Hey man! Just wanted to say that the mods turned out fantastic! Thank you for putting all that hard work to good use! It was an absolute pleasure to dive into the mysteries of the prototype and sift through what was legend and what was truth. Enjoy!
I saw the notification for this and was like “ahh it’s AcrylicSuperman himself! 🤯” Thank YOU and Amon for all the time and energy you put into researching the jag-stang. The thread reads like a well written novel with the suspense, surprises and twists+turns, I was sad when I finished it I didn’t want it to end! I was only able to mod this guitar accurately because of the information you two uncovered. Thanks again and thanks for watching! 😁
@@NirvanaGuitars Thank you! I appreciate it. We didn't quite put everything in that thread. There were little things that we determined weren't relevant, but every detail we could get about the guitar definitely came out. We still have one significant detail to go over yet, which is the neck profile and rough thickness, so it isn't quite done and if I can get an interview with Peter Buck, we can learn about what he did to it. But if you have any questions, reach out to me on the forum and I'll answer anything I can.
@@thestratman9 I’m looking forward to seeing what information is left to be uncovered! An interview with Peter Buck would be insane, if he provided absolutely any pics of any kind that’d be a dream. I’m keeping my eye on the thread, and will definitely let you know there if I have questions!
@@NirvanaGuitars so far, Peter has been resistant. I've reached out several times. Gary Jarman did get a picture with the guitar in it's current state. But Peter didn't want us to see it because it was in his private home. But Gary Jarman definitely provided information about it. The finish has aged into an almost greenish hue these days. Good old nitro. The necks actual profile is likely lost to time as Larry cloned his own 69 mustang neck for the Jagstang and he no longer owns the guitar. But we do know that Larry made the mustang template that is used in the custom shop today. So we got some information from Fender and we got some measurements off Kurt's competition, so we're trying to create a hybrid of those two things because while it wont be accurate, it will be as close as we can get with the information that still exists. The two necks were supposed to he practically identical any way.
@@thestratman9 knowing that someone saw it, took a picture but was requested not to share it is such a tease haha. So close yet still so far. That is awesome though that he still got that info! An interview with Peter would be amazing, but at the same time I understand him being hesitant to talk about inheriting a guitar from a close friend of his who died young. Loved that info about the neck, can’t wait to see the hybrid!
Surprisingly I liked more the stock bridge pickup, but the Texas is better. I really think Fender changed the recipe for this reissue. It'd be an interesting comparison the old vs new stock pickups, if you still have them from the red.
I went into this thinking the mods would blow the stock out of the water, and I was surprised how well the stock bridge held up! I understand for the preference for either bridge, while I agree that the Texas is much better then the stock neck. That’s a really great idea! I’ve moved a few times since modding my red Jag-Stang so I don’t know where the stock pups ended up but you’ve got me motivated to hunt them down and do that compassion
What I am hearing is that the stock one sounds closer to the live recordings that exist (probably having to do with more than the guitar alone), while the Prototype one sounds probably more faithful to the tone of Kurt's, if recorded in studio.
I'm so glad you brought forth the narduwar interview - I wish Kurt and narduwar had met more times so we could have more material of him in his "natural habitat" after shows. All that aside, I believe your efforts have been highly rewarded with this gem of a modded guitar - take good care of it and, if you can, make some videos playing it for us, would love to watch them.
Kurt looks genuinely super excited when Narduwar asked him about designing a guitar, I always think of that clip when people say that he "hated" the jag-stang. I've been playing it non-stop since the mods, and you can expect to see plenty of Proto in future videos :)
Wow the stock sounds a lot better. A lot more mids and overall presence. Also really admire the dedication I see displayed on your channel, just stumbled across it tonight.
