Fender Feedback: J Mascis on Being at War With the Guitar

After his hardcore band, Deep Wound, broke up in 1984, J Mascis—then a drummer—decided he wanted to officially switch to the guitar when he founded seminal indie-rock outfit Dinosaur Jr.

Basically, the guitarists at that time weren't playing what Mascis wanted to hear, so he sought to change that.

"We formed a band, but nobody around played guitar in the style that I liked, so I decided to just try to learn guitar myself," he said in this edition of the Fender Feedback documentary series.

Who would have thought that seemingly innocuous decision would birth such a prolific and pioneering career? And a key piece of the Mascis story is the Fender Jazzmaster, the guitar with which he is most commonly associated.

A two-time Fender signature artist, Mascis actually got his first Jazzmaster while on a quest to purchase a Stratocaster. But once he arrived at "Slimy Bob's" guitar shop in Connecticut, the instrument he saw advertised for $400 was marked up—a classic bait-and-switch.

"When I got there it was all-of-the-sudden $450," said Mascis. "I didn’t have $450. And they had a Jaguar for $200 and a Jazzmaster for $300. The Jazzmaster, I liked the way it felt better, so I just bought that. "

To this day, Mascis remains fiercely loyal to the Jazzmaster, from his signature Squier Jazzmaster to the new American Professional models and everything in between.

Learn more about Mascis and his give-and-take relationship with the guitar in the video above.