Gibson Marauder

2 1976 Gibson Marauders, both U.S. made, 22 frets, Thick solid body guitar with a carved top. Each with a single volume and tone controls, 3-way toggle switch. 1 has been hot rodded with a seymour duncan sigle coil sized humbucker, replacing the original akrylic single coil. The other pickup is all natural, from what I can tell, a cream colored humbucker that sounds more like a lipstick than anything. Instead of the usual screws on it, it has 2 blade styles instead. The others all natural. The bodies are mahogany, so are the necks with nice rosewood fretboards, each with natural finishes. LP style body, but with a bigger pick guard. They both have Tune-o-matic bridges. I replaced the first one's tuners(original gibson tuners suck) with grover, and the other's had been replaced when I bought it, I'm not sure of the make. Both came with LP style hardshell cases.

Even though the pickups on both guitars are completely different, they both sound really, really good. The first, with the seymour duncan pickup, is my favorite. That pickup is so powerful, i couldn't believe. With the right kind of distortion, it can be made to sound so heavy, plus if the guitar is tuned down a couple of steps already. Mixed with the other weaker pickup, it's capable of a lot of different tones. The other with the IBZ pickup is almost as good. Good heavy tones from the humbucker, and sharper, tele like tones from the single coil. I play out of a Crate combo amp with 2 10" celestion speakers, witch is cool, it can be used for tube, or solid state, which i prefer. To get an extra heavy edge, i also use a Peavy microbass amp to get some real bottom heavy sounds. For an f-x set up i play out of both amps with a boss super chorus(with two outputs), 2 danelectro minis, a tremelo( which is good from tom morello like toggle cut off switch sounds) and a phaser, which sounds real good for clean sounds, a dod envelope filter, an ibanez black noise distortion pedal and a digitech xp-100 whammy/wah pedal, which is also an envelope filter and a harmonizer. I love the sound of these guitars.

only things bad about one of the guitars was the tuners, which i replaced, and the input jack, which i just replaced. now it sounds great, and other than belt marks, very minor dings here and there, this is an odd, but good looking guitar. And the wear just gives it character

These guitars are beasts, they weigh a ton, which i love, can take abuse, for the 20+ years they've been around, they still look and play real well. very dependable

Never had to deal with gibson

No regrets buying these, I actually bought a new Ibanez AX style, and traded it in for another marauder, mostly because it didn't weight enough. I'm always keeping my eyes open to get another, that's how good sounding and dependable these really are.

Yeah, I know. Everybody has ALWAYS been down on these. Fender folks don't know anything about them usually, and Gibson guys completely disregarded them because of the Fender-like bolt-on neck and single-coil bridge pickup. The Marauder ended up being Gibson's Edsel, to use the guitar/car analogy. (Although there will probably never be Marauder conventions or appreciation societies.) I looked up the serial # and found mine's a 1976 model, though it has that funky roto-select knob for pickup blending. I would've preferred a toggle, but what you gonna do, right? At least it works like it's supposed to. Man, this thing has been seriously worn in! Somebody loved this baby. It has a deep translucent wine finish which is pretty beat to hell, but to me that only gives it character. Some previous owner unknowingly did me a good turn and slapped a nice chunky brass nut in the neck and replaced the standard Gibson tuning keys with what I believe are Grovers. Whatever they are, they're solid. As everyone probably knows, the Marauder has a humbucker in the neck spot and what looks like a rudimentary school science class-project version of a hot rails single coil at the bridge. One volume, one tone and the "blender" pickup selector. (Earlier models had a 3-way toggle). I did some research and discovered that the Marauder's pickups (which are encased in plexiglass or something by the way) were designed by Bill Lawrence.
Not sure, but the body seems like mahogany to me. The bolt on neck is adjusted real well and can take a hell of a beating. Nice, supple rosewood fingerboard. The neck really reminds me more than anything else of '60's and early '70's strat and tele necks I've played on, but with REAL thick frets--I use 11-gauge strings and even with those, the neck is just faster than hell. It helps that you can set the action as low as you want and apparently fear no fret buzz. Also on mine the finish is worn off the back of the neck, which I really dig. (First thing I ever do with any new electric I get is sand that finish right off the back of the neck--you have to be fearless and just realize how much better it'll play and feel--but on this beauty, the work was done for me through time and a whole lotta handling. The body style is cool as can be, if you ask me. Single cutaway, nice carving to it. Sort of a fatboy version of a Les Paul, but I like the Marauder's styling better because it's not as common.You put all this together with a very funky aged white pickguard that I can only describe as psychedelic ranch-style and the Flying-V type headstock and what you get is a Frankensteinish 1970's rock and roll monstrosity. I LOVE IT!

