Gibson Marauder

[Dave Locher]

Re: Gibson Marauder

This ad make is sound like Gibson acknowledges the thing is butt ugly.

I'd take a Norlin Gibson over a 3 bolt 70s bullet strat any day of the week.

That is the worst guitar ad ever published. First of all, it is just a weird thing to say about your own guitar ("it's ugly"), and second of all as a huge KISS fan back in the day I think we can all agree that looks matter MORE to them than just about any other band ever??

 

[Plessure]

Re: Gibson Marauder



At the store

Best Gibson i've played. Sounds like single coils??? Or was it the twin reverb doing its awesome?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Gibson Marauder

One thing that I find particularly ugly is that the pickguard doesn't even seem that it was designed for this guitar. It doesn't seem to follow the natural body shape of the guitar. It's like they were trying to use a pickguard to force the guitar to look more like a Strat. BIG fail.

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Gibson Marauder

I agree! The only reason the pickguard I made for mine even resembles the original is because it allowed me to use most of the same screw holes and I didn't want to paint the body. (It's stained black, then cleared.)
Ugly as hell. But sounds great (at least with a humbucker in the bridge position), plays great (at least after I shaved down the neck some), and is totally indestructible. I believe I could use this guitar to pry open the door of a burning car to save a baby in the back seat and then finish playing the song because it would still be in tune!

 

[Nostalgic Distortion]

Re: Gibson Marauder

I bought one of them in 98 along with a L6-S. Both guitars had their own sound but the L6-S was a much better guitar IMHO. I sold the Marauder shortly after I bought it for various reasons, like it didn't stay in tune worth a s#it, it was ugly as hell, & I just couldn't gel with the pickups? They weren't like the single's I was used to & they sounded nothing like the humbuckers of the time either. I'm sure it made someone a very nice wall hanger though?

I regret the hell out of selling the L6-S!!! If I'd had the skills to change out that cheep fret wire with some stainless frets at the time I would probably still own it? It also had a unique tone but it was much more usable...

 

[Dave Locher]

Re: Gibson Marauder

I bought one of them in 98 along with a L6-S. Both guitars had their own sound but the L6-S was a much better guitar IMHO. I sold the Marauder shortly after I bought it for various reasons, like it didn't stay in tune worth a s#it, it was ugly as hell, & I just couldn't gel with the pickups? They weren't like the single's I was used to & they sounded nothing like the humbuckers of the time either. I'm sure it made someone a very nice wall hanger though?

I regret the hell out of selling the L6-S!!! If I'd had the skills to change out that cheep fret wire with some stainless frets at the time I would probably still own it? It also had a unique tone but it was much more usable...

I would have been happy to find an L6-S too, I just happened to find the Marauder first. I have no idea what the original pickups sounded like, I have a beefy high-output humbucker in mine. I actually embraced the ugly aspect. And mine also had Schaller tuners installed by the time I got it and it stays in tune like crazy. Having said all of that, I also picked up a very different Marauder once at a shop and it felt totally different from mine. The body was thin, the neck was wide, and it was just all wrong for me in every way. I never even bothered to plug it in. So yeah, I love MY Marauder but I certainly don't think the are all great guitars. Really mine just comes down to the body (which I have modified) and the neck (which I have modified). Every single other part on this guitar has been replaced except the bridge. But having a bolt-on 3-piece maple neck on a Gibson guitar is worth a lot to me. I really like Gibsons but I really like bolt-on maple necks. So this thing just hits all my spots. And it sounds as thick and heavy as any Les Paul but with a bit more sparkle, I assume from the maple fingerboard. Thicker and heavier than the SG and 335 I also owned at the time. Most importantly, dropping it doesn't bother me. No collector value = no worries.