Marlin Sidewinder, Slammer and Bass guitars

Matt_McG

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

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

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...

boydie101

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

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

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

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

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