“Dear UPS, where are my guitars? They disappeared a week ago”: Johnny Marr’s guitars have gone missing days before his tour

Johnny Marr performs during Forever Now Festival at The National Bowl on June 22, 2025 in Milton Keynes, England
(Image credit: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)

Every guitarist has a missing gear story. Whether it’s a stolen electric guitar or a pedal that mysteriously disappears right after soundcheck, it happens to the best of us.

Unfortunately, Johnny Marr has himself mixed up in a “missing gear” story at this very moment – and he's been pleading online with UPS to help him recover his lost equipment.

Days before kicking off a run of shows, Marr has taken to X to air that his guitars have gone missing, alleging UPS has misplaced, or even lost, a fair few of his touring instruments.

“Dear UPS where are my guitars?” he wrote on X. “They disappeared a week ago. I’m hearing from you now that they’ve been lost. Explain.”

The guitarist goes on to tag Fender and Gibson – meaning that he had at least a couple of Fenders and Gibsons in the mix. However, the final straw for Marr came when he was asked to provide some, er, visual support.

“Asking me to describe what my guitars look like is not filling me with confidence,” Marr continues. “They look exactly like the ones you put in one of your delivery vans days ago. Remember?”

"Look for one that says ‘80’s Icon’ on the case and another one that says ‘Woke As Fuck,’” he quips.

While UPS is reportedly investigating the matter, as of the time of writing, Marr hasn't issued an update on his missing gear.

Late last year, the Smiths guitarist launched a new signature Martin M-7, whose specs don’t stick to the script.

Janelle Borg

Janelle is a staff writer at GuitarWorld.com. After a long stint in classical music, Janelle discovered the joys of playing guitar in dingy venues at the age of 13 and has never looked back. Janelle has written extensively about the intersection of music and technology, and how this is shaping the future of the music industry. She also had the pleasure of interviewing Dream Wife, K.Flay, Yīn Yīn, and Black Honey, among others. When she's not writing, you'll find her creating layers of delicious audio lasagna with her art-rock/psych-punk band ĠENN.

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