Johnny Marr Sig Jaguar

[Station2Station]

Hello all - New user here.

I've been lurking for a while and wanted to chime in. I've largely read most of this 69 page thread and heard the tales of woe regarding the bridge, tremolo, e-string, and finish. I find the finish issue to be the oddest of all. This is a bummer to me because I've long wanted a Marr Jaguar. Then I went and caught him live 2 nights ago and was blown away enough to take the plunge. (Long time Smith/Marr fan but the guy is amazing live - I'm preaching to the choir.)

I own a Fender Custom Shop Limited Ed. Stratocaster Relic (Wildwood 10). It's a fairly high end strat. The paint is the thin skin nitrocellulose lacquer. I would imagine it's the same formula that is used on the Marguar. Regarding the people whose' Marguarr's are chipping, all l I can think of is that Fender isn't getting the Marr bodies fully cleaned before painting and maybe a light dust is preventing the paint from adhering to the body fully - or that the lacquer isn't fully cured upon delivery - which is sad.

Is anyone experiencing chipping after a year of ownership? After the paint would be fully cured and bonded to the body?

While MY guitar is artificially "weathered" to give it that broken in look, the paint is ROCK HARD and does NOT come off or chip at all. In fact if you intentionally beat on the guitar with a hard tool it leaves behind a ding but the paint will not come off. And I've done just this. I don't mind giving my guitar a whack for this forum - it's already "relic'ed"

As you can see the rapping on the body with a hard metal wrench handle just leaves a pit but no wood is revealed. The 3 pits you see are from a hard whack earlier today. Why does mine not chip but I hear stories of guys getting a large flaked chip from the plastic remote control falling off the couch and onto their Marguar??? And not just in this forum...

Pic #3 below has the pits - hard to photograph but i tried to capture the dings i intentionally created - trying to get a flake:

[somebodyelseuk]

Haven't read much of this thread... commented a page or two ago about nitro v poly... if a lot of people are having problems with chipping, I'm inclined to suggest they maybe aren't used to nitro finishes?

Fender has been using poly coats on ALL its' production guitars since the 60s and it's also used on most of their Custom Shop models, the 'offshore' stuff has always used poly. They rarely use nitro. finishes - very few manufacturers beside Gibson do. Nitro finishes are nowhere near as robust as poly finishes; you can pretty much play cricket/baseball with a poly finish, but you can scratch nitro with your thumbnail. If you don't treat a nitro finished guitar like your first-born, it IS going to pickup dents, scratches and chips very quickly.

[Musicman20]

I've since spoken to the store who have given me a Black Friday discount on the Sherwood Green, (probably won't get it for a while as I'm not able to take delivery this week).

They've said they've not seen a Marr chip. Obviously it will age quicker, but it should not chip as easily as people are finding.

I've yet to see a Sherwood Green that is looking quite worn, but its a fairly new colour.

Either way, they said Fender will cover it warranty wise, within reason, if it chips prematurely through normal use.

[Station2Station]

Haven't read much of this thread... commented a page or two ago about nitro v poly... if a lot of people are having problems with chipping, I'm inclined to suggest they maybe aren't used to nitro finishes?

Fender has been using poly coats on ALL its' production guitars since the 60s and it's also used on most of their Custom Shop models, the 'offshore' stuff has always used poly. They rarely use nitro. finishes - very few manufacturers beside Gibson do. Nitro finishes are nowhere near as robust as poly finishes; you can pretty much play cricket/baseball with a poly finish, but you can scratch nitro with your thumbnail. If you don't treat a nitro finished guitar like your first-born, it IS going to pickup dents, scratches and chips very quickly.

Not necessarily - Again my strat pictured right above this post is thin skin lacquer. Once lacquer cures it's reasonably flake resistant. BUT IT WILL WEATHER, including fading and checking. The white's will yellow, etc... These are all desirable effects in my opinion - but easy FLAKING is unacceptable.

There were stages in the change of finish recipes from Fender - Around 63 they started top coating the lacquer with a polyester finish, and then around 68 they started using a full polyurethane process.

Regarding folks maybe not being used to nitro thin skin.. maybe, but I've heard of (and seen photos) of some dramatic flake issues. tic-tac size flakes from gently bumping the guitar into their chair they were sitting in.

I hope this is resolved in recent releases. We can't use photos of Johnny's Sherwood as a metric because he obviously slings that thing around a lot - daily gigs - rarely days off on his '14 US Tour. I'd love to see his callouses.

