The S-1 was a sidekick of the Marauder and was launched in 1976 and remained in production until 1980; being replaced by the Gibson Sonex series around 1980. This Gibson type guitar was initially produced at the Kalamazoo plant, but gradually production was transferred to the newer Nashville plant. The S-1, along with the Marauder and the Gibson Grabber Bass were Gibson’s mid-seventies budget guitar models; still a Gibson, and not cheap, but certainly not their lowest price electric; though there was a more up-market version, the S-1, Custom. The guitar sports a body shape rather like a Les Paul, but has a bolt-on neck, similar to the Gibson Marauder. The body and neck are made from poplar wood and hard maple and the instrument is finished in mahogany body. There are phased tone settings via the Chicken-head selector switch allowing for 4-pre set configurations. The main bass/treble is achieved with a two-way selector switch on the bottom horn of the body. The pick ups are 3 Bill Lawrence design single coil pickups. The fast, easy-action neck is made from Canadian maple and shows some signs of near 40-year use as is the fingerboard, made from maple with dot inlays and the distinctive peg-head headstock is of “Flying V-series” design.
