Gibson Melody Maker

Mine's a 1964 double-cutaway w/ 1 single coil pickup at the bridge. The bridge is a non-original wraparound style. A couple of screws are missing on the pickguard so it's definitely been tinkered with, but I don't see anything else that's obviously been replaced.

The tuners have a fairly low ratio (a little twist = a big change), and the G goes sharp after a bit of playing. If I keep this guitar long-term, I'll definitely replace the tuners.

The finish is "tobacco sunburst", and the surface is nicely cracked all over the body & back of the neck. Intonation is good and the neck joint feels solid (looks like it hasn't been reset, either). There is a bit of flex in the neck, though, I think mostly because of the design of the guitar--the neck joint is very exposed.

It's light and comfortable to play, with lots of sustain even unplugged.

This thing sounds great! Kind of like a cross between a Les Paul and a Telecaster? Through an old Twin you get great bluesy rock sounds with a smooth, sweet high end (unlike a Tele, which IMHO gets piercing in the treble range). Crank up the distortion and it's very bright but still smooth. The frequency response is very heavy on the mids, but that's how I like it. If you're looking for a beefy or jazzy sound, you might have trouble w/ this guitar.

Oh yeah, there's a lot of ground hum...

This thing's old but the neck was straight--everything else you can tweak. In general it's held up well.

It's pretty dinged up, so I'd say this guitar has already been through a lot. I wouldn't worry about going without a backup, except for that pesky G tuner...

n/a

I've played for about 10 years. My other guitars are a DeArmond X155 (jazz hollowbody), a cheapo Yamaha strat, Goya and Giannini acoustics. The Melody Maker is my favorite to play solos on, and it's definitely the most comfortable to play out with. The neck shape is fat and just the right size for my big hands... the fingerboard has a good amount of curve in it. And that pickup just sounds amazing!

I currently own 8 of the gems, from the '59 shortie, box stock SG style and a '63 and '67 with humbuckers refitted.

Power to weight ratio is excellent. Can play all night long without fatigue. Best deal in a real brazilizn rosewood neck today. 8 for playability, 8 for weight and 10 for overall coolness.

A great break from my Les Pauls

Prices are creeping up. Get 'em while you can!

Mine is about 90% unoriginal so may not be a good representatin of a gibson melody maker, just wanted to tell you, i bought it in really really really bad condition. i cant stress how bad the condition was.

Not much features. Made in 1967. one (unoriginal) pickup, with volume and tone controls, shaped like an SG. i sold the orignal tuners and now i have cheap japaneese tuners. (I was in dept and the metal tuneres look a lot better than the plastic klusons anyway )

Sounds great, but EXTREMELY limited, great for distorted riffs and distorted solos, a bit trebly on solos, but i like that. Sounds alot like an SG. I have some no-name pickup but it sounds good. to sum up the tone: great distortion, minimal vesitility.

8.75

factory setup? it was made in 67 and i bought it in 2000, how would i know about that?

well, im not sure if this counts (considering its age and previous abuse) but i can NOT rely on it at all, its headstock broke twice (its broken now, and im gonna fix it) the soldering comes undone (sicne i cant find a replacement backplate), a guy in a shop said the pickup will probably die. I'd give it a 1, but (since its not gibson's falut) i wont bring down the average

When i was using this until the head broke 2 weeks ago, i was plugging straight into my fender super 112 (my god! what a great amp) and it gave me the sound i described in the sound section (great distortion, minimal versititlity) It cost me 120 buks to fix, it would have cost me 80 dollars less if the headstock wouyldnt hve broken (the first time) i wouldnt of bought it if i knoew the Head would break. i wich it had a neck pickup for clean sounds.

This is a 1959 model, tobacco sunburst, small body, single cutaway, single coil bridge pickup. My only change was to replace the very worn, non-adjustable bridge with a Badass bridge, I still leave the vibrato bar on the thing, does fun dives. (I'm also a bit of a John Cipollina fan with his quivery solos) It's a real basic electric, needs a fret job (hey, it's 40 years old!), but not sure if that's a financial sink or not.

