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Pickguard - For Japanese Jaguar® - "Rounded Neck Pocket"
Pickguard - Suitable for Fender Japan Jaguar


 
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Main Description

Configuration

Fender® Japan really latched onto the Offset series in a big way, and its not unfair to say that up until recently, its been more common to see Jaguar and Jazzmaster guitars coming from the far east in Europe then their USA counter parts.So with that in mind, these are the pickguards to fit.

Whilst the USA version ran from 1962 through to the mid 70s, the Japanese versions run from the early 90s, through to the modern day, and normally, they're built as "re-issues" - fairly faithful copies of the original US models.

However - Fender Japan, as is common, decided to do a few things "their way" - which is completely understandable looking back on it. The Jaguar® hadn't been made for over a decade when they re-introduced them. So you will see some minor variations between USA and Japanese models. The main one that jumps out, is the pickguard.

The "problem" is essentially the control plates - Japanese Jaguar® guitars (and this isn't a hard and fast rule by any stretch of the imagination!) come with different control plates when compared to the USA model.

The plate itself is also a slightly different shape, and the mounting hole pattern is different.

Fender®, Squier®, Jazzmaster® and Jaguar® are registered trademarks of Fender Musical Instruments Corporation and Axesrus® has no affiliation with FMIC

 

Japan vs. USA - Control Plates

Fender Japan, have always had a strange relationship with control plates on guitars.

Mustang? Different control plate to the USA/Mex/Squier® versions!
Telecaster? USAs, Mexicans and Squier® all use a 32mm wide version nowadays. Fender® Japan use a 32.4mm

And the biggest pig of them all? You guessed it – The Jaguar series!

Now, remember that none of this is official, and it does seem to be restricted to certain periods of guitar – but there is pretty strong evidence that Japanese Jaguar guitars use completely different control plates to the USA, Mexican and Squier versions.

The problem here is that no one really seems to know when Fender Japan used their own spec control plates, and if/when they ever swapped back over to the USA versions. So rather then us trying to guess at dates and models, lets have a look at how the control plates are different in relation to the pickguard.

Easy one first.

Hex Control Plate Fitted to Fender Jaguar

Perfect Match

Here we see a Hex plate fitted to a USA Spec pickguard, and it a perfect match.

It'd look the same on a Japanese pickguard, so, seemingly, they're the same part.

Main Control Plate Fitted to Fender Jaguar

Continental Drft

On the left, we've got a USA Spec Control plate paired with a Japanese Pickguard - notice the gap?

On the right, USA meets USA, and as you can imagine, its a perfect match!

Main Control Plate Fitted to Fender Jaguar

Size Matters

On the left, we've got a USA plate on Japanese guard - see how when the plate is in the correct positio, it doesn't fill the route?

On the right, USA on USA - and it behaves as expected.

Tortoise Shell Explained

You’ve probably noticed with the pickguards, we do A LOT of different variations in tortoise shells – and even then, we barely scratch the surface when it comes to completing the line-up.

Basically, Tortoise shell, originally, way back when, when it first started (long before the electric guitar was a thing) was just that – pieces of a tortoises shell, fixed together into a shape, and polished until semi-transparent (some of the early acoustic pickguards were actually made this way)

Now, obviously, none of us want to see a return to those practises, but seemingly, everyone liked “the look” – so with the advent of plastic in the early part of the 20th century, science found a cheaper way (it wasn’t until the seventies when trade in hawksbill turtle (the main source of Tortoise shell) shells became illegal!)

The first “plastic” Tortoise Shells were made from Nitrate plastics, usually Celluloid – and, frankly, it’s pretty gorgeous! Its semi-transparent, it’s got a sort of leopard skin look to it, and it soon worked its way onto guitars (again, most acoustics)

The problem is – Celluloid plastics are astonishingly flammable – they have a low point of combustion, and once they’re burning, they don’t go out until the fuels gone, or they flame is deprived of oxygen. As you can imagine, no one really liked working with Celluloid. It was risky to use (cutting = friction = heat) it was dangerous to store, and it wasn’t really suitable for the job at hand ( it changed colour when exposed to sunlight, it warped, it shrank, it was generally, pretty badly behaved!)
Never the less, it did eventually find its way onto electric guitars by the late 50s and early 60s, but was soon replaced for something more suitable and much safer.

Nowadays, you see Tortoise shells in either Polyoxymethylene (more stable as a material, but still very flammable) or PVC (which is fairly bomb proof, but does give off toxic fumes if burnt)

Now, getting to the modern day – Tortoise shell comes in 5 “variants” for us (ignoring the Celluloid offerings, they’re still out there, and great for historical accuracy, but just be VERY careful with them – not only in buying them/storing your guitar once its fitted, but also in actually sourcing the stuff, we’ve yet to find a factory who will even consider making a plate with it (too big a fire risk) and even when we do, its very cost prohibitive (more expensive to buy the things then we could ever dream of selling them for!) – there are guys out there making them though – but as a rough guide, expect to pay upwards of £150+)

Classic Tortoise Shell

Classic

Now this is a funny one. For the longest time, it was the only Tortoise shell we had access to, and honestly – its OK – turns up pretty often on mid-priced guitars, such as the Squier® Classic vibe and vintage modified lines – personally, I think of it was a cheats Tortoise shell, because it seems to be a screen print sandwiched between the layers of PVC, and as such, it looks a little flat. It is, however pretty uniform, so if you want all your tortoise shells to look the same, classics the way to go.

3 Ply Brown Tortoise Shell

3 Ply Brown

Now we’re talking – rather then a “flat layer” brown tortoise is the real deal – layers of semi-transparent PVC (one yellow, one brown) over laid to give that characteristic look. For whatever reason, the 3 ply version shows a little more yellow in the mix then the 4 ply. It shows a great depth of colour as a result, and if pressed, I’d say it was my favourite of the shells.

