I haven't had a chance to try out a Jaguar but I found one I might be interested in. I know the Jaguar has a short-scale neck, which seems like something that would be noticeable when playing since I've only played Strats.. Is there much of an adjustment?..

Never played a Jag but have played a lot of LP's and they have a shorter scale than a Strat. I never found much trouble going back and forth between a Strat, an LP and any of my Martin acoustics. All these have slightly different scale lengths.

What I find takes the most time to get used to is different string spacing. One of my Martins has a little wider string spacing and it takes a few minutes to get my mind wrapped around where the strings are

The scale length thing isn't a problem.

Tone may be a bit different and the shorter scale makes the strings feel a little more "slinky". Bends on a LP are really sweet.

Jeff

Jimi Hendrix played both.

The scale difference between a Strat (25.5") and a Les Paul (24.75") doesn't take any adjustment really. But dropping from the strats 25.5" to the Jaguar's 24" does indeed make a difference. It's almost like placing a capo on the 2nd fret of your strat, but keeping a narrow nut width....It is not "bad", just a lot different. Things get cramped past the 12th fret on short scales for my hand size....but I still own a few short scale Fender's because they look so cool! Catching the normal chords on a 24" scale is sometimes difficult for me, because the strings are spaced closer together on some necks.

Thanks for the insights. I'll probably try it out today. If you compare the scale length of a Strat, a Gibson LP, and a Jaguar, the LP falls right in the middle. So, it'll be interesting to see how different the Jaguar feels.

The Jaguar I'm interested in is the CP Special HH Jaguar. It deviates from the classic Jaguar in many ways but I've read it pretty close for surf stuff (my interest with the Jag) if you set both pickups for single-coil. I checked Fender's specs, trying to get some clues about string spacing and other neck differences, as compared to a Strat. The only clue I could find is that the nut width is the same on the Jaguar and the Strat. As I said, my idea with the Jaguar is to use it mainly for surf stuff, which for me is very focused on picking individual notes (lead kinda stuff) as opposed to chords. So, the possible challenges with forming chords on a short-scale neck may not be a huge issue..

Maybe I should take this thread over to the "Other Fender Guitar" forum, although my intent here is to get Strat players' opinions on playing a Jaguar...

I find the bigger body takes a little getting used to. My Strat and Jazzmaster have the same 25.5 scale lenght but switching between them in the same practice still takes a moment to adjust for the different sizes, weights and balance.

Cheers,
John.E

I kinda wondered about the different feel due to the difference in body size and shape between the Strat and the Jaguar (or Jazzmaster). I read somewhere that the Jaguar was designed to be played while sitting down, which I thought was sort of odd... but, for the most part, I play guitar sitting down so it should be okay.

I have a '65 Jaguar and it's a joy to play,sure it takes a little getting used to but where my hands are on the small side I find the short scale neck to be an advantage more than a hinderance plus I love the sound of a Jag with lots of reverb-pure surf heaven.

_________________
'65 Strat,65 Mustang,65 Jaguar,4 more Strats,3 vintage Vox guitars,5 Vox amps,'69 Bassman with a '68 2-15 Bassman cab,36 guitars total-15asst'd amps total,2 vintage '60s Hammond organs & a myriad of effects-with a few rare vintage ones.

Stratocaster neck profiles have changed considerably over the years and this consideration has not been addressed. I have never been particular to either the Jazzmaster or Jaguar since their introduction in that I played a '58 Strat for nearly 10 years during that time and the '58 neck was pretty much perfect for me. All my Strats are v-neck derivatives, continuing the preference.

_________________
"Another day in paradise!"