My 80s guitar to hang on the wall....

[LikeGuitars]

I was looking for a battered 80s guitar for a wall ornament for my newly redecorated office.

I saw this 80's Marlin 'State of the Art' Super Strat. It looked bad in the photos. I liked the piano finish and red banding - very kitsch 80s and bought it sight unseen for $50.

When I got it I plugged it in (like you do) and was surprised, it played ok. It was in unmarked condition not a scratch, just very dirty and rust on the pickup heads

I got into cleaning it and dressing the frets, lubed the fake Floyd Rose, waxed the fretboard etc.

These guitars were big sellers in the 80s in the UK. The body is plywood and the pickups at the time were well thought of as they were wax potted. A lot of top 10 groups used these. I am told that Frankie Goes to Hollywood played this exact model of guitar on Relax.

This guitar cost $500 in 88. Not cheap.

These guitars are universally derided on forums, mostly by people who have never even held one. 'My friend had one and he burnt it on the fire...', 'They were all sh*t...'. 'Worst Guitar ever made.....'. etc etc.

I didn't buy this guitar to play it, just to hang on the wall but I have to say I really like it, it plays well, has nice balance, stays in tune and has a nice 50s sound that I like.

A lot of fun been had for $50.

Pete

 

[Bobby Mahogany]

Congratulations on your find!
Really cool looking!

I would have done the same and cleaned it up and plugged it!
Plywood body? Lots of people here believe it has no bearing on tone.
So what the heck!
Anyway, if it's cool it's cool.


P.S.: Now we wanna see it "hanging"!

 

[truckermde]

Kikass!!

People who know nothing are always blowing smoke, so pay them no mind!

HNGD

 

[jc2000]

That is very cool. I did almost the same thing. I got this at a garage sale for 25.00. took it home cleaned it up, new strings and a little set up... vola! I only intended to hang it on my wall for decoration, but it plays great...

 

[bum]

I had one of these
Was my first guitar, in the UK these were everywhere (Marlins in general).
The thing with Marlin was they were junk, but sometimes almost by accident they made a decent guitar and these were one of those.
I lent it to someone who I lost contact with so never saw it again, I then got one of these:

And boooyyyyy was it bad

 

[Campbell]

Hey, my Danelectro is made of a plywood like construction. And it was not very expensive. One of my favorite guitars in the stable. REAL guitar players and lovers could care less what a guitar cost or what the hell it's made of. If it sounds good and you enjoy playing it, there you go!