Offset King Confession... I Lied? (Johnny Marr Jaguar Follow-Up) 

Some people will think you're being extra here, but I refuse to play any guitar that has a pickup switch anywhere near my picking hand trajectory, sooooo....

Every mod you do comes with a great history lesson of various components. Super rad to learn about them every time

Thank you for calling the Jag-Strat stupid 👏👏👏

There’s a “Bare Knuckles” pickups joke in there somewhere, I’m sure…

I loved how easy that is to change the angle to a slant with options I wouldn’t have thought that it was an option

I definitely felt that dremel part 😂 I love that you keep everything in the videos. Really appreciate the honesty of it all

Huge fan of faction, he’s helped me with so many custom builds over the year (including a 7 string tele bridge which I suspect he will never want to do again lol) Edit: and a spitfire call-out, it’s like offsetguitars 2010 all over again 😂

the mint guard and that toggle reorientation are excellent mods, great choices! gosh i wish this jag was more affordable, the limited sherwood green version of this really was my dream guitar

This particular vid is giving me PBS New Yankee Workshop vibes. You're like the guitar Norm Abram.

I like taking the lead control plates on my Jaguars, and drilling out the neck pickup switch position to take a 3 way Switchcraft toggle. That makes switching on the fly easier for me, and frees up the middle switch for other stuff. I've done it so the middle switch can switch the phase between the pickups, and others so that each pickup can have its own treble bleed switch. Those Wronski plates are cool too. Back before Faction was around, I made one from a sheet of 1/16" thick aluminum, and polished it to a mirror shine. Worked very well, but these days I would save myself the trouble of hand milling out my own, and just buy one from Faction!

Glad to see the plate getting some use!

I prefer the white with the vintage white body, personally. Once the USA sticker is off it's a nice contrast, I think.

That switch orientation doesn't bother me but to each their own. Thanks for the Faction name drop, always looking for trustworthy parts.

Mike I meant to say that if you prefer the neck pickup reverse wound the why not give the folks at Bareknuckle pickups a shout and get a reverse wound Marr neck pickup. Tim Mills and his team are excellent and have helped out many people I know get the right pickups (even if it has meant custom winds or non standard magnets.) They may also be able to help out with better looking covers (ones.which sort of match the rest of the guitar.)

Mike, did you get a new camera? Looking SHAAARP! Love your content so much.

That minty guard does seem to work a lot better with the Olympic white.

They really are great looking guitars. Curious to see how the finish will age over time

i literally just finished watching your review and then i see you uploaded this. rad

CAME FOR THE THUMBNAIL. STAYED FOR THE PUISHEEN.

I was thinking the same thing about the switch placement the first time I saw a Johnny Marr Jag. For me personally, I'd replace the blade switch with a slider switch a-la a non-reverse Firebird. It does the job and sits considerably more flush with the body. and much less likely to make knuckle contact. EDIT: Or just install traditional Jag slider switches...

Once again you have climbed the offset mountain and survived!

Nice and easy, it only took about 5 hours longer than you originally expected to swap out 4 screws. I know the pain!😁

Great video, Mike! 👌

Love the OG controls for Jags, BUUUUUT - I feel the default orientation for pickups being "on" should be down, because GOOD LORD have I accidentally turned off my pickups mid-performance too many times. I guess I could just switch them myself, but I just feel it's a design flaw. Heck, I prefer the jag switches to the Jazzmaster switch, because that one gets knocked out of position too easily, and suddenly I'm on a big bassy neck pickup when I wanted that sweet chime-y middle position...

“Oh my God! The whole planet is on a plate! Get back in the spaceship!”

I totally concur. Ergonomics is a large part of why I changed to playing Jazzmasters 25+ years ago. I positon my switch on the diagonal, wired in the opposite way as I use the neck the most. Odd, but it works for me.

cool mod, and yeah, I think you need to put that guard on there. Looks awesome.

Heaven knows you're not miserable now😊

That intro was hilarious! Also, would love to hear you review the CV Mustang. Looks like such a great guitar

I feel the same way about the abundance of control knobs on BC Rich Mockingbird basses.

I had wondered if their marauder plates were any good. Good to know they don't suck. Didn't know where else to find such a thing for my full scale bass VI marauder...thing....

