Marauder by Fender
After introducing the Jazzmaster in 1959 and the Jaguar in 1962, between 1965 and 1966, Fender prototyped the Marauder. There were two versions made: Type I, with pickups hidden underneath the pickguard, and Type II, with the pickups mounted in a more conventional fashion on the pickguard. The Type II variation has three pickups, with the bridge pickup slanted as upon a Stratocaster. It also has seven switches and four knobs. The thinking behind the model was to combine the ideas behind the Stratocaster and Jaguar guitars while adding some new features to increase versatility.
The guitar never officially passed the prototype stage, allegedly because the hidden pickups of the Type I variation were either too expensive for mass-production or the technology itself was too expensive to license. It's perhaps the rarest Fender guitar ever made and it is said that only 8 Marauders were created (with 4 of these guitars sporting slanted frets on the fingerboard). Fender cancelled the Marauder in 1966.
Around the turn of the 21st century, the Fender Custom Shop made a 12-String Marauder model. However, this guitar was radically different than the mid-1960's original, having fewer buttons and a very different body shape.