Style? I don't have A style, really. In fact, I ain't that great a guitar player to be honest. I really like OLD blues (electric guitars and drumkits cannot make blues music in my opinion-- Sorry Mr. Clapton...), twangy country hillbilly and rockabilly stuff, heavy early punk rock as in IGGY and the goldamn STOOGES, and various noisy stuff that requires little virtuosity and a lot of balls. I try to play all of these styles as the mood hits, and the Marauder works real well for me in every category. (Well, for blues I use my acoustic--see above) I use a ProCo Rat fuzzbox, an original Ibanez Super Distortion and various other delays, choruses and a wah-wah. Around the house I play through an old Fender Vibro Champ or some even older no-name practice amp that has real nice natural distortion from being fugged up. When I record I often go through whatever effects I'm using and straight into the ol'4-track. The Marauder I have has given me no problems as far as noise, but like I say, with a lot of stuff I do, some hiss and buzz and crackle only enhance the proceedings. I think the neck pickup is sweet and juicy with a natural overdriven tone, very much like a Les Paul. The bridge pickup comes in anywhere from the tele/strat screamin' range towards a more fatass humbucker tone, depending upon the way I have the pickup "blend" knob set. All in all, it can sound sweet as pie, or as someone else reviewing one on these pages said, it can sound like a friggin' madman. Quite a variety of tones. I have thought about replacing the pickups with classic chrome-covered humbucking PAF's because I think it would improve the sound and visual aesthetics of the Marauder a bit, but really I'm happy the way it is. My only little complaint is I wish that when playing it clean it had a bit more midrangey brightness to it. It sounds nice enough clean, but could be a trifle less muddy. Distorted or loud it's hard to beat though.

Think this is pretty much covered already, since I rambled on so long. The finish is a beautiful color, and even with all its chips, dents, dings and scratches, she's purty. And obviously solid as can be. I'll probably be passing this ax on to my son someday. "Don't let anyone laugh at you for playing the dreaded Marauder, son... you just hold your head high and carry on the family business..."

This guitar is a quarter-century old and looks like it's been to war. I haven't played it live yet, but when the time comes I'm sure she'll not only withstand live playing, but will be more than sturdy enough to bat away full flying beer bottles, rocks, etc., or even being used as a weapon if need be.

Never had to deal with Gibson. In the past I was usually a tele man. I'm sure Gibson is a fine company to deal with, but why does someone have to pay $1500 to $2500 for a new Gibson? You can pick up some excellent Fender, Squier and DeArmond guitars for $200 to $500.

I've been playing for about 19 years (eee-god, you'd think I'd be a great player by now, but nope...) I also own an Epiphone Les Paul Jr. (the one P-90 pickup version you can get for under $200), a 1973 maple-necked telecaster and a P-bass. If my Marauder were stolen or destroyed (God forbid) I would definitely seek out another. In fact, I'd like to have a second Marauder now. Everyone needs a signature guitar, eh? Don't people get tired of seeing everyone with the same 3 guitars all the time? I love everything about this guitar. I don't hate anything about it. In a way, my favorite feature is the fact that it's a discontinued and much-maligned model that is almost universally hated. In your face, guitar snobs--MARAUDER FOREVER!!!

1976 model, I bought this one used in 1979 (~285 $)
Solidbody (Maple?), Les Paul shaped body, plexiglass Lawrence humbucker in neck, slantmounted singlecoil at bridge (orig), 2-vol, 2-2 tone knobs, 3-way toggle, white large pickguard,tunamatic bridge, stopbar tailpiece, bolt-on maple neck w/ flying V headstock and rosewood fretboard with dot inlays.
Mine has the original Bill Lawrence pickups, single coil at bridge position and humbucker near neck. The body is dark see through brown Color and neck is maple. The tuners were already re-placed by quality Ibanez locking tuners when I bought this guitar 1979, so I don't know anything about the originals. However, the Ibanez tuners are best I have seen this day.