4 Ply Brown Tortoise Shell

4 Ply Brown

Slightly darker then the 3 ply version, less yellow bleed through in the mix (presumably because the yellow “layer” is thinner)

3 Ply Red Tortoise Shell

3 Ply Red

Similar to the brown version really – yellow and red, one on top of the other, but it’s the same principle, same results, just a little more vibrant then the brown.

4 Ply Tortoise Shell Pickguard

4 Ply Red

Where the brown 4 ply shows a little less yellow, the red version pretty much cuts it out completely. Its almost bordering on a red pearl for us, and certainly not without its charms. Ideal if you really hate the idea of the yellow peeking through.

Celluloid Tortoise Shell Jazzmaster Pickguard

Celluloid

For completeness sake, heres a photo of a celluloid plate too - i think we can all agree, it looks absolutely glorious, and theres a real depth to the "shell" effect - but if you look closely at the photo, you can probably see that the plate (in this case a Jazzaster) has badly warped, its been kept in the same conditions as the PVC plates above, for the same amount of time, but its way past being usable now.

Pearls Explained

Pearloid plates are similar to the tortoise shells, but theres a little less subtly between them, and they dont really have anything overly interesting in their history - as far as i can tell, they're always been PVC, and the variations in colour and pattern are pretty easy to follow.

So lets take a closer look.

White Pearloid Scratch Plate

White Pearl

The most common pearloid you're going to see - "white pearl" - i think its safe to say we all know the look. Interesingly, Pearl pickguards are actually made from a material intially intended to be a faux "mother of pearl" (which is the inside of an oyster shell)

Parchment Pearloid Pickguard

Aged Pearl

More common then you'd think strangely - fairly safe to think of it as the Parchment version of white pearl. For whatever reason, the pearling is a little tighter, with fewer blank spots between the reflective sections.

Ivory Pearl back plate for a Strat

Ivory Pearl

If Aged Pearl is the Parchment, then Ivory Pearl is most definately the Ivroy to the white - much more creamy in colour. Usually, you only see if in a 3 ply triple Ivory - not very common nowadays, but does occasionally turn up.

Avalon Mother of pearl pickguard for a stratocaster

Avalon

This is a fairly new pattern as far as we can well - actually a much closer representation of that "mother of pearl" look that the original pearloids were going for. Rather then being broken up into reflective "squares", its more bothches and swirls, gives it a nice crisp finish.

Faux Abalone pickguard for a Strat

Abalone

If Avalon is getting closer to mother of pearl, then its probably only right that we've got one thats getting close to its opposite number, abalone (which is the inside of the shell of a few species of marine snail) - its certainly a very "unique" pattern, and again, is more swirls then squares.

Black pearl AM standard back plate

Black Pearl

Black pearl is always a bone of contention for us - its not "really" black - its more a dark grey colour - there is a blacker version out there (not that we can find it!) called "Moto Pearl" - but yeah, they've both got their place.

Purple pearl strat plate

Purple Pearl

Hardly an all time classic, but not without its charms. Nice tight pearling, very few gaps between the squares, so nice and uniform - a love it or loathe it colour i suppose. Pair it with a black body and black plastics, and its a nice little statement piece though.

Blue Pearl Strat Back plate

Blue Pearl

Colour aside, its a fairly traditional pearloid - reflective squares, blue tint - looks a bit crackers on its own, but with the right body, it can work really well.

Green Pearl Tremolo spring cover

Green Pearl

Again, a bit of a novelty colour for me - not exactly what you'd call a classic, but if thats your thing - more power to ya.

"Whites & Creams" Explained

Ok, even i'll conceed that this isn't the most thrilling of toics at this point, but there is actually plenty of confusion when it comes to the "off white" pickguard colours, so seeing as we're ticking off pearls and tortoise shell varients, we might as well address the parchments, mints and creams too.

So lets get stuck in

White Pearloid Scratch Plate

White

We carry all our white plates in the above "shade" - its a completely opaque pigment, and is what you expect really, a very clean, crisp, pristine white.

Parchment Pearloid Pickguard

Parchement

Occasionally called "aged white" in the trade - parchment is the next shade in from white, slightly darker with a very slight creamy/yellow tint - think of it like old news paper.

Ivory Pearl back plate for a Strat

Ivory 3 ply

As called aged white (and a source of much confusion!) - Ivory is the only plastic that differs in colour in its 3 and 1 ply forms. The 3 ply above is quite a yellow, almost buttery cream, almos shades of nicotine staining.

Avalon Mother of pearl pickguard for a stratocaster

Ivory 1 Ply

And, for completeness sake - Ivory 1 ply. Strangely, never called Aged white - differs from the 3 ply version quite drastically, its much more a cream colour.A little softer, much less nicotine yellow.

Faux Abalone pickguard for a Strat

Mint

Now, Mint is where things get really fun.

Mint was originally designed to mimic the "greening" of white celluloid plates as they age, but as they've become more popular, tastes have changed a little, so you see some variations within mint, so we differentiate between these variations.

At the bottom, you've got Mint "B" - the original Mint - its quite dark, and quite green. Any guitar you see online with a mint plate, is likely to have a mint B - its the most common of the mints.

Slap bang in the middle, you've got Mint "A" 3 ply- this is a slightly ligher then B, and is a half way house between parchement and Mint B for me - a little more subtle, a little less green.

And right at the tip, we've got 1 ply Mint "A" - slightly different to the 3 ply version, a little less green again.

Sound Clips

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