Gibson Marauder

The Gibson Marauder is an electric guitar model. This short-lived series of solid body guitars was produced in the USA from 1974 to 1979. Only one Gibson Marauder was shipped in 1974. These guitars were an attempt by Gibson to break into the single coil pickup, bolt-on neck guitar market dominated by Fender. The Marauder originally sold for under $400 USD.

The Marauder sports a contoured single cutaway Les Paul-shaped body, and a bolt on maple neck with a headstock similar to the Flying V's. Marauders were made with alder, maple, or mahogany bodies. The fretboard was produced both in the traditional Gibson rosewood, or the more Fender-like maple, with twenty-two frets. All maple Marauder fretboards had dot markers. Many of the Marauders with rosewood fretboards had trapezoidal markers.

The Marauder features custom-designed Bill Lawrence pickups sealed in clear epoxy, a feature which was considered ahead of its time, and this was and still is considered to be one of the best qualities of this guitar. The guitar has a humbucker pickup in the neck position and a single-coil, solid-blade style pickup mounted at an angle by the bridge. This arrangement resembles the Fender Telecaster Custom. The resulting sound was closer to the Fender sound than that of most Gibson guitars.

Early Marauders have a three-way toggle switch in the lower bout of the body, to turn on either one or both pickups. Later examples were fitted with a rotary potentiometer instead, which allows a range of...
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