[Gswearengin]

My (early 2012) KO jag chips easier than any other guitar I have, but it's not like the paint is coming off in large chunks from looking at it the wrong way or anything. Thankfully most of them are not super noticeable against the orange finish, but when I look at the guitar very closely I'm always surprised at how many chips there are (that I don't remember). I don't exactly baby my guitars, but I'm not rough with them...and none of my other guitars have any marks on them. It's not a big deal. Thankfully my SG is still mint...but may not be for long.

[Station2Station]

My (early 2012) KO jag chips easier than any other guitar I have, but it's not like the paint is coming off in large chunks from looking at it the wrong way or anything.

Has there been any discussion of Fender possibly re-working the quality control on the Marrguar in '13 or '14? I ask because my salesperson at Sweetwater dug through the system and looked at total Marrguar orders along with service claims and reasons why. (I have a great relationship with him so he would be honest and frank with me - and would try and talk me out of a sale if he didn't like the gear) The Johnny Marr Jaguar had a rate of service claims that mirrored other Fender guitars - no more or less, but overwhelmingly the few they had were paint chips issues. (Total Marr sales of over 250 units of all 3 colors combined since initial release - only 3 paint service issues, 2 electrical. This seems within tolerance)

...BUT the interesting thing is that even though Sweetwater is selling Marguars at a decent rate, they haven't had a Marrguar back in the shop for paint issues since 2012. Meaning that they have zero chipping claims in '13-'14,

Anyone with a 13 or 14 year model want to speak to their experience?

Thanks
station2station

[madferitusa]

Have had my sherwood green for 2 weeks now and it has a chip on the bottom, dont even know how I did it, but all the green is gone.

[Station2Station]

Have had my sherwood green for 2 weeks now and it has a chip on the bottom, dont even know how I did it, but all the green is gone.

That's a bummer.

Weathered guitars aren't a bad thing - but when the entire guitar is pristine except for 2-3 flaked off chips...that is a bummer.

[herecomethewarmjets]

The pickup selector tip on my Marrguar came off -- won't stay on any more. For the life of me, I can't tell what was keeping it on in the first place. Reluctant to play it at anywhere but home for risk of losing the damn thing.

Oddly, when I put it back on, it makes it hard to select the furthest left (when looking down at guitar while playing it) pickup combination (whatever that is).

Any tips?

[egosheep]

The pickup selector tip on my Marrguar came off -- won't stay on any more. For the life of me, I can't tell what was keeping it on in the first place. Reluctant to play it at anywhere but home for risk of losing the damn thing.

Oddly, when I put it back on, it makes it hard to select the furthest left (when looking down at guitar while playing it) pickup combination (whatever that is).

Any tips?

Buy a stainless steel one from Staytrem

[I _ATE_NewJersey]

The pickup selector tip on my Marrguar came off -- won't stay on any more...

Any tips?

There is probably a pre-existing thread about this somewhere, you may want to search for it.

I've always just wrapped the end of the blade with a few passes of Teflon tape and stuck the tip back on. Has always worked for me.

I've heard of other things, too, like crimping the end of the blade with pliers, or filling the tip with silicone caulk or hot glue. I can't say I've ever tried, or would recommend, those fixes.

Good luck!

[B]

Any tips?

[Musicman20]

Have had my sherwood green for 2 weeks now and it has a chip on the bottom, dont even know how I did it, but all the green is gone.

Man, I just don't understand how this is happening.

I don't mind slow nitro wear and tear, but it seems the paint is incredibly fragile which is a shame on such a stunning set of colours.

Chips on a 2 week old guitar for no apparent reason....its either Fender made them this way on purpose or they have a problem. Seems like its intentional.

I have no idea how the guitars would last in the current UK cold weather.

[JazzmasterJonny]

Does anybody know if a USA AVRI or AV 65 scratchplate fits a Johnny Marr jag?

Would love to try a tort one on my Oly white one. Would really love a spitfire but cash is a bit tight ATM.

[mywhitenoise]

Have had my sherwood green for 2 weeks now and it has a chip on the bottom, dont even know how I did it, but all the green is gone.

Man, I just don't understand how this is happening.

I don't mind slow nitro wear and tear, but it seems the paint is incredibly fragile which is a shame on such a stunning set of colours.

Chips on a 2 week old guitar for no apparent reason....its either Fender made them this way on purpose or they have a problem. Seems like its intentional.

I have no idea how the guitars would last in the current UK cold weather.

Bro, you need to let it go. That's all you've discussed this entire thread, it's known that these guitars have thin finishes.