Marlin Sidewinder, Slammer and Bass guitars

leithes · September 2017

Image: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154774165766790&l=5636dad3ff

So, I, as most people, are used to hearing almost nothing but bad things about Marlin guitars. I am also well used to there being little very actual information about them - Planet Botch being one of the few notable exceptions:

https://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/marlin-sidewinder-forgotten-legend.html

and

http://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/early-non-korean-marlin-guitars-obscure.html

So this is my attempt to add a little to the sum of Marlin knowledge through my own experiences and guitars. I think most of the bad press received for Marlin Strat copies probably arises due to the later Korean made guitars. I suspect that the earliest Korean-made models (pre-Hohner acquisition) and the rare first-year-of-production East German-made ones actually are surprisingly good and solid, for what were essentially budget guitars.

I own, in order of acquisition, a black Marlin Sidewinder (Korean made, but almost certainly pre-Hohner) bought second hand for £50 in around 1991, as my first guitar (and has remained my main guitar to this day), a red Sidewinder bass which was given to me free in the late nineties by a friend, a red Marlin East German Sidewinder, which I sacrificed on the alter of investigation somewhat when I turned it into a travel guitar, and finally a white/cream Marlin Slammer, also East German. All of these can be seen together in this album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774165156790.1073741918.624466789&type=1&l=9780e28544

In order here are th features of each guitar.

1. The Black Marlin Sidewinder - Korean

This was my first guitar and it has "suffered" a fair few mods over the years. Its original specs are a plywood body, wax-filled pickups (HSS), locking nuts and fine tuning with a vaguely Floyd Rose style trem. Over the years I fully scalloped the neck, removed the middle pickup, replaced the 5-way selector with a 3-way and finally two years ago the crappy dark grey alloy trem block crumbled to dust and I replaced it with a rolled steel one. And the guitar sounds so sweet, even more so with the steel block increasing the sustain. The pickups are quite high output, higher than any of my other guitars, and the neck I now realise is that of a "super-strat", in that it is thinner than your average strat neck, and quicker to move the fingers around.

2. The Red Marlin Sidewinder Bass - Hohner vintage.

I must confess this is the guitar of least interest to me. This year the electrics went a bit wobbly, so I just bought a new fully loaded scratch plate and replaced the original one. It's a bass. It plays.

3. The Red Marlin Sidewinder. This was an interesting guitar which I bought this year from a seller on eBay for £16. My intention was to buy a guitar I didn't mind sacrificing, in order to make a fold down travel guitar which fits in my suitcase
(you can see the process in this album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154643692756790.1073741917.624466789&type=1&l=3de46339bf).
But, as soon as I saw it up close I realised it was a different beast from my first Sidewinder. This was obviously (from what was contained in the Planet Botch post) a rare, year one, East German sidewinder. It has a solid basswood body, traditional pickups (SSS) but of East German manufacture backed by Russian magnets, and a much thicker neck, again much more like a traditional Stratocaster. The headstock was also considerably larger than the later Korean sidewinder. The trem block was also better than the later model, in this case being zinc. The investigation of this sidewinder can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154634668701790.1073741916.624466789&type=1&l=1d96d8d4e8

4. The White/Cream Marlin Slammer. After butchering the red East German Marlin to make it a travel guitar I fancied an intact equivalent to add to my collection. And so I managed to obtain this Slammer off ebay for £40 a few weeks ago. You can see my initial investigation here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774376666790.1073741919.624466789&type=1&l=e8d9c23e3b
The Slammer was almost identical in construction to the East German Sidewinder with two notable differences. 1. the headstock was smaller; not as small as the Korean Sidewinder but smaller than the East German Sidewinder. However the neck was just as think as the other East German. Both East German Marlins have 21 fret fretboards while the Korean Sidewinder is 22 fret. 2. That second major difference between the two East German guitars is that the Slammer came with a steel block! As far as i can tell from fit this is original. So, it -seems- that, in these year one guitars, the Slammer may have been designed as the slightly higher end option, while the Sidewinder was slightly lower in features. That said both are -very- close in sound, play and weight. Both the East German guitars have a more raw, traditional strat sound on the bridge pickup down to the single coil there versus the humbucker on the Korean Sidewinder.