I play all kinds of bluesy, folksy, rock junk. I find the guitar has a bit too much twang for my taste, unless I use a wrapped third string, which cuts the G just a bit. But it's a real easy playing guitar, I have small hands and the neck feels nice and thin and shallow-round. It's quiet unless I kick on the Big Muff Pi (original), which really cranks some noise. I play it through either a Crate G60 or a Kustom 60watt bass amp, and can get some nice mellow bluesy tones, some squeaks and squawks when I want that.

I bought this from a friend in 1975, I paid him $30 for the guitar (he'd bought it in a pawnshop in 1969 for $100), so obviously the factory has NOTHING to do with this axe. It has a buckle wear spot on the back, the frets are pretty flattened out by now, and it has some wear in the upper curve of the body on the front (where an upper cutaway would be) from the finish wearing out. The volume and tone controls have a funny quirk, if the tone only works if the volume is on 9 1/2, otherwise at any other volume the tone is wide open. The bridge really was crummy, but replaced by adjustable Badass bridge. The tuners hold tune pretty good. After all these years of obviously not fine care, the guitar shows good quality, so I'll rate it accordingly.

I don't play with it much live, but I would have no qualms about playing it live anytime, it's the only electric I have at the moment (or for the last 25 years!), so it's always been the one I jammed with. I certainly have no fear of the thing breaking down, or the straps coming off, blasting out of tune or any problems. I'm playing in a Christian rock band now, so it will be getting more live use.

You've GOT to be kidding.

I've been playing almost 30 years now, I have the Melody Maker, a Crate G60 amp, a Gibson bass, Kustom 60watt bass amp, Electro Harmonix Big Muff Pi, Takamine 12 string acoustic, Yamaha acoustic. So I guess you could say I'm no expert player, but I like to play and like having good workhorse instruments. I have a real sentimental attachment to the Melody Maker, if it were stolen I'd hunt the bastard down and get it back. I guess what I like best is it's light weight and nice neck, the feature I like least is the pickup. For the price I paid, and the fact I bought it from a friend and "saved" it from some other fate, and the fact that it's still in shape after all these years, I think it's a very valuable axe to me.

This is a 1959 model. First production year. Faux gator case. Bells and whistles it ain't got, but it's a classic statement of simplicity. Nice slab mahogany body (thinner and lighter than Paul Jrs. and Specials), baseball bat neck. Single, wide mm pickup at bridge position. Single cutaway...most cool. Volume and tone. How much more do ya need.

Great tone. Lively and vibrant, even unplugged. Hats off to the old Gibson for using such a nice piece of wood even on a student model. With tone knob dimed it gets brash and punky, a little more attitude than a P90, but not as refined. Rolled back sounds woody and vintage. Either approach to tone is great for traditional blues. Sounds cool through a variety of amps, but I'd stay away from too modern of an amp tone. I think you'd lose the charm of this guitar and come off sounding cheap.

Huge frets make giant bends on heavy strings a breeze. Neck joint is nice and solid. Intonation with the wrap-around tailpiece without saddles can get...exciting...to say the least, but it can be done once you get beyond this guitar's learning curve. I think there are after-market tialpieces incorporating tuneamatics (sp.?) designed specifically for this application, and I've thought about looking for one. DON'T EVER drill any holes in a guitar like this!!! Finish is great. Brown to TV yellow (the little bit of red is gone; visible only under pickguard). Neat weather checking, but only in the yellow. Mine has a little buckle wear, but the front looks great.

Takes a maulin' and keeps on haulin'! Nuff said.

Customer support is really not an issues with vintage stuff.

Wonderful little guitar for my uses. I do occasional blues gigs, and I have defined a gritty, authentic style and tone for myself...West Side Chicago, ya know (my attitude, not my home). This guitar is great 'cause it's tough, cool looking and sounding, vintage, and didn't cost me my first-born. I have several other nice vintage guitars of similarly reasonable value, and this is my favorite bridge pickup guitar. Going up in price fast, are these, buy one asap (remember when Paul Juniors were $200?).

