J Mascis has looked back on the time Dinosaur Jr. had a trailer load of vintage Fenders stolen after they were followed by thieves.
The Dinosaur Jr. guitar hero knows what he likes, what works. When you see the band in concert, he will typically be in the middle of a trifecta of full tube amp stacks, sometimes three Marshall Plexis, sometimes two Marshalls, one Hiwatt. But he’ll invariably be playing a Fender Jazzmaster.
In the recent past, he has teamed up with Fender for a signature Telecaster, but it is the classic Fender offset guitar that’s his go-to.
Mascis is from a generation of alt-rock players who discovered the Jazzmaster because it was cheap. No one wanted to play them. But as Dinosaur Jr. took off in the ‘80s, Mascis followed suit. And he had some sweet vintage models in his collection.
In the new issue of Guitarist, Mascis discusses the guitars he has loved and lost over the years, and recalls the time Dinosaur Jr. were the victims of an audacious gear theft on August 29, 2006, that saw him lose his most-prized Jazzmasters – and they would be worth a pretty penny now.
“There’s so many other guitars coming down the pike, you know?” reflects Mascis. “I do have ones that have gotten stolen but not sold. I had a ’59 Jazzmaster and a second one, which was a ’62, and both were stolen. It was after a gig and somebody followed us to a hotel and then jacked the trailer and took some stuff.”
That was the night everything walked. Dinosaur Jr. had played a gig at Warsaw, in Brooklyn, and were staying at a hotel out on Long Island when the trailer was stolen. The band put the word out with a list of the stolen gear.
The ’59 Jazzmaster bore the serial number 38927 and had some distinguishing features, such as a cracked headstock and a peeling decal. It was black with a ‘with purple/bluish sparkle” and the gold anodized pickguard that typified the early Jazzers.
The ‘62 model was a Purple Sparkle and had a noticeable (i.e. major) repair to the headstock. There were two more: a 1964/’65 model in Orange with white pearl pickguard, and a mid-noughts Purple Sparkle Jazzmaster with a TOM-style bridge
An industry-wide search, 20 years on, and still, no one could put Mascis in touch with them again. “I never saw them again,” says Mascis.
Macis was the victim of another gear theft in 2012, when one of his signature Squier Jazzmasters was stolen from the WOW Hall, in Eugene, Oregon.
These guitars are out there somewhere – not to mention the Rory Gallagher signature Strat, Fireglo Rickenbacker bass guitar, and B.C. Rich Warlock bass that also disappeared into the night. Maybe one day they’ll turn up.
“I think I could recognise them,” says Mascis, “even if they were refinished.”
You can read this interview with J Mascis in full, in the latest issue of Guitarist. Better still, save and subscribe.
