jason_schepers's Reviews

An affordable AND excellent Jag once you get past any setup issues

This is a wonderful guitar which punches well above it's weight IF you can get past the poor setup with which many reportedly leave the factory. You might need to put a little extra foam under the pickups to get the right height, or tighten the bridge to keep the tremolo bar from being too loose (and maybe even still need to use "the hammer trick"), shim the neck a bit to get the right amount of angle and tension on the strings, etc.

I bought an MIRC used or factory 2nd guitar precisely to avoid those kinds of issues, all of which have been well-documented with these Squier Jags. What has also been well documented is how GREAT they sound and play once you get it sorted, and I'm happy to report that is absolutely true.

The neck is a very comfortable C-shape (marketing says it's a Slim C but it feels closer to medium to me) and the single-coil pickups sound excellent provided you want the sharp, glassy bite of the originals. That's exactly what I wanted for the post-punk and indie/alternative music I tend to play.

I wasn't sure what to expect with the Indian laurel fretboard since I've never tried one, but it plays and feels very much like a rosewood fretboard. On a related note, the frets are nice and even and don't seem to have needed any filing (unless the MIRC team did that earlier), and there's no fret buzz unless there's a significant humidity change.

Despite being such an inexpensive guitar, the switches have a satisfying snap to them and the dials spin as they should, although my volume knob is stiff and will need some contact cleaner. I'm guessing that a little extra shielding in the cavity wouldn't hurt either, but all of that is to be expected on an instrument that sells new for about $500.

The electronics aren't too noisy and sound very good (for what it's worth, I think the CV has 500k pots but I'm not certain), although this is where one might consider future upgrades. The quality of the body and neck is worth that kind of investment, but it isn't necessary to have a great-sounding instrument.

Overall, if you avoid or deal with any setup issues, this guitar is simply VERY fun to pick up and play. Weighing in at only 8lbs 2oz, it's getting a lot more play time than my MIM Telecaster right now, and I suspect things will stay that way for quite a while.