The Squier Jagmaster is an
electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...
marketed by the
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation under their
Squier
Squier is an American brand of electric guitars owned by Fender. The former manufacturing company, established as "V. C. Squier Company" was founded in 1890 by Victor Carroll Squier in Battle Creek, Michigan, producing strings for violins, ban ...
budget brand. It is based on the design of the classic
Fender Jazzmaster
The Fender Jazzmaster is an electric guitar designed as a more expensive sibling of the Fender Stratocaster. First introduced at the 1958 NAMM Show, it was initially marketed to jazz guitarists, but found favor among surf rock guitarists in t ...
and
Fender Jaguar
The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar by Fender Musical Instruments characterized by an offset-waist body, a relatively unusual switching system with two separate circuits for lead and rhythm, and a short-scale 24" neck. Owing some roots to t ...
, but with several significant differences reflecting the tastes of modern guitarists, including much simplified electronics, humbucking pickups, a standard
Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of electric guitar designed from 1952 into 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corporation has continuously ...
-style tremolo bridge, and, on Vista Series versions, a short-scale, 24-inch neck (22 frets).
The first Jagmasters appeared in 1996, were marketed under the Vista Series, and made in Japan. The Jagmaster in its original form was made for a period of only two years: 1996 through 1998. The first Japanese Jagmasters had a neck in which the truss rod is adjusted at the bottom of the neck, while the later Japanese models have a 1970s-style 'bullet' truss rod, which is adjusted at the
headstock. The original Japanese Jagmasters featured a maple neck, rosewood fretboard, and basswood body. The list price was $699.99. However, when the Japanese market crashed, Fender closed the Japanese production plants in which the Jagmaster was produced.
The Jagmaster was reintroduced in 2000, this time made in China. It featured Duncan-designed pickups and a 25.5-inch scale length with 21 frets. In 2005, the 2000 Jagmaster was discontinued and replaced with the (also Chinese-made) Squier Jagmaster II, which features different visual aesthetics as well as the original 24-inch neck (22 frets). In 2007 this had become a 21-fret 24-inch neck. The 2005 Jagmaster II has only two color options: black and sunburst. The third finish option, "Silver Sparkle" of the 2000 reissues, is no longer available.
In 2012, the Jagmaster model was discontinued. It was replaced by a dual-humbucker Jaguar model, which featured all of the same simplifications as the Jagmaster; it was part of Squier's Vintage Modified series. The short-scale Jaguar model was later joined by a 25.5"-scale Squier Affinity Series Jazzmaster model with dual humbuckers and a hardtail bridge and, in 2018, the Fender Player Series Jaguar, which combined most of the features of the Jagmaster with a traditional Jaguar vibrato bridge.
See also
*
Jagstang
External links
Squier Guitarsofficial website
{{Fender guitars
Electric guitars
Fender electric guitars