The Thinking Man’s Jaguar
Forget everything you thought you knew about Jaguars. This isn’t just another offset; it’s a ground-up reimagining by one of the most iconic guitarists of our time—Johnny Marr. This pre-owned 2019 model in stunning Metallic KO is a testament to thoughtful design, combining vintage soul with player-centric mods that make it one of the most stable and versatile Jags we’ve ever had in the shop.
From the first chord, you can feel the difference. The neck, a custom shape based on Marr’s own ’65 Jaguar, has a comfortable, substantial feel that’s a world away from some of the toothpick necks of the era. Combined with the vintage 7.25″ radius and a slinky 24″ scale, it’s a rhythm and chord machine that just begs for complex, layered playing. And with a gloss nitrocellulose lacquer finish, it’s only going to look and feel better with age.
Bare Knuckle Tone, Redefined Switching
The heart of this Jag is its powerhouse electronics. A set of custom-wound Bare Knuckle Johnny Marr single-coils delivers that essential wiry chime and jangle, but with a muscular low-end and midrange punch that standard Jaguar pickups lack. But the real magic is in the switching. Marr ditched the complex array of sliders for an intuitive 4-way blade, giving you the classic bridge, neck, and parallel tones, plus a fourth position that runs the pickups in series for a thick, humbucker-esque snarl. Two upper-horn slide switches—one universal bright cap and one for the series position—give you even more sonic territory to explore.
Stability You Can Lean On
Johnny Marr addressed the Achilles’ heel of vintage offsets: the bridge. This Jag features a Jaguar bridge armed with stable Mustang saddles, nylon post inserts, and a taller tremolo arm with a nylon sleeve to eliminate swing. The result? You can actually use the buttery smooth floating tremolo without knocking the whole thing out of tune. It’s a road-ready Jag built for players, not just collectors.