In my opinion this doesn’t really solve the problem of the switch being in the way. And the fact, that the angled orientation just trades one problem - an obstacle to bust one’s knuckles on - for another - inadvertently switching pickup positions when one doesn’t want to - would make me want to think of other options for the Johnny Marr Jag. The bank of three low profile pickup switches of the original Jaguar is, in fact, the one thing I like about the Jaguar over the Jazzmaster. The location of the Jazzmaster toggle - right where I naturally want to make sweeping strums, has long been an issue for me. In several of my Jazzmaster builds I have experimented with different locations of the toggle, and different switching mechanisms with varying degrees of success. If I had a Marr Jaguar, I would probably restore the three switch plate below, and then add a third switch up above for the series setting. Not sure how complicated the wiring would have to be, but I think that is how I would approach it.

That dang switch stopped me from buying an American pro when they were in production.

That sound acoustically. Wow!

I like the new switch plate orientation, (Telecaster metal plates also can be obtained with the same angle). I like the idea of the mint pickguard, or even parchment could work. I might also consider using a Strat switch knob, it's a little smaller and less obtrusive. Love the videos.

Mac and Jack's? I will have to search for one of those! Great video as always

Great little mod, definitely change the white guard, mint one looks good 👌🤟

I have that reducing the size of the knob as much as possible can help.

I never pick in that area, anyway.I either stay up by the bridge, or right on the neck pickup. Pretty much every design requires some mindful technique adjustments, but then, I vastly prefer the original switching. You can get all kinds of modded plates for the Jag and the Jazzmaster, so you can wire and move things around any way you'd prefer.I never use the rhythm circuits, so generally change them out.

That's one of the best thumnails in youtube history.

Interesting mod - I’ve had my Marr since 2016 and have not really run into a problem, but I might have a different strumming technique than you. Either way, interesting video! I absolutely adore this guitar - if I had to get rid of my entire lineup and keep only one guitar, it would be this one.

I just want to thank you for never saying ‘jaguwire.’

I would still shut that on and off, same reason I can’t play a Les Paul, that toggle is always getting shifted.

Thanks For Sharing 🎸🎶

Mod shop jags have the switch like the stock Marr to.

I’m not a fan of the location of the regular 3-way toggle switch on a standard Jazzmaster guard as I find it can get switched accidentally if you are playing sitting down. It’s happened in the past in studio situations where I am listening back to takes to find that that somewhere between the end of say Take 3 and the beginning of Take 4 the sound has changed completely 😂

Wasn’t going to say anything about mine, but when my Fever Dream arrived, I got no sound from it. I discovered that if the selector switch is screwed down too tightly, the bottom of the switch shorts out to the shielding at the bottom of the cavity. My guitar arrived shorted, and I had to troubleshoot. Fortunately, loosening up the screws just a bit was enough to resolve the issue. Since it’s still snug, I’m not bothered by it.

I also replaced the white pickguard on my Olympic White Johnny Marr Jaguar, but I picked a tortoise pickguard. Still happy with that choice after 10+ years.

I'm with you. I honestly can't stand any controls or knobs forward of the bridge.

That definitely put the switch a lot further away,especially in the bridge mode.

Looks like it makes only about a cm lower difference in the bridge position, no change in middle and worse in the neck but most importantly it looks much more cool, which as we know is king… good work 👌

Oof that mint guard looks weird to me on that guitar, probably because the Olympic white on the Marr model is a little bit more yellowed/mint tinted than other Olympic white guitars I've owned and seen. Maybe I'm just crazy, but my white 65 reissue Jazzmaster was pretty white when I got it new. It's been yellowing a bit over the past 8 years of use, but every white Marr jaguar I see is yellower than I'm used to seeing on new nitro guitars

L I A R ! ! ! I totally agree though. Good call.

I can definitely understand why you'd want to change that if you play the in a style in which you strum too hard... JM doesn't really play in that fashion, therefore it doesn't get in the way. He did designed it to his liking. If he strummed hard he may have come up with a completely different design... So I can see your point. I guess I don't strum hard on my JM Sig because it reminds me too much of JM and The Smiths. I got mine at a cheap price because a friend of mine is an Ambassador for Fender, but still couldn't touch it a dremel... 😂 Looks killer though!

RIP Andy Rourke 😢

I want the old switches!!! Can't help it.

Well done. Nice guitar! Great video. :)

Mint for the win!

works great on a Tele also. A vote for the Mint Guard

Yea I’ve angled my JM switches too, as well as when I did my series/parallel mod, I threw a a strangle switch cap on the series link a la marr jag. It’s much more useable that way, though I may still play with the cap value, almost cuts too much low end now, but it’s more useable than before the mod.

