You'd want to buy AV RI pickups for the Japanese Jag. I find my AV to be a better sounding guitar. The neck on my CIJ plays better, granted a neck on a previous CIJ didn't play as well since the necks were different.

You should talk to Bill from the Relunctant Aquanauts, I know he has an opinion on the subject of AV vs. CIJ jaguars. I would private message him, he may be a little relunctant (no pun intended) to chime in after the last time he talked about the subject. In my experience with Japanese vs. American reissue jazzmasters, the american definately seemed worth the extra 200-300 dollars. I played a Japanese jazzmaster for about six months before I was able to get an American reissue. I could tell when I first picked the guitar up out of the case that it was a better guitar. It just felt like it was better quality. That isn't much of an opinion to base on, but in my opinion, the tuners stay in tune better, the tremelo is stronger, and the electronics are better quality/sounding in the american guitars. I had upgraded my Japanese jazzmaster with American pickups and the American guitar which had the same pickups sounded better. All that is for jazzmasters, as in the only jaguars i have to compare are Jake's, and he could give you a better opinion on that than I can. The Japanese reissues are great guitars though, just the American ones are of better quality in my opinion, enough to spend the extra on getting a used American over a Japanese if you can afford it. I know i wasn't able to afford the American guitar when I was first looking for a Jazzmaster.
Eric

-Eric

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Ha thanks Eric!

I would surely recommend the AV over the CIJ or MIJ. I had a CIJ that I used on our album, at that point it was stock and alright, I then upgraded the pots and pickups and had to get a case for it. So thats like 250 bucks right there, and not that it was a bad guitar to begin with. If you keep your import stock and don't throw money into it I think they are OK deals.

But, if you can find an AV used for under a grand it's a better deal. Your getting a better bridge, a better trem, a nice looking nitro finish, the mute, a case, and whatever is left of the case candy, and also a slab neck(which is debatable whether that's better or not). Both of my AV Jaguars sound better than my CIJ did acoustically, and that's because they are not entombed in a plastic finish. For some reason it's very rewarding to take my olympic white AV out of the case and see the finish yellowing. It also feels like a good quality American guitar should.

But, if your looking to dabble in the Jaguar territory go with an import. That is where I started and it just turned into an obsession which I had to have something better.

Not that I really disagree with Jacob, but I think the AV neck feels much better than my CIJ did. My early AV has a really slim neck, which I didn't like at first, but it feels like every vintage Jag I've played. My later AV has a really fat neck for a Jaguar, I think Fender tried to make the later AVs more strat-user friendly, and I don't mean strat-user in the terms of our own Ivan of the Madeira, but more like the SRV guys who have the extra money to spend on another Fender guitar other than a Strat.

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BillAqua
Not that I really disagree with Jacob, but I think the AV neck feels much better than my CIJ did. My early AV has a really slim neck, which I didn't like at first, but it feels like every vintage Jag I've played. My later AV has a really fat neck for a Jaguar, I think Fender tried to make the later AVs more strat-user friendly, and I don't mean strat-user in the terms of our own Ivan of the Madeira, but more like the SRV guys who have the extra money to spend on another Fender guitar other than a Strat.

The reason I prefer the neck is because it is bound. It makes a different feel. I like the sharp edges over the slightly more rounded edges. The only gripe is that the nut width is a little smaller on the CIJ compared to the AV. My first CIJ's neck(non-bound) was not as good as the AV neck.

I can't help you compare MIJ vs AV RI, 'cause I haven't played a MIJ for more than 10 minutes, but I can say the AV RI's are AWESOME guitars if you have the cash.

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To me CIJ and MIJ feel different. Perhaps MIJ changed towards the end by the early MIJ's are nowhere near the CIJ quality. Metals seem different, wood is lighter(and dents like nobody's business).

skeeter

JakeDobner
To me CIJ and MIJ feel different. Perhaps MIJ changed towards the end by the early MIJ's are nowhere near the CIJ quality. Metals seem different, wood is lighter(and dents like nobody's business).

I picked a CIJ up in a Guitar Center once when they were selling those red and blue ones and it felt a little better than my old MIJ. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought the CIJ's were made with alder as opposed to basswood.