So there you have it

ICBM · September 2017

We had an early Korean Sidewinder in the shop about a year ago - it was surprisingly nice, and not just 'for a Marlin', it was a pretty decent guitar. It didn't seem to be afflicted by the collapsing bridge block syndrome - which I've experienced personally, one literally spontaneously self-destructed while the guitar was on a wall hanger in the workshop! - and although the electrics were a bit ropey, I sorted it out and it played and sounded really quite good. We sold it for something like £180

.

I think the bridge problem may have killed quite a lot of them, which may be why you don't seem to see them around much now - there's no direct replacement for it, so without a lot of work, the body then becomes a write-off. And without the body, who wants a neck with a very cheap-looking locking nut (or the screw holes from it) and a fish inlay on it?

leithes · September 2017

ICBM said:

We had an early Korean Sidewinder in the shop about a year ago - it was surprisingly nice, and not just 'for a Marlin', it was a pretty decent guitar. It didn't seem to be afflicted by the collapsing bridge block syndrome - which I've experienced personally, one literally spontaneously self-destructed while the guitar was on a wall hanger in the workshop! - and although the electrics were a bit ropey, I sorted it out and it played and sounded really quite good. We sold it for something like £180 .

I think the bridge problem may have killed quite a lot of them, which may be why you don't seem to see them around much now - there's no direct replacement for it, so without a lot of work, the body then becomes a write-off. And without the body, who wants a neck with a very cheap-looking locking nut (or the screw holes from it) and a fish inlay on it?

Hi! Yes, the steel block I used to replace the exploded one in the Korean Sidewinder didn't -quite- fit with the trem plate; the trem bar hole in the plate only -just- aligns with the one in the block, but fortunately just is enough. And all the block attachment holes to the plate lined up fine and were the right size in both. The cavity did need a few extra bits shaving off to give it full movement. But it wasn't the most arduous thing I've ever done

Image: http://www.thefretboard.co.uk/plugins/EmojiExtender/emoji/fb/3.gif

This was the block btw: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guitar-tremolo-block-solid-steel-including-screws-52-5-string-spacing-/391810583861?hash=item5b39bb0d35
Might help save a few more Marlins

leithes · September 2017

P.S. The Zinc and Steel blocks in the East German ones were a -real- surprise, I suspect they may survive 'til the end of time!

steviebee74 · September 2017

I had one as my first electric guitar in about 1988/9. It was a an off-white/cream affair with a maple neck/black inlays setup. The curious thing I remember about it was that the bridge pickup was a single blade (or at least looked like it). I'm sure the plastics were black too.

It was definitely "pre-hohner" as I remember the adverts stating that they'd taken the brand over and that was when the bridge HB pickups seemed to appear along with metallic finishes and locking trem/nut arrangements.

It was ok from what i remember but the ravages of time have long-since kicked in a distorted my memories. I also had a Marlin "10L" amp that was made from chipboard.

leithes · September 2017

steviebee74 said:

I had one as my first electric guitar in about 1988/9. It was a an off-white/cream affair with a maple neck/black inlays setup. The curious thing I remember about it was that the bridge pickup was a single blade (or at least looked like it). I'm sure the plastics were black too.

It was definitely "pre-hohner" as I remember the adverts stating that they'd taken the brand over and that was when the bridge HB pickups seemed to appear along with metallic finishes and locking trem/nut arrangements.

It was ok from what i remember but the ravages of time have long-since kicked in a distorted my memories. I also had a Marlin "10L" amp that was made from chipboard.

Hi! Pretty sure that all the Sidewinders after year one (1985-early 86?) were HSS. Only the "rare" East German 85 ones were SSS. My own Korean sidewinder has the -kind of- Floyd Rose trem system with the fine tuning nuts and the locking nuts at the headstock, and the bridge pickup is a double rail humbucker with the same size and shape as a single coil unit, and it, along with the two single coil pickups, are all wax filled. There seems to have been a wide range of styles of humbuckers used on the bridge pickups over the years, possibly even within any given year's range of options.

leithes · October 2017

Here are all the Marlins in my "Marlin Museum" pictured together, side-by-side, for your enjoyment: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774165156790.1073741918.624466789&type=1&l=9780e28544

leithes · October 2017

leithes said:

ICBM said:

We had an early Korean Sidewinder in the shop about a year ago - it was surprisingly nice, and not just 'for a Marlin', it was a pretty decent guitar. It didn't seem to be afflicted by the collapsing bridge block syndrome - which I've experienced personally, one literally spontaneously self-destructed while the guitar was on a wall hanger in the workshop! - and although the electrics were a bit ropey, I sorted it out and it played and sounded really quite good. We sold it for something like £180 .