This is a 1959(first year of production) single cut away single pick-up model. It was my first guitar. I've had it for twenty years, since I first took it out of my dad's closet. It has all the features a guitar needs; a pick-up, a volume knob and a tone knob. The pick-up is a little different from the 1960 and up models. Its the same basic single coil wrapped around a bar magnet, but it's a little wider. The tone is thicker than the later models I've tried. The old pots wore out and I've replaced them. I also put an adjustable bridge on it. It still has the original three on a plate open tuners. This guitar DOES NOT go out of tune. The neck is great, if you like fat '59 Les Paul type necks. I do. It's all mahogony, a one piece neck and one piece body, thinner than even an SG. It is the lightest electric I've ever played. Even though it doesn't have a lot of features I've given it a nine (minus 1 for the original bridge) because it does what a guitar needs to do. and it does it well.

I mostly play rock and roll and blues. Once I got a decent amp this guitar sounded great. It's resonant and has very good sustain. It's really good for controlled feedback when pushing the amp. It has a fatter tone than you'd expect from a single coil, more upper mid-range than the high end you get with a tele. With the tone rolled back a bit and a clean amp it has a woody jazz box kind of sound. Over-all it's pretty versatile, but I do miss having a neck pick-up sometimes. A tele neck would be a good match. It sound best with old amps that have 12 or 15 inch speakers, like an Ampeg M15 I use in the house. Smaller speakers seem too harsh, forget about a 4 10 Bassman for example. For a new amp, and playing out, I like it with a Mesa Maverick.

The finish isn't great. Not bad for forty years old. It's a yellow to brown sunburst. I think Gibson called it tobacco sunburst. As far as the fit goes, well, it's two pieces of wood glued together. No problem there. There's no binding or other decoration. I wore some grooves into the frets up near the headstock but the intonation held pretty good. I've played slide for the last ten years so I don't use them much any more.

I got this guitar 20 years ago when I was 18 and it's been dropped and knocked over more times than I can remember. I didn't even have a case for it for the first 10 years. I have gigged with it and I will again. I would never gig without a back-up unless I had no choice. But it has never let me down.

Yeah, right :-)

I love this guitar. I've played a lot of other guitars, but I always come back to it. I've been playing since I got this guitar, twenty years. I'm always looking for a two pick-up version, but I only want the 1959, the only year with a single cutaway and wide pick-ups. If it were lost or stolen I would try, but I don't think I could replace it. I've never seen another one except in pictures and vintage prices are pretty outrageous.

1963, Re-finished in antique clear lacquer, came with original Gibson gator skin ssc, double cutaway, twin single coil pickups, 2 volume, 2 tone knobs, 3 way toggle switch.

The sounds of this Guitar are pretty cool although with the factory electronics, ie, the '63 gibson single coils, this axe is a low-volume affair. The sounds range from mud to bright depending on your tone and pickup selections. The old Gibson single coils can't handle any volume or gain without having a un-usable fit of squeeling feedback. Note: Most owners of old Melody Makers have replaced the factory single coils.

The action is great as most of Gibson Guitars. The electronics lag and need to be re-done entirely to render this axe as a stage guitar. In all fairness, this was the bottom of the line Gibson in 1963, so you get what you pay for.

Again, as a stock Guitar, this axe won't go near the stage. I played it alot in the early 70's on stage and it worked okay for rythm. This guitar needs major re-hab before going live, even as a backup!

36 years later, ha ha

Without mods, this guitar is still only worth the $100.00 I paid for it in 1970. It has sentimental value to me as it was my first Gibson and it served for years as one of my early stage guitars. I now have many other great guitars so the Melody Maker just sits there for the most part. If lost or stolen I wouldn't get another as the only reason I still have this one is I refuse to part with any guitars. I just keep trying to add to my collection.

Mine's a 63, double cutaway. I bought it from the Hellecaster's Will Ray awhile back. He had it outfitted with Grover, badass bridge and crazy array of pickups...a 60's strat, a dimarzio fat strat and a cheapy strat. I couldn't figure out the system, so i bought two Duncans. Since the route had been done, I could easily swap in the humbuckers and a Les Paul style switching system. I put a 59' in the bridge and a PAF in the neck. The outcome was really nice...fat in the neck and full/glassy highs in the bridge. I've paired the guitar with a Ampeg reverbrocket...the combination is fantastic for 60's rock sounds and clean on-the-brink of distortion. The only thing is the thing looks like crap...the finish is super dinged up and crazed. The hold left from removal of the vibrato/bridge were poorly filled...but it is original.

