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Lot Essay
My signature model has been made in a series of custom colours. This was the first one. It was a brand-new colour that we called ‘Metallic KO’. The idea came from seeing an old 1965 Jaguar that had corroded over the years and turned into this shade of burnt orange.
JOHNNY MARR, MARR’S GUITARS, 2023
The culmination of Marr’s obsessive four-year journey to develop the “perfect” Jaguar, Fender debuted the Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar at NAMM in January 2012 (see footnotes to lots 82 and 83). From first release, the signature Jaguar was available in Olympic White and a burnt orange finish that Marr named Metallic KO (for ‘Kandy Orange’). Marr told us: I have a 1960s Candy Apple Red Jaguar that had a very oxidised finish making it look almost like a burnt orange on the back. I sent it to Fender in 2011 and asked them to make the second signature Jag the same colour. The name was coined by my friend Martin Kelly after the album by Iggy and The Stooges. Speaking to Guitar World in 2020, author Kelly explained: I got to name a Fender colour, Metallic KO – which I’m very proud of! Fender made Johnny a prototype that was the colour of a Candy Apple Red guitar he had that had faded out to a kind of orange colour. He said, “I don’t know what to call it,” and I said, “In the 60s, they always had the word ‘metallic’ within the colour name – like Lake Placid Blue Metallic, Candy Apple Red Metallic and so on – so why not call it Metallic KO, after The Stooges album?” We understand that Marr has owned and used only two Metallic KO Jaguars since 2012 – the prototype, which he sold circa 2018, and this production model Metallic KO, which he received from Fender a few months after the release of the Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar in around April 2012. Luthier Bill Puplett, who had been entrusted with the care and repair of Marr’s guitars since the late 80s, arranged for the chrome selector switch plate to be engraved with the initials “N” and “S” for Marr’s children Nile and Sonny.
Marr was first seen with this Metallic KO Signature Jaguar in January 2013 during a cover shoot with photographer David Edwards for the February 2013 issue of NME magazine, which would name him as the 2013 recipient of the NME Godlike Genius Award. During the shoot, Marr also filmed a short feature for NME’s Song Stories series, telling the story behind his new single ‘Upstarts’ and demonstrating parts of the song on this guitar. This Metallic KO was most likely the backup for Marr’s Olympic White Jag at the NME awards ceremony at the Troxy in London on 27 February 2013, as he was photographed with the guitar backstage before the show. Marr used this guitar for one or two songs on the setlist on the first three dates of The Messenger Tour, including for ‘Generate! Generate!’ and ‘I Want the Heartbeat’ at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds on 7 March and for ‘Say Demesne’ at 53 Degrees in Preston on 8 March 2013. From 10 March onwards, he switched to using the prototype Metallic KO on those numbers for the remainder of the tour. In late 2013, Marr was photographed with this guitar for a feature on The Ultimate 100 Moments of Man that defined the last quarter century for the December 2013 25th Anniversary Special Issue of GQ magazine.
In 2019, Marr loaned the Metallic KO to Conor Curley of Irish rock band Fontaines D.C. for their first Glastonbury appearance. Marr told us: They flew in and could only bring one guitar with them, so I loaned him the NS Metallic KO. Riding high on the success of their debut album Dogrel, released that April, Fontaines played four times over the weekend, taking up a last-minute slot on the John Peel stage when Sam Fender pulled out. Available photographs and footage confirm that Curley played this guitar for the band’s Glastonbury debut on the John Peel stage on 28 June, which was broadcast live by the BBC, as well as their late-night slot at the Rabbit Hole on 1 July, whereas Carlos O’Connell adopted Marr's Metallic KO throughout their set at William’s Green on 29 June 2019. Both guitarists have since been seen playing their own Johnny Marr Signature Jags. That’s pretty much all I use live, Curley told Guitar.com in 2020, adding It’s such an amazing piece of equipment.
More recently, Marr enlisted this Metallic KO Jag when he joined Franz Ferdinand on stage to perform their new album track ‘Build It Up’ and hit single ‘Do You Want To’, before signing off with the Smiths’ classic ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ during their 60-minute set at Aviva Studios in Manchester for Amazon Music’s City Sessions on 18 January 2025, which was streamed live on Prime Video. The collaboration was so successful that the band subsequently recorded a new studio version of ‘Build It Up’ featuring Marr on guitar for single release. Frontman Alex Kapranos stated: Johnny is an inspiration. Literally. I sat in my bedroom as a teenager trying to work out how to play his melodies. To hear his distinctive playing on our song is glorious. He’s elevated it in that way only he can.
