70s Vtg 1975 GIBSON MARAUDER Electric Guitar w/Case VGC

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70s Vtg 1975 GIBSON MARAUDER Electric Guitar w/Case VGC I believe this is a 1975 Model. Solid Wood Body, natural color. The serial number is 403987. Made in USA. It has the rare original double ring tuners. I believe the guitar is all original, however please take a look at the photos to make your own assesment. A friend played this guitar and said it had good sound, the 3 position toggle switch works as it should. The volume and tone knobs work as they should. There is no fret buzz. This has two imperfections, one ding on the back of the neck, shown next to the penny and the other is a scratch very close to the piece that hold the strings at the bottom. Beautiful and UNIQUE guitar! There are some minor black scuffs around back bottom edge, which may or may not come off. (shown next to a penny in the photo) Overall amazingly good condition. It comes in vintage USA Elcelsior case that serves the purpose but has some rock star wear and tear on the outside edges. Here is some interesting background from Wikipedia: "The Gibson Marauder is an electric guitar model. This short-lived series of solid body guitars was produced in the USA from 1974 to 1979. Only one Gibson Marauder was shipped in 1974. These guitars were an attempt by Gibson to break into the single coil pickup , bolt-on neck guitar market dominated by Fender . The Marauder originally sold for under $400 USD. The Marauder sports a contoured single cutaway Les Paul -shaped body, and a bolt on maple neck with a headstock similar to the Flying V 's. Marauders were made with alder , maple, or mahogany bodies. The fretboard was produced both in the traditional Gibson rosewood , or the more Fender-like maple, with twenty-two frets. All maple Marauder fretboards had dot markers. Many of the Marauders with rosewood fretboards had trapezoidal markers. The Marauder features custom-designed Bill Lawrence pickups sealed in clear epoxy, a feature which was considered ahead of its time, and this was and still is considered to be one of the best qualities of this guitar. The guitar has a humbucker pickup in the neck position and a single-coil , solid-blade style pickup mounted at an angle by the bridge. This arrangement resembles the Fender Telecaster Custom . The resulting sound was closer to the Fender sound than that of most Gibson guitars. Early Marauders have a three-way toggle switch in the lower bout of the body, to turn on either one or both pickups. Later examples were fitted with a rotary potentiometer instead, which allows a range of blends between the two pickups. In still later Marauders, the potentiometer was positioned between the volume and tone knobs. Marauders all have Gibson's tune-o-matic bridge and a stop tailpiece . They have enclosed tuners , and typical Gibson strap buttons. Published reviews characterize the guitar as heavy and durable, but with weak pickups. Due to the bolt-on neck construction and unusual Fender characteristics of the guitar, the Marauder was not a success. It was too much like a Fender for Gibson buyers to like, and too much like the Gibson for those who liked Fender qualities to enjoy. After its slow reaction, the Marauder was discontinued by 1982. It is, however, considered a solid-quality, if unusual, vintage guitar. In 1976–77, Gibson produced the Marauder Custom, with a premium finish and construction details. Also starting in 1976, Gibson started producing the Gibson S-1 , similar to the Marauder in appearance, but with three single-coil pickups. It, too, was unpopular and was discontinued at around the same time as the Marauder. [ edit ] The Kiss connection The Marauder was heavily promoted by the rock band Kiss in the 1970s. Gibson ads featuring them even went so far as to call the Marauder "the Kiss axe". There was a Paul Stanley signature model known as "the midnight special" with Paul's signature on the pickguard. He and Ace Frehley were pictured with them during photo-shoots and Stanley with them onstage, but they generally did not ... read more

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