You can't just tune your guitar a half step down. You have to have it set up to half step down. Your guitar is set up for standard tuning that's why u got the love buzz kiddo
Wow. I've never heard such a huge difference in a pickup comparison. I have to say, I MUCH prefer the stock humbucker to the SD. They were much brighter and articulate than the Trembucker which honestly sounded like you threw a heavy blanket over the amp. I wonder if there's another SD you could use to get the look of the proto jag, but a better tone. Maybe a SD Jazz? Those a pretty bright.
love the meaty distortion the JB gives in the prototype. NGL love his in Utero live tone so much better than any other sound Nirvana created. Just got a KC jaguar and it's amazing but man there's just something else about the sound in the stangs that are just twangy yet so dark at the same time
Completely agree, his skystang going through the sansamp is by far my favorite Kurt tone. “Twangy yet so dark” is actually a perfect way to describe it!!
Wow! What a huge difference that Seymour Duncan pickup makes. It felt much heavier, beefier and bass heavy in my opinion….exactly the kind of impression Kurt’s tone typically gave me. Such an awesome video and very informative, appreciate the work that went into this! I’m a lefty and thinking about buying the Fiesta Red variant. For sure going to swap out that bridge pickup, sounds soooo sick!!
Dude this was your guitar? I stole the photo of reddit in the negative creep group to show my guitar guy! We’re working on making the same proto type thank you! Love it! What was that site with all he’s specs on it? Also love the nadwaur interview at the end bout the jagstang 👍
The thread is in the video description. While I highly recommend giving it a read, I can save you some time, since I'm one of the reaearchers. As it was from Fender: 250k pots .047 capacitor Right handed Texas Special bridge pickup in the neck (the Tex Mex is now to that original Texas Special spec) A custom white Seymour Duncan 59 model with silver SD logo. Standard size. Single ply white pickguard (modern thickness, take note of the three screw holes on the hump.) Wired exactly like Mustang Kurt mods: Locked trem Gotoh Tuneomatic (Nashville, not ABR-1) Schaller Strap Locks Neck shimmed Switches cut It was slightly rewired at some point, but it matches the diagram for the KC Signature Mustang. Peter Buck mods: Second string tree Unknown 10mm sized tuners.
You heard it all from the man himself! It’s thanks to him and Amon at offsetguitars.com that we have all this accurate info. I’m excited to hear you’re also doing this mod, you’re gonna love it! I’m so grateful that Nardwaur interview exists, I think of that clip every time someone says the old “Kurt hated the jag-stang” nonsense
Is the Jag-Stang worth it, as far as the build quality? I’ve managed to try out both the OG model and the MIM model at Guitar Center, and I thought that the OG sounded better, even though they both had issues (OG with its pickups, and the MIM with tuning). I can’t seem to escape this guitar, I feel like I see it everywhere and the fact that it is a combination of two guitars I’ve wanted to try out makes it all the more tempting.
My one question is, honestly, why didn't Kurt play the Jag-stang more? As far as I know, it was played during their show in Ljubljana, but only for a few songs, and during Lithium only because a string on his Skystang(?) broke, then went back to using the Skystang after the string was fixed
There's something nasty in the new bridge pickup. It has more low mids, and sounds more like Kurt's guitar, but there's a really prominent, really harsh fizzing distortion in the high mids that doesn't sound musical at all. Like it's not related to what's being played. It's just white noise on top of it. Maybe it's just higher output and is making the SansAmp go a bit crazy
Just based on the aesthetics of the instruments alone, the Jag-Stang is my least favorite of all of Kurt’s guitars. It’s just a really awkwardly offset guitar. This one sounds pretty good, admittedly, but not as good as the Jag, imo.
Kurt didn't like it, either. It's probably the laziest guitar Fender ever built, and doesn't resemble his drawings. It should have never been released, but we all know why it was.
