MIM Fender Jaguar vs MIJ Fender Mustang

[alcidebava]

Hi all,

First time posting. I want to have an offset guitar, I play punk and rock, sold my cherished Rickenbacker 330 to move to Europe two years ago. Don’t have as much to spend on a sweet guitar but now that I’m back in the states and I’m looking at two options:

1. 2012 MIM CP Fender Jaguar in sunburst with custom bone nut and Adjustomatic bridge for $500

2. MIJ 65 RI Fender Mustang in Dakota Red for $750 with a tweed case

Both have been set up, have stock pickups. I will post pictures soon. But just based off this can anyone tell me which one they would snag?

Thanks

[Embenny]

The MIJ Mustang is 50% more expensive than the CP jag?

Jag all the way, if these are the two options.

[Danley]

I usually start an accidental war between fans of the MIJ guitars vs. MIM (I’m in the MIM camp for most guitars produced post-2000 or so when you look at quality vs. price.)

But there’s a lot to think about and unpack here. Although a lot of people don’t like the TOM on the CP for various reasons, Mustangs probably aren’t the best ‘beginner’ offsets; they’re very sensitive to setup and the vibrato is ridiculously sensitive to wear. All sorts of tricky things to work out of you really want to get it right, such as the trem range being affected by the tailpiece height/break angle, and the springs basically needing to be on the highest tension to work. It takes patience. Plus, those trems are so loose double-stop bends are more out of the question than with just about any other trem. It’s good to know how you want to play it before you commit to a Mustang and I say that as a Mustang lover.

I feel like the Jaguar is ‘safer’ but I’d also research/budget for whatever you want to with the bridge; maybe you’ll want to do nothing, but know that some people have issues.

[alcidebava]

Hey! Thanks for the quick responses.

Yes the Mustang is more expensive. He’s asking for $700 if I take it without the flight case. Not that that matters much at the moment.

I had my eye on the Jag first and got sidetracked by this offer so that’s why I thought I’d run it by this forum.

Per the bridge, the TOM is what I actually wanted and was gonna replace any other bridge with that anyways. The Mustang has the classic mustang bridge, which I do find annoying and troublesome and for these reasons I’m probably leaning towards the Jag.

If I do run into any issues with the TOM bridge on the Jag is a Mastery the one people usually throw on to solve that?

Probably gonna go with the Jag as it’s cheaper and what I originally was looking for. Thanks everyone but keep the conversation going!

[alcidebava]

P. S. This guy has some big black Dunlop straplocks on the Jag that I want to replace with Schaller ones for aesthetic reasons. That’s easily done with a screwdriver right? Like I could presumably do it myself even if i haven’t worked on a guitar by myself before?

[JVG]

Assuming you’ve played (or at least tried) Jags and Mustangs in the past, which did you like the sound/feel of better? Let this guide your decision.

If you haven’t played these types of guitar before, you may be in for a shock as they have a unique feel.

Cheers!
J.

[alcidebava]

I’ve definitely played them both, and I love both. I will own a Mustang and Jaguar one day, but for now I just need one.

I enjoy both of their differences, the Mustang being lighter and streamlined, the Jag having more pick up switches.

My biggest concern are the respective bridges, staying in tune and slippage....i love the trem arm here and here, but it’s not a necessity for the guitar to stay completely in tune while going crazy on the trem. I am trying to assess which one will just be the perfect workhorse as it will be the only electric guitar I own at the moment and I want to fuck shit up with it lol

[JVG]

Glad to hear you have done some homework. (Sometime people turn up here and ask such questions before they have even touched an offset!)

In that case, out of these two particular specimens you mentioned, i’d go for the Jag (assuming it’s in decent condition) - mainly because it’s significantly cheaper, but also because it will give you more tone options. The possible pitfalls are that there is more stuff to go wrong on a Jag (because they are more complex than Mustangs), and that you might get string-binding issues on the tunomatic bridge when using the vibrato. But these issues are fixable.

Cheers!
J.

[DiAmoroso]

For my tastes the Jaguar would be the easy choice. IMO, it's a better guitar in just about every way, and if you end up having issues with the TOM bridge, adding a Mastery will still keep you under the price of the Mustang, or right about the same. I'm not a fan of TOM bridges on really anything, but obviously plenty of people love them. I'm a big believer in the Mastery bridge though. I use the trem on often on any guitar with one, and Jazzmaster/Jaguar trems are my favorite. Never had any tuning issues with the MIM or MIA version. My Mustang, and other Mustangs I've played, have been basically unusable. FTR, I have owned a CIJ '69 RI Mustang, and currently own a MIM Jazzmaster, and an American Jaguar. So while not exactly the guitars you've listed here, I think close enough to form an opinion.

[timiscott]

I have a few offsets and my CP Jag is probably one of the best - at times, I prefer it to my MIA Jazzmaster and its' certainly far easier and more enjoyable to play. The pups are good for gain, fuzz etc. in a way that trad pups aren't and you can still get pretty close clean trad Jag sounds - the same pups are in the MIA 50th Anniversary models. The bridge etc doesn't matter unless you want a trad-looking guitar. The trem is decent but not as good as an MIA trem - that's the only negative about it that I can think of. I'd buy it over an MIJ Mustang very time.

[BoringPostcards]

Those 65RI Mustangs are great. They have decent pickups and proper cloth wiring throughout. Nice necks too.

[jvin248]

.

+1 MIM Jaguar.

MIJs have their fans, but I remember enough old days I hold no interest in MIJ for MIJ sake. Prices are higher because people chase them plus that pricing encourages the fakes, and the fakes pass easier and are more difficult to identify because of all the factory style variation in MIJ instruments.

.

[andy_tchp]

Those 65RI Mustangs are great. They have decent pickups and proper cloth wiring throughout. Nice necks too.

Agreed. One of the most accurate vintage 'reissues' Fender has ever produced with incredible build quality.


And I'd still take the Jaguar.

[HNB]

I would go with the mustang. I love Japanese necks.

[Mechanical Birds]

You could get either of these guitars for way less money