Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar | Olympic White

Famed guitarist of The Smiths, and more recently Modest Mouse and The Cribs, Johnny Marr is one of the best guitarists of the past 30 years (voted into fourth place in a 2010 BBC poll). It seems almost odd then that he does not already have a signature guitar. Well these things take time, as the man himself will testify to, having spent four years testing and refining the guitar that was to finally earn his signature on the headstock, but here it is… the Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar.

Although it is a Jag Marr has cherry picked his favourite features from Fenders catalogue and other sources and has had the Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar guitar tinkered with to fit his exacting specifications and expectations.

Electronics

From the off the pickups are provided by award-winning pickup makers Bare Knuckle (as used by Marr). Specifically built for Marr these custom-wound single coils in neck and bridge positions even bare his name. Moving away from the usual Jag controls the Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar has a four-way blade switch for pickup selection (bridge, bridge and neck in parallel, neck, bridge and neck in series) along with the two upper-horn switches (a high pass filter for all the configurations and a treble boost for the humbucking position), and master volume and master tone controls.

Construction

While the Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar lifts its body contours from the ’63 version, the guitars forearm contour replicates that of a ‘50s Strat for that extra bit of comfort. The body is also lacquer finished. The neck is custom-shaped to mirror the artists own ’65 Jaguar, which is topped by a 7.25” rosewood fingerboard, along with a vintage style truss rod, vintage-style Kluson tuners and Johnny Marrs’ signature adorning the headstock.

Finishing Touches

Marr obviously went into greater detail with Fender as, although he retained the Jag bridge, the Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar electric guitar features Mustang saddles and specially designed bridge post bushings for improved stability. A vintage-style floating tremolo tailpiece sits at the bottom of the guitar, which features a taller tremolo arm with a nylon insert for the arm-sleeve, to prevent arm-swing.