NGD... Martin electric

ubertar

ubertar

Scotch Bonnet
I didn't even know Martin ever sold electrics. I say sold, not made, because they didn't build these, they had them made by Samick in Korea, in the 80s. It's called the Stinger, and it looks like this:

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That's not my pic, but it's the same make/model, and looks the same except mine has a broken nut. A new bone nut is on its way. Interestingly, the original nut appears to be bone as well. I don't think I've ever seen that stock on an electric. I need to change the strings, too... these look like they've been on since the 80s. Rigged it up in the meantime, and it plays very well, and sounds good. It reminds me a lot of my Japanese-made Squier, except the fingerboard radius is flatter. Cost all of $100, with strap and chipboard case.

Made a little[URL='https://paulrubenstein.bandcamp.com/track/guituareg'] [/URL]recording, kind of North African inspired.
 
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HNGD!

Cool find, Martin made a full line of electrics in house and they made electric basses as well. The guy who sold my Valvetrain had a matching pair from the 70’s. I’ll see if I can dig up the pic.
 
The OP's Martin is eerily reminiscent of a Squier II MIK I bought in the late 80s. Substitute an HB in the bridge, chrome knobs, and a fender headstock, and they could be twins. I wonder if this was built in the same factory as the E-series Squiers?
 
bsman said:
The OP's Martin is eerily reminiscent of a Squier II MIK I bought in the late 80s. Substitute an HB in the bridge, chrome knobs, and a fender headstock, and they could be twins. I wonder if this was built in the same factory as the E-series Squiers?
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Quite possibly. These were made in Korea in the late 80s by Samick (for Martin). I don't know who made the MIK Squiers. I used to have a MIK Squier bullet. Actually had two... one I sold, and the other was lost in a fire. Being bullets, they were a bit different. This has a feel a lot like my MIJ Squier strats. The MIK weren't far off, the main difference being plywood bodies.
 
newbuilder said:
HNGD! Cool jam too!
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Hey, thanks! Just goofing around... a friend on another board posted this, in response to the guitar, and I just went for it:
coniferouspine said:
This is just me. But I think you should tune that guitar to open DADGAD and ONLY play it with a '70s style flanger or chorus pedal, like the pedal is always on, all the time, and use it to make some cool bedouin-style sounds. Like I could easily picture a North African dude rocking that guitar in the desert with a flanger or phaser, and maybe a Space Echo. And possibly a turban or keffiyeh.
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reverend1 said:
HNGD!

Cool find, Martin made a full line of electrics in house and they made electric basses as well. The guy who sold my Valvetrain had a matching pair from the 70’s. I’ll see if I can dig up the pic.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'd love to have one of those, but they're well out of my price range. The Stinger is an under-the-radar gem, as far as I'm concerned. The later ones have an Ibanez-style hockey stick headstock, and that's a deal-breaker for me, but I like this one just fine.
 
Made a second recording with it, still with the broken nut and ancient strings. :)

The new nut came today, but not until after I finished the track. I'm pretty happy with this one though.
 
third piece with the Stinger... this time with new, bone nut and fresh set of strings (like you can hear the difference):
 
I used to have a Stinger amp from that era. One of those generic 10-15w practice amps just like so many store brand amps.
 
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