Gibson Melody Maker

See earlier reviews for standard features. My model is the 62 or later double cut away with compensated but mininaly adjustable bridge/taipiece. RECOMENDATION: Wilkinson make a similar but slightly adjustable bridge(like used on the (HAMMER STUDIO))that could work on this model for those who use standard gauge lighter strings as the standard bridge on my model required custom gages for accurate intonation.

Well cared for models I have played sound superior to all but the finest crafted modern guitars. Remember however that this is a student model an has NO features. It must be set up very precicely for acurate intonation. With a simple Treble Pass/Bleed on the volume control it is amazingly versitile. SIMPLE MOD: move the pickup so that the ears are on the top of the pickguard to gain some gain.

Once set up to my specs by a master luthier this guitar can be equal to many modern guitars in the same price range. The finish on my model was checked from temp variation but othewise intact.DO NOT REFINISH this guitar even if it has severe COSMETIC damage as the aged finish contributes to the SUPERIOR tone. I am sure this guitar was set up well on its first day of playability. You can feel it.

This guitar is so simple nothing could go wrong that didn't cause extensive danage.

Even if I was the original owner I don't know if Gibson would honnor the warrenty if it ever had one.

Classic Gibson. I expect these will be collectable in a decade or so DON'T SELL CHEEP.

This beautiful Gibson Melody Maker was designed in the 1960s so it has a double-cut instead of a single cut most Melody Makers today have, and of course it was made in the USA or else it wouldn't be a Gibson! Has 22 frets, a solid-top. This however only has a tone and volume knob, but thats all you really need because the thing only comes with one single-coil pickup! Came with some sort of Gibson single-coil, who knows what type. I have no idea what electronics or woods the guitar is made of, but not sure if that really matters. Has that nice "vintage sunburst" finish. As for the body style, its kind of a cross between a Les Paul double cut and an SG, you might want to do an image search if you want to know more in detail. There practically is no bridge as there is nowhere to lower/raise the action, instead has a wrap-around...err...thingy. The tuners are the original ones that came with the guitar in 1961. The neck is nice and smooth, great for any guitarist for its neither slim nor fat. The body itself is very thin, and VERY lightweight, not something that'd throw out your back any day!

I like to play a lot of hard rock, metal, band chords together, and this guitar doesn't just do that! This guitar is EXTREMELY versitile and suits practically ALL genre styles. The single coil is a tiny bit noisy, but when the tone knob is knocked down to about 0-3, the noise is knocked down to nothing. Has a beautiful warm and POWERFUL aggressive sound. When knocked down to drop-D this thing sounds so aggressive and full it could take out an army of anything. I play with a Fender "G-DEC - Junior" practice amp and for any of you who own one, the guitar will sound beautiful through all of the settings. The only thing I have a problem with is when the gain and tone are turned to max, the thing squeals like your girlfriend when she's pissed off.

OK, this thing is 46 years old and has a bit of a rough life. Although its not damaged beyond reason, it has a few knicks and scrapes and dents. Nothing to make a big deal about, personally I think it adds to that "old-and-has-been-through-a-million-gigs-and-beyond-awesomeness" look. The action, I've noticed, is not adjustable (or to my knowledge), but the action is decent, not extremely low nor high. The frets buzz slightly with new strings, but after a little while and a little wear that is completely resolved and is not a problem.

I've dropped this thing on a metal footstand because I didn't lock up the case, and I bet you can guess what happened to it! Though, it didn't take much of a beating at all and only suffered a minor dent. After 46 years, the finish has not faded a bit. The strap buttons could be tightened a bit, but like I said, its 46 years old so it may not of originally been like that. If I did gig, I would not have a single problem gigging without a backup, because this guitar gets the job DONE!

This guitar is a hand-me-down from my dad. And uh, well my dad was helpful for re-stringing it and stuff I guess lol.

I own a Jackson Dinky JS20 and an Epiphone Les Paul Standard, and this thing can't be beat. I've been playing for a mere few months, but I'm up to the point where I can play some Nirvana solos, metal riffs, and how very well this guitar does all that! If this were stolen or lost, I would NOT be able to replace it seeing as how its a unmodified vintage model and probably costs $1500. I would be devistated if this were damaged beyond repair or stolen.

I can't say I hate anything about it except for the fact that it lacks a tremolo, but I wouldn't for the life of me slap something new on a vintage model.

I have a 64 Melody maker with 2 single coil pickups. double cut away
Original yellow sunburst color. When I take it out every one looks and stares. The original machine heads are replace with Grovers. Rosewood neck and flat frets. Made in the USA.
The rest is all original.I purchased the guitar when I was in grade 12.
25 years ago now and the guitar is 1 year older than me.
I am a true Canadian.Rocker

I play classic rock. So it is the perfect guitar for this. Okay a little bit of country but that is it.
I play with various Boss pedals and a Yamaha classic 80 watt amp. It is very quite when still.
I only wish I had 2 because I am scared it is going to get to worn.