I think the bridge problem may have killed quite a lot of them, which may be why you don't seem to see them around much now - there's no direct replacement for it, so without a lot of work, the body then becomes a write-off. And without the body, who wants a neck with a very cheap-looking locking nut (or the screw holes from it) and a fish inlay on it?

Hi! Yes, the steel block I used to replace the exploded one in the Korean Sidewinder didn't -quite- fit with the trem plate; the trem bar hole in the plate only -just- aligns with the one in the block, but fortunately just is enough. And all the block attachment holes to the plate lined up fine and were the right size in both. The cavity did need a few extra bits shaving off to give it full movement. But it wasn't the most arduous thing I've ever done This was the block btw: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Guitar-tremolo-block-solid-steel-including-screws-52-5-string-spacing-/391810583861?hash=item5b39bb0d35
Might help save a few more Marlins

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8qmwrz86qni89rs/PHOTO_20171008_134908.jpg?dl=0
It seems impossible to attach images to posts properly on this forum, but hopefully you can see a pic showing how tight it is for the trembar going into the hole on the block through the plate. However, believe it or not, it is still completely free to swing around wildly if you prefer it loose (or give it another turn for a stiffer bar).

suspiciousminds · October 2017

I had a sidewinder, must have been around late ‘88/89.
I thought it was a great guitar but the trem was always sending it out of tune, so i never used that.
That said, i bought it out of the catalogue paying monthly, and it was never set up properly.
Honestly cant remember what i did with it.

ICBM · October 2017

There's another one in the shop just now - a nice dark metallic blue.

It's a good guitar, more or less. It plays well and sounds pretty resonant unplugged, and the neck is a nice profile. The bridge block has not (yet!) collapsed, the locking nut is tight and works properly and it stays in tune well even when using the trem. The pickups aren't great, it has to be admitted - the single coils are thin and scratchy-sounding, and the humbucker is extremely muddy when not split and a bit dull when split. That said, a pickup upgrade is not considered unusual even on many more expensive guitars.

I really don't get the level of hate and derision they seem to attract… it's not the best guitar in the world, but for £129 - the same price as they were new if I remember rightly, and so much cheaper in real terms now - it's fair value for money, along with a big chunk of nostalgia if you were a beginner in the late 80s. It's no worse than a low-end Squier which sells for the same price now, and if anything (discounting the known bridge block problem) probably more solidly made.

I did wonder about buying it and posting a NGD just to amuse everyone

. But no, although I like it I have to be honest... my Aria is better.

Clashman · December 2017

I had a Marlin Sidewinder years ago but I sold it for £35 to a shop in York it has a dent on the back of
the neck from my Brothers attempt to break it if anyone has it I'll buy it back for £50...

leithes · March 2018

There have been a few more additions to the Marlin Museum; another Korean sidewinder for my "music shed", and three amps! 50W reverb, a little 10W and a 25W Bass amp!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774165156790.1073741918.624466789&type=1&l=9780e28544

Snags · June 2018

At the risk of thread necromancy, I never realised people hated these at all.

I remember them coming out, and a friend getting one, and the rest of us being insanely jealous as we were all playing things that were infinitely more horrible, but couldn't afford the luxury of a new guitar.

leithes · June 2018

I never hated mine

Legba · March 2020

I have a white Sidewinder and P style white bass... they both have suberb necks. Two of the guitars I learnt on to set up guitars and IMO were very good value for money at the time. My two white Marlins are keepers even if I don't really play them much these days

TuffNut · March 2020

I used to have one of the German sidewinders, I didn't realize how good it was at the time! I was about 14 Years old. It was a brown and cream fade with 3 single coils and 6 screw trem. It had alnicos which I didn't know at the time, it's downfall came when I tried to fit a locking tremolo and split the wood! I played a later one and was not impressed with the plywood body.

TheMarlin · March 2020

I had one, and loved it (until I played a proper guitar).

I wouldn’t shut up about it when I got it in 85/86.

Hence the nickname, which persisted long after the guitar had gone.

