There can be no denying that the Marvin was and is an iconic guitar, to some of us as iconic as Paul's Hofner 500/1 bass, because it was there at he time back in the great days of the music we grew up with.
However from a player's point of view there are little niggles and as much as I love it, I do prefer my Stratocaster. One big gripe for me is the tremolo and how it obstructs the controls. If all I had to do was play one Shadows tune after another, then I could possibly live with it as whilst you are just having to play it there's no problem. The trouble starts when you have to make quick changes to tone, volume and pickup selection and Leo Fender got that pretty much spot on with the Strat, which is why Jim Burns had to alter it to avoid patents. My Burns SSJ two pickup with it's Strat style trem is a lot more 'player friendly' and I prefer it over my Marvin. Maybe now the patent thing has disappeared a Marvin could be introduced with the same great looks but with player friendly trem and controls in place. My Burns Brian May is a joy to play and has a Wilkinson Strat style trem with smooth feel and flat comfortable bridge saddles, as do the PRS guitars. That is an improvement and Leo made more improvements just before his death with his tone circuit with proper bass and treble controls that give the guitar the early Shads tone when you use the bass cut, no need for expensive pedals to get it, you know the ones I'm talking about. I ordered and received today a Stratocaster tone circuit from Rhoadhouse who advertise on eBay, the exact clone of the G&L S-500 and Legacy one circuits t fits into a Strat and I look forward to hearing ho it improves one of my Strats..