My old MIJ would chip and dent if you just looked at it wrong. I dropped my AV the other day against a table, the table was dented, but the guitar - not a scratch.

-Paul

I remember hearing that about the CIJ's wood too. But, if they are alder what does it matter it's finished in plastic? Both of my CIJ Jaguar and Jazzmaster were pretty heavy guitars.

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JakeDobner
The alder holds the form of the plastic coating better? Those MIJs will dent at anything. You could flick it with your finger and dent it. Eric's Jazzmaster looked like the surface of the moon by the time he sold it.

I actually didn't add any new dents to the guitar. it did have some dents when i got it, and it did have a few mishaps during the time that i owned it, but there were never any dents other than the ones that were already on the guitar when i bought it. i do not know the stories behind those dents, and it didn't seem to dent very easily to me. the guitar was made in 94-95, so it was an early mij jazzmaster. i liked the feel of that neck a lot, i like my av a lot more, but it didn't feel lower quality than either of jake's japanese jags. i mean a neck and body covered in plastic, like bill said, is a neck and body covered in plastic. jake thought that my mij jm was a lot lighter than his cij jag, and it was lighter, but it didn't seem like it was very much lighter. his tuners seemed to be made of a different metal than mine, but i don't believe there was a difference in quality in terms of staying in tune and actually tuning the guitar. i don't know, i really liked the guitar while i played it, but when i got the av, i stopped playing it. especially since i switch between a av 57 strat and my 62 av jazz, i didn't need the guitar on stage with me too often. anyways, the mijs in my opinion weren't of any lower quality than the cijs. maybe they did use different woods, but i don't attribute that to a difference in craftmanship. it's the same people making the guitars to the same standards. japanese jazzmaster pickups are pretty crappy i know that much, you might as well have mexi strat pickups in there.

-Eric

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MIJ year made 1992-1993
got this one on Ebay last fall of 2005
for $699
image
Hello everyone
I own three Jaguars MIJ,AVRE, and Vintage
all three feel different
my MIJ candy apple red is freakin' light I personaly don't care for MIJ Jaguar the reason I got this one was for back-up duty for gigs, to have around the house and for my son to pluck on when I jam, yes I did upgrade the pickups to AV, replaced the floating trem system to AV and AV style tuners,Mint green pickguard, US pots, US master control knobs exact as vintage knobs, MIJ knobs are smaller, it's alright but AV or vintage is tons better by far!

AV made in 2001-2002 from what the neck and body says
got this back in early 2003 for about $1,350 from Sam ash music in Hollywood,Ca

My AV reissue is heavy compaired to MIJ jaguar everything is almost to vintage spechs but like Bill mentioned the neck is fat and, I did notice one thing the pickups by far are not to vintage specs even though every where you read about the AV pickups that come with the AV Jaguar or the duncans being built right down to the cloth wires no sorry they are not anywhere close to the tone and voice of the real vintage Jaguar pickups, sure the AV pickups of today sound close to real vintage Jaguar pickups but not, just pop in a vintage surf record and compare your MIJ/AVreissue/AV Duncan Jaguar pickups to the one on a vintage surf LP

My Vintage 62' blows the other two out of the water

I got this one back in 2002 in Hollywood, Ca from a private party
for $3,000
very clean a few dings
the pickups still rate well,
the neck is not fat or skinny but in between
compared to my MIJ & AV
best Jaguar I have ever owned or played
Just an amazing feeling and vibe to play a vintage Jaguar!

But everyone will have thier own feedback on MIJ/AV/vintage
as long as it's a Jaguar it will surf and serve you well through surf & garage and any music style out there that you can imagine.
Jaguar that'll do

-Kyle

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Last edited: May 24, 2006 21:08:38

This threa has me questioning whether I want to replace the CIJ Jazzmaster I just sold with an AV version, or go the alternate route with an AV JAguar. I had a MIJ awhile back, and while I liked it alot, it had alot of issues, so I let it go. In the meantime I've gotten really used to standard scale guitars (25.5") - the last time I played I a Jag since that one, it felt like a uke. Maybe I'll have to A/B the two over the next couple of weeks.

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