5 Best Guitars for Shoegaze, Plus an Honorary Mention!

The Jazzmaster is to Shoegaze what the Les Paul is to Hard Rock. Yes, you can’t take the guitar away from the music style and you can’t take the music style out of the guitar.

Although it is a shape gaining much popularity, if you spot someone on stage with a Jazzmaster, you think they play alternative music, indie rock, or shoegaze.

But why is the Jazzmaster a shoegaze favorite? In my opinion, and after playing the genre for years, I can say it has a lot to do with how big and sharp this guitar sounds.

Yes, the Jazzmaster’s huge body and single-coil pickups create a beast with an edge. Moreover, being an alder guitar with a maple neck, you have enough treble to cut through the mix.

Believe me, shoegaze mixes are super dense. 

But that’s only 50% of the equation because the other 50% is in the vibrato system. No other vibrato works, sounds, and feels like the Panorama vibrato system. With it, you can do the classic Kevin Shields oscillating movement as you play. This gives your playing a 3-D quality that keeps songs moving forward.

But, what are the Jazzmaster models you should be looking at? Well, in my opinion, Squier’s Classic Vibe and J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr.) models are ripping and very affordable.

The Fender Jaguar has always been quite an odd offspring of the offset era. Yes, it’s a surf-ready machine with enough chrome appointments to make Cadillac owners jealous, but it’s also a short-scale single-coil jangle machine.

So, to begin with, Jaguars are tone and scale-wise, the smaller version of the Jazzmaster. The pickups sound smaller and the 24” scale might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Yet, if you dial in the shoegaze tone, the lower output of the pickups and the treble-oriented sound allows the Jaguar to cut through the mix as few other guitars can.

Maybe, the first time you plug a Jaguar in, you’ll feel that there’s no bass on the resulting sound. But let me tell you that, if you play with the tone knob a little and toggle between the circuits, you’ll find a ton of useful sounds.

Moreover, since it is a guitar designed for the surf rock scene, you can drench it with reverb, drown it with delay, and put a ton of fuzz on top, and you’ll always hear the notes you’re playing.

Plus, it comes equipped with, in my opinion, the best tremolo system ever made.

If you want to dip your toes in the Jaguar world without breaking the bank or have a limited budget, the Squier Classic Vibe Jaguar is a great bang for the buck.

My choice among Fender offset guitars for playing shoegaze music will always be a Fender Mustang. I’m the lucky owner of a 1966 extraordinary specimen and I love it to the bone.

But why is the Mustang the perfect shoegaze guitar? Well, in my opinion, it’s the best because it can take pedals better than any other offset. Yes, the super-low output pickups are great for the layers of distortion and fuzz not to turn into a swamp.

Moreover, it features a great tremolo system that allows the wobbly effect. Plus, if you’re not so tall or big, a Mustang is much more maneuverable than a Jazzmaster or Jaguar.

I use mine with my Big Muff Pi, two Tube Screamers, drenched in reverb, soaked in delay, and with some modulation on top (vibrato, chorus, phaser, and tremolo) and I can always hear my guitar crystal-clear.

I mean, while Kevin Shields was creating a new world of sound for My Bloody Valentine’s Loveless album using Jazzmasters and weird tunings, Bilinda Butcher was adding beauty to the mayhem with a Mustang.

I have to tell you that I just love that Squier and Fender brought the competition stripes back.

The Classic Vibe '60s Mustang is a great guitar with the looks and tones you need for shoegaze. Speaking of which, the in-and-out-of-phase slider switches on top can give you 6 very usable sound combinations. Plus, the tremolo system is just smooth and great.

I know what you’re thinking right now, and I agree with you. There are very few Telecasters in the Shoegaze scene. Yet, if you ever see Lush live and witness what Emma Anderson does with hers, you’ll surely change your mind.

The thing about Thinline Telecasters is that they have semi-hollow bodies that can perfectly blend the treble-oriented tone of the Telecaster with some low-end coming from the hollow body. Thus, what you get is a big guitar tone that can stay on the surface of the mix regardless of what you throw at it.

In my experience, the Classic Vibe '60s Telecaster Thinline takes pedals, and especially fuzz, much better than the ‘70s version with the dual humbuckers. That said, Fender Wide Range humbuckers are among the most musical and effect-friendly humbuckers in the market. 

Hey, they are the pickups noise rock legend Lee Ranaldo put on his signature Jazzmaster after all, aren’t they?.

Beyond sound and pickups, there’s something about the neck of Fender Telecasters and its 25.5” scale that is so familiar to regular Fender players that you immediately know what to play when you pick this guitar up. Moreover, the string tension is just perfect for chords and melodies.

Finally, if your budget allows for a little more, everything turns HD when you get a Fender Vintera II '60s Telecaster Thinline or, for a bulkier budget, an American Vintage II 1972 Telecaster Thinline or a Fender Britt Daniel Telecaster Thinline.

Gretsch guitars are a type of instrument you can find on stages as diverse as stages get. Shoegaze is no exception to that rule. For example, here you can see the legendary Shoegaze band Ride rocking the KEXP stage with a tandem of a Gibson Trini Lopez and a Gretsch Country Gentleman.

But, why are Center-block Gretsch guitars great for Shoegaze? Well, they carry that same combination of the hollow body and, most of them, a maple neck that gives the guitar plenty of growl and also enough treble to remain clear despite the myriad of effects.

Adding to that, the center block, in some cases made of solid spruce, and others made of maple also offers enough treble to cut through the mix.

Also, the Bigsby vibrato arm is great to make up for the Panorama Tremolo in Jazzmasters and such. You can perform swells, dives, and details with it. Finally, the body itself in these guitars is made of laminated maple, adding that brightness you need to shine through a dense mix in a band.

So, for those with an entry-level budget, the Gretsch G2622T Streamliner is the perfect instrument to build your Shoegaze chops on. It sports a 5-ply maple body, a center block, a maple neck, and a laurel fretboard to add a pinch of sweetness to the mix.

If your budget allows it, the next step in quality is the Gretsch G5655TG Electromatic, a higher-end version of the previous guitar but with a single cutaway.

This list couldn’t be complete if I didn’t add an honorary mention to one of the hippest, most audacious, and Shoegaze-friendly guitars Squier has put out in the past decade. Yes, I’m talking about this Jazzmaster with 12 strings and the quintessential (super cool if you ask me) hockey stick headstock.

But what’s cool about this guitar for Shoegaze? Well, there are plenty of weird sounds and layers in these bands’ records in which they use chorus, delay, reverb, and other effects to create a warbly, 3-D-like melodic environment to lay those ethereal lyrics. 

Moreover, some bands even doubled or tripled their distorted guitar tracks to create a “wall of sound” (Yes, the folks from The Grateful Dead are so proud of you!).

Well, the minute I plugged this guitar in, I knew it had every ingredient a guitar needs to excel at shoegazing. Perhaps, the only thing missing is the tremolo system, but do you imagine working a tremolo system on a 12-string guitar? Me neither.

If you’re buying an instrument to be your only axe, I wouldn’t recommend it, but this 12-string Jazzmaster is a great addition to your Shoegaze-ready guitar arsenal. Oh, and it won’t break the bank either!