thegearpage a écrit :Jazzmaster - 21-fret, 25.5" scale. Full thickness body. 'Floating' tremolo that works very well if set up correctly (which is something that a lot of techs have difficulty with, for some reason). It feels looser than a Strat, and doesn't have the same range, but it does stay in tune very well. Large single-coil pickups that sound bigger and deeper than normal Fender single-coils. Quite a full-sounding guitar that works well for most 'alt' styles - especially semi-clean to fuzzy/distorted, but also works reasonably well for some more traditional blues-based overdrive tones, although singing sustain is not its strong point. 10s are about the minimum practical string gauge.
Jaguar - 22-fret, 24" scale. Full thickness body. Same tremolo as the Jazzmaster. Narrow, more traditional Fender single-coil pickups, that sound more focused and percussive. They're not identical to Strat pickups though - they have metal 'claw' brackets that widen the magnetic field and actually make the electric sound darker, although this is offset by the brighter, thinner sound of the bridge and short scale. Less apparent sustain than the Jazzmaster, although actually it's about the same overall, but with a very sharp, snappy attack that makes the decay after it seem quicker. Works very well either totally clean or with very heavy fuzz/distortion, but poorly with mild overdrive - the notes seem to 'die'. More of an alt/grunge guitar. 11s are the minimum gauge that works well (original ones often have too powerful a trem spring for anything lighter).
Mustang - 22-fret, 24" scale. Thin body. Different trem - awkward to set up and not very stable, a lot of people lock them down - but sustains a bit better than the Jaguar. The bridge has different, non-height adjustable saddles that some people prefer, and will fit on the Jaguar/Jazzmaster bridge. Strat-type pickups (nearly identical, but with hidden polepieces). Has phase switching too, so it can do some really funky, 'chinky' tones. Slightly cleaner and brighter-sounding than the Jaguar overall. They work OK with 10s - the string length behind the bridge is much shorter than the Jaguar - but 11s are better.
(There are rare early Mustangs with the 21-fret 22.5"-scale neck - usually the narrow A-width, but they don't work very well... best avoided unless you have tiny hands.)
The US RIs (Jazzmaster and Jaguar only) are good - they don't IMO have quite the character of the old ones, but close. Later 60s (and particularly early-70s) models are good guitars and not too expensive, if you don't mind the block-marker bound necks and bigger headstocks. IMO the Japanese ones aren't too bad, but need major electrics upgrades. The woodwork and fretting is good, and the metal hardware not bad. But you can get originals for not a lot more - an original Jag in particular is possibly less expensive than a US RI, unless you must have a pre-CBS one in a cool color. Original Mustangs aren't expensive (or rare) at all, I really don't see the point in the Japanese reissue, especially as it's IMO the least good of the three.
I've played all of these a fair bit BTW - the Jaguar was actually my favorite, although I liked the Mustang too, for it's own different sound. The Jazzmaster seems the most popular generally - I think most people find the longer scale easier to get on with. I liked the short-scale ones... but I do have small hands. I think at one point I had most of the short-scale Fenders in my part of the world

- I've owned a '65 Jag, '65 & '77 Mustangs, '64 Duo-Sonic (same as the Mustang but with no trem - an excellent and under-rated guitar), '65 and '78 Musicmasters (same as the Duo-Sonic but with just a neck pickup) and a '78 Bronco (same as the Musicmaster but with the pickup at the bridge, and yet another style of trem), and... two Swingers! An oddity made of left-over short-scale Mustang and Musicmaster parts, on cut-down Bass V bodies...