It can be a little scream box and when I need it to pound out the tune it can.

After a tweek here and there it is great. It has the regular markings that a 41 year old guitar has.

This guitar plays well and everytime I jam,

I feel it sounds better. So I give it two thumbs up.

I gig it now and donot have a back up besides a Laravee I play.

I take it to the local repair shop. They usually fix it with out charging much because they love getting a special old guitar in like it.

They also discuss with my wife when she picks it up how wonderful it is.

She doesn't care all the same. In her eyes it is a guitar.

I have beed playing for 28 years. I own many pedals. To many to list.
I play a Fender Capistrano.
Laravee , Concert and a Gibson SG

I still love the Melody maker even though it is old.

I've got a 1966 Gibson Melody Maker Serial #: 578643 B. I bought it off eBay when I was in the market for an SG or melody maker, and this was the best of both worlds because it was as cheap as a melody maker, and had the SG body! I assume that it was purchased in the 70s by someone who saw it and realized an oppurtunity to make their own customized SG out of a cheap factory defected 66 Melody Maker and so they stripped whatever hideous paint the melody makers had in 66 (turquoise or purple I think) and replaced the white pickguard with a black SG pickguard, Deluxe Kluson tuners, put in a bad-ass bridge rerouted the thing for humbuckers. 3 way selector, 2 tones and volumes, neck pickup unknown but bridge I think is Dimarzzio Super Distortion. Mahogany all around and rosewood fretboard, I forget Indian or Brazilian. Thinner neck than I'm used to but feels great. I love this guitar and I feel an affinity with it, but it's come a long way from being just a Gibson Melody Maker so I'm affraid I can't rate it here.

I play classic rock & roll, blues and some country-like stuff and this guitar sounds pretty good for all, although the pick-ups have obviously been replaced and so much has been done it's not much of a testament to the company. I play through a Marshall JCM800 with minimal preamp and a vox wah and it sounds really mean. The guitar is not noisy but with the current pickups (I think the bridge pickup is a DiMarzzio Super Distortion) it is not extremely articulate. It sounds a lot fuller than my strat but at times can be a bit too muddy. If you really play with the middle selector and the amp you can make some really cool tones and with a good bit of variety. It sounds almost perfect to my ears, but am getting Dave Stephens "tone king" pick-ups to replace them and really make it perfect. Because so much work has been done, I can't rate the original guitar.

The action was awesome when it got to my hands, very low and extremely playable, but I was at least the second owner of this guitar so I can not say how the factory set it up. The replacement pick-ups were super-glued in and the pots are a mess. The bridge was replaced by a bad ass and many people say whoever stripped the paint off did a terrible job, but it looks great to me, the mahogany really shines. I can not rate the factory though, again.

This guitar is real sturdy, although it has fallen over a few times (I'm still young so I don't get heart attacks over these things) and sort of slightly screwed up the intination the third time, but before that broke few strings and gigged without backup, though a back-up really should be used. The hardware are largely replacements, don't seem like they're going anywhere for a while though.

Never needed help, it's so bastardized the company couldn't help me anyway.

I've been playing I think 6 years now I believe and am 19. The only other electric I have is a Fender American Strat (Wayne's Wold 2 Edition) rerouted for Seymour Duncan specialty P90s in the humbucker size. This guitar sounds a lot better to me than that, it's screams character. If I lost it, I'd look for another good deal on an older gibson, or maybe get a Heritage or Orville, it would be impossible to find another guitar like this. I love the way it looks, so bad ass with the sg horns and the little headstock and the mahogany finish, and I have no real complaints. I think once it has some of Dave Stephens' hand wound pickups in there, it will be one of the greatest guitars for its price you could imagine (and unique too.)

1960 Single Cutaway, Single Pickup, one tone, one volume control with solid one piece mahogany body.
Serial # 0 7050. Origional tuners still work great. Replaced the bridge with a badass. Replaced the nut with bone.

I play Blues/Rock. This guitar is perfect. I run it through a 1983 Fender Champ II, an origional tube screamer, and Morley Wah = EAR-GASM
WOW!! This thing can scream, wail, cry, or sing smoothly. It does it all. The action and sustain is better than my 1963 ES-330. That says a lot.

I was going to have this guitar refinished but when we say the one piece mahogany, we left it natural with just enough stain to accent the grain.

I used this guitar live for 10 years. Now it hardly leaves the studio. This guitar is 45 years old. I'm 48. I think it'l outlast me.