@@Arctic_Falcon “Kurt didn’t like it either” Tell me you didn’t watch the video without telling me you didn’t watch the video. 6:48 Present some evidence if you’re going to speak on behalf of a dead guy’s feelings who you never met
I didnt know this was your guitar! Thats awesome man! I saw this guitar on reddit one day and I thought it was pretty cool. That guitar is really pretty too It looks alot like kurt's prototype, I did check out that forum before and it was incredibly detailed with vast amount of info on his jagstang It was impressive. The 59b trembucker does sound close to kurt's real jagstang and i dont know which sound i prefer more there is a very notable difference though, although kurt never used the neck pickup on his jagstang that tex mex definitely gets the sound right enough where I can blindly tell that is kurt's guitar tone. And last but not least Kurt definitely did not hate the jagstang after all it was a prototype model he did have some comfort issues with it because it didnt have any contours but that's really about it kurt probably loved the sound of that jagstang he would play it often in 94 shows and the few times in dec 93, Great job on the project man have fun.
Thank you! I just got a gotoh tune-o-matic bridge and gotoh tuners, having them installed soon and then proto will be as accurate as I can get! 😁 Yeah after the first clean strum with the 59b I instantly recognized how crazy close it was to Kurt’s sound. There’s not many professionally recorded references to go by, but I played along to TV broadcast of Nirvana playing Rape Me on 02/14/94 and the cleans were almost exact! After having these mods done I have no doubt in my mind Kurt’s had the custom 59. I’m still seeing debates online whether it was a JB or not. That jag-stang forum is relatively new, but once that info spreads over time I think the custom 59b become common knowledge!
@@NirvanaGuitars Awesome man! Can't wait for the gotoh being installed on the jagstang, would totally sound like kurt's after you do it, I would suggest listening to the roma italy show you can really hear kurt's guitar roar their, heres the link ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-lJymcr1hfTA.html .Yeah that show Le zenith is a great show! Kurt's jagstang sounds special in that show and rape me cleans sounded alot like the studio recording and you had those cleans almost nailed! That 59 really does nail the tone well I too was doubting if kurt's jagstang had a 59 in it or not but seems pretty clear that it had it , sucks that the high E string was buzzing but there are some certain characteristics of Kurt's tone like when he downstrokes in rape me on the Em chord and he lets the high strings ring out. Earnie can be pretty unreliable with his info because he once said that Kurt never used the slider EQ on his mesa which I don't think is true but I dont blame him since a memory mishap can happen since he used to work for nirvana almost 30 years ago. And yeah I hope too that people get to know about this before they end up buying a JB for their jagstang, that common problem of people buying JB's for their vandalism strat is still a reoccuring issue. And also I would like to say prototype sounds better to my ears after replaying the demo simultaneously, I would like to describe it as very angry meaty tone which growls and the 59 is handling the distortion very well whereas the stock humbucker loses some of that distortion and it becomes fuzzier
Yes I am super excited to hear how it sounds after having the gotoh bridge! I have video ideas that’ll I’ll do be doing as soon as the installation is done 😁 I was bummed to avoid hitting the high e, I figured it was would be fair for both samples. But you’ll hear all the strings in all their glory in the new vids! I played along to the Roma show with my skystang and proto when I first got it! I love that show, it was my first Nirvana bootleg. it’s awesome to hear Kurt’s tone in that quality but if I remember right this is a show where the jag-stang isn’t used very much 😩 off the top of my head i think it was used just for rape me and territorial? I also used to take Earnie Bailey’s word for fact before reading that forum. I think he does sometimes misremember which I can’t blame him for after 30 years. he’s been a wealth of information for so long and we’ve learned a lot from him, I don’t take that for granted at all but it was nice to hear from the man who physically built the jag-stang and did all the back and forth with Kurt! I also prefer the 59 against the stock, but can understand the preference for either. I think they both sounded great on distortion, but as a rhythm guitarist I’ve always preferred darker sounding tones. Plus it sounding so close to Kurt’s when I’m doing a tribute mod is a huge plus too 😉
Hey there! AcrylicSuperman sent me a link to your video and boy, what can I say: Great job, brother! Thank you for good words & for supporting us and our research, it means a lot. Rock on!