TuffNut · March 2020

leithes said:

So, I, as most people, are used to hearing almost nothing but bad things about Marlin guitars. I am also well used to there being little very actual information about them - Planet Botch being one of the few notable exceptions:

https://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/marlin-sidewinder-forgotten-legend.html

and

http://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/early-non-korean-marlin-guitars-obscure.html

So this is my attempt to add a little to the sum of Marlin knowledge through my own experiences and guitars. I think most of the bad press received for Marlin Strat copies probably arises due to the later Korean made guitars. I suspect that the earliest Korean-made models (pre-Hohner acquisition) and the rare first-year-of-production East German-made ones actually are surprisingly good and solid, for what were essentially budget guitars.

I own, in order of acquisition, a black Marlin Sidewinder (Korean made, but almost certainly pre-Hohner) bought second hand for £50 in around 1991, as my first guitar (and has remained my main guitar to this day), a red Sidewinder bass which was given to me free in the late nineties by a friend, a red Marlin East German Sidewinder, which I sacrificed on the alter of investigation somewhat when I turned it into a travel guitar, and finally a white/cream Marlin Slammer, also East German. All of these can be seen together in this album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774165156790.1073741918.624466789&type=1&l=9780e28544

In order here are th features of each guitar.

1. The Black Marlin Sidewinder - Korean

This was my first guitar and it has "suffered" a fair few mods over the years. Its original specs are a plywood body, wax-filled pickups (HSS), locking nuts and fine tuning with a vaguely Floyd Rose style trem. Over the years I fully scalloped the neck, removed the middle pickup, replaced the 5-way selector with a 3-way and finally two years ago the crappy dark grey alloy trem block crumbled to dust and I replaced it with a rolled steel one. And the guitar sounds so sweet, even more so with the steel block increasing the sustain. The pickups are quite high output, higher than any of my other guitars, and the neck I now realise is that of a "super-strat", in that it is thinner than your average strat neck, and quicker to move the fingers around.

2. The Red Marlin Sidewinder Bass - Hohner vintage.

I must confess this is the guitar of least interest to me. This year the electrics went a bit wobbly, so I just bought a new fully loaded scratch plate and replaced the original one. It's a bass. It plays.

3. The Red Marlin Sidewinder. This was an interesting guitar which I bought this year from a seller on eBay for £16. My intention was to buy a guitar I didn't mind sacrificing, in order to make a fold down travel guitar which fits in my suitcase
(you can see the process in this album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154643692756790.1073741917.624466789&type=1&l=3de46339bf).
But, as soon as I saw it up close I realised it was a different beast from my first Sidewinder. This was obviously (from what was contained in the Planet Botch post) a rare, year one, East German sidewinder. It has a solid basswood body, traditional pickups (SSS) but of East German manufacture backed by Russian magnets, and a much thicker neck, again much more like a traditional Stratocaster. The headstock was also considerably larger than the later Korean sidewinder. The trem block was also better than the later model, in this case being zinc. The investigation of this sidewinder can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154634668701790.1073741916.624466789&type=1&l=1d96d8d4e8

4. The White/Cream Marlin Slammer. After butchering the red East German Marlin to make it a travel guitar I fancied an intact equivalent to add to my collection. And so I managed to obtain this Slammer off ebay for £40 a few weeks ago. You can see my initial investigation here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774376666790.1073741919.624466789&type=1&l=e8d9c23e3b
The Slammer was almost identical in construction to the East German Sidewinder with two notable differences. 1. the headstock was smaller; not as small as the Korean Sidewinder but smaller than the East German Sidewinder. However the neck was just as think as the other East German. Both East German Marlins have 21 fret fretboards while the Korean Sidewinder is 22 fret. 2. That second major difference between the two East German guitars is that the Slammer came with a steel block! As far as i can tell from fit this is original. So, it -seems- that, in these year one guitars, the Slammer may have been designed as the slightly higher end option, while the Sidewinder was slightly lower in features. That said both are -very- close in sound, play and weight. Both the East German guitars have a more raw, traditional strat sound on the bridge pickup down to the single coil there versus the humbucker on the Korean Sidewinder.

So there you have it

I used to have a marlin sidewinder one of the earlier ones, I must have been about 14 yrs old. I didn't realise until years later that the pickups were alnico. I stripped it down and resprayed it for a while , it's downfall came when I tried to install a locking trem and split the wood. The earlier ones had nice solid necks and bodies definitely a Squier beater, I played a later one and was not impressed at all and could not beat an egg!!

