This beautiful vintage 1963 Candy Apple Red Fender Jaguar has it all: Great looks, excellent playability and killer tone! This Custom Color offset was produced at the original Fender factory in Fullerton California, U.S.A. at the height of the quality era: early 1963. All of the date codes line up with late February 1963-including the ink stamp on the neck, both volume and tone potentiometers, and both of the rhythm circuit potentiometers as well. The guitar has many hallmarks of early Pre-CBS Jaguar production including the small-ball headstock, flat pole piece pickups, deep body contours, silver-base candy apple red finish, clay dot position markers, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard, perfect paint-stick shadow neck slot with inspection/batch marking, quarter-sawn maple neck (very nicely figured grain too), single-line kluson tuners and the fairly rare white-tolex hard case. The fit and finish are excellent and the guitar was simply not played much at all for its entire life-the frets and fingerboard appear like new condition. The finish has been lit with a black light and checks out perfectly. The guitar has been professionally set up and is ready to go-it needs nothing. Let's go...
The body has nice deep contours and the offset design provides a comfortable playing position in your lap or on a strap. The finish is beautiful and the Candy Apple Red hue retains a nice gloss and looks almost wet to the touch. It appears darker when viewed at 90 degrees and the edges and contours really light up nice and bright. There are a few nicks on the top and maybe a peck or two on the sides and back but overall this finish is in very good condition. Near the edges of the neck plate there are a couple of small chips in the finish. There are a couple of line checks in the clear coat on the backside that are only visible at certain angles-see photos. The entire guitar has been gone over with a black UV light in order to authenticate the original nitrocellulose lacquer. The top, sides and back of the body all glow the appropriate green color...The top, sides and back of the neck and headstock all glow the same appropriate green color. The original registration pins are present and verify originality as well. The neck slot has a perfect paint stick shadow and factory inspection/batch "#5" is present. The original neck shim is in excellent condition. There is also a very thin clear plastic shim that is present on the neck side. The neck angle is perfect-and I mean perfect.
The neck itself is extremely nice, just like the body. The neck is super straight and the truss rod functions. The bottom of the neck has a Fender factory stamp "670 GAR" and the common inspection marker is present also. The factory ink stamp on the end of the neck is "1 FEB 63 B". There is some line checking in the clear coat finish at the bottom of the neck and some on the back side of the headstock as well. Otherwise, it looks near-new condition. It is very clean. The nut measures 1.625" wide-which is the standard "B" width aka 1 5/8". The profile is best described as a classic vintage C-shape and feels amazing. The neck depth measures .820" at the 1st fret and .980" deep at the 12th fret. The single line Kluson tuners all function and the guitar stays in tune well. The wood grain on the back of the neck and headstock is very nicely defined-see photos. The finish on the backside of the neck displays zero wear and feels smooth as glass....This is a good one for sure. The headstock and logo display excellent. The Brazilian rosewood fingerboard is very clean with a nice velvety soft feel. The Pre-CBS clay-dot position markers all display great with no issues. The frets are near new condition-super tall, crisp and have an excellent shape. This is the cleanest vintage Fender fingerboard and frets that I have ever come across-and that includes several guitars that have never been out of the case since new, with original "butcher paper" still on the fingerboard. Zero corrosion. The action is set low for a fast and easy playing experience. Currently the string height is .010" at the 1st fret and .050" at the 12th fret. The guitar plays like butter up and down the fingerboard with zero dead spots. It rips!
The pickups are the highly desirable early-style flat pole piece units. For those that don't know-they sound hotter and overdrive your amp much more than the later stagger pole piece pickups-that's right, the opposite of Stratocasters; in which the stagger pole piece sound better than the flat). They have an excellent balance and signal. The neck position measures 6.88 ohms and the bridge measures 6.30 ohms. The quintessential Fender "Bell" tone and chime is immediately present. The guitar really sounds amazing with any quality tube amp cranked. The whole wiring harness, potentiometers, and switches are in exceptional condition. The main control potentiometers date to the 9th week of 1963 and the upper circuit potentiometers date to the 11th week of 1963. The original foam underneath the pickups is in exceptional condition. The original kaiser/alcoa aluminum shielding is present with tape shadows that match the pickguard. All switches and controls function smoothly. The bridge mute is present and functions. The foam on the front edge appears like new. The bridge and saddles all function and in very good condition. The vibrato is smooth and the original vibrato arm is present. The pickguard is white and has no breaks, cracks and it is nice and flat. It is probably a very early white vinyl version; definitely an early vintage Fender piece.
As stated before, the guitar balances very nicely and is lots of fun to play. The offset design makes it super comfortable on a strap or in your lap and it has an excellent weight: it weighs in at 8.56 lbs. The guitar sounds amazing and is perfect for on stage, studio or wherever you want to play it (don't do the underwater-thing). The string tension is NOT floppy-it is nice and bends like a champ. Also, the sustain is excellent-especially for a Jaguar. The original Fender hardcase with white tolex is nice condition with some wear on the ends.