I play mainly rock and country music for which purposes this guitar is great. You can get good country sounds with bridge pickup and fatter bluesy sounds with neck humbucker. However, the bridge pickup is a little bit thin, so you need some EQ`ing with that. Very good rhythm guitar sounds (smooth, not too much mids).

I have used the local luthier and the guitar plays very well. The luthier said that this guitar has quality woods used, even though it was supposed to be a low end guitar of Gibson. The neck is one of the best i have played on any guitar (low action, no buzz).

The guitar has lasted with no breakage for 21 years, still original parts (except tuners)and works well. With proper maintanence it will last another 21 years.

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I have been playing since 1978 and this guitar was my second electric guitar and first real elctric guitar. I haven't always loved this guitar, I own two other guitars: Fender Deluxe Plus 1991 Strat and Squier Strat ProTone 1997, but at end this guitar always feels the best.

The neck is the best part of this guitar. I bought this thing in 1978. It had been owned by Donald Fagen. It was completely customized when I got it, with a two-tone black/red sunburst and two Dimarzio super distortion humbuckers. They sucked, as did the Gibson tuners. It would be nice to have two tone and two volume, but the controls are passable. It's got a 3-way switch rather than the fader, thank God. The frets are massive and after some adjustment the action beats anything else I've ever played.

The pickups in it were crap. I don't like the originals or what mine had. So I put in a Gibson 57 Classic at the neck and a 57 Classic Plus at the bridge. It sounds great through anything, but especially ballsy through my '62 Gibson Ranger. I can get just about any tone out of it now, from an SG to a Les Paul (only better, I swear to God). It is especially reminiscent of the Jimmy Page sound on the 1st two Led Zeppelin albums. The tune-o-matic bridge is espcially good for quick change to slide playing (about 3 minutes to adjust and tune).

It plays awsome in every way, by far the most comfortable guitar I have, with the possible exception of the 60 Strat which I love. The finish is absolutely beat to hell. I have played this guitar on the road for 22 years. It has had beer spilled on it, been hit by a bus (in the case) dropped from a 9 foot stage. It has "character marks" to be sure.

What, are you kidding? This thing is the Peterbilt of guitars. I have never had a single problem. Unbelievably durable.

I hated this guitar until I changed to the 57 classic pickups. It always played great, but it sounded lame, especially clean. Now, it's without a doubt my number one choice. Everyone always asks me what it is, it's so funky looking. It may have been made to be a cheap version of the Les Paul, but it isn't second to anything. If you set it up right and are willing to drop a few hundred bucks into upgrades, you will love this thing.

73 Gibson Marauder, original pickups, scratchplate, but with all new knobs and grover tuning pegs. I love the lipstick pickup, these plexiglass things are amazing. Pick up selector knob painted in metallic purple nail polish, which really adds something.
Natural finish, maple body and neck. A beautiful piece of wood!
My only problem is the way the neck is bolted on- it looks like it has been replaced, as it doesn't fit quite right.
This guitar has such a sexy shape, which, unlike many others really looks good on a girl.

I had decided to buy this guitar from the minute i saw it, so the sound was a bonus! It's perfect for what I do -grungey, punky rock, with a lot of bite and crunch. I'd tried various Fenders looking for that Nirvana/Hole sound but this Gibson is the first to come close. I love it. My boyfriend prefers his SG- which is warm and round in tone. I play this through the Laney LC15, which gives it a little extra crunch.

I've never had this guitar set up in the 2 years I've owned it. I probably shhould as I'm getting dangerously bad fretwear, as its been played heeps in almost 30 years. The action is just perfect, not to easy, just heavy enough that you can feel what you're doing.

I haven't yet gigged with a band but i'm looking forward to showing this guitar off. I would be entirely confident of gigging without a backup- this guitar can take a lot of abuse. As the finish is almost matt, scratches and knocks dont show much at all under bright light, from a few feet away it could be brand new.

I love everything about the Gibson Marauder, and I've made it my mission to buy up as many as I can find after I finish at university.

1976/1976. i own two. The first one was played & broke by Paul Stanely. Heavy hardwood body (not sure what). Get real gibson tuners (that's what both of mine have, the originals). The body is clean cut, like a Gibson, but has a flying V style neck. The placement of the knobs are good. If you find one with a toggle, they are good, but later on that toggle was replaced with a rotary blender, good for finding that perfect balance. Two picks, a single & double. both in epoxy casing. But never have i seen one that didn't need a little adjusting on the bridge, once down lower, they are fast...