TuffNut · March 2020

leithes said:

So, I, as most people, are used to hearing almost nothing but bad things about Marlin guitars. I am also well used to there being little very actual information about them - Planet Botch being one of the few notable exceptions:

https://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/marlin-sidewinder-forgotten-legend.html

and

http://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/early-non-korean-marlin-guitars-obscure.html

So this is my attempt to add a little to the sum of Marlin knowledge through my own experiences and guitars. I think most of the bad press received for Marlin Strat copies probably arises due to the later Korean made guitars. I suspect that the earliest Korean-made models (pre-Hohner acquisition) and the rare first-year-of-production East German-made ones actually are surprisingly good and solid, for what were essentially budget guitars.

I own, in order of acquisition, a black Marlin Sidewinder (Korean made, but almost certainly pre-Hohner) bought second hand for £50 in around 1991, as my first guitar (and has remained my main guitar to this day), a red Sidewinder bass which was given to me free in the late nineties by a friend, a red Marlin East German Sidewinder, which I sacrificed on the alter of investigation somewhat when I turned it into a travel guitar, and finally a white/cream Marlin Slammer, also East German. All of these can be seen together in this album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774165156790.1073741918.624466789&type=1&l=9780e28544

In order here are th features of each guitar.

1. The Black Marlin Sidewinder - Korean

This was my first guitar and it has "suffered" a fair few mods over the years. Its original specs are a plywood body, wax-filled pickups (HSS), locking nuts and fine tuning with a vaguely Floyd Rose style trem. Over the years I fully scalloped the neck, removed the middle pickup, replaced the 5-way selector with a 3-way and finally two years ago the crappy dark grey alloy trem block crumbled to dust and I replaced it with a rolled steel one. And the guitar sounds so sweet, even more so with the steel block increasing the sustain. The pickups are quite high output, higher than any of my other guitars, and the neck I now realise is that of a "super-strat", in that it is thinner than your average strat neck, and quicker to move the fingers around.

2. The Red Marlin Sidewinder Bass - Hohner vintage.

I must confess this is the guitar of least interest to me. This year the electrics went a bit wobbly, so I just bought a new fully loaded scratch plate and replaced the original one. It's a bass. It plays.

3. The Red Marlin Sidewinder. This was an interesting guitar which I bought this year from a seller on eBay for £16. My intention was to buy a guitar I didn't mind sacrificing, in order to make a fold down travel guitar which fits in my suitcase
(you can see the process in this album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154643692756790.1073741917.624466789&type=1&l=3de46339bf).
But, as soon as I saw it up close I realised it was a different beast from my first Sidewinder. This was obviously (from what was contained in the Planet Botch post) a rare, year one, East German sidewinder. It has a solid basswood body, traditional pickups (SSS) but of East German manufacture backed by Russian magnets, and a much thicker neck, again much more like a traditional Stratocaster. The headstock was also considerably larger than the later Korean sidewinder. The trem block was also better than the later model, in this case being zinc. The investigation of this sidewinder can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154634668701790.1073741916.624466789&type=1&l=1d96d8d4e8

4. The White/Cream Marlin Slammer. After butchering the red East German Marlin to make it a travel guitar I fancied an intact equivalent to add to my collection. And so I managed to obtain this Slammer off ebay for £40 a few weeks ago. You can see my initial investigation here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774376666790.1073741919.624466789&type=1&l=e8d9c23e3b
The Slammer was almost identical in construction to the East German Sidewinder with two notable differences. 1. the headstock was smaller; not as small as the Korean Sidewinder but smaller than the East German Sidewinder. However the neck was just as think as the other East German. Both East German Marlins have 21 fret fretboards while the Korean Sidewinder is 22 fret. 2. That second major difference between the two East German guitars is that the Slammer came with a steel block! As far as i can tell from fit this is original. So, it -seems- that, in these year one guitars, the Slammer may have been designed as the slightly higher end option, while the Sidewinder was slightly lower in features. That said both are -very- close in sound, play and weight. Both the East German guitars have a more raw, traditional strat sound on the bridge pickup down to the single coil there versus the humbucker on the Korean Sidewinder.

So there you have it

The slammer also had a flat fret board almost like a classical guitar, a friend of mine had or it was not nice.

