Indeed, Mascis is one of today’s foremost exponents of the Jazzmaster. A surf staple in the ’60s and a punk fave in the ’70s, the guitar had become something of a fringe model by the 1980s. But the Jazzmaster was given new life in the ’80s, ’90s and beyond by Mascis, who took the instrument to a new place with his feedback-drenched, distortion-laden band, right-coast grunge pioneers Dinosaur Jr. Mascis (born Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. in 1965), bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Emmett "Murph" Murphy came blasting out of Amherst, Mass., in the mid-1980s with their debut album Dinosaur; blazing an acclaimed indie rock trail with albums You’re Living All Over Me (1987), Bug (1988), Green Mind (1991),Where You Been (1993), Without a Sound (1994) and Hand It Over (1997).
Mascis assembled a new band, J Mascis and the Fog, in 2000, but when Dinosaur Jr. came back from extinction for a 2005 tour and released a new album, Beyond, in 2007, Fender knew it was high time to recognize one of its rare Jazzmaster artists with a signature model, The J Mascis Jazzmaster. A long time groove tubes user as well, Mascis depends on Groove Tubes to realize his signature tone.
