I got this guitar on Ebay due to the history behind Marlin guitars. They were a sort of cheap squier/strat clone that proved to be popular in the UK. This one has just a single humbucker but allegedly though they worked to a budget the pickups weren’t bad. So I got this on Ebay and will be looking to TLC it and get it back in action. The ebay seller designated it as a Marlin Sidewinder K32-04. If this is true, then this is one of the few that were made in East Germany. Later K34’s and so on were made in Asia. (see https://planetbotch.blogspot.com/2014/07/early-non-korean-marlin-guitars-obscure.html)
I cut the five strings off since I’ve no idea how old they are. Also it gives me a chance to give the Marlin a clean. I tightened up the loose output jack and noticed that two of the machine head rings are missing. Obviously there are a few dings but other than that it should be just a matter of restringing. I had some spare Fender machine heads left over after replacing the ones on the FrankenSquier so those go on.
At this point I find out that either I’ve used up all my sets of strings or perhaps they’ve been borrowed so I’ll have to order some.
The strings arrived so a chance to see how this sounds. After a little distraction with the output jack where I ended up having to take the boat assembly off and put it back again before the jack to my strum buddy would go in right, I got to try it. And while my guitar learning is still back at 2 chord horse with no name just now, I do think I have a nice little addition to the collection with its own unique sound. I am really happy at picking this up at the price I got for, it just needed a little tightening, restringing and cleaning but the east german guitar rocks on!
Oh though after stringing it the tremolo bridge is riding a tiny bit high, so perhaps it needs a tremolo bridge spring or two. It came without a whammy bar, I need to try and figure out whether these guitars ever had whammy bars or not.
I need to take the back plate off and see what the tremolo springs look like. Either it needs some extra springs or perhaps the existing springs are a bit old.
Still the verdict is although this is an old and basic guitar, it definitely has a sound of its own so a good result on an ebay purchase I think.
Project cost:
Marlin Sidewinder from eBay £46.00
Postage £15.99
Retro Newspaper guitar strap £7.72
Fender vintage tremolo springs £8.45
Project cost £78.16
Robbie's Guitar Projects 