About a year ago it was just an internet rumor that alt-rock guitar slinger Johnny Marr (ex-The Smiths, ex-Modest Mouse, now ex-The Cribs) would be getting his own signature guitar from Fender, but shortly into 2012 it was offical: Fender Guitars would be releasing a Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar, based on the guitar he used for the majority of his time with Modest Mouse and his main guitar during his time with The Cribs.
Now what's so important about this, especially since I'm sure most of you reading haven't the slightest clue who Mr. Marr is? Well, it just so happens that Johnny Marr is one of my favorite guitarists, one who's definitely had an influence on the way I sling a six-string, and was the final factor in me purchasing my own Fender Jaguar the week before I moved into Schmidt Hall my freshman year at WCU.
For those of you who aren't aware of Johnny Marr's impact on music, he was the riff-meister of the songwriting duo that was Morrissey and Marr which provided the backbone for The Smiths, one of the most influencial rock bands of the 80s.
Still not ringing any bells? Maybe this will help:
Sounds like the theme song from "Charmed," doesn't it? You can thank Love Spit Love, the off-shoot of The Psychedelic Furs, for covering (or in my opinion, completely butchering) the song in the 90s. But The Smiths have a lengthy catalog of 4 full-length albums, nearly a dozen compilation albums and just as many singles released with their own unique b-sides. "This Charming Man" was the single that catapulted the group into the spotlight, and it's opening riff is something that many guitarists world over have desperately tried to mangle in an attempt to match Marr's riff wizardry.
Eat your heart out guitar-nerds: even Steve Vai's impressed.
My now-subdued obsession with Marr's playing started back in my senior year in high school, when my friend Chazz introduced me to The Smiths. He was obsessed with Morrissey's overly-morose, humorous and witty lyrics, and tried to shine a light on my musical taste, which at that point was steadily shifting from the metalcore of Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God to the art-rock anthems of Sonic Youth and Radiohead. "This Charming Man" had me hooked from the main riff, and thankfully Chazz lent me his copy of "The Queen is Dead" so I could delve into the band. While this album is one of my favorites, it took a few listens to really dig into it, and it wasn't until I heard the closing track, "Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others" that I really began to obsess over Marr's playing.
But while I loved his riffs, his overly chorusy guitar sound didn't really do it for me (for non-guitar nerds, "chorus" is a modulation effect used on guitars that doubles the original note[s] and sends the second signal in and out of tune... think Nirvana's "Come As You Are" if that'll help). Thankfully my exposure to The Smiths happened around the same time as I was not only looking for a new guitar, but also around the same time I was getting into another of my favorite bands, Modest Mouse. By the end of senior year I had worked up enough courage to get my second album by the band, 2007's "We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank," and the lead single, "Dashboard," won me over.
This was the first riff that Johnny Marr, having been invited to jam with the band prior to the writing and recording for the album, showed Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse's singer/gutiarist), and little changed about the riff from its first preview to the album. It's still one of my favorite guitar sounds, and when I found out the riff was played and recorded on a Jaguar (the same guitar used by bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth, Placebo and My Bloody Valentine), I decided the Jaguar was the right way to go for me. Some 3+ years later I still stand by that decision.
But what's all the hubbub about? Well, Marr's made some interesting changes to the instrument. Where normal Jaguar's have 3 slider switches to turn on the pickups:
Marr's new instrument has a slider switch like a Telecaster:
While the normal Jaguar's switches are on/off switches for the bridge and neck pickup, and an additional switch that turns on a high-pass filter, Marr's selector works like a 4-way Tele switch that selects either the bridge pickup, bridge and neck pickups in parallel, neck pickup, and the bridge and neck pickups in series, which sounds like a big humbucker. Where the normal Jags have a rhythm pickup switching system on the upper bout of the instrument, Marr's chosen to add two high-pass filters there instead, one which works the traditional filter circuit, and one that strictly affects the series pickup sound.
While this seems complex, it makes a lot of sense, especially for a guitarist like myself who can get quite into playing his instrument and has on more than one occasion accidentally cut the sound on my guitar from knocking into one of the switches. While I had originally toyed around the idea of changing out the stock selector switch for a toggle switch like Kurt Cobain had, I may bite the bullet and change my switches to the same setup like Johnny Marr has, even if it does make me look like a bit of a fanboy.
Or would it? Normally I'd make some lame remark about pampering life's complexity while the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat, but then I realized That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore.
And neither are lame jokes about The Smiths' songs or lyrics, but I guess I guess I really Missed The Boat on that one...
Alright, Modest Mouse puns are lame too... I guess I'll just stop before my music nerdiness puts my Girlfriend in a Coma....
Happy Nerding, Everyone!
- Dan
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