50 years of The Jaguar
Sunday, 26 February 2012
"From surfboards to shoegaze and beyond, it’s been a remarkable 50-year journey ..."
- Fender celebrates the 50yr anniversary of the Jaguar with a thorough article and an Anniversary Model
"[…] The Jaguar enjoyed mild popularity on its introduction—Beach Boy Carl Wilson occasionally played one during the mid-’60s, and Jimi Hendrix received a ’63 model as a gift from Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones. Several other lesser-known guitarists favored the Jaguar during the model’s first several years, including Eddie Bertrand, Dave Myers, Mary Kaye, Kathy Marshall, Paul Guma, Roy Lanham and Bye Bye Birdie star Jesse Pearson, who played a custom black Jaguar with gold-plated hardware and a gold-leaf scroll design on the body.
But given the still-increasing dominance of the both the Telecaster and Stratocaster, and with the British Invasion of 1964 all but wiping out surf music as a charting entity, the Jaguar (much like the Jazzmaster) soon found itself relegated to secondary status. Sales were healthy enough to keep it in the Fender line well into the 1970s, though, and the Jaguar enjoyed a 13-year run before CBS-era Fender discontinued it in 1975. […]"
- The Jaguar