No need for customer support. It plays like new.

I've been playin for 30 years. I owm 13 electric guitars. This is my favorite one.

Mine is a '64 model. Double cut mahogany body, fat neck, tobacco sunburst, one vol, one tone, one pickup. All original with original faux-alligator case. Very simple, it is what it is.

It sounds a bit like a Telecaster neck pickup stuck in the bridge position of a LP Jr. Polite and clear, not snarling like a good P90. Still a very nice tone though. Not much variety, but the tone knob is quite effective - I back it off to around 7 for a slightly warmer sound, then ramp it up to 10 for maximum clang. It's not as bright as I feared it may be, which is a good thing in my mind.

Gibson made damn good guitars in the old days. Nice resonant woods. I like the thick neck, it feels very comfy. Initially it wouldn't stay in tune, but I changed to a set of 11-50s and that fixed it - intonation improved as well. Think about it: back in '64 all guitars came with heavy strings, they were designed for them, and they sound and play better strung that way.

Has survived 40 years in a flimsy case without so much as a neck break or finish checking - to me that says durable (or careful previous custodians). Must be a "Wednesday guitar".

Started playing in '86. I play through an early 70s Champ with a Weber alnico.

Old Melody Makers are about the only McCarty-era Gibson that has remained affordable, and admittedly that was one of the reasons I sought out a totally original specimen. But they are a nice addition to any player's arsenal, particularly if you like Juniors or Esquires but want something a bit different.

1963 Made in USA

22 frets

Solid top, cherry finish over mohagany, set Spanish Cedar neck
One pick-up , bridge pick-up replaced with a DiMarzio DP101 dual sound/super distortion

Has a wrap around tailpiece

Schaller tuners

D-shaped neck

I played blues, rock, metal and just about anything else that came to mind on this guitar. I seems to be very versatile, but it just wasn't for me. The Schaller tuners made it neck heavy and had it not been for me using a leather strap the neck would probably point south with out any effort.

Very rich and full of tone. Harmonics (pinch and natural) come through well. Action and intonation are very easy to adjust.

This is a well balanced instrument, musically speaking....

Too old to make a fair assessment.

Mine had a broken headstock and was repairED with dowels and Elmers wood glue. The finish had some significant checkering but hey how many 40 year olds do you know with out any wrinkles...ha

Definitely needs a fret job.

I would move the strap button by the neck up to the upper arm of the guitar. I had a tendency to tilt outward. This would probably help with the neck heavy problem too.

Some what dependable.
Would not gig withut a back up.

FAILS TO CONSISTENTLY STAY IN TUNE . VERY, VERY SENSITIVE TO WEATHER CHANGES.
OVERALL PROBABLY AN AWESOME GUITAR WHEN IT WAS MUCH YOUNGER.
COMPARE WITH A RE-ISSUE TO SEE IF THERE REALLY IS MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE. GO WITH THE NEWER ONE IF POSSIBLE.

N/A

YOU CAN DO A WHOLE LOT BETTER FOR THE MONEY. KEEP LOOKING IF YOU ARE NOT SURE.!

Mine is a 62, double cutaway, Cardinal Red. It has been modified (not by me) with new pickups & tuners. I had to get a new pickguard made for it because the old one had been cut in half and the pots were mounted onto something resembling a tuna can lid! It has the original wrap-around bridge/ tailpiece, which rules. Tuners are Schallers, and this baby stays in perfect tune even after being banged around in its case while transported. I think this guitar may have originally been a one pickup model. I paid $200 for it in 1988 and it was well worth it.

I mostly play Classic Rock, Punk Rock and original stuff, and this guitar can do it all. Most of the time I'm crankin' it through a Fender Performer 650 and a Fender Twin stacked. The only effects I ever use are a Boss distortion, Boss chorus and occasionally a delay for Reggae flavored stuff. It can scream like a demon or purr like a kitten simply by using the guitar's volume knob. Very clear sounding, yet will crunch like a mother when you turn it up. I can't think of anything I don't like about this axe, except that I worry about breaking the neck or peghead off because it's so thin! I keep this one either in my hands or in its case.

The action has always been low, very easy to play. The thin neck is perfect for my stubby fingers. I can really play this one. Makes my 82 Les Paul Standard neck feel like a log!
I have recently had it rewired and set up by my rockin' blood brother Buschman, and it's nicer now than it's ever been. He liked it so much that he's bought a couple old Melody Makers as well.

I have gigged extensively with this guitar. It is very dependable and I've never had a problem with it. I use this for my main axe and keep my LP Standard as a backup if I break a string in the middle of a set. Although it gets a lot of use, I am always very careful with it and very few others get to touch it. I would bawl like a baby if it ever got broken. This guitar is like one of my kids!

