NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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Rockabilly69
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NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Rockabilly69 » Mon May 31, 2021 7:14 pm

After finishing up my Jaguar project where I built up a Squier Classic Vibe 70's Jaguar reissue into a killer little Jag, I really have become enamored of the design. So............... I wondered how my Jaguar project would compare against an upper end American built Jaguar.

While doing a bunch of research about Jaguars, more than once, I heard some great reviews on the Wildwood Thin Skin models. I actually thought about buying a used one when I first started thinking about buying a Jag, but they were priced out of my range. Even used they were selling for over $2000. What made them cool was the real nitro finish with no poly undercoat, matching painted headstock, vintage 6105 frets, and rolled fingerboard bindings.

Well the other day an Wildwood American Original Thin Skin '65 Jaguar Reissue popped up at the Wildwood site in dead mint condition for a very low price. I snatched it up as soon as I saw it! I haven't dialed it in yet, but Wildwood did a complete setup on it with my favorite string gauge. So today I had fun rocking out. Does it play as well as my project Jag? Well not yet, but I put a lot of work into the project Jag, with daily tweaks for about a week until it was perfect. This one did play pretty good though. Tomorrow I plan to record it! When I record the guitar it'll get put through the proverbial microscope. Then I'll tweak it to bring the best out of it.

So here it is...

Image

Image

Image

Image

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Larsongs » Mon May 31, 2021 9:20 pm

Congrats! That is a sweet looking Jag! Look forward to your A/B Review..

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:06 am

They did an excellent job on the color of this one

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Surfysonic » Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:05 am

Congrats and enjoy! 8)
The doofus formerly known as Snorre...

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Wucan » Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:13 am

Looks awesome! How "thin" does it feel?

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Rockabilly69 » Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:05 pm

Larsongs wrote:
Mon May 31, 2021 9:20 pm
Congrats! That is a sweet looking Jag! Look forward to your A/B Review..
Thanks, I will try to post up a thorough review soon

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Rockabilly69 » Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:21 pm

Wucan wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:13 am
Looks awesome! How "thin" does it feel?
Well since it's gloss finish, it's really hard to tell, but it doesn't feel gooped on if that's what you mean. And it doesn't have that tacky/sticky thing that Gibson guitars have on the back of the neck. To me it feels like a brand new 60's guitar would have felt like, just a proper nitro finish. But to be honest, I didn't buy it for the finish, I bought it to compare against the 70's Classic Vibe 70's Jag that I built rebuilt to my likings. The only thing that is stock on my Classic Vibe is the body, strap pins, and the vol/tone knobs. So I can compare a polyester finished body, and a gloss nitro body with no polyester undercoat, directly. So far, I like the one I built slightly better, but I haven't started setting up my new one yet. I know alot of people prefer Nitro over Poly because it "feels" better, or it ages "better", but from what I've seen of some of these newer nitro finishes, they tend to crack easier and leave chunks behind. I like guitars that look new, unless I personally age them by gigging. So why did I buy this one? Well I wanted it for the parts it came with, the better wiring, pickups, hardware, etc, and I got a really good deal on it.

Funny thing, before I built up the 70's Classic Vibe Jaguar, I had pretty close to zero knowledge about Jaguars, which is strange because I've owned too many guitars to count. When I was young, I picked up an Jaguar that was badly setup, and I assumed that was just the nature of "those" guitars. But then I read every post that I could on this forum, and I watched more setup videos than I could count, so I knew there was hope. And I already knew that I loved short scale guitars, as I love my '60 Musicmaster, so I looked back into Jags when I found out they were 24" scale length. Glad I did.

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Rockabilly69 » Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:23 pm

Surfysonic wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:05 am
Congrats and enjoy! 8)
Hey Surfy, thanks! I know you have some cool offsets from your posts on the Gretsch pages. If ever had an offset question you would be one of the first I would ask!

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Rockabilly69 » Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:26 pm

Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 5:06 am
They did an excellent job on the color of this one
Thank you Mr Warrior! It's funny how it changes in different light. The brighter the room, the more it looks creamier/yellow. I tried really hard to capture the color the best I could, well with an iPhone camera anyway :)

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Wucan » Tue Jun 01, 2021 1:40 pm

Rockabilly69 wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:21 pm
Wucan wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:13 am
Looks awesome! How "thin" does it feel?
Well since it's gloss finish, it's really hard to tell, but it doesn't feel gooped on if that's what you mean. And it doesn't have that tacky/sticky thing that Gibson guitars have on the back of the neck. To me it feels like a brand new 60's guitar would have felt like, just a proper nitro finish. But to be honest, I didn't buy it for the finish, I bought it to compare against the 70's Classic Vibe 70's Jag that I built rebuilt to my likings. The only thing that is stock on my Classic Vibe is the body, strap pins, and the vol/tone knobs. So I can compare a polyester finished body, and a gloss nitro body with no polyester undercoat, directly. So far, I like the one I built slightly better, but I haven't started setting up my new one yet. I know alot of people prefer Nitro over Poly because it "feels" better, or it ages "better", but from what I've seen of some of these newer nitro finishes, they tend to crack easier and leave chunks behind. I like guitars that look new, unless I personally age them by gigging. So why did I buy this one? Well I wanted it for the parts it came with, the better wiring, pickups, hardware, etc, and I got a really good deal on it.