What can I say...it oozes 60's rock sounds, the neck is early Santana, the bridge is really bright and cutting, without being like an icepick.

The basic guitar body is totally original, except for hole filled from the previously existing bridge/vibrato assemble. The action is great and the neck perfect, frets are worn like hell, but don't seem to affect intonation/bending, ect.

Will Ray beat the hell out of this guitar, this was his pre-hellecasters guitar. It's 30+ years old, it will easily last another 30!

Long gone

It's a really great guitar, what can I say. Flexible in a retro Gibson sort of way sonically. Great rock guitar/blues guitar

A 3/4 scale Melody Maker with one single coil at the bridge. non-red sunburst, single cut-away, thin unsculpted body. Bridge was the tailpiece with saddles defined.

very resonant unamplified and a real neat tone. Much hotter than a tele, I found it easy to get Page's (studio) sound from early Zep. extremely short scale made for easy bending.

very narrow neck and a low action, but cheap tuners. It played too easy. I ended up raising the action and putting fairly heavy strings on it and using it for a lap steel (Running on Empty)

This is a 1964 Melody maker double cutaway, single pickup model that I bought used from a friend. He bought is about 20 years ago at a gargage sale for $40 US. It came with 1 single coil pickup, since replaced with a DiMarzio Super Distortion Humbucker. I bought it used form him about 15 years ago for $60. In 1989 I had it refretted, renutted and had new tuners and bridge installed. I have all the original hardware, except the pickup. It now has Schaller Chrome plated tuners and a schaller wrap around style tune-o-matic bridge.
Body and neck are mahogany. Finish is brown-yellow sunburst and is quite cracked. Neck is perfect. Came with Gibson HSC

Sounds great both clean and distorted, TONS and TONS of sustain!!!! no need to ever use a stompbox to get it to overdrive. The DiMarzio pickup gives it almost a no-load tone sound when volume is on max on the guitar. Tone control was wired wrong when my friend replaced the pickup, but guy who did the refret, etc, said that this is what gave it the no-load sound. It also makes the guitar sound like you're using a phaser when you turn the tone control from 0 to 10 and back when the volume is backed off below 8 or so. Only dislike is that the tone is not very variable. I like it, but it has only one sound to it. I use it thru an old fender twin head/bottom, a pig nose and a fender mini-twin (to practice so neighbor's don't whine)

Bought it used, and for years it was my "junk" guitar. After the refret, etc it is set up perfect, and I have not had to make any adjustments to neck or bridge. Intonation is perfect. Prior to the new tuners it would never stay in tune, and open chords sounded "in tune" and barre chords were out of tune, or vice versa depending on how I tuned it. Schaller tuners stay in tune and never budge once set. Finish as reported above is so-so. Front of guitar body is very cracked and pitted. Neck however is still in perfect condtion. headstock has a few dings in it from being hit/dropped, etc. but all in all in good condition. Been told never to refinish it as that will drop the value by 1/2 or more (not that I'll EVER sell this one)
Original bridge was a wrap around style wilkinson, non adjustable and the intonation was not good then. With new Schaller bridge, intonation is perfect and has not had to be adjusted in 10+ years. I broke the end pin by giving it too many "pete townshend" bounces off the stage, but have replaced it with OEM gibson parts.

This guitar stays in tune better than any guitar I've ever owned or played to date. The new Bridge and Tuners look to be bomb proof, and the replacement Nut shows no signs of ageing to date. The first 3 or 4 frets are grooved somewhat at the 6th string (low E) but this can be dressed out easily I'm told. Strap buttons, other than what I mentioned above are perfect, since they're new. This guitar is ultra dependable, but I use a back up guitar when I gig to make up for the lack of tone alterability.

never used customer support, and I doubt there would be much anyway for a 34 year old guitar

I have been playing now for about 20 years. I knew what I was getting when I bought this guitar so spending a couple hundred to bring it to excellent playing condition was not a drawback. If this were ever stolen I would hunt down the thief and shoot him down like a dog. I doubt I could ever replace it for what I have into it if lost in a fire or whatever. playability compares to my 74 SG. Tone is similar in some setting on that Guitar. Only gripe it the tone, wish I could get it to sound different some times