Sounds perfect. It's got a Fender tone on a gibson body. That means no fat neck to slow you down, but you still get that raw grrrr that fender's give. I use it on a vintage MusicMan50, to help recreate that tone it was built for. Sounds best on a tube amp (don't all guitars?). Very thin on the high ends, so keep it on mid or low to get that grrrr i was talking about.

Bad bad bad setup. I've always had to change them. You must. You'll see, just lower it and it glides like an iceskater. Pickups do need adjusting, so fit them to your sound, and this guitar does just that. All you need is a phillips to find your tone.
The finish(s) are pretty. One's black, really dark & gothicy. the other is a natural finish.

Definitally withstands the power of music. I've been playing on them for quite awhile. They'v been knocked around, and nothing's changed. you can depend on them, although, if you only have one, you wouldn't have as big of a head as me, so bring a second guitar incase a string breaks. But that's all you should worry about with this...

Never needed...

Perfection is possible with gibson guitars...

1976 model
Solidbody (Maple?), Les Paul shaped body, plexiglass Lawrence humbucker in neck, slantmounted singlecoil at bridge (orig), 2-vol, 2-tone knobs, 3-way toggle, electronics in pickguard, tunamatic bridge, stopbar tailpiece, bolt-on maple neck w/ flying V headstock and rosewood fretboard. Dot inlays.
Mine has a Dimarzio super-distortion in the slanted bridge position. Color, which I believe to be origional, is a creamy golden natural finish which looks rose-tinted when viewed from an angle. Later versions had a fader style knob for the pickup selector. Some had maple fretboards and a few had rosewood with trapazoid inlays.

Sounds like a les-paul, but with a fender-esque accent to the bridge p/u. Listen to a Superchunk album if you want to hear one of these guitars in action. Mac has used Marauders almost exclusively for a while and his style shows how nice the clean tones can be from this model. I wish mine still had the single-coil @ the bridge. No scratch to any of the pots or switches, and the output from the orig humbucker is still very hot, but perhaps a bit less dirty than most gibson hb's.

Plays better than any of my other Gibsons, and the frets are the beefiest I've seen on a Gib. Action is very low, the neck is thin and fast, and the weight is lower than my LP and SG. The bolt-on neck has no effect on the sound, and it sustains very well. The rosy tint to the finish is very cool, and has lasted well. The headstock finish is cheep, and I've seen a couple which, like mine, has chips in the logo decal. Probably a defect in the binding of the varnish to the decal material, but this was a cheepo Gibson, so not as much attention to detail as seen in nicer models. This guitar, however, is a very playable instrument and souinds as good as any Gibson aroind. Looks cool too.

Solid. Has lasted, what, 23 yers and plays great still.

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Subjectively, this guitar is one of my favorite instruments. It has a few blemishes, but for a cheepo Gibson, it is a great value. The hybrid Les Paul--Flying V look is funny and cool. I'm probably going to get another Marauder, if that says anything.

My dad gave this one to me years ago. He purchased it used, and owned it for about 2 years. It's a 1978 vintage with a natural, matte blonde finish. Originally there was a rather crappy control layout of 2 volume pots and an almost worthless fader for fading between the 2 pickups. (A toggle switch is MUCH MUCH better!) The pickups to my ears anyway, sounded weak and tinny... Basically, the body style is a Les Paul with a bolt-on neck, and a unique spade-shaped head. And the tuners were really, really cheesy... The neck however, is superb, and the body is solid as a rock, and weighs about as much, too... (which I like.) The bridge & tailpiece are pretty much the standard Les Paul Stop-O-Matic style.

I play classic rock, blues, jazz, and a smattering of country. The original pickups sounded good on none of it. They had very low gain, and no body or depth at all... Since my dad gave it to me, I was totally not interested in selling it, and after looking at it sitting in the stand as I wailed away on my Les Paul, I decided to overhaul it. After all, what good is a guitar if you never play it? A friend of mine came across a fantastic deal on a pair of Gibson USA humbuckers out of a Jimmy Page Les Paul along with all of the electronics, still new... I bought 'em, along with a sheet of 1/8th inch plexiglass to use as the new mounting plate for the electronics. Unfortunately, the pickups & electronics from the Les Paul wouldn't fit the body cutouts so I decided to borrow a router (ok, you vintage guitar buffs can go ballistic now) and tailor the body cutouts carefully to fit the new electronics. Then, after designing the new mounting plate layout & cutting it out of the plexiglass, I used automotive metal flake spray paint, shot several coats on the back of the clear mounting plate, mounted the new pickups & electronics & put the whoe thing back together. I also replaced the crummy tuners with a set of Grovers, and fashioned a plexiglass truss-rod cover plate that matches the mounting plate. As a result, I've got a guitar that I now play much more than my Les Paul, and the finish will never wear off of the mounting plate & truss rod cover, because it's on the back. If you can find one of these for 200 bucks as my dad did, and you're good at guitar tweaking and customizing, you can create a great instrument out of one of these.

