Fender Marauder II Prototype Replica
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2019 10:29 am
Well, I was finally able to put this all together… It’s been almost a year in the making. So, the story goes that I, like many, fell in love with the Marauder II prototype upon learning about its existence many years ago. I knew then I had to have it, but was pretty uncertain on the logistics of ever obtaining one. I have some guitar assembly skills, but none whatsoever when it comes to fabrication. I started by asking a friend in a machine shop if it was possible to fabricate the plates. He assured me it was, but it would most likely be a costly and time consuming undertaking. I all but gave up on it as being a plausible venture. I just figured that I could get BILT to put together something roughly similar if need be…
Fast forward many years to January 2017… Jazzprod puts a bunch of Deep Seat Guitars prototypes up for sale to fund some machinery purchases and in the lot is a Marauder II replica! I never have emailed and DM'd so fast in my life… but unfortunately I was late to the game. It was already spoken for. I was devastated, however hopeful because now I knew where I could obtain one if I ever was ready to pull the trigger on a custom guitar of that caliber. But, ultimately the thought of owning one was put on the back burner…
Fast forward again to January 2018… Holy Jebus Christo!!!… the same Deep Seat Marauder II pops up on eBay! So, I shoot my shot (or shot my shot, I guess), send a long winded message to the seller on how I have been in pursuit of this guitar in the past, present an offer, and super fortunately score the DSG Marauder II! Hell, if you google Fender Marauder II, the DSG Marauder II pops up! I changed the pickguard and pickup covers to give it more of the prototype vibe. It looks like this now:
So that brings us up to Januaryish 2019… After completing a custom Meteora replica with a Jazzmaster configuration, I figured, hell… why not try to cobble together a replica of the Marauder II as closely as possible to the prototype with a reasonable budget. I reached out to Rosser Guitars to see if they’d be interested in potentially adding the Marauder II style body to their lineup, but he respectfully declined. I put the feelers out here on OSG, and Sonichris from Texas Toast Guitars answered the call! Body down! I got all the plates from Faction, which took a shit long time. Plates Down! Ordered a Mooncaster neck from Warmoth. Neck down! Sent the body and neck off to GuitarPaintGuys to be painted similar to the prototype here:
That took an even longer ass time! But finally last month I had all the components together to assemble the damn thing! So, without further ado, here are the pics of the completed guitar…
I’m pretty damn happy with it! It plays beautifully. I’m actually getting a brighter, hotter sound out of this than my DSG. This has Duncans in it. They have a bit more clarity and presence to them, if that makes sense. The DSG has stock ’65 reissues in it. The Warmoth satin finished neck feels awesome, and it just feels like an all around super comfortable guitar to play. What can I say, I’m stoked and it was totally worth the journey to obtain another version of this guitar, mainly since it’s been my dream guitar for so long now!
Fast forward many years to January 2017… Jazzprod puts a bunch of Deep Seat Guitars prototypes up for sale to fund some machinery purchases and in the lot is a Marauder II replica! I never have emailed and DM'd so fast in my life… but unfortunately I was late to the game. It was already spoken for. I was devastated, however hopeful because now I knew where I could obtain one if I ever was ready to pull the trigger on a custom guitar of that caliber. But, ultimately the thought of owning one was put on the back burner…
Fast forward again to January 2018… Holy Jebus Christo!!!… the same Deep Seat Marauder II pops up on eBay! So, I shoot my shot (or shot my shot, I guess), send a long winded message to the seller on how I have been in pursuit of this guitar in the past, present an offer, and super fortunately score the DSG Marauder II! Hell, if you google Fender Marauder II, the DSG Marauder II pops up! I changed the pickguard and pickup covers to give it more of the prototype vibe. It looks like this now:
So that brings us up to Januaryish 2019… After completing a custom Meteora replica with a Jazzmaster configuration, I figured, hell… why not try to cobble together a replica of the Marauder II as closely as possible to the prototype with a reasonable budget. I reached out to Rosser Guitars to see if they’d be interested in potentially adding the Marauder II style body to their lineup, but he respectfully declined. I put the feelers out here on OSG, and Sonichris from Texas Toast Guitars answered the call! Body down! I got all the plates from Faction, which took a shit long time. Plates Down! Ordered a Mooncaster neck from Warmoth. Neck down! Sent the body and neck off to GuitarPaintGuys to be painted similar to the prototype here:
That took an even longer ass time! But finally last month I had all the components together to assemble the damn thing! So, without further ado, here are the pics of the completed guitar…
I’m pretty damn happy with it! It plays beautifully. I’m actually getting a brighter, hotter sound out of this than my DSG. This has Duncans in it. They have a bit more clarity and presence to them, if that makes sense. The DSG has stock ’65 reissues in it. The Warmoth satin finished neck feels awesome, and it just feels like an all around super comfortable guitar to play. What can I say, I’m stoked and it was totally worth the journey to obtain another version of this guitar, mainly since it’s been my dream guitar for so long now!
