Another Gibson Marauder, this one with Bowen Handle vibrato

guitarz.blogspot.com:

Further to yesterday's post about the Gibson Marauder, here is another example currently being offered for sale on eBay with a Buy It Now price of $859.99.

This is one of the earlier models with a 3-way toggle pickup selector switch. It also has a Rosewood fingerboard as opposed to the Fender-esque Maple as often found on these guitars.

The most significant difference is that it is equipped with a tremolo, or rather vibrato, namly The Bowen Handle (almost certainly a later addition and not original to the guitar). This looks to be a top-mounted vibrato which wouldn't require any routing into the body, an alternative to the Bigsby perhaps. I wonder what ever became of this system? Obviously one would need to try it as to ascertain its effectiveness but it looks to my eyes as if it could be a very useable system. I do like vibratos where the mechanism is from behind the bridge rather than being integral to the bridge.

G L Wilson

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