Before I reworked it, it was not going to win any beauty contests. Outfitted with a weirdly shaped plain black mounting plate & lackluster appointments, blecchh... The neck is awesome, as I mentioned before, and it's great raw material for fixing up.

As far as durability, this thing is a rock... Good for beating up muggers and whatnot...

Never dealt with Gibson on this guitar... Shouldn't ever have to. Not much can go wrong that I can't fix myself.

Overall Rating before fixing it up: 3 Overall rating now: 10

I had it dated not too long ago, and apparently the thing was made in 1973. I'm not sure on the fret count, as I'm too lazy to reach over and count them...but it seems there's the standard amount of frets. It's a solid wood guitar with a pick guard that covers about 1/3 of the front. The pick-guard has this unique, funky shape that gives the guitar character. Two controls: 1 volume, 1 tone and a 3 way selector switch. There's a humbucker and a single coil, the humbucker is near the bridge. They're very unique looking clear plastic pick-ups, both has character, but of course the humbucker simply is cause for orgasim. The body is shaped like a Les Paul studio; classic Gibson looking guitar. The tuners were replaced with Schaler's when I bought it, Lord knows we can't have the typical Gibson tuners. Overall, a unique and beautiful guitar to look at and inspect...the quality is great.

Let me share with you how this guitar sounds: Imagine yourself on mushrooms, a high dosage at that, when as you are lying in a green meadow talking with the dirt, grass and air...the luminous blue sky opens as if being ripped apart like a knife slashing through a sheet. A mamoth hand reaches down to you as a voice booms within your head telling you the secret truths to life and existence. This guitar is the ONLY intrument capable of providing the soundtrack for the moment just desrcribed.

You're only going to get it used, so never mind the set-up. This guitar was obviously made right the first time, because it has plenty of milage and still ranks above many many other guitars I've owned or tried.

Once again, the guitar I own at least performs impeccably. No complaints, rather I have only praises for this Gibson.

Doesn't really apply in my case, however, I can recommend a great place in Buffalo to take your old guitar for service!

Been playing about 8 years...I have yet to run across another guitar so unique and beautiful as this one. If you run across one, get it, you won't be disappointed.

US made - mid 70's. Has a humbucker at neck with a single coil at bridge. Mahogany body with shape like a Les Paul Jr. Bolt on neck with Jumbo frets - Rosewood board is slightly scalloped. Headstock is like a Flying V. 2 way switch and one each volumn and tone. Finish is that awful thick clear stuff that both Gibson and Fender used for a bit. I know refinishing hurts the value, but I think I'll do it as I hate that stuff.

The sound out of the humbucker is terrific - classic Gibson humbucker sound. Sounds great into a Princeton Reverb. Sound from the single coil is good, but this was Gibson's attempt to get their sound and the Fender sound into one guitar. They didn't quite get that Fender tone down. This is a great way to get the Gibson sound without paying megabucks for a Paul or Firebird (Lord I want one of them Firebirds)

This guitar is set up surprisingly well coming from a time when Gibson did a good deal of sloppy work (I have a 73 J50 deluxe that coulda been made in shop class). The neck is really nice and I love the big frets. I also like the beefy tailpiece and bridge as I don't use a tremelo. As stated above - I hate the thick plasticky finish, but all else is great.

This has guitar has so many dents and nicks that it looks like it was used in a WHO tribute band. After all the abuse it is in great condition - no cracks, splits, even the pickguard has held up perfectly. Should last forever. Wouldn't use it (or any guitar) in a gig cause I'm tone deaf and have no sense of rythum - I just play to annoy my wife and the dogs.

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I would buy another one of these in a second, especially at the bargain prices you can get em for. Did I mention that I hate the finish?