JOHNNY MARR, MARR’S GUITARS, 2023
The culmination of Marr’s obsessive four-year journey to develop the “perfect” Jaguar, Fender debuted the Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar at NAMM in January 2012 (see footnotes to lots 82 and 83). From first release, the signature Jaguar was available in Olympic White and a burnt orange finish that Marr named Metallic KO (for ‘Kandy Orange’). Marr told us: I have a 1960s Candy Apple Red Jaguar that had a very oxidised finish making it look almost like a burnt orange on the back. I sent it to Fender in 2011 and asked them to make the second signature Jag the same colour. The name was coined by my friend Martin Kelly after the album by Iggy and The Stooges. Speaking to Guitar World in 2020, author Kelly explained: I got to name a Fender colour, Metallic KO – which I’m very proud of! Fender made Johnny a prototype that was the colour of a Candy Apple Red guitar he had that had faded out to a kind of orange colour. He said, “I don’t know what to call it,” and I said, “In the 60s, they always had the word ‘metallic’ within the colour name – like Lake Placid Blue Metallic, Candy Apple Red Metallic and so on – so why not call it Metallic KO, after The Stooges album?” We understand that Marr has owned and used only two Metallic KO Jaguars since 2012 – the prototype, which he sold circa 2018, and this production model Metallic KO, which he received from Fender a few months after the release of the Johnny Marr Signature Jaguar in around April 2012. Luthier Bill Puplett, who had been entrusted with the care and repair of Marr’s guitars since the late 80s, arranged for the chrome selector switch plate to be engraved with the initials “N” and “S” for Marr’s children Nile and Sonny.
Marr was first seen with this Metallic KO Signature Jaguar in January 2013 during a cover shoot with photographer David Edwards for the February 2013 issue of NME magazine, which would name him as the 2013 recipient of the NME Godlike Genius Award. During the shoot, Marr also filmed a short feature for NME’s Song Stories series, telling the story behind his new single ‘Upstarts’ and demonstrating parts of the song on this guitar. This Metallic KO was most likely the backup for Marr’s Olympic White Jag at the NME awards ceremony at the Troxy in London on 27 February 2013, as he was photographed with the guitar backstage before the show. Marr used this guitar for one or two songs on the setlist on the first three dates of The Messenger Tour, including for ‘Generate! Generate!’ and ‘I Want the Heartbeat’ at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds on 7 March and for ‘Say Demesne’ at 53 Degrees in Preston on 8 March 2013. From 10 March onwards, he switched to using the prototype Metallic KO on those numbers for the remainder of the tour. In late 2013, Marr was photographed with this guitar for a feature on The Ultimate 100 Moments of Man that defined the last quarter century for the December 2013 25th Anniversary Special Issue of GQ magazine.
In 2019, Marr loaned the Metallic KO to Conor Curley of Irish rock band Fontaines D.C. for their first Glastonbury appearance. Marr told us: They flew in and could only bring one guitar with them, so I loaned him the NS Metallic KO. Riding high on the success of their debut album Dogrel, released that April, Fontaines played four times over the weekend, taking up a last-minute slot on the John Peel stage when Sam Fender pulled out. Available photographs and footage confirm that Curley played this guitar for the band’s Glastonbury debut on the John Peel stage on 28 June, which was broadcast live by the BBC, as well as their late-night slot at the Rabbit Hole on 1 July, whereas Carlos O’Connell adopted Marr's Metallic KO throughout their set at William’s Green on 29 June 2019. Both guitarists have since been seen playing their own Johnny Marr Signature Jags. That’s pretty much all I use live, Curley told Guitar.com in 2020, adding It’s such an amazing piece of equipment.
More recently, Marr enlisted this Metallic KO Jag when he joined Franz Ferdinand on stage to perform their new album track ‘Build It Up’ and hit single ‘Do You Want To’, before signing off with the Smiths’ classic ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ during their 60-minute set at Aviva Studios in Manchester for Amazon Music’s City Sessions on 18 January 2025, which was streamed live on Prime Video. The collaboration was so successful that the band subsequently recorded a new studio version of ‘Build It Up’ featuring Marr on guitar for single release. Frontman Alex Kapranos stated: Johnny is an inspiration. Literally. I sat in my bedroom as a teenager trying to work out how to play his melodies. To hear his distinctive playing on our song is glorious. He’s elevated it in that way only he can.