As a vintage enthusiast, I was a bit sceptical when the American Original series was announced: I've never been a fan of bigger frets and flatter radii. However, the difference between that Jaguar's fingerboard and my two 7.25" Strats is almost impossible to notice. The frets look the same, the radius feels the same. The neck profile is a totally different story: it feels amazing, quite chunky but very comfortable. There are no flaws whatsoever in the fretwork or the binding, the edges are beautifully rolled (not as much as on my custom shop strat, but you get what you pay for!). The rosewood on the fingerboard is astonishing. It is actually the most figured fretboard I've seen on any Fender/Gibson guitar. Compared to my mexican Srat, the fingerboard is more comfortable and more stable, it also feels better when bending. While most rosewood fretboards I've tried kind of feel harsh and dry while soloing, this one is extremely smooth.
I've played it for about 2 or 3 hours on my AC15, in the normal channel. The neck pickup blew me away, in its 3 configurations (rythm circuit, lead circuit, lead circuit with strangle switch). It nails everything from hendrixy chords to creamy leads. It don't care much for the bridge pickup, it sounds quite harsh and unpleasant, but I'm sure I'll get used to it when I get to play the guitar a bit more. Even though I don't have my pedalboard around currently, I've plugged the Jaguar to a few pedals I had laying around (Effectrode PC-2A compressor, Boss SD-1, EHX Soul Food). Both overdrives sounded fantastic, in low or high gain settings. The compressor allowed me to get some great tones with the bridge pickup, but the neck pickup sounded better on its own.
It is my very first Jag, and having wanted one for years, the American Original is absolutely perfect. It does exactly what I want it to, and it looks awesome, as any Jaguar should ! The only flaw I've noticed so far is on the body: since the finish is transparent and allows to see the grain of the wood (unlike the AVRI 65), you can clearly see the lines where the three parts of the body have been glued together. It kind of looks like the guitar has a neck-through construction (like a firebird) but I think Fender could have managed to conceal that somehow.
TL;DR:
Pros: Comfortable fat neck, nice figured fretboard, fantastic neck pickup, looks amazing
Cons: Unconcealed three-part body construction
For €1899, it feels like it's twice the price
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