TuffNut · March 2020

leithes said:

So, I, as most people, are used to hearing almost nothing but bad things about Marlin guitars. I am also well used to there being little very actual information about them - Planet Botch being one of the few notable exceptions:

https://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/marlin-sidewinder-forgotten-legend.html

and

http://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/early-non-korean-marlin-guitars-obscure.html

So this is my attempt to add a little to the sum of Marlin knowledge through my own experiences and guitars. I think most of the bad press received for Marlin Strat copies probably arises due to the later Korean made guitars. I suspect that the earliest Korean-made models (pre-Hohner acquisition) and the rare first-year-of-production East German-made ones actually are surprisingly good and solid, for what were essentially budget guitars.

I own, in order of acquisition, a black Marlin Sidewinder (Korean made, but almost certainly pre-Hohner) bought second hand for £50 in around 1991, as my first guitar (and has remained my main guitar to this day), a red Sidewinder bass which was given to me free in the late nineties by a friend, a red Marlin East German Sidewinder, which I sacrificed on the alter of investigation somewhat when I turned it into a travel guitar, and finally a white/cream Marlin Slammer, also East German. All of these can be seen together in this album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774165156790.1073741918.624466789&type=1&l=9780e28544

In order here are th features of each guitar.

1. The Black Marlin Sidewinder - Korean

This was my first guitar and it has "suffered" a fair few mods over the years. Its original specs are a plywood body, wax-filled pickups (HSS), locking nuts and fine tuning with a vaguely Floyd Rose style trem. Over the years I fully scalloped the neck, removed the middle pickup, replaced the 5-way selector with a 3-way and finally two years ago the crappy dark grey alloy trem block crumbled to dust and I replaced it with a rolled steel one. And the guitar sounds so sweet, even more so with the steel block increasing the sustain. The pickups are quite high output, higher than any of my other guitars, and the neck I now realise is that of a "super-strat", in that it is thinner than your average strat neck, and quicker to move the fingers around.

2. The Red Marlin Sidewinder Bass - Hohner vintage.

I must confess this is the guitar of least interest to me. This year the electrics went a bit wobbly, so I just bought a new fully loaded scratch plate and replaced the original one. It's a bass. It plays.

3. The Red Marlin Sidewinder. This was an interesting guitar which I bought this year from a seller on eBay for £16. My intention was to buy a guitar I didn't mind sacrificing, in order to make a fold down travel guitar which fits in my suitcase
(you can see the process in this album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154643692756790.1073741917.624466789&type=1&l=3de46339bf).
But, as soon as I saw it up close I realised it was a different beast from my first Sidewinder. This was obviously (from what was contained in the Planet Botch post) a rare, year one, East German sidewinder. It has a solid basswood body, traditional pickups (SSS) but of East German manufacture backed by Russian magnets, and a much thicker neck, again much more like a traditional Stratocaster. The headstock was also considerably larger than the later Korean sidewinder. The trem block was also better than the later model, in this case being zinc. The investigation of this sidewinder can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154634668701790.1073741916.624466789&type=1&l=1d96d8d4e8

4. The White/Cream Marlin Slammer. After butchering the red East German Marlin to make it a travel guitar I fancied an intact equivalent to add to my collection. And so I managed to obtain this Slammer off ebay for £40 a few weeks ago. You can see my initial investigation here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774376666790.1073741919.624466789&type=1&l=e8d9c23e3b
The Slammer was almost identical in construction to the East German Sidewinder with two notable differences. 1. the headstock was smaller; not as small as the Korean Sidewinder but smaller than the East German Sidewinder. However the neck was just as think as the other East German. Both East German Marlins have 21 fret fretboards while the Korean Sidewinder is 22 fret. 2. That second major difference between the two East German guitars is that the Slammer came with a steel block! As far as i can tell from fit this is original. So, it -seems- that, in these year one guitars, the Slammer may have been designed as the slightly higher end option, while the Sidewinder was slightly lower in features. That said both are -very- close in sound, play and weight. Both the East German guitars have a more raw, traditional strat sound on the bridge pickup down to the single coil there versus the humbucker on the Korean Sidewinder.

So there you have it

I used to have a marlin sidewinder one of the earlier ones, I must have been about 14 yrs old. I didn't realise until years later that the pickups were alnico. I stripped it down and resprayed it for a while , it's downfall came when I tried to install a locking trem and split the wood. The earlier ones had nice solid necks and bodies definitely a Squier beater, I played a later one and was not impressed at all and could not beat an egg!!