It’s an honor that both of you watched and enjoyed my video! 🙏🏻 Thank you for all the time and work you put into researching Kurt’s Jag-Stangs. That thread inspired me to go all out and to try to get as close as I can. This project would not have been possible without all the information you two uncovered!
Stock pickup has more clarity and high end. Proto has greater midrange. I’ll listen to my monitor earphone and decide. Please share your eleven rack preset mate.
Let me know what you think after listening through your monitors! My 91 and 92 eleven rack settings are shown at the end of the videos where I cover those tones. I just posted my In Utero tour settings as a community post on my channel
Is your new jagstang already intonated? I would suggest you switch to reverse the metal saddle and you do not need more adjustment to intonate your baby J.
I saw a live video of Milk It and it appears that he's playing a red jag-stang with 2 single coil pickups. I don't recall seeing it in any other videos.
My 91 and 92 eleven rack settings are shown at the end of the videos where I cover those tones. I just posted my In Utero tour settings as a community post on my channel
Hey. I need your help. Can you tell me which Fender Guitars has the exact same neck like the Jag Stang ?. I can´t find a SLIM C with a 7.25 Radius neck from Fender. Only C / Modern C / Late 50 C / early 70 C.... I want this neck ! But I dont want the Jag Stang.
Hey bro new to the channel ,sick. Was going to add ,I had a bunch of the strat artist models back in the day ,don’t really rate them anymore,but….I did f around with pickups and frets etc trying to get the best out of them. I came to realise ,somehow, fender have managed to capture some of the tone they are aiming at ,consistently. And it’s the sum of the parts. I remember the Jimmie Vaughan model was hot as , I swapped the pickups for something “better” and it sucked , immediately lost its thing. Same with the EC and the frets ,same again especially with the Eric Johnson ,complete lose of the unique tone that they had captured. Pretty amazing they can do that with those production line guitars. But they do. Really enjoyed both your tones. Hearing you A B like that immediately reminded me of how the artist series actually do their job. I can’t play them anymore after getting into custom shop and master built. Can’t remember if yours was CS or not but yeah. Such a sick channel about to watch your date with the Skyjag. Epic. My mate saw Nirvana at the Horden pavilion I said stuff that I’ll go watch sound garden (or something) instead 🤡👹👹👹 cheers mate ,Kurt would love this channel and your efforts
Great job with the mods, I just got a Jag-stang and was curious about what kind of changes I want for it, however your video convinced me to just keep the stock bridge; I think it's a little sharper and I like that in a bridge pickup. That did get me thinking I might want to coil-split the bridge at some point though. When you went in there, did you notice if the stock Jag-stang humbucker has 4 wires for simple coil-splitting or would it require more involved rewiring? Thanks again for the work you put into your modding!
I got a fiesta red Jagstang second hand from Thorobred music store in Sarasota FL around the year 1999 for $69 dollars....i saw it in the newspaper ads. I begged my Dad for days to take me to look at it. Went and sure enough there it was, and I KNEW the price was wrong ...we were so poor and even $69 dollars was to much but for what it was it was amazing. I was SO nervous tge whole time that someone would realize they priced it wrong. As soon as we paid for it, while waiting for the associate to get the Case, the manager (who was making fun of me the whole time, calling me Kurt and saying I had Cadillac taste on Vega budget) walked up and was like WOW you got Pops to come off the wallet and got a real guitar. My Dad said yeah, and it was in our budget. The Manager jaw dropped and was like what did you sell this for, he tried to take it back and made a whole bug deal of it, my Dad told them they can keep the case and try to recoupe some money that way but its ours, we already paid for it and have the receipt. Sadly I went on to become addicted to opioids and pawned it in my mid 20s...im since clean for 15 years or so and its my biggest regret but still and awesome memories
I bought a Jag-stang MIM maybe two years ago and then recently I sold it for a few hundred less than I bought it and instead bought a used CIJ 2003 Jag-stang for roughly the same price I sold my MIM. I like the guitar but it had been played quite a lot and probably needs a new nut. Now I don't know if I made a mistake and perhaps should have kept the MIM one. I don't know I kind of preferred the color of the CIJ but now I don't know anymore.
