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Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo began their mutual love affair with the Fender Jazzmaster more than two decades ago. Since the early eighties, Sonic Youth have used an assortment of cheap and cheerful instruments to accommodate their myriad alternative tunings, among them a couple of then deeply unfashionable Fender Jaguars.

When the band's first Jazzmaster arrived, its longer scale length proved to be better at handling the string tension of those unusual tunings central to the Sonic Youth sound. Their first shows with Dinosaur Jr also helped persuade Moore and Ranaldo of the potential of a guitar that even then, in the hands of J Mascis and Tom Verlaine and Elvis Costello, was an instrument for a very different kind of guitar hero.

We're pretty sure that there are some readers who scoff at the very idea of Sonic Youth signature Fenders, particularly with retail prices in excess of £1,800. However, Fender has a history of recognising contributions to the evolution of the instrument from players outside of the traditionally revered blues canon.

Indeed, even the curmudgeonliest Sonic Youth detractors must admit grudging admiration for their insistence on making music strictly on their own terms for nigh-on three decades.

The biggest irony is that in practice, both Moore and Ranaldo's Jazzmasters incorporate streamlined designs that make the model much more accessible to more conventional guitarists. Gone from both guitars are the complicated rhythm circuit and that troublesome roller bridge, which would all-too-often see strings pop out when subjected to any kind of right hand aggression.

In addition, the single volume and three-way toggle switch arrangement dispenses with any wiring complexity and contributes to a pair of guitars that have all the offset aesthetic charm of the original Jazzmaster design, but none of the quirks that can make the instrument a fear-filled live proposition.

These are real player's guitars, honed by decades of gigging.

A simple design tweak, such as making sure the toggle switches operate from side-to-side rather than up/down not only proves more logical in use but makes it far less likely that you'll accidentally flip the pickup selector to the wrong position in the heat of battle. However, if you prefer to use the more traditional up/down operation, it's easy enough to remove the scratchplate and change the orientation.

Moore's Jazzmaster takes inspiration from a guitar built by his tech from various parts, that he's used live since 2007, while Ranaldo's 'Jazzblaster' echoes not only his genuine Fenders - modded with Seth Lover-designed Wide Range humbuckers - but also a pair of guitars built for him by luthier Saul Koll.