Malden Stiger Plus

This is an update on my favorite Malden Stiger Orange Flame 24 medium fret guitar. It still plays beautifully. The bridge vibrato is a rollered Wilkinson with pop in bar which naturally goes to the down position with no means of tightening it to be say parallel to the strings. The headstock is 45* beveled and not bound, and has a 1/16" flamed maple veneer on it. The neck binding is white/cream plastic and the body binding is tan/brown wood. I found that the battery is still at 9.12 volts! The mini chrome toggle to engage it is just under and behind the tone knob. After looking at diagrams, it is a mini tube driver circuit. Not an active or coil splitting deal as stated before. Mine is number 20. The company that bought Malden went to lower end products and the person I contacted erroneously told me the switch was for coil splitting. Apparently only a couple hundred were ever built, making having one a real treat. There just aren't any production guitars with flamed maple up the fretboard, too, or with a built in tube driver circuit. The best bolt on I've got, with the best tone, smooth vibrato, big sustain, and great tuning stability. The medium frets make it fast and two octave range is right on.

Like I said, it is a tone monster, with a very cool built in tube driver circuit that makes it sound even sweeter. No noise on any amps. It does great rock and roll, blues and metal---is there anything else anyway? The tone knob works well to brighten or darken the tone. Both pots are alpha B500, small size, but work great. The jack is fine, too, after 4 years. The neck is still straight and true, and the pocket and attachment is very tight for all the sustain. The sound of the mahogany body flame maple top , flame maple fretboard, very high quality humbuckers, and pure mojo is magic. It never ceases to amaze me.

The only flaw was not enough fret end dressing. Dressing them myself was no problem for the price, even at the original top price tag. I've got strats and Les pauls, and this blows them out of the water. The only thing close, but without the cool trem and flame maple, is my Dean Vebdetta 3 neck through I put a B500XL in with coil splitter.
One thing about these is that few were made, so not only the very high quality, but the extreme rarity, forgives the fret dressing imperfection.

I have blasted on this for over 4 years, in and out. It is my preferred gigging guitar built rugged, fairly light, and always dependable to sound great.

The company that became Malden after being sold gave me erroneous information, and now makes low end guitars of the same name, which is a disgrace to these real quality beauties. I don't know of any warranty after the company sold. I have no problem doing most work. If the hard rock quartersawn maple neck ever broke, I could probably get one custom made.

A lot as stated before. This is an irreplaceable guitar and my favorite, so I would have to track down and torture anyone who tries to steal it. It is like a great strat and Les Paul in one guitar that is comfortable, light, and well balanced, with better tonal range. The tube driver is cool, and so is the hidden, protected jack. Balls and mojo to the max---a truly dream guitar that, if you should find one, buy it at any price.

Floor model, not sure, between 2002 and 2004, I guess Korean made. 24 jumbo frets, 1/4" orange flamed maple veneer top, fretboard, and headstock---wow!! Abalone dot markers all the way incl. the second octave, bound all the way through its 3x3 strat shape, kinda, headstock with black plastic truss rod cover and iron cros type emblem. Cover has Malden and Stiger on it. HH w/ coil tap, 3-way, V & T, Wilkinson type bridge(w/rollers!)/ tremelo (that I bent to my specs). Passive pus of unknown but quality make. Maple neck (recessed 4-bolt on), mahogany body, 2 black plastic cavity covers recessed on the back, to flush. Non-locking deluxe Grover type tuners. Black plastic wide nut. Neck similar to strat with flatter radius. S-style body w/ tummy cut and arched top. Body binding brown, neck and hdstk. white. Black H rings. V/T chrome knobs. Recessed input jack on the lower back--cool. Straight string paths.

Heavy blues/metal--well suited, w/ GX1200 stereo halfstack. Not noisey even with coil split. Sound is fairly rich and full plus brighter than Gibson or EMG pus, but not as trebly on single coil as a tele. Nice, but not over-done on the H crunchiness or the single coil bite. The coil split takes it beyond the sounds of the average HH--similar to Carvin c22s w/splitter. Amazing sustain, as good as a set neck.

Came set up superbly, probably because it was a showroom model, and no flaws--except corrosion and slight end roughness on the frets. They need a good dressing. There seems to be some looseness in the input jack from use. So this rating is for the slightly used guitar.

This guitar is solid, with outstanding hardware, and thick finish. Dependable as they get, I think. This is one you could gig without back-up because it does both the single coil strat type tones and humbucker tones--with good articulation. Unless I wanted the tone of a full hollow jazz guitar--then I'd bring one with it.

I bought it from Strings and Things on ebay, and he got it out fast and in a new case for less than half the list price.

32 yrs. 5 amps, 18 guits, effects. I've got one other flamed maple top guitar, and have seen the same on headstocks, but not on the fretboard. Absolutely stunning to look at and hear. They haven't made any in a while, and are supposed to resume production. Although I have a bunch of HH guitars, this is the only one w/ coil split, now. I would have to track down a thief and kill him very painfully and slowly--it would be my pleasure. Not many have been made, and mine is serial #20.

2002 model, made on Korea. Nice two octave 25.5" scale (24 frets), mahogany body, very hot looking and superb AAAAA flamed maple veneer. Most wonderful and highly polished see through brown color I?ve ever seen. Cool thing: fingerboard and headstock also feature flamed maple veneer, same brown color. Very unusual and very pretty. The guitar hardware: Wilkinson copy trem (works flawlessly), chrome style humbucker pickups, chrome pickups rings, volume, tone, 3 way switch and active switch (+9 volt battery). I think that these humbuckers are not active but there is a circuit board that achieves active sound.

Not to go into too many details, but this guitar has mojo. Great humbucker sound, also somewhat defined. I think the reason might be my thick maple neck. That is why I got this guitar at the first place. To achieve mojo you must have a resonant chunk of wood.

In addition to it, the active switch adds another dimension in terms of sound. You have no idea what it means to play with another guitar player and switch your guitar into active mode. Suddenly his expensive guitar sounds like... well... (sorry Bruce... heh).

Two very small issues: action was higher then average and tremolo unit was firmer then average.

None of it represented a problem. All my guitars are professionally set up at the local guitar shop for a reasonable fee. Bridge/tremolo action was slightly adjusted and one tremolo spring was taken out. The result, butter smooth action.

I will definitely play this guitar without a backup, no doubt. I am sure all hardware components will work without a glitch. Perhaps I might wear out my fingerboard in years to come, but that happens regardless.

Malden staff email correspondence is outstanding; superb customer service.

I strongly encourage you to try Stiger. It is way above average in terms of quality and it is really fun to play, definitely worth every penny. I am absolutely thrilled to have this guitar.