Why do people hate Marlins?

Eggman

I have owned a Marlin Sidewinder (strat copy) for many years. I bought it second hand (maybe third, fourth or fifth hand!) at a bric-a-brac market for about £40. It is a sort of (naturally) aged cream, with a maple neck (with that cool fish at number 12). It is also genuinely road worn, with chips and wear-patches all over it. I play in a rock band and gig it regularly. It sounds great through my Fender amp. All of the pickups etc. are original (to my knowledge). It plays like butter, has a great variety of tones, sounds marvellous through my pedal board and looks so cool! It is great even in comparison with my main axe, my tele (also cream with a maple neck).
Maybe the plywood is a little heavy, and the pots crackle in the studio, but that's just character! Why do people seem to dislike these guitars?

mburekenge

Because they play like shit and sound likewise?

The fish inlay is cool though 

WezV

The bridge

Rabs

Because they are smarmy and think they are swordfish..  (everyone knows swordfish are cooler)

:P

fftc

Sidewinder is a crab, isn't it?

So your guitar is called fish crab! Maybe that's why folk are a bit sniffy about them!

Fact is though that folk are often a bit snobby about these starter guitars, until someone decides they are retro cool and then everyone wants one. Got a lot of us started though (mine was a Sunn Mustang) and if you have one that plays great then that's a win.
I'm gonna guess that a good player on a Marlin Sidewinder would sound better than a shit player on an R8!

Eggman

mburekenge said:

Because they play like shit and sound likewise?

The fish inlay is cool though

Have you ever actually played one?

Winny_Pooh

The necks can be good but the often heavy ply and dissolving bridges are shit.

mburekenge

Eggman said:

mburekenge said:

Because they play like shit and sound likewise?

The fish inlay is cool though

Have you ever actually played one?

My first ever electric from 14 years old, so yes.

Eggman

fftc said:

Sidewinder is a crab, isn't it?

So your guitar is called fish crab! Maybe that's why folk are a bit sniffy about them!

Fact is though that folk are often a bit snobby about these starter guitars, until someone decides they are retro cool and then everyone wants one. Got a lot of us started though (mine was a Sunn Mustang) and if you have one that plays great then that's a win.
I'm gonna guess that a good player on a Marlin Sidewinder would sound better than a shit player on an R8!

I thought that a sidewinder is a snake. So a fish-snake?
I've noticed that the prices are going up, I saw one for £120 on ebay so you're probably right. Mine was my first electric, too.

Eggman

mburekenge said:

Eggman said:

mburekenge said:

Because they play like shit and sound likewise?

The fish inlay is cool though

Have you ever actually played one?

My first ever electric from 14 years old, so yes.

Oh, fair enough then. Have you still got it?

TheMarlin

The Sidewinder was my first electric.  I loved it so much, friends nicknamed me 'Marlin'.  It wasn't until I bought a proper super strat that I realised just how crappy the Marlin was.  Ply, poor quality parts, trem wasn't great.   It's just a cheap plywood guitar.
That's why you can pick them up for £40. 

Eggman

Winny_Pooh said:

The necks can be good but the often heavy ply and dissolving bridges are shit.

I agree with the heavy ply. Makes your shoulder ache! My bridge hasn't dissolved yet... I often use a whammy with it.

Rabs

But more seriously...  My own opinion is that we live in a different world today...  Cheap crap guitars back then were generally that...  But more than that, if I wanted a Strat and couldn't afford a Fender id go straight for a Squire...  It at least looks more the part.

Of course that's nothing to do with if they were actually any good..  Maybe if there was an internet back then more people would have stood up for them and more would have tried them..??? They certainly suit the modding market.

Alternatively you may have just got lucky and found a good one. And at the end of the day a good player should be able to make any guitar sound good so I don't actually think its the guitar    Im not particularly happy with my playing at the moment, I don't even think it would make a difference if I played an £8000 guitar or an £80 one, I would still sound shit 

breakstuff

I gave you a wisdom for inserting the phrase 'plays like butter' and 'axe' in the same post.


