Members Karma1 Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 Yesterday I went to the California Guitar show (SF Bay area) and I saw a guitar there that I had never seen or heard of before - a Fender Marauder.It was a Lake Placid Blue Jaguar-looking guitar with no pickups. Actually the pickups are mounted under the pickguard. I wish I had my camera with me to photograph it, but you can Google it. The dealer said it wasn't for sale, just for display. According wikipedia, it was only a prototype and just 8 of them were made. Here's more from wiki about it: After introducing the Jazzmaster in 1959 and the Jaguar in 1962, between 1965 and 1966, Fender prototyped the Marauder. There were two versions made: Type I, with pickups hidden underneath the pickguard and Type II, with the pickups mounted in a more conventional fashion on the pickguard. The Type II variation has three pickups, with the bridge pickup slanted as upon a Stratocaster. It also has seven switches and four knobs. The thinking behind the model was to combine the ideas behind the Stratocaster and Jaguar guitars while adding some new features to increase versatility.The guitar never officially passed the prototype stage, allegedly because the hidden pickups of the Type I variation were either too expensive for mass-production or the technology itself was too expensive to license. It's perhaps the rarest Fender guitar ever made and it is said that only 8 Marauders were created (with 4 of these guitars sporting slanted frets on the fingerboard). Fender cancelled the Marauder in 1966. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SaSa Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 A pic from Wikipedia: Interesting concept. However, with all the people complaining about the complexity of the Jaguar's switches/knobs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jtr654 Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 I've only seen pic of the under the pickgaurd one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rogers6210 Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 For my money, either of the first two tele types made for Jimmy Bryant, or the first strat ever made that he also played on some of those old sessions, would be the most important Fenders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Oyaji Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 the second rarest production fender? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrkirkish Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 ^ yeah, I've got one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Burningleaves Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 The first one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrkirkish Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 Nah, a swinger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members steve_man Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 really? got pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members darkcheef Posted July 26, 2009 Members Share Posted July 26, 2009 I think that one guitar uhhh the stratocaster is pretty rare.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members homestar_kevin Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 these guys are pretty freakin' hard to find as well. I still say they'd look amazing with a strat headstock! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hemroidius Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 Not a production model but... I saw this guitar up close at John Sprung's shop when he still worked out of Wheaton MD (he runs a place called Parts is Parts out of New England last I knew). I think the price tag said $1,000,000 - and this was back in the mid/late 80s. The pics do it no justice. It was unbelievable to look at. Type: 1957 One-Of-A-Kind Lucite Stratocaster Serial #: 26860 Remarks: This is the famous on-of-a-kind lucite (a kind of hard, transparent plastic) Stratocaster. It has quite some history. It was commissioned by Don Randall, for marketing purposes. It weighs 18 pounds. It was first displayed at the 1957 Summer NAMM. Originally it had gold-plated hardware, though this was all replaced by chrome in later years to keep the guitar looking new. After the CBS-sale the guitar was modified even more, including a CBS neck plate and serial number (now apparently 77958). Bill Carson had it is his collection for a long time, and then sold it to collector John Sprung (he of the Fender Amp book) who was trying to put it back in pre-CBS condition but sold it to a private collector. The picture was taken when the guitar already had chrome hardware, but it still has the pre-1959 8-screw pickguard. Read more... Note that there are companies that make see-through plastic guitars of all kinds (including Stratocasters). In general you can recognise these by dint of the regular wooden necks.... Above photo credits: The picture was most horribly purloined off The Fender Europe site. http://www.strat-central.com/precbs60s.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SPONGEBOB Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 I once owned what I consider one of the most rare production Fender guitars. Called the Fender Custom... It used leftovers from several guitars.. It was 6 string with a drilled for 6 strings Fender Electric XII Neck and headstock,also XII pickups and 4 way switching, Mustang bridge and trem if I recall, and a body with cutaway bouts like the Swinger.. Bound neck, block inlay.. a real weirdball. It is almost NEVER seen anywhere. Gruhn says it was made 2 years. I traded a late 60's Les Paul Goldtop for it around 1976.. I WAS an idiot in those days, and then I promply destroyed that VERY rare mint condition guitar, by digging the body out with hammer and chisels, and installing 2 Di Marzio Super Distortion pickups.. What a STUPID young man I was... Not the only rare and valuable guitar I have destroyed.. There were several, but back then they were just guitars... No such thing as ""vintage"" in the 70's... bob http://www.strat-central.com/customg.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Custom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jrkirkish Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 If you go to the wikipedia page of the fender swinger, that's a pic of my guitar. I paid $700 for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members darkcheef Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 If you go to the wikipedia page of the fender swinger, that's a pic of my guitar. I paid $700 for it. Any proof? I could say I have a 1950's esquire for $700. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cheezusbhrist Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 the Fender Les Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Furtive Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 Fender Performer is a rare one, hardly any documentation, supposedly only 500 built. The Fender Katana (set neck, not the Squier version) is even more rare. I wouldn't say that prototypes are the rarest guitars, because there is usually only one in existence, and they were not production models. That Lucite Strat made for the NAMM show is a beauty. I've seen the Lucite Duo Sonic (part of the Scott Chinery collection, I think), and even the Lucite Musicmaster Bass - recently for sale on Ebay a couple of years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Liberty Belle Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 There's a few versions of the marauder(at least two I know of), they all differ from each other.Search google image and offsetguitars.com for more info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ArKay Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 It probably looked too much like the Japanese imports Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nos Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 Not a production model but... I saw this guitar up close at John Sprung's shop when he still worked out of Wheaton MD (he runs a place called Parts is Parts out of New England last I knew). I think the price tag said $1,000,000 - and this was back in the mid/late 80s. The pics do it no justice. It was unbelievable to look at. http://www.strat-central.com/precbs60s.htm How'd it play? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angry Tele Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 The Bakelite covered 52 Tele! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MrNixon Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 The Bakelite covered 52 Tele! is that for real??? looks pretty badass, way better than the lucite to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Furtive Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 The Bakelite covered 52 Tele! Never seen or heard of that one. VERY cool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Angry Tele Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 Yeah its real. Its been xrayed and they found a bunch of extra holes on the body so they think to cover up the holes they put the bakelite over it. Apparently it was on the chitlin circuit in the 50s/60s...BB King was even asked about it. Nobody knows the whole story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Furtive Posted July 27, 2009 Members Share Posted July 27, 2009 Yeah its real. Its been xrayed and they found a bunch of extra holes on the body so they think to cover up the holes they put the bakelite over it. Apparently it was on the chitlin circuit in the 50s/60s...BB King was even asked about it. Nobody knows the whole story. It wouldn't surprise me if it was something done by the factory. Fender made those Tele front body guards before the Strat came into production, and also made lap steels covered in fake mother of pearl. Something like this could have been a customer's special request. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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