Fender’s Flagship Prototype That Never Was – True Vintage Guitar
If you’ve spent time looking through Fender’s catalog from 1965, then you may have come across a strange listing at the top of the price list: “MARAUDER GUITAR with tremolo, four pickups, Sunburst finish – $479.00“. If you’ve never seen a Marauder, that’s because the model never officially went into production. The first version was scrapped – but the second version met the same fate. So when I received pictures of a second version 1966 Fender Marauder in Sunburst available about 4.5 hour’s drive away from my house, my jaw dropped. Finding an original Fender Marauder field test prototype for sale is a very rare occurrence!
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I was extremely privileged to buy this amazingly clean 1966 Fender Marauder in nearly unplayed and all original condition from the son-in-law of its second owner. I was thrilled to get to experience all the interesting features that Fender included: the slant frets, the individual pickup on/off switches, the phase selector switches and the unique Marauder pickups. Before I got the opportunity to plug one in, I thought it was fun to look at but not great to play. I was very wrong- this is a very usable and playable guitar with amazing tonal options ranging from Stratocaster to Jaguar!
Jump to the Marauder information you’re looking for:
Story of this 1966 Fender Marauder Slant Fret
Fender Marauder Features and Measurements
Marauder Controls and Switches Diagram
Do you have an original Fender Marauder?
The Story of this 1966 Fender Marauder 178099
The original Marauder began in 1963 with a new and unique hidden pickup design. Tom Wheeler’s book indicates that this may have been the reason for the name: the (masked) Marauder since the pickups were set into the body underneath the pickguard. Page 3 of the 1965 Fender catalog shows both a Sunburst with tremolo V1 Marauder and a Blue Ice Metallic V1 with no pickups visible. They used a Stratocaster style bridge and a (bass) VI style 4 on a plate pickup switches. The V1 Marauder’s switches are three position in the style of a Mustang to allow for phase selection. But the model was scrapped before the production run and none were ever delivered to end users.
In 1966, the model name and basic body shape were picked back up by Fender R&D headed by Gene Fields. The second version abandoned the hidden pickup design (reasons may have included patent issues, cost issues, or just plain poor tone) in favor of three exposed pickups. Each pickup had a two position on/off switch, phase selection switches for the middle and bridge pickups only, and an added kill switch on the plate. Few (possibly 4) were made with a slant fret design intended to be more ergonomic to the player, and potentially four others were made with standard block markers and parallel frets. The Stratocaster bridge and tremolo were replaced with a (bass) VI bridge for slant frets or a standard offset bridge for parallel frets and a Mustang style tremolo.
How is it that an original second version 1966 Fender Marauder came to live in Panama City, Florida?! I begged the seller for all the information he could give me. His father-in-law was a professional musician who made a few records in the 1970s. He also partied a lot with that crowd, and eventually he left the music industry to pursue ministry. He became a full time pastor, and was asked to guest preach at a church in the Los Angeles, California area. The family history states that the pastor of the church in LA was a former Fender employee. The two pastors connected over music and guitars and the Marauder passed to this man’s father-in-law. His son-in-law was a professional musician, songwriter, and guitar enthusiast. He was given this Marauder as a Christmas present in the early 2000s.
Unique Features of the 1966 Fender Marauder Type II
While the Type II Fender Marauder has plenty of unique features, I was stunned at how intuitive and playable it was. Nothing here is gimmicky; everything had a purpose intended to make playing the guitar more fun. Here are a few of the things that I thought were special.
Slant Frets and 25 1/4″ Scale Length
Perhaps the most unique feature on the Type II Marauder are its slanted frets and fretboard. Instead of frets perpendicular to the neck, the slant fret board shifts the treble side of the fretboard up away from the bridge which yields a slightly more ergonomic feel when fretting bar chords, etc. My experience with the slanted frets was fantastic; it took only a few moments of playing it to settle in and feel very comfortable. It didn’t feel gimmicky at all.
The scale length felt like a typical long scale Fender like the Stratocaster/Telecaster/Jazzmaster, but when I measured it, I found something interesting. The proper method of measure the scale length of a guitar is to measure from the front of the nut to the top of the 12th fret, then double that. I measured it just because I could, but I was surprised to find it exactly 12 5/8″! That indicates that the scale length is 25 1/4″ long, not the typical 25 1/2″. I measured a 1965 Stratocaster and a 1967 Jazzmaster just to be sure, and I was happy to find that they both measured 12 11/16″ at the top of the fret. That means that the slant fret type II Marauder is indeed a slightly different scale length than the rest.
Most of the current research suggests that only four were made with slant frets, but that’s not been proven to my knowledge. I think that the slightly different scale length is a side effect of the slant fret design and the existing neck jigs at Fender. The top of the fretboard is parallel with the frets, but the end of the board and neck heel are perpendicular to the body. A full 25 1/2″ scale may have exceeded the length of the necks made on existing neck jigs, but that’s just a guess.
“Marauder” pickups
A quick look at the pickups made me think that they would be standard Jaguar pickups, but they’re not. The shape of the cover is identical to a Jaguar pickup cover except that it has not cut out for the claw, because there is no claw! All three pickup magnets are pointing south to strings in the style of both a Stratocaster pickup and a Jaguar neck pickup (the bridge pickup on a Jaguar points south to strings).
Marauder (Type II) Switching and Control Layout
I found the Marauder controls to be very intuitive. Here’s a diagram of how the control layout works:
My personal favorite aspect of the type II Marauder are the individual on/off switches for each pickup and the phase selector switches for the middle and bridge pickups. Have you ever wanted to play a Stratocaster with all three pickups on? With the Type II Marauder, you can. But you can also play around with loads of great different variations such as all three pickups on, but the middle is out of phase. Or maybe just the bridge pickup is out of phase. I had a blast playing around with all the different tones available.
Weight and Measurements
It’s my passion to document and catalog every guitar that comes through my shop. Here are some of the important measurements I took on this 1966 Fender Marauder prototype:
Weight: 9.4 lbs / 4.25 kg. I think that the thick metal plates on the front likely influence its weight.
Scale: 25 1/4″ (12 5/8″ to the top of the 12th fret)
Nut width: 1.65″
1st fret neck profile: 0.85″
12th fret profile: 0.90″
Neck pickup: 5.75k south to strings
Middle pickup: 6.76k south to strings
Bridge pickup: 7.15k south to string
Neck heel: “13DEC66B” (13 = Stratocaster model code, B = standard neck width)
Potentiometer code: “304 6617” (304 = Stackpole, 66 = 1966, 17 = 17th week)
Do you have a missing Fender Marauder?
While many of the original Fender Marauder guitars that Fender made in the 1960s have been found, there are some still out there. Do you have one? Get in touch here: Contact Us. I’d be happy to have a look and I may be an interested buyer as well. It’s my goal to help catalog and document vintage Fender guitars for all to see.
