Old Marlin Steel help

Jeff Pickering · Post by **Jeff Pickering** » 13 Mar 2013 4:11 pm

Hello...

I'm not a regular poster, but a friend of a friend just purchased an old Marlin double neck steel from a music store here in Wichita. He came to me to help him get started in playing it. When he got here, the guitar was unplayable and not set up in any way standard. I was unable to even tell what sort of tuning it was. What I'm wondering is if there is anyone out there who can work on these old guitars, might have parts etc as it's missing some. He'd like to get it set up for E9th and C6th. The guy who bought it is a good old boy but didn't know what he was looking at when he bought it. He lives in Medford, OK. If there's anyone out there with any ideas, it would be great.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 13 Mar 2013 7:30 pm

Jeff, shoot me an email, we can get you and your friend cookin'.

Ben Godard · Post by **Ben Godard** » 13 Mar 2013 7:44 pm

if it's a pull release changer on it, i would try and get rid of it. if its an all pull it may be worth keeping.

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 13 Mar 2013 7:47 pm

Ben, the pull-release has an awesome tone. I'd send it to someone who knows 'em and doesn't mind working on 'em. Not a guitar to throw away

Ben Godard · Post by **Ben Godard** » 13 Mar 2013 9:14 pm

yeah, i guess you are right. Its just in royal p.i.t.a. trying to tune set it up. But if you want a push pull sound of an emmons but dont have the money to buy an emmons, a malin pull release will sound very close. But like I said its a royal pain to try to tune. Not to mention all of the helper springs all over the place it takes to make it work right. Nonetheless, once you get them setup just right, they are pretty good guitars. There's quite a handful of people who like them. One in particular is the guy that did the 2007 interview on a cd with Don Helms. I cant remember his name right now. But he has a beutiful laquer red awesome sounding Marlen. Thats another thing about the Marlens i might add. Mr Stadtler made the most beutiful psg's i have ever seen. god rest his soul.

richard burton · Post by **richard burton** » 13 Mar 2013 10:11 pm

I disagree with Ben's assertion that a pull release is a pita to set up/tune.

What could be simpler than pressing a pedal, tuning the raise at the headstock, then releasing the pedal and tuning the open note with the endplate screw?

Sometimes, this forum is a mine of well-intentioned misinformation, which must be very confusing for a newcomer.

Chris Lucker · Post by **Chris Lucker** » 13 Mar 2013 10:26 pm

I agree. A pull-release Marlen is a great introduction to learning the undersides of pedal steel mechanics. There are no hidden moving parts, and when the time comes, some simple improvements are easy to conceptualize and fabricate.

Ned McIntosh · Post by **Ned McIntosh** » 13 Mar 2013 10:45 pm

Jeff, these pull-release Marlens are unique beasts. They have a tone all of their own. However, if the undercarriage is very badly out of adjustment (and yours sounds like it is) then you will need someone who is familiar with the mechanism to set it up.

I re-built the undercarriage on my D10 Marlen and it was many weeks before I achieved the necessary balance of spring-tension versus string-tension for those strings which both raise and lower (The E-strings on the E9th neck, for example). A lot of trial and error, a lot of hard-thinking, and a lot of work making parts, ensuring pedals and levers had enough mechanical travel for the necessary movement of bellcranks, rods, collars and changer-fingers to take place. What I now have is a beautiful, playable piece of steel-guitar history with a unique tone.

Setting up a pull-release which is totally out of adjustment is not for the novice. Fortunately there are good folks here who are well-versed in these steels and I'm sure they'll help, although you may actually have to take, or send, your steel to them so they can work their magic.

Jeff Pickering · Post by **Jeff Pickering** » 15 Mar 2013 3:27 pm

Thanks a lot for all your comments. I appreciate the responses.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 15 Mar 2013 3:34 pm

Here's one I used to own. Stayed in perfect tune and sounded awesome--wish I would have hung onto it. But you can't keep 'em all!!

Lane Gray · Post by **Lane Gray** » 15 Mar 2013 3:40 pm

Damn if Len didn't make some purty guitars

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 15 Mar 2013 3:55 pm

That's an especially nice one, right there.

BTW, not to be a stickler, but the brand of guitar is the MARLEN, not "Marlin." It was named for the owners Marvin Hudson and Leonard Stadler. Marvin was a friend of mine so I thought I'd mention the correction.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 15 Mar 2013 4:05 pm

But you can't keep 'em all!!

But, in hindsight, we all wish we would have.

That one should be in a museum.

