Jag-Stang is back!

Discussion of newer designs, copies and reissue offset-waist instruments.
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secretroutines
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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by secretroutines » Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:04 pm

DavidG wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:56 am
Vintera mustangs still cost £650, so the justification for the jagstang cost doesn't really hold up.
Directly comparing the Mustang to the Jag-Stang is flawed for a few reasons:

1. Jag-Stangs have rosewood boards, and CITES does effect importing the raw rosewood for manufacture. Depending on the country CITES might still impact finished musical instruments.
2. Some money does get kicked back to the Cobain estate for using his name.
3. Fender is also listing that the pickups are a unique spec for it (I’m not sure if this is actually true), but there are some minor spec differences that retooling will cause the production cost to increase, but not near the amount the first two reasons will.

Edit - also the price lines up almost exactly with the Cobain Jaguar so I think the price-hate is more than unjustified.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by Unicorn Warrior » Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:22 pm

I’ve always hated these. At least for myself. I can appreciate them on certain stages. But, glad for everyone else that’s a fan.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by jakeisjake » Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:37 pm

Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:22 pm
I’ve always hated these. At least for myself. I can appreciate them on certain stages. But, glad for everyone else that’s a fan.
I wouldn't go that far...but I would say they remind me of a tube of tooth paste squeezed in the middle...and I do hate that! :D
Last edited by jakeisjake on Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by Wucan » Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:49 pm

Jagstang prices have doubled since the beginning of the pandemic. You'd be laughed at for asking $1K in January 2020, nowadays it'd be generous.

The price of collectibles in general soared as a result of the pandemic, and anything Kurt Cobain has increased correspondingly. Hell, people are outright selling MG-69s as the "Cobain guitar" and asking for a huge premium. :lol:

So it's no surprise Fender is trying to get their share of the bonanza here. Personally? I passed up on Jagstangs because they just aren't well designed or have remarkable quality. The premium has everything to do with the Cobain connection.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by Mad-Mike » Thu Jul 08, 2021 2:20 pm

My thoughts....since my wife texted me this......

Well my first thought is as much as I love the Jag-Stang body and neck, I won't be buying one. I've already got a body in the works out of reclaimed pallet wood in progress and will be building a neck for that soon- for $0.00. Even then, I'm not gigging or playing with any bands currently so I really don't need a backup anyway. At $1250, that's just too high a price for something I"ll be ripping all of the original electronics out of anyway to slap in an old pair of 1990's era EMGs. It does bug me how much they are worth now because it makes my #1 axe a target of theft at this point which means if something I do DOES happen to materialize on the local scene sooner or later, I'm probably not gigging it anymore, or at least, not as often - or it's staying strapped on my person the entire night.

Secondly, as a fan of Cobain's, I find all this high dollar capitalization on his name without any real logic behind the target audience really stupid. Cobain's whole thing was playing CHEAP Guitars - Mustangs were $50 when he played them, his Vintage Jaguar was $350, and his Japanese Mustangs were brand new $699.99 guitars. Cobain was a "punk rocker" - punk rockers used what they could get and what they could afford, not the most glorified thing possible. Punk, in my mind, has been dead for decades and just a genre for hipsters who want to appear socially conscious. Since the Jaguar release, I've always seen it a bit bass-ackward, but hey, there's a song called "In Bloom" that pretty much says it all. Kinda shows you where the average Nirvana "Fans" head is. I agree that a Squier model would be a bit more fitting.

As for me, I've mostly moved on from other people's music and am more interested these days in creating my own music, which is quite far out of the Nirvana vein most of the time.

That said, on the flip-side, I am appreciative Fender is at least giving the base-level Jag-Stang a once-over, even if it's a tad overpriced. At least if I really did want to get another one, they're out there, even if I end up paying $77 a month for it. Still though, way out of my price range for what I'd do to it. I'm not taking a hacksaw (vibrato legs), soldering iron, and new pots and pickups to a $1250 dollar guitar just to copy what I already have.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by CROSS_guitars » Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:08 pm

So apart from talking about the price, what do people think?
I'm stoked they have reissued it after 20 years.
It's made in Mexico, they've only been made in Japan before now.
They somewhat corrected the lower horn so it lines up nicer. It's a relief they didn't release that weird
looking one from 3 years ago.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by Mervynskidmore » Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:29 pm

Surprised to hear some posters think it's well priced. At almost double the price of a vintera Mustang I think they'll struggle to sell significant numbers of these. They'd have sold like hot cakes if priced in line with other vinteras.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by secretroutines » Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:38 pm

Mervynskidmore wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:29 pm
Surprised to hear some posters think it's well priced. At almost double the price of a vintera Mustang I think they'll struggle to sell significant numbers of these. They'd have sold like hot cakes if priced in line with other vinteras.
Is it double the price of the Cobain Jaguar?