Brave move.



  

Funkfingers

At the very beginning of the brand, Marlin built a small quantity of proper electric guitars and basses. Market research probably suggested that customers were reluctant to pay  more than a certain figure for a new, unknown brand. Consequently, the decision was taken to aim squarely down market. 

Eggman said:

I have owned a Marlin Sidewinder (strat copy) for many years. I bought it second hand (maybe third, fourth or fifth hand!) at a bric-a-brac market for about £40.

Fair dinkum. Forty quid is about what they are worth. i.e Roughly the same price as a functional replacement bridge or vibrato.

Eggman said:

It plays like butter

I was sympathetic/positive right up until you used this phrase. Now, I am skeptical. IMHO, there are only two things in the world that should "play like butter". One of them is butter. The other is Maria Schneider.

fftc said:

Sidewinder is a crab, isn't it?

Actually, a Sidewinder is a snake! Know wha' I mean, 'Arry?

Fol-de-rol.

Eggman

TheMarlin said:

The Sidewinder was my first electric.  I loved it so much, friends nicknamed me 'Marlin'.  It wasn't until I bought a proper super strat that I realised just how crappy the Marlin was.  Ply, poor quality parts, trem wasn't great.   It's just a cheap plywood guitar.
That's why you can pick them up for £40. 

There's something nice about all that though! For what it is, I like it.

skunkwerx

The only sidewinders I know are the Raytheon weapons systems... 

ICBM

They vary - some are crap, some are good, but most can be made quite good with a bit of work.

Yes, the bodies are ply. Apart from the usually above average weight, so what? Contrary to popular belief it doesn't make them sound bad.

The necks are usually quite nice. The fish inlay is a bit ugly, but some people love it...

The pickups and controls are perfectly OK for a cheap-ish far-east guitar. The machineheads are fine.

The bridge is the real weak point - the block is made of a very poor alloy which can crumble and collapse, and on the locking version is impossible to replace without fairly major work since it is a completely unique size. The locking nut on the ones that have it is a piece of crap and better removed anyway.

We've had a few through the shop in the last few years, when properly set up and with minor issues sorted they were good guitars - and sold for well over £100 each. One of them in particular was really nice.

But we also had one where the bridge literally spontaneously self-destructed while it was hanging on the shop wall! If I remember rightly it got fitted with a standard cheap Strat bridge, which was a bit ugly because the original pivot post holes were visible, but it did the job.

About as good as a Chinese Squier but with a bit more character, if you remember them originally - and to be fair, most people who would want one probably had one back in the 80s. If you're going to buy one, be aware of the bridge issue and check that the block has not started to collapse - or if it has, factor the cost of replacing it into the price. I probably wouldn't pay more than £50 for one in unknown condition since you can easily find them for that, but £100+ for one that's been fixed properly seems OK to me.

Philly_Q

I don't think people hate them really, it's just more amusing to say "Marlin Sidewinder" than "cheap Strat copy". 

And everyone of a certain age knows exactly what you're on about.

Fishboy7

fftc said:

Sidewinder is a crab, isn't it?

So your guitar is called fish crab! Maybe that's why folk are a bit sniffy about them!

Fact is though that folk are often a bit snobby about these starter guitars, until someone decides they are retro cool and then everyone wants one. Got a lot of us started though (mine was a Sunn Mustang) and if you have one that plays great then that's a win.
I'm gonna guess that a good player on a Marlin Sidewinder would sound better than a shit player on an R8!

..... it's a snake innit,

Guitar_Slinger

I bought a Marlin bass from LOOT for £26 in October 1999, because somebody at work needed a bass player for a couple of gigs over the millennium. It had a curved neck , which probably could have fired arrows and might have been fixable if I'd know what a truss rod was back then. But once I'd learned the songs and got the gig, another mate lent me his Squier bass which I liked so much better, so I bought one at Music Live. I sold the Marlin for £15 to some teenage girl, who only wanted it because it was metallic grey. Nowhere near as nice as the Squier bass I still have, but happy memories of the time.