Johnny Marr’s new book documents the guitars he’s loved, lost and given away, including Nile Rodgers’ Strat, Bert Jansch’s acoustic and a Les Paul used by Ed O’Brien

Johnny Marr is preparing to publish a new book documenting his gear collection throughout his career with The Smiths and beyond. The straightforwardly-titled Marr’s Guitars is essentially a six-string biography and is due on shelves this fall (October 17).

“Guitars have been the obsession of my life,” says Marr. “They've been a mission and sometimes a lifeline. So I'm delighted to have made Marr's Guitars. 

“It's very different to other guitar books and is more of an art book, with stories of songs and sounds. It's been a long time coming and is a labour of love.”

The book will reportedly run the gamut from his teenage pickings, through to iconic Smiths instruments, including his Rickenbacker 330 and Gibson ES-355 and onwards to the development of his widely praised signature model, the Fender Johnny Marr Jaguar.

The entries will be accompanied by shots from music photographer Pat Graham, which we’re told will “showcase the guitars fully and in beautiful micro detail”, alongside Marr’s personal reflections and tales about each instrument.

In addition to Marr’s better-known equipment, one of the more tantalizing aspects of the press release is the mention of various instruments that the guitarist has been gifted or acquired from other notable musicians. 

Among the inclusions is a Stratocaster from Nile Rodgers (we wonder if this was a signature model trade, or something more vintage in flavor), a Hagstrom from Bryan Ferry and a Yamaha acoustic guitar that once belonged to Scottish folk and fingerstyle great, Bert Jansch.

Marr’s Guitars will also detail some of the instruments that the Smiths icon has given away or sent on productive loans, including a Stratocaster that Noel Gallagher used in the creation of Oasis mega-hit Wonderwall and a Gibson Les Paul that went to Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien and subsequently wound up on 2007’s In Rainbows.

We reckon it’s a safe bet it will also feature the nine-pickup Stratocaster from 2021’s Spirit, Power, Soul video.

The guitarist has reportedly been directly involved in all aspects of the book “right down to the finest detail,” or so says Tristan de Lancey, Creative Director at the book’s publisher Thames And Hudson. “The result is nothing short of a careerography expressed through a photographic deep dive into the cherished creative tools of a living legend.”

Which is basically what we’re all about, so count us in. Marr’s book can also be viewed as the latest in an emerging trend in guitarist gear biographies (or ‘tone tomes’ as we’re calling them in group chat). 

James Hetfield recently announced his own book, Messengers: The Guitars Of James Hetfield, which will also be published in October, while Slash arguably set the template with his book The Collection, which was released via Gibson’s in-house publisher last year.

For more information and pre-order details for Marr’s Guitars, keep an eye on Thames and Hudson.