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I just recently got into researching Marauders because in the first 30 seconds of the Eric Johnson ‘Vault Sessions’ from 2 months back he plays one. It almost has SITAR tones to it?! I studied the wiring schematics and positions of the switches he has when playing and nothing about those explains that tone to me. Moreover, simple phase switching shouldn’t lead to it either.
Was that just a horribly set up Marauder that buzzes?
Chris

It was out of phase, room-mic'd, and he was bending notes in a very Eastern-sounding way.

I think it sounded more like a Pipa or maybe a Ruan than a Sitar.

I own two Marauders and can confirm they sound the same way when all 3 pickups are on and the phase switches are engaged, just as Eric Johnson plays it in the video. As for the buzzing, well, I suppose that Marauder hasn't been setup properly. I had the good fortune of examining it a couple years back and it was quite interesting - definitely worth a production run by Fender, either in 1966 or today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jh5kbCyHhEA

Here is the video for anyone who has missed it.

I actually really like the sound, but like the above poster said - sounds like it needs a set up. Is it weird that I wish I could get it WITHOUT a set up and sounding like that? It's like an electric banjo.

Eric is playing the same thing here as an intro to Hendrix “One Rainy Wish” on an EJ signature Strat.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqvPnbYMlGM

I too am a big fan of that tone, hence the thread. I’ve been toying on and off for years with ideas on how to on/off sitar tones. I don’t like the idea of a one-trick pony axe... but all the mods I’ve come up with end up wrecking havoc on intonation, sadly.
If this gets me part way there may be worth adding it to the backlog of build ideas haha.
Thanks,
Chris

Another odd thing... there are almost no YouTube videos featuring vintage Marauders or custom repros...? I found like 3 total.
Chris

offkeyericdee wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 15, 2019 9:55 am

I own two Marauders and can confirm they sound the same way when all 3 pickups are on and the phase switches are engaged, just as Eric Johnson plays it in the video. As for the buzzing, well, I suppose that Marauder hasn't been setup properly. I had the good fortune of examining it a couple years back and it was quite interesting - definitely worth a production run by Fender, either in 1966 or today.

If you ever get chance to take detailed photos, maybe even sound clips, it would be amazing!

It's such an OTT guitar - like the pinnacle of the chrome-plated, multi-switched offset on steroids. Very cool too.

I second this. More clips and vids of these things would be a plus.
Chris

offkeyericdee wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 15, 2019 9:55 am

I own two Marauders and can confirm they sound the same way when all 3 pickups are on and the phase switches are engaged, just as Eric Johnson plays it in the video. As for the buzzing, well, I suppose that Marauder hasn't been setup properly. I had the good fortune of examining it a couple years back and it was quite interesting - definitely worth a production run by Fender, either in 1966 or today.

I wouldn’t say that the Marauder isn’t set up properly, although the action might be low. The technique he is using here, the Eastern influenced theme, he has been doing that for decades, back to the late ‘80s at least. I grew up in Austin and had a rehearsal space down the hallway from his in the mid-90s, so I’ve seen it up close, and a lot of that is the way he picks and adds vibrato.

He frets the string and picks it with his right hand, then adds vibrato with the left. Picking just a fret or two from where the string is fretted gives it that pinched and buzzing tone, but the buzzing is more prominent here. I couldn’t get the Strat video to play in comparison, but I have seen him do it on a Strat dozens of times.

I just wanna third the request for any and all, hopefully a bunch, pictures and videos of Marauders that exist. It’s like my favorite thing in the world and the difficulty of sourcing all the parts to make what I’d truly want is a huge bummer. Really insane that you can’t get a repro set of those Grovers that are six on a side, infuriating really. Those Moog switches are a whole other stupid thing.

Even getting someone else to go through having to find everything for me to build one is crazy now because of CITES. I’ll probably always want, but not be able to afford, a BilT. The world needs more of these guitars!

verhoevenc wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 17, 2019 6:00 am

I too am a big fan of that tone, hence the thread. I’ve been toying on and off for years with ideas on how to on/off sitar tones. I don’t like the idea of a one-trick pony axe... but all the mods I’ve come up with end up wrecking havoc on intonation, sadly.
If this gets me part way there may be worth adding it to the backlog of build ideas haha.
Thanks,
Chris

I have toyed with making the Jaguar mute create pseudo Sitar sounds with varying degrees of success. Usually I just put a foil strip between the strings and the mute, but my Jaguar is pre-CBS and the mute foam is in a sad state. I think if it were a uniform shape that it would hold better. Or create a more uniform surface for the strings to buzz against.

I have also tried strips of credit card, which worked better to a degree. I had to try multiple widths to get the buzz right, but since it’s a vintage Jaguar, I didn’t want to glue anything to the mute, so the vibration would always make the card work loose. The foil doesn’t move around as much, but the buzz isn’t as good.

The idea of being able to flip a buzz inducer up or down as needed is a good one, I think.

You gotta replace that foam my man!

When I got my 66 and took it to the tech, the mute was installed already and he told me he got it as good as he could with what was there, I kind of shrugged it off at the time as “ok mute is broken whatever that sucks” but come to find out it was missing at least the spring, and who knows what other parts (I’d never seen a disassembled one before so no ide what else it needs) so obviously it wouldn’t stay engaged and didn’t do the nice snap in/out of place thing a normally-functioning mute would do.

Really need to get that fixed but I have no idea if repro parts will work with what I already have or what. Love the mute though and would use it a lot probably