Marlin Sidewinder

[ianpdq]

I know they sold millions of the damn things, but I occasionally wonder how many (few) still survive to this day..

If this one is anything to go by they are all firewood by now, sorted the volume, now the tone is a volume it needs all new pots it's not mine otherwise it would have gone out of the window from the third floor

[SuspiciousMinds]

I had a black one of these in '88 from the catalogue and to be honest i loved it - i think it kind of fitted what was "in" at the time.
I remember deciding between a jap squier bullet and the marlin - the marlin won 'cause i thought the bullet wasnt a proper guitar and for a noob!
When it came i bought a big old vox amp off a mate - still don't know what model it was but it was pretty basic - vol,tone,bass - no reverb,gain etc but it was big and effing loud!
Sold the amp for 50 quid - i'm guessing it's worth a bit more than that now!

[Bellycaster]

I used to work in music retail in the late 80s and we used to sell Sidewinders by the bucketful. God knows why (apart from the price). Every parent thought it was the solution for the little budding hair-metal heroes. We actually used to try and steer them towards the newly launched Yamaha Pacifica's cos they were great value for the money, unlike those Marlins which were frankly the single most shi&%iest pieces of 'wood' and strings that I've ever seen. I just wonder how many kids lost the faith due to the appalling floating trems these garbage came with

I got one for Xmas 1987, along with a Ross 10 watt amp. The guitar looked like the bees knees, snow white and "maple" neck. I was 15 and could not understand why it wouldn't stay in tune,lol. Guess Guitar physics doesn't register at an impressionable age. Anyway I'm still Playing so I survived it.

[SuspiciousMinds]

The tuning on mine was pretty good if i remember right - got to be honest, i never considered it to be one of the worst guitars i've had, i actually liked mine!

[frankus]

I had one and it was the first guitar I ever rewired, fret scalloped, stripped and repainted, decoupaged, removed the binding from, reshaped the body, reshaped the headstock and eventually threw away

If I'd not been exposed to it's cheapness I don't think I'd ever have wished for a guitar built entirely to my custom specs... or felt okay buying a really cheap tele with the sole intention of sodding around with it for one month and a limited budget