That bit at the end where it's pretty speculative if kurt liked or hated the jagstang after he got it, there really is no way to know is there? I think it's easy to guess how exciting it was for him to conceptualize it and see it in person but I bet he wouldn't be definitive about it for a couple months. The custom shop said it was rhe 2nd attempt at a jagstang and Kurt liked it much better than the 1st (wonder what the first looked like). I'd wager he would have changed it again maybe, make the body a little less spastically shaped, but there's no way of knowing one way or the other. It might have been perfect or better being all weird looking for him. I would have really liked to see how he progressed with the jagstang
By the sound of the 2 versions of that guitar the stock one had more high end and less tone and the prototype specs add that extra color to the sound and that extra crazy low end that Kurt had when he played the jag stang live.
The drum fill kept playing in my head while editing that part lol. I imagined that would happen for others too, so I thought a visual aid was appropriate 😉
For my in utero tour clean emulation there’s a lot going on that’s too much to type. In the chain there’s the amp simulator, a compressor, a graphic EQ and a touch of reverb. It’ll be shown in a future video that’ll be dedicated only to that tour’s tone!
I think the stock bridge sounds better but the new neck pickup up is way better if you can find a pickup that is hotter than the stock but with the same clarity it would be perfect I agree that the stock models are a bit weak and really twangy
I went into this thinking the 59 would blow away the stock bridge and was pleasantly surprised at how well it held up. I prefer the more rounded and darker sound of the 59 but completely understand the preference for the stock. But yes the new neck pickup is definitely better then stock!
I wonder why Kurt never asked for a fixed bridge. I can't think of a single Nirvana song where the trem was used. You'd think it would be something he'd have fun with
Largely thanks to this video, the offset guitars story, and Lomic Guitars (ugh, i think i asked too many questions or something as it seems like I'm blocked by them on eBay and im still working on my mustang tribute....sad face), i was able to go to Kurt's Park on April 5th 2024 with my own Proto clone/tribute and had it on display next to my 98 jag-stang. Much mahalos for that
Thanks for this video. I'm trying to copy your work, but the Trembucker has two more wires than the original pickup. Do you happen to have a wiring diagram? I'm guessing Red/White get soldered together, Green/Bare are ground and Black goes to the middle-left pins of the bottom switch...
"Edited: I just watched the video of JQ's mod to his jagstang and it has the typical seymour duncan setup for a jagstang which is what I have on mine. I'm more relaxed. You can ignore the rest of my comment" Hi. I have seen in a video of another, that in his skystang, the humbucker has some connections that I think are wrong. Both the skystang and the jagstang should have the on/off wiring indicated by seymour duncan. Black "signal" to one end of switch, white and red bonded unsoldered to switch, green and bare soldered to ground. This is the way i have connected my jagstang. This is right for both sky and jag? Watching the other video of the skystang my head exploded when I saw that I connected white to a red side to another pin of the switch, etc. The only acceptable modification that I see is to wire it like a mustang connecting white and red to one of the center pins of the switch "up or down" to make coil split and thus have single/off/humbucker in the bridge pickup
Man, I’ve watched this comparison of the pickups so many times and keep finding new things I hadn’t originally noticed. A huge one is how beautifully thumpy and pronounced the cleans are on that 59, especially during Heart Shaped Box. Question for you (and my apologies if I somehow missed it), but can you confirm if you ended up switching the volume out to a 500k? I find it kind of unusual that this guitar comes stock with a 250k to accommodate the humbucker, and being that the Duncan 59 is especially a higher output pickup, I can’t imagine that the 250k pot would be the best option for representing its tonal capacity. I’m not an expert, so maybe there’s something I’m missing here, just something that occurred to me. I’m genuinely curious to know anyone else’s take on this! :)
Is the Jag-Stang worth it? I’m not talking about price wise (just dropped $2000 on my first fender), but is the build quality good? I tried it out at Guitar Center and I’m not sure if it was because someone messed with the tuning or if it was the guitar itself, but it sounded awful. On top of that, I found a 95 version weeks prior and it sounded better despite slight pickup issues. I’m asking because I can never escape this guitar, and the fact that it combines two guitars I’ve wanted to try out makes it even more tempting
The stock pickups sound better, did you dial in the amp for each set or did you keep it the same? Seems like in these types of videos the player never tweaks the amp for the type of pickups being used
Thanks for all the inspirations! I got a Jag-Stang very recently and I'm wondering what kind of solid-case should I get for him. I noticed that fender is selling a pretty proper looking case however some people on the internet complains that the Jag-Stang is not really fitting inside even tho fender says it should. Do you have any more info about that or any tips for a well fitting case?
