Guitar Review: the Fender JagStang

How does a musician choose an instrument? It is by the shape, the color, or maybe even something else? In the case of Kurt Cobain, the legendary and iconic singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana, a guitar was an instrument that was supposed to represent both taste and yet still retain a certain distinct sound and appearance. With that in mind, Cobain worked closely with Fender to create his ideal, custom instrument. After a long period, and several prototype models, the result was named the JagStang, and despite having a mediocre sales record, the instrument was re-released in 2004, and for the price, it is definitely one of the best guitars on the market.

The JagStang looks almost exactly like one would imagine it, a rather long body with either aqua blue or orange paint, a pearly-white pick guard, and a rosewood fret board. The body of the guitar is constructed out of basswood, and the neck is maple. The guitar has a floating tremolo, controlled with a removable trem arm, and one single coil pickup along with a special design humbucker.

When it comes to how the JagStang plays, it really becomes a matter of debate about the preferences of the individual player. The short scale neck is thoroughly enjoyable, although it may not be the most ideal choice for players who styles tend to include extended scale runs or excessive playing on the higher frets. While the guitar does have a very cool option to switch the style of each pickup, resulting in a lot of different options when it comes to tone and overall sound, it has to be said that theirs really not a whole lot of difference between the different settings, and the sound is overall slightly strange. Of course, the option to switch off the pickup entirely is interesting, and can make for an interesting effect when toggled on and off during normal playing rhythm.