Some subjects divide guitar players down the middle. You daren’t bring them up in polite conversation. Everyone has something about the guitar and the ephemera around it that gives them the ick. Johnny Marr? It’s a satin neck.
Why, you might ask – what’s wrong with a satin finish on a guitar neck? It’s smooth, right. Some of those glossy necks can gum up on a player, particularly those unfortunate players who turn into Albert Brooks on Broadcast News as soon as the stage lights are on them. With a satin neck, the hand just glides up the fingerboard.
But Marr isn’t having it. In a recent interview with Guitar Worldthe former Smiths guitarist explained why his new signature Martin guitar has not only seven-strings, with an octave string on the G, it also has an old-school full thickness neck profile and a gloss finish.
“I have to try and talk about the neck without sounding offensive or angry. Satin finishes: why? No need,” he said. “You’re really playing that fast that you need to have a satin neck? Really?”
Marr suggests that the tastes for satin-finish necks fresh from the factory has meant gloss has gone by the wayside, and this is more the pity. That’s how they used to make ‘em. But then, isn’t the satin finish really just a way of replicating that super-smooth worn-in feel that you get on a vintage instrument, acoustic or electric guitar? Sure, but Marr argues – and in jest, don’t write in – you should do the hard work yourself and play the thing.
“Like, a beautiful glossy neck, that was on all the old guitars since time immemorial – your technique is so dazzling, or you’re so uncomfortable putting your hand on that gloss, or you’re so affronted by it, that we’ve had to have years of really bad finishes on necks?” he says. “No need. Wear it down yourself, you lazy sod!”
Or, as Frank Zappa would say, ‘Shut up ’n play yer guitar’.
Accordingly, if you pick up Johnny Marr’s signature Fender Jaguar, or pony up for this stunning new M-7 high-end Martin (or its six-string equivalent), you’ll find gloss nitro lacquer on the neck – which admittedly wears in a little easier than the gloss poly finishes you get on some more affordable models.
From experience, you just have to play those ones a little more before they lose that sheen.
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Speaking of Marr’s M-7, it looks looks like the platonic ideal for anyone wanting an acoustic with more harmonic intrigue going on but doesn’t want to commit to the full-on physical realities of a 12-string guitar.
You can read more about it here and get more details over at Martin Guitar. In other Johnny Marr news, the red 1984 Les Paul Standard with Bigsby that he spec’d up with Gibson’s Made To Measure programme to replicate the Les Paul he used from circa Meat Is Murder onwards, goes on sale tomorrow (21 February), with 20 of these hand-signed instruments going to support the Teenage Cancer Trust.
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