Slab Freboard 1966 Fender Jaguar Sunburst

“FENDER JAGUAR: the Jaguar presents an exciting concept in the field of solid-body guitars. The neck of the Jaguar is a short 24″ scale containing 22 frets… A new “Fender First” in the Jaguar is the Fender Mute. This movable string mute is attached at the bridge and may be activated or disengaged by a light touch of the finger…. Other features of the Jaguar are: newly designed wide range pickups, on-off pickup switches with controls making possible six different tone selections plus standard tone volume controls, rhythm circuit, Fender “Floating Tremolo”, “Offset” waist design, and adjustable neck truss rod. The Jaguar is unhesitatingly recommend to those desiring complete instrument versatility.” — Fender catalog, 1965.

Make and Model: Fender Jaguar

Year: 1966. Neck stamp: 15JUN66B (15 = Jaguar model, JUN = June, 66 = 1966, B = 1 5/8″ nut width), Serial number 142xxx, potentiometer code: 304-6612 (12th week of 1966)

Specifications: Slab Rosewood fretboard, 24″ scale length, .85″ neck depth at the first fret, .91″ neck depth at the 12th fret, 9 lbs 4oz

Originality: This one came to us completely untouched since the 1970s from the daughter of the original owner. We’ve replaced nothing except for the foam under the pickups, the mute foam, and the strings.

Condition: Very clean! The original owner was described as “not a guitar player but would occasionally take it out to try to strum a few chords.” It appears that he laid the guitar on top of hand written chord charts whose permanent ink soaked into to finish on the back of the guitar. There are a few dings on the bottom edge of the guitar from being moved around in the case.

Playability: 100%! My cleaning and setup procedure included: disassembly and inspection, replace pickup height foam, clean and lubricate all electronics, lightly clean and reassemble body, disassemble and clean bridge and saddles, lubricate truss rod nut, clean fretboard, fill and recut nut slots, replace Fender Mute foam, restring with 12-52 Pyramid Gold Flatwound strings, adjust neck relief to .005″.

Notes: This clean Jaguar is now ready for the stage, studio, collection. I personally love the slab Rosewood fretboard because it is an added neck stabilizer, rounds off the high frequencies just slightly, and is a cool point in Fender history. This example is pleasing to look at but also has the cool vintage vibe and history. The original case shows plenty of wear from storage. One of the latches is a little bent but still engages. I’m including the original leather strap, coily cable (probably doesn’t work well), and some of the original Fender branded string packets found in the pocket of the case. I’m confident you’ll be thrilled with the tone and playability of this clean 1966 Fender Jaguar!