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ray1018 24 May 2005

Hi,do anyone know about Marvell Guitar which made in Australia?I've try the Guitar,sound of wood is pretty,but dun know about the build in preamp/pickup yet.

Any idea or advices?Do anyone own it or heard it b4?

Thanks buddies,

RAY

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Comments

anonymous Wed, 06/22/2005 - 14:16

A piezo pickup is a piezo pickup ... they all sound like crap

I disagree. The Piezo circuitry in my Parker Fly Deluxe run through an SWR California Blonde is quite good. Far from crap IMHO. I wouldn't use it over a great acoustic/great mic/great preamp in the studio, but this is the guitar and bass forum.

Wes

moonbaby Fri, 09/30/2005 - 10:15

I disagree that ALL piezo systems are "crap". Taylor Guitars has a preamp that was designed by this dude named Rupert and the one I heard sounded very credible.
Besides, there are lots of people who want to "plug 'n' play" through a sound system, and a mic/preamp rig is not really an option for them. Portability, affordability, and capability all factor in.
Having said that, I do agree that the piezo tends to be brittle and harsh unless it is processed properly....But we don't live in a perfect world, do we,K?

CoyoteTrax Fri, 09/30/2005 - 10:55

Yeah, piezo's aren't the ideal way to track acoustic guitars in the studio but are an invaluable tool for live performance...especially the blender systems that have been out for a while. The new B-Band stuff sounds really nice and I like the systems coming stock the last few years in Martins and Taylors. The combinations offered that blend pickups, piezo, and soundhole mics have improved dramatically in warmth and balance.

Boltino's right about the piezo's in the Parker Fly, they really do allow for some kick a$$ tone control.

anonymous Tue, 06/30/2009 - 19:34

MARVELL’s history can be traced back to 1906. Keith Marvell went back to his Arkansas home after working in a violin workshop in New York for 7 years. He set up his own violin studio and an instrument shops named SEAMAN. He sold his handmade violin, banjo, mandolin and provided maintenance and modification services to customers.

In 1915, Keith's son George returned from the military service and joined the studio to learn making violin. Keith wished his son could inherit his skills and became a good violin maker. However, he soon discovered that George did not make any effort to learn the violin making skills, but obsessed with the guitar making all day. The father and son quarreled all the time because of this.

Christmas time in 1921, the first MARVELL guitar was born in Keith's studio. George gave this guitar to his old friend Artie Townshend, a guitarist, as a Christmas present. The beautiful and magnetic sound had overwhelmed Artie. Artie voluntarily became the spokesmen and advocates for the MARVELL guitar.

MARVELL guitar soon earned its reputation in the local thanks to Artie Townshend’s advertising plus excellent sound and hand-tailored services. In 1922, Maybele Carter had also become MARVELL’s client after Artie introduced this guitar to him while they performed in The Carter Family. MARVELL’s price was quite high back then as the local area was mainly agricultural and low living standard. However, MARVELL guitar soon became unable to meet the market demand with its 20 units per month production.

Summer in 1924, Keith died in an accident during travel. George took over his father's entire work since then. A few months later, George decided to give up the violin, banjo and mandolin to concentrate on making guitars.He changed the name of his shop to SEAMAN GUITAR SHOP.

In 1925, George made improvement on structure and appearance on the guitar. He invented the Magen steel string guitar and began to produce them for a number of instrument shops. At the end of the same year, a guitarist named Jimmie Rodgers found George and ordered two guitars. He recorded his classic "The Soldier's Sweetheart", "Away out on the Mountain" with the new guitar. Unfortunately, Jimmie became MARTIN guitar’s sponsor and spokesman later due to business competition.

In 1928, in order to meet the increasing orders, SEAMAN GUITAR SHOP maintained its customized services. At the same time George established a factory in order to expand the scale of production. He named this series as SPARK. Ever since the SPARK was launched, it was quickly welcomed by customers due to its excellent quality and low prices. He soon received a lot of orders from Mississippi, Texas and even California, Michigan and New York.

Unfortunately, a nightmare came quietly when George was planning new development for his business with full of confidence. In 1929, The U.S. stock market crashed and followed by the Great Depression swept the whole country, causing panic and chaos in the society. Tens of thousands of enterprises went to bankruptcy. George’s newly completed expansion and yet to be stable plant was not spared. The financial situation was deteriorating rapidly. In June 1930, MARVELL factory officially went to bankruptcy and shut down. Three months later, SEAMAN GUITAR SHOP also closed.

In 1934, SEAMAN GUITAR SHOP re-opened for business and resumed to take small number of customized guitar orders. George carried on the whole production by himself. In autumn 1935, George died due to over workload and lung infection. MARVELL guitar had also put an end to its short history of 14 years.

With George passed away, MARVELL guitar has gradually been forgotten. Until 2007, MARVELL guitar again attracted people’s attention when George's grandson, George junior performed with the guitar left by his grandfather. MARVELL guitar has reborn ever since with George Junior’s great effort.

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