It is no different then someone who is into vintage cars or model airplanes. It’s my interest and hobby to recreate specific guitars, I think it’s interesting but if you don’t that is totally fine. I do have my own sound and tastes, I’m in a metal band and have a solo acoustic project. This channel is just dedicated to this specific hobby
Hey, you mind if I ask a question about that 11 rack? Does it have to go straight into a cabinet or do you plug it into your amp? That thing sounds great and I was actually just looking at them… also I was the guy you were talking to about aneurysm guitar tone the other day LOL
Is that a crack in the body near the neck pocket at 2:34? My Squier Jaguar has one about a quarter that size near that same spot. Also, were the strings the same exact type between the two comparisons?
The modded one sounds a little more like Pat Smear's sound to me. Strange because he played an SG. I always liked the stock better because of its punchy midrange and hollow tone. However, it's awesome both ways. Could be other factors though, wood, origin of assembly, etc. I will say that the clean sound is better on the modded though.
very cool mods! I'm sorry you got a crack in your neck pocket though those are such a bee in my bonnet. I did a bunch of mods on mine to make it more like Kurt's original drawing. You can find that on offset too if you're interested.
I mean, that's a cool guitar and all,...and Kurt was, in his way, a brilliant musician......but I just couldn't imagine the level of fanboydom you've achieved here.,...now John Frusciante, that's another matter-he used an offset Fender in the Under the Bridge vid📹, prolly the studio as well,...who knows?..🤷♂️
Isnt the nut width a little shorte than a on a regular guitar (ca 42mm vs. ca. 40 mm)? If so, how does it feel differently? How does it affect playing (not just power chords but normal chords and solo one by one string)? I have smaller than average hands and thought it might suit my hands better - but no shop around where I live have any guitar of this nut width
Yeah, the jagstang has a smaller nut, closer to 40mm. It will bring the strings closer together. The original jagstangs runs have an even smaller nut. Around 39mm
That is awesome congrats!! I find that my jag-stang’s necks feel very similar to my mustangs. So if you love your mustang, I’m sure you’ll love the jag-stang!
the only thing i have to say is that with some of the songs, i feel like on the prototype your distortion settings werent spot on. but the clean tone of the proto is far better than stock. rape me is an example, the distortion didnt match.
Not sure what you mean by the distortion settings weren’t spot on and didn’t match? Both stock and after mods were played with the same clean and distortion settings
@@NirvanaGuitars yeah the proto didnt like the same settings, it sounded more clippy. i think its toned down a notch.the rape me clean sounded spot on, all the clean did, and most of the distortion did in all the songs, but a few songs i think like rape me were slightly off. just my opinion
Hey man, I got a question for you. Do you happen to know specifically what kind of tuneomatic bridge Kurt had put on his Jagstang? Like, was it the wider Nashville style, or the thinner ABR-1 style? Awesome videos by the way. I love em.
@@NirvanaGuitars played it at band practice tonight and I think it’s my go-to guitar now and typically I play a SG. It’s heavier than what I recall and it plays much better than my Mustangs
