better judgement, I went up to the shop tonight and checked it out again. I mentioned to the seller that I had been doing some research over the weekend, and mentioned the negative aspects of it having an extra route, a newer pickguard, and also the fact the neck had been refinished with the incorrect for '64 decal. The guy was pretty cool about it, and basically told me that's why it's not 4 grand...which I agreed with, but also noted that I was told it should be priced lower than his asking price.

He then offered me something I think is very tempting... He also has ANOTHER '64 refin Jag, but in Sunburst...(not the one you see in the pics, this one has clay dots, no binding, just like the coral one) with an original finished neck and unmolested '64 decal. He offered to swap necks and give me the coral body with the original finish neck of the sunburst Jaguar. While this wouldn't be THE original neck to the guitar, I'd guess a 64 neck with the original decal and finish would be better than the totally refinished one with incorrect decal, no? He also showed me under the pickguard, and the pickups are guaranteed original, as is 99% of the wiring, with the exception of one splice to correct where the strat pickup was once wired in. The pots are also original and dated 1964. He also has an original case for it, black tolex with Fender emblem, and original tremolo arm, and even an old Ace strap in the case from the 60s. Told me he'd swap the necks, set it up, and knock the price down to right where the one mentioned in the classifieds is priced at. I told him I need a day or 2 to kick it around and would get back to him. Oh, one other thing I'm not sure means anything... it APPEARS that the guitar was actually originally Candy Apple Red, NOT sunburst. There are definite remnants of CAR overspray in the control cavities, nothing that indicates to me that it was Sunburst. Does the original Custom Color make any difference if it's been refinished? More stuff to ponder... I can tell you this though, I'm thinkin' HARD about it again!

[warreng]

Thats an interesting deal. I really dig the color.

One important question though:
How does it play

[joeybsyc]

It plays really well with the current neck on it... what may change with the neck swap I don't know... but I'd think the playability should be fairly close. I know the Sunburst one plays well too, so I'd think swapping the necks from the 2 should be ok...I'm sure a little set up would be in order, but I don't see a problem, I've swapped strat necks before without problems. I did notice neither of them have a super tight neck pocket... is this typical of early 60's Jags, or is this possibly because they were both refins? Should I leave the original refinished neck in place, or swap out the "other" '64 neck with the original finish and decal? So many questions...

[painted wood]

definately swap for the original finish and decal neck if it looks straight and plays well on the burst body. Then later on you could pick up a non-routed '64 body and pickguard.

$1500

[joeybsyc]

There are definitely no issues with the other neck, as I said, its currently ON another 64 Jag, and plays great. The only question I have is the possibilty of one '64 Jag neck not being compatible on another 64 Jag body... anything to worry about there? Oh, I managed to snap a few more slightly better pics of it tonight. I'm still smitten by the look of this Jag!