Im surprised Johnny didn't get onto this in all honesty....Its definitely a worthwhile upgrade.... Johnny Marr purists may want your head on a stick though Mike 😂I've used similar on Tele's in the past

thanks buddy : )

Mint green pickguards are a MUST for me! Either mint, Spitfire tort, or gold anodized. That CBS era white is too bright for my taste so I agree with that decision! We all have our tastes and preferences :)

The moment when the mint guard has a wider space to accept the new plate...

Next time might want to re-consider dremel-ing the pick guard instead of the chrome plated switch plate as now the switch plate has un-chromed exposed metal that will rust if given the chance. just a thought

Ok now to play the chords to Heaven knows I’m miserable now

IS THAT ENOUGH?!?

Hi Mike, not sure if this would have applied here or not. Jaguar switch plates have a bevel on them that matches up to the bevel in the pickguard so that when installed no gap would be present between the two. The switch plate is meant to be fitted from under the pickguard for the bevels to match up, if installing it from the top of the pickguard the switch plate will appear to be too large.

a black plate would look so good on that :)

Now you can play along with the Ronski Beat and no more sore bare knuckles! 🤠

That's a pretty nice mod. Would be nice if the mod itself didn't need modding to fit though.

Miss the old workshop!

No, you didn’t lie. But not having a switch in the strumming plane is one of the changes Johnny Marr wanted. You want something in between the original Jag switching and the Johnny Marr switch. That’s cool. But not at cool as Johnny. You’d have to write How Soon Is Now? to be that cool.

Do you have any plans to review the Fender Wide Range Cunife Jazzmaster pickup set?

I’ve also been thinking a mint guard would work on my Johnny Marr Jag in Olympic White. Please show us how it looks!

Did this on my Tele with a plate from Rock Rabbit (diagonal switch and in between volume and tone)...for some reason I clear the volume knob (just) but when the switch was up front, WHACK!!!!

Is that Randy up on your wall? Nice.

Mike that T-shirt !! Dinsey all the way

​@Puisheen I love your work, but you do realize that a plastic guard is easier to work than grinding a metal plate, right?

Darn it. Now they are going to be even more sold out!

@2:28 that's how you get that bare knuckle tone

Is there a Puisheen video reviewing the CME jazzmaster somewhere?

Needs tort. :D I also immediately put a black tele switch tip on. The silver one really bugs me for some reason.

Even if it’s not ergonomically significant, it’s way cooler aesthetically!😊

Have a first issue Marr jag.never hit the switch once! Lol

Glad the plate worked out, even with some Dremel work.

I haven't had good experiences with faction tbh. Screw holes didn't line up for the rhythm plate and the place where they put the mustang switch hit the side wall of the cavity (wasnt even close to fitting tbh). Had to dremel out all the holes (even for the switches) and completely repurpose it. And now I see you had a similar issue. I would not buy from them unless you have the tools and experience to fix their (mis)measurements.

Switch plate exchange approved. Mint guard definitely not, sorry. 😂

Mike what's you're opinion on the firebird I just got one an Epiphone "Gibson inspired" version and I wanted to ask

The stock tele and Strat switch is the worst for me because I always end up hitting it. With the tele is an easy mod to get it out of the way. Not so much with the Strat.

Hey, I got one of these and I accidentally (and foolishly) left my vinyl guitar strap on it when I put it in a case for an extended time. The Nitro is bubbled pretty badly. Do you have any recommendations? Thanks!

I think it's way more ergodynamic now and plus one for the mint guard

Did you ever review the CME jazzmasters with the 4-way switch and upgraded pickups? You mentioned them up top but I don't see a video. I'm looking to buy my first JM and was thinking about going with one of those; would love to know your thoughts on them!

Hello Mike, I have a great idea for that pick-guard if you’re interested. I did it on my strat. For some reason. I can’t send a photo rep on here?

I've always felt this about the Johnny Marr Jag' & also felt it about every telecaster that wasn't a thinline! -But here's a question for you: would you prefer three(or 2?)sliding switches to this Tele style selector..?!

The only thing I changed in this guitar was the bridge, I found it annoying, it wouldn’t return and get stuck in some weird position where it would buzz. Nothing like a mastery bridge after all

Link to FactionGuitars appears to be (mostly) dead.

Would it have been possible to use the standard 3 switch plate, have the first two switches turn on/off the the two pickups and have the third switch switch between series and parallel when both pickups are on? I know that would require swapping out the blade for switches but it would keep the classic look.

Rock rabbit makes some cool stuff too for jags, and other guitars too.

Hey, Mike!! ive been curious about the Staytrem bridge. would i be able to just drop it into my Classic Vibe Mustang? the factory bridge has been giving me the runaround and won't stay tall and its making notes near the higher end of the neck choke out