Funny thing, before I built up the 70's Classic Vibe Jaguar, I had pretty close to zero knowledge about Jaguars, which is strange because I've owned too many guitars to count. When I was young, I picked up an Jaguar that was badly setup, and I assumed that was just the nature of "those" guitars. But then I read every post that I could on this forum, and I watched more setup videos than I could count, so I knew there was hope. And I already knew that I loved short scale guitars, as I love my '60 Musicmaster, so I looked back into Jags when I found out they were 24" scale length. Glad I did.
I used to have a 1987 Gibson SG '62 Reissue... the nitro finish was peeeeerfect and the color cured to a wine-like hue. The neck was as fast as satin yet it still had enough of a coat to not feel like you're directly touching the wood. I soured on SG's so I sold it but now I regret it, even if I were to keep it as a case queen only, because it really was the best a nitro finish could do. I can't judge the new stuff too much because they need to be given time, but I've seen some 8-10 years old nitro Gibsons have unforced bubbles and tears so I know what you mean. Nothing feels better than nitro done right but it's quite hard to pull off. Fair play to you if you decide to part out the Thin Skin, though.

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Rockabilly69 » Tue Jun 01, 2021 2:11 pm

Wucan wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 1:40 pm
Rockabilly69 wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 12:21 pm
Wucan wrote:
Tue Jun 01, 2021 8:13 am
Looks awesome! How "thin" does it feel?
Well since it's gloss finish, it's really hard to tell, but it doesn't feel gooped on if that's what you mean. And it doesn't have that tacky/sticky thing that Gibson guitars have on the back of the neck. To me it feels like a brand new 60's guitar would have felt like, just a proper nitro finish. But to be honest, I didn't buy it for the finish, I bought it to compare against the 70's Classic Vibe 70's Jag that I built rebuilt to my likings. The only thing that is stock on my Classic Vibe is the body, strap pins, and the vol/tone knobs. So I can compare a polyester finished body, and a gloss nitro body with no polyester undercoat, directly. So far, I like the one I built slightly better, but I haven't started setting up my new one yet. I know alot of people prefer Nitro over Poly because it "feels" better, or it ages "better", but from what I've seen of some of these newer nitro finishes, they tend to crack easier and leave chunks behind. I like guitars that look new, unless I personally age them by gigging. So why did I buy this one? Well I wanted it for the parts it came with, the better wiring, pickups, hardware, etc, and I got a really good deal on it.

Funny thing, before I built up the 70's Classic Vibe Jaguar, I had pretty close to zero knowledge about Jaguars, which is strange because I've owned too many guitars to count. When I was young, I picked up an Jaguar that was badly setup, and I assumed that was just the nature of "those" guitars. But then I read every post that I could on this forum, and I watched more setup videos than I could count, so I knew there was hope. And I already knew that I loved short scale guitars, as I love my '60 Musicmaster, so I looked back into Jags when I found out they were 24" scale length. Glad I did.
... Fair play to you if you decide to part out the Thin Skin, though.
I didn't mean I was going to part out the guitar, I just wanted a guitar that already had good parts on it. And I wanted to see how that would compare to the one I built up. This guitar is definitely a keeper just the way it is! And it is already setup close to the way I would like so I don't think I will have to replace the bridge.

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Strango » Wed Jun 02, 2021 8:09 am

Oh, man, you're the one who bought it! I've been looking like crazy for a Thin Skin the last couple days and saw this very guitar on Wildwood's site (and still do if I do a search for "Jaguar"), but it shows as Out of Stock. You beat me to it by like a day, haha. I am SO jealous, what a beautiful guitar.

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Rockabilly69 » Wed Jun 02, 2021 11:43 pm

Strango wrote:
Wed Jun 02, 2021 8:09 am
Oh, man, you're the one who bought it! I've been looking like crazy for a Thin Skin the last couple days and saw this very guitar on Wildwood's site (and still do if I do a search for "Jaguar"), but it shows as Out of Stock. You beat me to it by like a day, haha. I am SO jealous, what a beautiful guitar.
Thank you, and sorry 'bout that, but at least you know I put it right to work :)

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Maggieo » Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:07 am

:-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-* :-*
“Now I am quietly waiting for/ the catastrophe of my personality/ to seem beautiful again.”- Frank O'Hara
I am not an attorney and this post is for entertainment purposes only. Please consult a licensed attorney in your state for legal advice.

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Re: NGD American Original '65 Thin Skin Jaguar Wildwood Edition

Post by Strango » Thu Jun 03, 2021 9:42 am

Well, if you want to make a quick profit, let me know haha.

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