I've got a vintage Jaguar and a recent Mustang. The Mustang is a Squier VM with an Allparts neck, and I've switched out the pickups so it's closer to classic Fender Mustang specs. The biggest difference is the pickups - the Jaguar pickups are more full sounding, but the Mustang still has good tones in all positions and can sound quite surfy.

The vibrato (aka tremolo) is a bit different in feel, without as much string behind the bridge, but if you tweak it right, it plays well and the strings stay in tune. With a 24" neck and the same radius, playing feel is very similar to a Jaguar, though switching between pickups is not quick because of having those slider switches above the pickups (which is why some models come with 3 way switches, though that leaves out the out of phase option).

So overall, I really like my Mustang (though I'm going to mod it some more). It's lightweight and easy to sling around and I would happily use it as a backup guitar. Of course, other people will have different opinions.

Pierre,

you know I love Jags!
I owned two japanese Mustangs for years now, but I didn´t played them live very often... Because of the thinner sound and then some tuning/detuning problems...
Since a few weeks I own a 1965 daphne blue Fender Mustang.
It is a toootal difference to the japanese Mustangs!
I played this Mustang live last weekend. I really enjoyed the complete handling, feeling and especially the tone out of this great guitar.
(check my fb account for pics!)
Next weekend on two gigs I will play the Mustang again.
So the good Jaguar is my backup...

My only answer can be: Get an original 1965 Fender Mustang. ( I can´t say anything about later years...)

cheers

Twang cheers!

Ralf Kilauea

www.kilaueas.de

https://kilaueas.bandcamp.com/album/touch-my-alien

As for the switches, the Squier VM Mustang has switches that do not stick out as much as the Fender switches - it makes them a bit harder to switch the pickups, but less likely that you will hit them while strumming. I'm thinking of adding a 3 way switch in the usual location and re-wiring the slider switches to do series/parallel as well as keep the out of phase option.

A lot of the sound has to do with how the pickups were wound. Mustangs were lower end guitars and had strat type pickups with a low number of windings and lower output compared to Jaguar pickups.

The good thing is that it is easy to switch out Mustang pickups for Strat pickups and you can find many options out there that would give you a fuller sound. In mine, I switched out the original pickups for a Tex-Mex bridge pickup and a current Fender Mustang neck pickup. The bridge pickup really gives it a Strat sound, and I also really like the neck sound, and together they get a great surfy tone. I don't really want it to sound exactly like my Jaguar, since I'd like each guitar to be distinctive, but it sounds good on all the settings and I would happily use it as a backup or even as the primary guitar for a gig.

Feel and tone can be good but I've never played one with vibrato that stayed in tune. I put a custom made hard tail bridge on mine. Better tone and no tuning issues but, of course, I miss the option of using vibrato!

I have a MIJ Mustang that I picked up as a backup for my Jag! Getting it dialed in soon, and will be happy to play it vs the Strat that used to be my backup.

el_camello wrote:

So I'm in the market for a backup guitar for my Jaguar. I was probably going to go for another Jaguar, probably Vintera as I want the 60's specs. Never had a Mustang but seems to be really close to a Jaguar specs wise. What do you guys think of the Mustang for a Jaguar fan?

If you play rhythm in a surf band the Jaguar is best for that. Its the only guitar that gives you that jangly chime sound you can get out of it.

You can by a real nice used Jaguar for a song if you search Ebay.

I have most of the knobs just past 12 O'clock on the amp and tank. The Jaguar have both volume and tone wide open to get a nice classic rhythm sound.

I found the pickups must be set real low away from the strings ort it will pickup frequencies and noise too much. That's the trick, even if the high E and B strings are set up right the pickups set to high will cause a lot of unwanted noise.

Why am I writing here?...
Sorry, but the Mustangs from 1965 are not thin sounding at all.
I have old and new ones, Japan and USA. Jags, Mustangs, Jazzmasters.
If you´ll get a new one or Japan, you will never be happy with it I believe.
A good Mustang is as versatile as a good Jaguar.

...I don´t speak about japanese crap, I speak about early-mid sixties guitars.
Don´t f++k around with all this crap and waste your worthful lifetime. Get an old one and be happy.

Twang cheers!

Ralf Kilauea

www.kilaueas.de

https://kilaueas.bandcamp.com/album/touch-my-alien

I used to have a vintage modified mustang. The stock pickups sound nice but not optimal for surf. Pretty weak, just throw in some decent strat pups under the blank covers. Or you could route it out for whatever pickups. I think the mustang vibrato is the best and the one on mine never went out of tune after heavy use. I also play more like Hank Marvin so the jag vibrato isn't the best for that of jiggly work. Handy little guitars worth trying for sure and as others have said late era surf groups used them.

Guitarist of The Sea Gees! A group I'm working on putting together, more to come.