Dokken, Scorpions, Iron Maiden, Whitesnake, Cinderella, Warrant, Poison, Winger, Ratt, Twisted Sister, Firehouse, and the list of 80s hard rock and heavy metal bands go on. And although each band had its own distinct style, there was a particular sound that seemed to be the foundation of this extremely awesome era of music.
One of those core elements is the guitar. I’d like to introduce you to the Shroedder Marksman ’87.
The idea behind the Marksman ’87 was to capture the style, sound, and vibe of 80s hard rock and metal music. And if you know me, you know I love 80s metal (I practically love 80s everything! Hey, it’s my era!).
Here’s what you’ll learn:
- Shroedder details and specs
- Tones! (there’s a video in the post where you can hear what the Marksman ’87 sounds like)
- My full Shroedder Marksman ’87 review (video included)
- What I love about this guitar
- Things I’d change about this guitar
- Meet the creator of Shroedder guitars and how I ended up with a Marksman ’87 guitar at my doorstep
- My interview with Mike Shroedder
- Where to custom order your Shroedder guitar
Alright, let’s have our guitar chat!
Shroedder Marksman ’87 Specs
- Body: 2-piece mahagony, 24.75 scale
- Neck: Set-neck roasted maple, R3 nut, 21mm thickness at first fret
- Fingerboard: Rosewood fingerboard with 16″ radius, and abalone inlays
- Frets: 27 stainless steel medium jumbo frets
- Headstock: reverse pointy
- Bridge: Black Schaller Lockmeister tremolo
- Pickup configuration: H/S
- Pickups: Czech made custom wound humbucker and single coil pickups (passive)
Most of the guitar and hardware are from German companies. Anything made outside of Germany was made in Europe. The goal has always been to remain as local as possible, which we’ll get to next.
What Does the Shroedder Marksman ’87 Sound Like? It’s Time for Some Tones!
This is what we all want to know about any guitar. What does it sound like? Of course, we also want to know how it play and feels. And I’ll be sharing that and more in post.
In the below video, you’ll hear how this guitar sounds through both a real amp and and a virtual amp sim. And I’m also sharing clean, rock, and metal tones with you.
There are timelines for the types of tones listed below the video.
What I Love About the Shroedder Marksman ’87
Here’s everything I love about this guitar and I’ll cover each point in depth:
- It’s everything you’d expect from an 80s metal guitar with a killer looking design and finish
- Light-weight, making it perfect for playing live
- The custom craftmanship and construction is top of the line
- Playability is smooth and with ease
- Tones (excellent for 80s metal but other styles, too)
- Unique character unlike any other guitar
It just looks like an extremely cool guitar. The finish is absolutely beautiful and flawless. Now, I chose this finish and we’re going to talk more about the customizations that Shroedder offers at the end of this post.
It’s also a light-weight guitar. This is perfect for playing live. Especially if you play a lot like I do. Heavy guitars can be burdensome on stage and can cause shoulder and back problems later. I’ve had non of those issues playing this guitar live and it’s a relief.
More importantly, the craftmanship of this guitar is what you would expect from any high-end custom guitar maker. On top of that, every guitar has it’s own unique features. From the time I picked it up to the many times I’ve played my Marksman ’87 both in the studio and on stage, it’s proven to be a solid workhorse.
Another point, and this may be one of the most crucial points, is the playability. Now, this also comes down to personal preference. To me, this guitar plays extremely smooth and it makes you want to play it. There are some guitars you feel like you have to fight with, but this isn’t one of them.
Again, I’m writing this from a personal perspective. The odd thing is the Marksman ’87 has a thicker neck, which I typically don’t go for. But the neck size mixed with the size of the fingerboard somehow makes it fit my hands really well. On that note (no pun intended), it’s effortless to play.
Let’s talk about tones. This is mainly attributed to the pickups, which are custom wound from an independent Czech company.
I use the humbucker primarily for rock and metal rhythms. These are passive pickups but that humbucker is hot. It’s gives you a solid sustain and has a darker bite to it, if that makes sense. This pickup really accentuates your amp and gives you that ‘amp breaking up’ effect that you get from a tube amp when you start to crank it.
You can back your volume knob off and get a more gritty sound, even when playing through a high-gain amp (or amp sim). So that one pickup can give you multiple tones for different parts of a song (ex: going from rhythm to lead).
The single coil pick up is completely different and gives you more of that Stevie Ray Vaughn tone. It has more of that fat-strat style and sound. To me, my preference for playing clean with this guitar is having the switch between the single coil and humbucker.
Lastly, the Shroedder Marksman ’87 guitar has it’s own unique character. This is everything from the look to the feel to the tones you get. I’ve played a ton of guitars in my lifetime (since 1989!) and this is one of those guitars that stands out as something different. Everything about it is custom; it doesn’t have that ‘off the assembly line’ feel to it.
Things I’d change About the Marksman ’87
As with any guitar review, I like to give you my honest thoughts. Keep in mind that this is based on my experience and what type of guitar fits my hands and style best.
With that said, there are 2 things that I would change about this Shroedder guitar model:
- The slanted single-coil pickup design
- Need more space between the higher frets
The problem with the slanted single coil pickup is that the pickup magnets to not quite line up with the strings. This design seems part cosmetic and out of necessity to go match the slanted fingerboard design with those extra frets.
The simple solution here would be to make sure you get a single coil pickup with rails. You can also get a Marksman ’87 with just the humbucker. Again, all Shroedder guitars can be custom made to your liking.
***There is a Marksman ’87 II model that does not have the slant fingerboard/pickup design.
Lastly, I do wish there were more just a little more space between the higher frets. And this is my own personal preference and anyone with larger hands/fingers.
Meet German Guitar Maker Mike Shroedder (and How I Got this Guitar)
Based in Hamburg, Germany, Mike Shroedder is the founder and creator of Shroedder guitars. He uses the tagline ‘Classic hard rock and metal guitars.’
Mike has a deep passion for this style, genre, and era of music. And he’s always wanted to branch out and create something fueled by his passion. So one day, he took that leap and started making his own guitars.
He has a small team that work in his shop and together they produce some pretty amazing guitars.
So, how did I come across Shroedder guitars?
One day, Mike sent me an email saying he’d been a fan of my YouTube channel for quite some time and wanted to send me a guitar. We chatted back and forth, he sent me the link to his custom order form, and that’s how I ended up with a Shroedder Marksman ’87 guitar!
It was such a cool experience and I can’t express how humbled and grateful I am for Mike. Not just for what he’s done for me, but for what he and his team is doing for the community of hard rock and heavy metal guitar players. Point blank, he produced an awesome product.
In fact, I had Mike on my channel and he dives into some really cool information on how he creates Shroedder guitars and what drives him:
Would I Get Another Shroedder Guitar?
The simple answer is absolutely. More so, I’d love to (and hope to someday) visit Mike in Hamburg, Germany and play all of the Shroedder models. There’s a model he has called the Reeperbahn ’89 that I’m interested in.
It’s so cool to meet an individual with that level of passion and inspiration that they put into their work. And all of that reflects in the craftmanship and design of Shroedder guitars.
Again, I’m truly grateful for this experience, which I hope to further.
Keep it Metal,
Jason
***Unfortunately, it seems that Shroedder Guitars have closed its doors. I do hope Mike will bring these guitar back someday.
