Marlen?

[Robin Venters]

Robin At OKC Music and Sound in OKC.

Customer brought in an old looking Marlen double 10 pedal steel, in pretty rough condition. 7 pedals? 2 Knees? can't tell much.

This thing would take a lot of work... are they at all desirable?

[Lane Gray]

They are desirable but not hugely valued. Great tone, but many people don't understand or relate to the mechanism.
Fully cleaned and set up, probably worth around 2K,in basket case condition around 700.
If I didn't have two projects on the bench I'd LOVE to have it.
Oops. I just reread the pedal and knee count. As it's missing a bunch of parts, in good nick it'd be 1700 tops.
Needing work, between 650 and 7

[Donny Hinson]

It depends on the age and condition, Robin. Some are decent, and some older models are hack jobs...they had pretty cabinets, but the mechanics were 2nd rate high-school shop class quality. The desirability is hard to pin down. I know some players who still use them, but I honestly can't think of any top pro who played a Marlen, at least, for any length of time. They were always a low-buck alternative to the more popular guitars, and once the all-pull craze caught on, they were pretty much relegated to beginner use.

I was never really a fan of the pull/release design, but anything is better than nothing, as they say. Actually, most of my disappointment in it was because of the mechanics and workmanship; the way it was usually executed. If you can do the work yourself, they can be improved significantly, but I wouldn't really rate them as an "investment-grade" instrument.

Marlen did build some all-pull models, with far better mechanics, and those are the only ones I'd personally recommend.

[Bob Carlucci]

It depends on the age and condition, Robin. Some are decent, and some older models are hack jobs...they had pretty cabinets, but the mechanics were 2nd rate high-school shop class quality. The desirability is hard to pin down. I know some players who still use them, but I honestly can't think of any top pro who played a Marlen, at least, for any length of time. They were always a low-buck alternative to the more popular guitars, and once the all-pull craze caught on, they were pretty much relegated to beginner use.

I was never really a fan of the pull/release design, but anything is better than nothing, as they say. Actually, most of my disappointment in it was because of the mechanics and workmanship; the way it was usually executed. If you can do the work yourself, they can be improved significantly, but I wouldn't really rate them as an "investment-grade" instrument.

Marlen did build some all-pull models, with far better mechanics, and those are the only ones I'd personally recommend.

What???. I have owned Carter/Bud/MSA/Dekley/Williams/MCI/Fender/Fessenden/GFI/Marlen/ETS pedal steel guitars.. My Marlen has beautifully machined parts that are stout, light, and VERY well don.. As good as any MSA I have owned, and better than a lot of the light flimsy parts being installed on modern steel guitars... You may have seen some very early, very primitive marlens.. Mine is from the 70's,. Its a P/R,- its light, the mechanism is set in an aluminum frame with Delrin bushings, and its accurate in the extreme.. Doesn't go out of tune ever.. A massive pain in the ass to set up, but once there, its shown anvil like reliability.. You once wrote that all Marklens aren't created equal... Mr Stadtler made constant improvements in his P/R system.. Mine is wonderful.. I play my Marlen ahead of the modern steels I now own or have owned,,, My Marlen is simply more reliable, stays in tune better, and sounds better.. Oh yeah, the strings are over 2 1/2 years old.. Never broke even 1 ... I don't know what more you could ask for in a pedal steel.. You might want to have a look at a P/R Marlen undercarriage that was made after about 1970... They are very well crafted, with well machined pull parts. btw,Speedy West was a fantastic steel player. He played Marlen guitars for years, as did Toy Caldwell, who was a lousy steel player, but still he could have afforded any other, "less primitive" brand I would imagine..bob

[Donny Hinson]

Bob, I did say that some of them are "decent", and that's the best I can do. Admittedly, they were never popular in my area, and I've only seen and played about a half-dozen of them (other than the one I own). Sorry, but I call 'em as I see 'em, based on my own experiences, and I can't give them the glowing recommendation that you do.

[Damir Besic]

Robin At OKC Music and Sound in OKC.

Customer brought in an old looking Marlen double 10 pedal steel, in pretty rough condition. 7 pedals? 2 Knees? can't tell much.

This thing would take a lot of work... are they at all desirable?

good, and desirable are two different things... Marlen are great guitars ( any steel can be in rough condition, I've seen plenty of them, and they were not Marlens either) , are they desirable? no ... nothing is desirable now days except Franklin and ZUM seems like it ... just because guitar is not desirable (read "popular") doesn't mean they are not great guitars... your guitar could most likely be restored to a beautiful condition, depends how much money you are willing to invest into it... as far as playability goes, Marlen plays just as good, if not better, then many others, and sounds better then most...none of the modern guitars, including Franklin or ZUM,don't have the tone Marlen has...and i tried them all, over 150 of them...

[Thiel Hatt]

I have never owned a Marlen, but I knew Leonard Stadler personally and have played his personal guitar.The later models were an all pull system. Triple raise / double lower changer . A machine shop in Reidsville, NC made the changers for him. Those later models were comparable to the leading brands. They sound great and play very well. I was impressed with his guitar that he let me play in his store and also at the Church where he played. (And I play a ZumSteel)

[Bill Dobkins]

I know where there is one that was owned by Sneaky Pete. My friend John Daugherty had it. His widow still has it but won't part with it. I have ask to let me give it a good cleaning but to no avail, I imagine by now it's getting pretty corroded. Shame.

[Russ Tkac]

I had an 84 SD10 and it was rock solid and sounded as good as my 70 S-10 Emmons. I have not had pull release but have heard many that sounded great. One day I may try one out.

[John Scanlon]

I play an 1990 all-pull Marlen and love it. Excellent bang for the buck. Desirability is probably best measured by the avg price fetched in the open market, which one could prob figure out on this site if you went far back enough on old sales posts to get a reliable sample size. I don't know how desirable they are; I only know how good mine is.