Here is real beauty, a vintage 1965 Fender Jaguar in its original Lake Placid Blue Custom Color finish! Certainly one of the most iconic finishes ever to leave the Fender factory. This guitar is nicely preserved and very striking. It features matching date stamps from late July/August 1965 when it was assembled at the original Fender factory in Fullerton, California U.S.A. It has been set up and is ready to play-it needs nothing. Closer look...
The offset body wears the metallic Lake Placid Blue finish nicely with slight checking and light handling evidence. There are some nicks on the side of the body where the white primer shows through-which I think is one of the coolest looking things on the planet. There are some areas that exhibit light line scratching on the top and backside, both pretty minimal. The Lake Placid Blue nitrocellulose lacquer shows little to no sign of toning and remains bright on the face, sides and back of the body. The paint has line checking and some toning towards a turquoise hue on the headstock-see photos. The neck slot has the requisite 'paint stick' hallmark showing off the original yellow stain that most all bodies were treated with at this time period-thats one of reasons why the Blue guitars and other metallic finish bodies received a white primer base-to further insulate and isolate the finish layers. The neck pocket is super clean and looks perfect.
The neck itself is super straight with no issues. The neck is stamped August 1965 and has the standard B width (measures 1.65" wide at the nut). The neck has a killer vintage Fender feel with a classic C-profile that measures .808" at the 1st fret and .975" at the 12th fret. The truss rod functions smoothly. The tuners all function smoothly and the guitar stays in tune very well. The headstock and logo display an excellent patina and just look too cool. The blue hue is tones to a turquoise and there is more line checking evident on the headstock than the body. Both the toning and checking can be attributed to the thicker clear lacquer top coat-which was meant to protect the logo. You can easily see the yellow-toning around the edge of the decal. The Brazilian rosewood fingerboard is nicely contrasted and very beautiful. it is clean and feels smooth with a soft touch. There is some very slight finger wear to some of the fingerboard-but nothing that I can feel while playing. The frets are super clean and present near-new condition-see photos. The frets have been professionally leveled, crowned and polished. The action is set low for a fast and easy playing experience. You can easily raise the bridge if you prefer a higher action. Currently the string height is .010" at the 1st fret and .060" at the 12th fret. The guitar plays killer up and down the fingerboard with no dead spots anywhere.
The pickups have the classic vintage Fender brilliant chime and "bell" tone. The neck pickup measures 6.89 ohms and I was unable to get a solid reading on the bridge pickup. The neck pickup sounds nice and full-kind of like the middle portion on a Stratocaster. The bridge position sounds more treble oriented and thinner-like most Jaguars are known for-(think surfing' USA guitar solo). Some may suggest rewinding the bridge pickup-but I have done this before with vintage Jaguar bridge pickups and experienced no difference whatsoever-I would leave it as is. I like using both pickups at once for a balanced sound. The controls all function nicely with no issues. The wiring harness is really nice and clean. The potentiometers both date to the 30th week in 1965 (late July/August 1). The pickguard has shrunk just a small amount-all screws still fit though. The pickguard is nice and flat. The bridge and vibrato both work smoothly and the original mute plate is present along with the bridge cover-see photos.
The offset body provides a nice comfortable feel. The guitar weighs 8.44 lbs so it is a good weight. The original black Tolex case is a 1965-only 'non-logo' piece. It is in good condition.
