The Steel Guitar Forum

The details:

Serial #196688 (I assume this means it was made in '66)
9 pedals, cross-rod for a single knee added later than the pedals, but the lever itself is missing.
Single finger changer, pull-release mechanism. No surprises there.
Nice double-scroll key heads, matching stylized endplates. Two piece solid maple body. The green is painted over the maple. Really great looking guitar.

The known part of the story:

I just purchased this guitar from Jody Perry of Denton, TX. It belonged to his father, who was a hobby player, now deceased about 10 years. His mother purchased the guitar from a pawn shop in Odessa, TX around 78 or 79 as a gift.

The case was original and had the marks of a seriously gigged guitar. A number of bar dings, a rotting piece of felt between the necks, and the unmistakable smell of the honky tonks are present.

The case has really cool vintage decals for: Toul, France; Luxembourg; Monaco; A partially remaining Sooner sticker of some sort; Texas; Florida; and Maryland.

I am not a collector of guitars, having owned just one at a time since I started. When I saw this Marlen, it called to me, and so now I am cleaning it up and bringing it back into playing condition.

I'd love to know more about its history. Since it's a pretty unique looking guitar, I wonder if anyone remembers seeing it, and can shed some light on who might have put all the miles on it?

Thanks,
Burton Lee
Denton, TX
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Well, I don't know anything about it but it looks really cool!

I am pretty sure I have seen this guitar as I saw most of the ones Leonard Stadler was building around this time. Probably built in his basement workshop at home or in the back of his music store in Reidsville, N. C. I turned him on to the manufacturer of his fretboards, Acme Nameplate of Monroe, N. C. Their main business was things like instrument panels for automobiles.

My Marlen is it's twin, except mines red

I took the back neck off mine, added four knee levers (as it didn't have any), and converted it to a SD 10.

One of the best sounding and easiest playing steels that I have ever had, check it out here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIni_VB6X44

Very nice, Richard! I've recorded it (hope you don't mind) and I'll put it on my Christmas music list (I-Tunes).

Ah yes! Same headstock and endplates. I've been looking at lots of old Marlens and the hardware really varies. I saw a 66 with endplates bolted into the body through the front panel.

Do you know the serial number of the red guitar? Also, did you add the shobud fretboard?

Did you save the parts from the C neck? Id love to have some cross rods and cranks for more levers!! Want to make a deal?

Also, did any Marlens from this era have knees? Id like to put on something true to the guitar, although Im tempted to use some antique tool handles.

Thanks guys! Im still hoping someone used to watch Ol Jim Bob play that guitar every Sunday in Laredo! Im a sucker for history.




If you

Also:

The workings under the hood were pretty complete, and I won't need much to get it configured the way I want, however there are a few items that I would love to locate:

As mentioned, crossbars and bell cranks for this guitar would be really welcome. As it is, I'm going to repurpose the 9th pedal as a knee lever. I'd love to add instead of subtract if possible.

I need to find at least two,but hopefully a handful, of fine tuners that fit on the rod. I have brass ones on my Emmons, and I've heard Ricky Davis mention nylon tuners in this way. If anyone has any idea where I can get these, that'd be very appreciated!

Also, a supplier for the shaft collars would be handy. I have a bunch, but I may need more if I'm adding levers.

Finally, theres a little compression clamp that sits on the back side of the small rotating post that links the rod to the bellcrank. The clamp serves like a cotter pin and keeps the post from falling out of what it is otherwise an unthreaded hole. As you can infer, I'm missing a few. I dont even know what to call this to go looking for it.

Any help is super welcome!

Thanks,
Burton Lee
Denton TX

Burton get in touch with Ricky Davis down around the Houston area now I think. He's an expert on the Marlen guitar.


phred

nice richard..that marlen has a nice rich tone..kinda ZBish.

Always liked the stylized "M" on the keyheads and endplates! Just as cool as a Gumby!

Burton,
My Marlen serial number is 196686

I put the shobud fretboard on(kindly given to me by forumite Ken Byng), because I didn't like the glare off the original fretboards.

I used nearly all the parts, plus I made a lot more, when I added the knee levers.

I didn't copy the original Marlen bellcranks etc, I made all the extras out of whatever material I could find, so it's a bit of a dogs dinner 'under the hood'.

I also added helper springs and some centre braces (to stop the flex in the cross-shafts), and this made playability very easy

Ahh! They're brothers! That's awesome! I wonder what other colors he made in 1966.

Bobby Bowman was waiting for my call this morning. He knew exactly why I was calling. I love that dude!

So he had some good tips on getting the parts I need, and then I talked with Gary Carpenter, who, by the way, is making push pull parts for antique lovers like me. He's got collars and even some knee lever kits for Emmons p/p.

So I think if I can score me some retaining clips/s-clips for the barrels on the bell cranks, and have enough cranks for 2, maybe 3 knee levers, then I'm ready to go. I'm going to get with Gary after Christmas and bring the beast to his shop and complete the job.

My goal is to play it at the next Eleven Hundred Springs show on New Years Eve.

I'd think you could get collars and clips from McMaster Carr.
http://www.mcmaster.com/
What do the clips look like?

John!

What an awesome website! Not only do they have what I think is the exact product, sold in packages of 10 for 8 bucks, but their guide to sizing was super informative. Thanks for turning me on to this vendor!

http://www.mcmaster.com/#retaining-rings/=a8e7qz

Is about what i'm looking for. I'l make precise measurements when I get home.

And this sounds like just the item:

http://www.mcmaster.com/#shaft-collars/=a8e8zh

Half the struggle in this stuff is just knowing what to call the parts.

Now I need to find those fine tuners that go on the rod.

Burton! You're welcome! Here's another resource;
www.smallparts.com

Richard, you will be forever known on this Forum here after as "Richard, King Of Springs". I bet they do work.

as i recall, richards zb has got some custom helper springs
also.

I've added the odd few springs, here and there

Nothing against McMaster Carr; they're a great outfit. However, I couldn't find shaft collars with a small enough OD to be narrower than my changer fingers (so they would clear the adjacent fingers). Needed to be 9/32".

Finally found them on - - Amazon! Whoodathunk? They have a wide variety of mechanical, industrial parts.

I talked to one of my brother bandmembers, showed him a picture of this guitar, and he remembers it 'sittin' in a corner of a club we played in Monahans, Texas. We both believe it was called "BackStage" or something similiar. You may want to contact Emmett Roach (forumite) about his knowledge of the axe. Emmett played all over the West Texas area and worked in music stores in this area for a long time. Maybe this will help. Hope so.


phred

Whoa my old practice guitar when I bought my new Pro II Bud was a late sixties marlin maybe early seventies, it was a D-10 and completely red not a 2 tone like Richards, great sound but I had a h**l of a lotta fun keeping it tuned.....prolly cause I had no concept of how that changer worked. I'm kinda amazed that I figured out how to tune it and don't forget the pedals, at all....Stormy.