On the bench today is the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar.

About a year ago I purchased a Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar for an incredible price of around $225. The catch was that the body had some sort of chemical damage to it. When I received the guitar, I tested everything functionality wise and all worked as it was supposed to, and the neck was in like new condition.

It became even more apparent that the damage was caused by some sort of caustic chemical when I took everything off the body. There was a white residue underneath all of the parts (pickguard, tremolo, etc.) that looked like the buildup you find on a car battery.

My hope was that I would eventually find a Vintage Modified replacement body for this guitar. If I did, the revived guitar would be a great addition to my collection.


My guitar was made in 2012 and has a rosewood fretboard and Duncan Designed pickups. It is a first production year guitar for the Vintage Modified series.

It took me a really long time to finally find a three-tone sunburst finish, Squier Vintage Modified body, but I finally did. I also got it for a great price, and it was in excellent condition. I was excited to put this guitar back in its original condition.

Even though I was excited to do this project I kept putting it off. The Jaguar body that has the electronics for the rhythm and lead circuits has five separate electronic cavities (including the two pickups’ areas) that are only connected via drilled wire channels. You have to unsolder the wires in the original body and then feed it through the new body and resolder all of the wires.

Here are some of the specifications on the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar

The guitar series was made between 2012 and 2017 and was produced is China and Indonesia.

Early models had Rosewood fretboards and later models transitioned to Indian Laurel.

The neck is Maple with a Gloss Urethane finish:

• Fretboard Radius of 9.5"
• 22 Medium Jumbo Frets
• Nut Width 1.65"
• Scale Length 24"


The body is made of Basswood with a Gloss Polyurethane Finish.

The pickup Configuration is single coil/single coil with the Duncan Designed ™ JG-101N and the JG-101B Single-Coil pickups.

Used the guitar goes for $273 to $403 depending upon condition.

The original guitar body had a .25-degree maple shim in the neck cavity. I went ahead and installed it in the new body when I reassembled. Vintage style Jaguars in my experience with the vintage distance between the tremolo and bridge usually need some sort of shim to help with the neck angle. After doing setup I could tell it was the correct decision.

Moving the electronics between the two bodies took me a couple hours to complete. I did not rush and took really clear and detailed photos of before I unsoldered wires so I could put things back together using the photos as a guide.

When I was all done resoldering everything I was happy when I plugged into my bench testing amp and did the tap test on the pickups in both circuits, and everything worked.

The new body has a few marks from the years it was used but nothing as extreme as the body I was replacing.

Once setup she is a beautiful player and on par with some of my more expensive MIM and US made Jaguars in my collection. I love the older Squiers that had Rosewood fretboards. If you are looking for an affordable Jazzmaster or Jaguar guitar that provides a close playing and amenity experience to the more expensive MIM or US made versions the Vintage Modified Squier series of guitars are something to look at.