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by Larry Mal » Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:29 pm

I feel like I'm glad I have all the guitars already I could possibly want. This is priced very high.

I also feel like Fender has decided that the Made in Mexico guitars are no longer to be priced below the Japanese or American made guitars particularly. That is, they'll slot it underneath if they are making American made versions of the guitar, but if it only is made in Mexico, then it's going to sell at the full Fender price.

I could see why... like people have said, they have invested a lot of care in the Mexican factory and they are putting out stuff that's as good as anywhere.

I feel that they will largely wrap up American production other than the Custom Shop any day now, honestly.

As far as the guitar, it's fine.
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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by HarlowTheFish » Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:33 pm

Mervynskidmore wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:29 pm
Surprised to hear some posters think it's well priced. At almost double the price of a vintera Mustang I think they'll struggle to sell significant numbers of these. They'd have sold like hot cakes if priced in line with other vinteras.
To rephrase, I don't think it's well priced per se -- but being an anniversary signature, it's not really comparable to a Vintera. Even still, a plain-ass Vintera Mustang is $949 new, so keep in mind that $1249 (when the also-MIM Cobain Jag is $1349, the H.E.R Strat is $1199, that hideous Morello strat is $1499?! Jesus fuck that one's overpriced for sure, and everything else is around that $1200 mark) is right on par for a MIM signature model.

Not a steal, not a deal, and I wish it were cheaper for the folks who actually want one, but if you think it's overpriced then so is literally everything else, and those are using standard Fender shapes that are probably cheaper to tool up for and don't stop the production line.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by BTL » Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:56 pm

HarlowTheFish wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 4:33 pm
[...] Not a steal, not a deal, and I wish it were cheaper for the folks who actually want one, but if you think it's overpriced then so is literally everything else, and those are using standard Fender shapes that are probably cheaper to tool up for and don't stop the production line.
I think this is it in a nutshell. I wouldn't be surprised if this is the last chance to own a new Jag-Stang, and those who are unhappy with today's asking price will be even less happy once these are gone for good.
Owner, Lowe Custom Guitars

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by gutter rock » Thu Jul 08, 2021 7:02 pm

I remember when they originally came out, and me being a Nirvana fan, I thought I would have to get one. But, they never felt right to me in a store and I was a poor college student anyway! Always wanted to pick one up but for me it would have to be in the Squier range for me to think about it. Mostly because that chrome plate not following the body contour will always bother me and the angled pickups. I can let the angled single coil slide, but the angled humbucker just looks wrong to me. The other problem I have is this was based on the prototype that Cobain received. I think I heard he didn’t particularly like it and was going to make some modifications to it with Fender. This didn’t happen due to his death. So basically this is a rough draft of a Kurt designed guitar that he wasn’t finished with. That bugs me some. Glad it will be available for those that it is their jam though.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by Rockabilly69 » Thu Jul 08, 2021 9:26 pm

jakeisjake wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:37 pm
Unicorn Warrior wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 1:22 pm
I’ve always hated these. At least for myself. I can appreciate them on certain stages. But, glad for everyone else that’s a fan.
I wouldn't go that far...but I would say they remind me of a tube of tooth paste squeezed in the middle...and I do hate that! :D
My favorite post ever on this forum.... I hate that too, don't F with the toothpaste tube people!

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by CROSS_guitars » Thu Jul 08, 2021 10:54 pm

It just occurred to me that there could also be a sneaky Japanese reissue?

Those recent Swingers came out without much attention. I'll have to keep checking their difficult to navigate website.

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Re: Jag-Stang is back!

Post by marqueemoon » Thu Jul 08, 2021 11:22 pm

PorkyPrimeCut wrote:
Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:28 am
andy_tchp wrote:
Wed Jul 07, 2021 11:06 pm
As always, :k
Yup.
I’m also in this camp. I’m happy for the people who can swing it and always wanted one, but I really can’t stand the look of these.

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