Herb Steiner · Post by **Herb Steiner** » 15 Mar 2013 4:09 pm

From the looks of the fireplace, I bet that one got the Ricky Davis polish job. RD does do a fine job on those old 'Buds and Marlens.

Jeff Pickering · Post by **Jeff Pickering** » 15 Mar 2013 4:14 pm

My bad on misspelling the name in my original post. I know they are Marlens, just mistyped. I guess I don't pick a keyboard very well!

Jeff Pickering · Post by **Jeff Pickering** » 15 Mar 2013 4:15 pm

My bad on misspelling the name in my original post. I know they are Marlens, just mistyped. I guess I don't pick a keyboard very well!

Jeff Pickering · Post by **Jeff Pickering** » 15 Mar 2013 4:16 pm

My bad on misspelling the name in my original post. I know they are Marlens, just mistyped. I guess I don't pick a keyboard very well!

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 15 Mar 2013 4:18 pm

Yes Herb, Ricky refurbed that guitar for me, back in my very early pedal steel dayz. His fireplace is famous.(so is his work)

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 16 Mar 2013 11:07 pm

Herb Steiner wrote:From the looks of the fireplace, I bet that one got the Ricky Davis polish job. RD does do a fine job on those old 'Buds and Marlens.

He do indeed.I bought an SD-10 from Ricky (I think), and it was a jumbled mess underneath--No fault of Ricky's---Springs all over the place, it looked--Weird.
But I took it to my old buddy Charles Reece's house.IMO, Charles was the greatest at working on a pedal steel--And nobody was close, except maybe Mac Atcheson, with push-pulls. A man who has been associated with several steel companies, told me that Charles built a better push-pull than Emmons.
Anyway, we put that little guitar on the bench, and parts started flying like Pogo's car! Took awhile, be he had that guitar right and sounding fine. It was light, too, but it sure didn't sound that way after Charles worked his magic on it.They are, indeed, great little guitars, with vicious tone.

Edward Rhea · Post by **Edward Rhea** » 7 Apr 2013 8:56 am

hey guys, it's been about a month, thought i might give y'all an update on this old marlen. talked to jeff in the beginning, he advised me to join the forum and posted this cry for help. i was able to contact ricky davis who in turn led me to james morehead and richard burton(sorry i haven't contacted richard just yet). James and i have corresponded and met. he was able to clean up, restring and set up my e9 neck. a little tweaking, some mothers, and a fresh set of strings made a huge difference! still i have a few issues with parts missing, but not enough to keep me from learning a few fundamentals. ive concluded that learning the steel is somewhere between beating yourself up and dismantling a nuclear bomb. i've really enjoyed the marlen, it has great tone.
i also would like to thank randy tatman for providing me with a marlen volume pedal, it's working out great!
i'll try to get a few pictures posted for you who are inrested. in the mean time i'm gonna pick strings and steel some licks

chris ivey · Post by **chris ivey** » 7 Apr 2013 9:13 am

..and a good lesson from ben in foot-in-mouth back-pedaling.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 8 Apr 2013 7:06 am

Eddie, You have a very cool Marlen and yes, it has GREAT tone to the bone. It is up and running enough to get "hands on" and start your journey of learning the "musical rubics cube". It's a joy to help you get it up and running, and see your enthusiasm. Looking forward to you coming down again.

Mule Ferguson · Post by **Mule Ferguson** » 8 Apr 2013 12:09 pm

I just became a proud owner. Marlin S10 White SN27379X. which should be a 1972. correct. Please enlighten me on the changer/pull.ETC

Mule

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 8 Apr 2013 1:39 pm

I agree somewhat with Ben's analysis. Though the pull/release systems may sound nice, many of the early Marlens were poorly built. If the guitar has a lot of wear, and if the crossrod bushings are loose, it can be a real bear to keep in tune, and cabinet drop may also be significant. Old, worn guitars can be fixed, but the work is expensive if you have someone else do it (usually hundreds of dollars). I'm in the camp that no matter how good a guitar sounds, or how good it looks, if it's unreliable and won't stay in tune, it's useless to me.

The later, all pull, instruments are far better guitars, and they are the only Marlens I'd ever recommend.

James Morehead · Post by **James Morehead** » 9 Apr 2013 5:33 am

Donny, I agree to a point, All the "ifs" you speak of are true for ANY guitar--pull release as well as all pull. I've seen some all-pull guitars that rival Lego's in quality, for what it's worth. It's wise to look past the "name" and look at the guitar.

Good thing about Eddie's Marlen, after adding a couple knee levers, It just needs to be cleaned up and adjusted. No biggee. He made a great buy.

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