TuffNut · March 2020

leithes said:

So, I, as most people, are used to hearing almost nothing but bad things about Marlin guitars. I am also well used to there being little very actual information about them - Planet Botch being one of the few notable exceptions:

https://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/marlin-sidewinder-forgotten-legend.html

and

http://planetbotch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/early-non-korean-marlin-guitars-obscure.html

So this is my attempt to add a little to the sum of Marlin knowledge through my own experiences and guitars. I think most of the bad press received for Marlin Strat copies probably arises due to the later Korean made guitars. I suspect that the earliest Korean-made models (pre-Hohner acquisition) and the rare first-year-of-production East German-made ones actually are surprisingly good and solid, for what were essentially budget guitars.

I own, in order of acquisition, a black Marlin Sidewinder (Korean made, but almost certainly pre-Hohner) bought second hand for £50 in around 1991, as my first guitar (and has remained my main guitar to this day), a red Sidewinder bass which was given to me free in the late nineties by a friend, a red Marlin East German Sidewinder, which I sacrificed on the alter of investigation somewhat when I turned it into a travel guitar, and finally a white/cream Marlin Slammer, also East German. All of these can be seen together in this album:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774165156790.1073741918.624466789&type=1&l=9780e28544

In order here are th features of each guitar.

1. The Black Marlin Sidewinder - Korean

This was my first guitar and it has "suffered" a fair few mods over the years. Its original specs are a plywood body, wax-filled pickups (HSS), locking nuts and fine tuning with a vaguely Floyd Rose style trem. Over the years I fully scalloped the neck, removed the middle pickup, replaced the 5-way selector with a 3-way and finally two years ago the crappy dark grey alloy trem block crumbled to dust and I replaced it with a rolled steel one. And the guitar sounds so sweet, even more so with the steel block increasing the sustain. The pickups are quite high output, higher than any of my other guitars, and the neck I now realise is that of a "super-strat", in that it is thinner than your average strat neck, and quicker to move the fingers around.

2. The Red Marlin Sidewinder Bass - Hohner vintage.

I must confess this is the guitar of least interest to me. This year the electrics went a bit wobbly, so I just bought a new fully loaded scratch plate and replaced the original one. It's a bass. It plays.

3. The Red Marlin Sidewinder. This was an interesting guitar which I bought this year from a seller on eBay for £16. My intention was to buy a guitar I didn't mind sacrificing, in order to make a fold down travel guitar which fits in my suitcase
(you can see the process in this album https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154643692756790.1073741917.624466789&type=1&l=3de46339bf).
But, as soon as I saw it up close I realised it was a different beast from my first Sidewinder. This was obviously (from what was contained in the Planet Botch post) a rare, year one, East German sidewinder. It has a solid basswood body, traditional pickups (SSS) but of East German manufacture backed by Russian magnets, and a much thicker neck, again much more like a traditional Stratocaster. The headstock was also considerably larger than the later Korean sidewinder. The trem block was also better than the later model, in this case being zinc. The investigation of this sidewinder can be seen here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154634668701790.1073741916.624466789&type=1&l=1d96d8d4e8

4. The White/Cream Marlin Slammer. After butchering the red East German Marlin to make it a travel guitar I fancied an intact equivalent to add to my collection. And so I managed to obtain this Slammer off ebay for £40 a few weeks ago. You can see my initial investigation here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154774376666790.1073741919.624466789&type=1&l=e8d9c23e3b
The Slammer was almost identical in construction to the East German Sidewinder with two notable differences. 1. the headstock was smaller; not as small as the Korean Sidewinder but smaller than the East German Sidewinder. However the neck was just as think as the other East German. Both East German Marlins have 21 fret fretboards while the Korean Sidewinder is 22 fret. 2. That second major difference between the two East German guitars is that the Slammer came with a steel block! As far as i can tell from fit this is original. So, it -seems- that, in these year one guitars, the Slammer may have been designed as the slightly higher end option, while the Sidewinder was slightly lower in features. That said both are -very- close in sound, play and weight. Both the East German guitars have a more raw, traditional strat sound on the bridge pickup down to the single coil there versus the humbucker on the Korean Sidewinder.

So there you have it

The slammer also had a flat fret board almost like a classical guitar, a friend of mine had or it was not nice.

Matt_McG · March 2020

I had a Marlin Sidewinder in about 1986, and played it until about 1989/90. I don't know where mine was made, but it was black, with 3 single coils, and a 6 screw trem. I'm guessing it might have been one of the East German ones.

My recollection was that the basic playability was good. I had it setup with a pretty low action, with no buzzing, and that the amplified tone was OK. The trem was cheap crap, though. The arm on mine disintegrated, and was some kind of cheap pot-metal.

legohead · March 2020

leithes said:

1. The Black Marlin Sidewinder - Korean

This was my first guitar and it has "suffered" a fair few mods over the years. Its original specs are a plywood body, wax-filled pickups (HSS), locking nuts and fine tuning with a vaguely Floyd Rose style trem. Over the years I fully scalloped the neck, removed the middle pickup, replaced the 5-way selector with a 3-way and finally two years ago the crappy dark grey alloy trem block crumbled to dust and I replaced it with a rolled steel one. And the guitar sounds so sweet, even more so with the steel block increasing the sustain. The pickups are quite high output, higher than any of my other guitars, and the neck I now realise is that of a "super-strat", in that it is thinner than your average strat neck, and quicker to move the fingers around.

This Marlin was my first electric guitar and I've had it these last 35 years. As you can see, I made a few mods including a custom stainless steel pickguard and replacement Ernie Ball chrome volume and tone knobs. Everything else is original and it's still one of my favourites to play.

But today, my tremolo block disintegrated as I was playing. I didn't know this was a thing and I'm now seeking out a suitable replacement. Given the uniqueness of this trem block, I can either painstakingly make one to the original dimensions or replace the whole bridge. I was hoping to use the original posts which are approx 70mm apart but can't find anything close enough. I did find a Floyd Rose assembly with a 74mm spacing that I could probably modify. The other option is to do away with the tremolo all together as I never use it but it's kind of part of the character of this guitar and so I'd like to keep it. In addition, I don't really want to start putting new holes in the body.

legohead · April 2020

I bought one of these cheap ($20) ebay Floyd Rose bridges for now until I find a way to repair the original. Seems to do the trick although you can see the void beind the bridge. Also, the tremolo arm needed an extra few mm but I didn't want to start shaving the cavity. I never use the trem anyway and just wanted something in the style of the original...

Image: http://www.legoheads.com/FRbridge1.jpg

Image: http://www.legoheads.com/FRbridge2.jpg

boydie101 · September 2021

I found this link recently and wanted to add my two pence…

Over the past few months I have owned a Marlin Slammer and Sidewinder. Here are a few pics of the Slammer - sidewinder pics to follow.

Solid guitars, personally I loved the originality and age of the Slammer. Bought for £25 and sold for £50.

If someone has the skills to embed the images it would be much appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/92adViV

boydie101 · September 2021

And here’s the link to the Sidewinder.

Solid and heavy! Tasteful stickers from previous owner relieved of their duties!

https://imgur.com/a/HKS8waQ

TheMarlin · September 2021

The Marlin Sidewinder had just come out, and my family bought one for me for my 16th birthday. Was silver, HSS, and I adored it, so much do my friends & first band members bestowed upon me my nickname (Forum name) that they still use to this day.

I kept it for about two years, and traded it in against a Steinberger, which I kept through to 2008. The Steinberger was an awesome guitar. I also bought an 1988 RG750 which was fabulous, but always thought the pickups were a bit dull. I sold that one when it started to look a bit daft among the Gretsches. Was battered, so went off to a new home, and into restoration.

Anyway, the Marlin was great at the time, but wouldn’t want to go back there. Witt hindsight, the best thing I can say about it, was that it was adequate

maharg101 · September 2021

My first guitar was a black Marlin Sidewinder, with a single rail in the bridge. Would have been 1985ish iirc. Purchased from Modern Music in Winchester along with a Fender Frontman 10w (suspect PMPO) with a 6" speaker. I seem to recall problems with it staying in tune ! But I learnt a lot of tracks off vinyl and cassette with that guitar before it was replaced by a charvel !

leithes · September 2021

Well the Marlin museum persists, and my first black Marlin is still my favourite

And indeed saw service on this somewhat ropey comedy song I stuck up on YouTube this week

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Marlin Sidewinder, Slammer and Bass guitars

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