Never dealt with the Gibson company. Don't intend to. I know enough great repair men that will do whatever I need done, and do it right.

I've been playing since the mid '70's, and this is the best axe I've ever had. I've been through Les Pauls, Teles, Epiphones, etc and nothing can touch this. If it were stolen or lost, I would first hunt down the thief like a dog or spend the rest of my existence looking for it. In the meantime I would try to get another one just like it.
Eventually I would like to get another pickup for the bridge position if I could find one that would sound even better...

made in 1968 by the Gibson guitar company in the USA. 22 frets. SG-shaped body, natural wood finish, 2 single-coil pups, 3 pos switch with 2 volume, 2 tone. the original tremolo unit/bridge was replaced with a micro-tuner bridge, not sure of the manufacturer. i replaced the original, creaky tuners with mini-grovers--never goes out of tune, really.
came with the original, flimsy hard case.

i play loud rock, in all of it's forms. i love the sound of this guitar--esp the neck pup, a lot like a tele--piercing with great sustain.play "Beck's Bolero" over and over--you get the idea! can also get that classic Cream sound out of it--how? dunno.
i play it with a variety of amps--prefer my pal's Fender Twin--gotta get one! i use it with my Crate GT 212 (i'm broke!), sounds fine but hisses a bit if i'm too close. it could be a wee bit louder--so i'll take off 1 pt fer that. but tonewise i luv it.

i got the guitar off of ebay in 2003 for peanuts, i had it set-up by a pro. had to clean the pots and switch, they are fine now. the neck is amazing!
more than one of my musician pals claim this is their favorite neck. these are guys that play $2,000+ guitars, so i guess it's cool. the finish has seen better days, it's striping--a common problem with this model i am told. i thought about having it refinished, but it just oooozes so much attitude i am loathe to touch it.

i've played it live, and let my friend play 'communication breakdown' on it at a show when i was done--no problem! like i said it stays in tune forever. there is a crack in the body near the neck joint--i have been assured it was perfectly repaired, but it does make me a bit skittish, so i do prefer one of my heavier guitars for shows---just me.
i got strap locks on it to prevent further accidents, though.
i imagine this baby will last--it's been around since 1968 and is still a champ!

never dealt with them except to get more info about my Melody Maker KZII-they couldn't tell me much, so if anyone has any info about THAT guitar--please share it!

i've been playing since i was a kid...now i am old. i play bass and guitar. the guitar was exactly as described to me: scrufy but awesome. i've always been lucky getting cool guitars cheap, this was one of the best! i love it's looks, it's odd half-Gibson half Fender sound and it's a real conversation piece. i notice the price on these has been climbing alot.
no complaints. i can't imagine anyone not being satisfied with one of these. if you are considering picking one up---do it! i'll give it a 9--it could be a wee bit louder. it's still loud enough to hurt tho.

I've got a 65 that was given to me by my grandfather.Its a double cut away and its very standard with single everything and all original hardware but the quality is great.

I play mostly rock but I play all types of rock.punk,metal,classic rock,etc. and it fits my style perfect.but im shure it would fit basicly any type of rock. It sounds awsome on and of the amp i've played on lots of amps including a crate, a marshal hafstack,an old fender 65watt amp, a marshal practice amp, and about everything else and this guitar sounds good on everything.

this guitar is almost 40 years old and has plenty of nicks and dings but still looks great.my grandpa said tht it was almost perfect when he got it and since it was made by gibson im sure it was. as i said it has all original hardware but the stock pickup sounds great. it could probably use a refretting but it still feels and look great.

I've played a couple of live shows with it and will probably continoue too. It has lasted this long without needing anythig but strings and will probably outlive me and (if i have any)my children. though made to be more economic its still a quality guitar.well if that doesnt convince you the fact that its a gibson should.

I've never needed to deal with customer support but since its gibsin that were talking about im shure that they would be worthy of a high rating.

this is an underrated great old guitar. in my oppinion,they dont get much better.I havent been playing long(about 3 years)but I play constintly and ive played about every kind under the sun,dozens of strats & teles,a les paul or two same with sgs,plenty of bc rich,ibanez jturser,etc. etc. and my old melody maker takes the cake.

Mine is a '65, cherry, double cutaway with the original 2 single-coil pick-ups; volume and tone controls for each. I've replaced the machine heads as the originals weren't very performance-friendly..not fine enough. I replaced the control knobs many years ago, with standard gibson cylinders because I had no access to the top-hats at the time. I've also removed the tremolo arm and replaced the bridge. All the original parts are safely stored...under my pillow.

I'm all over the place with musical styles and it goes just about everywhere. I find it lacking when I want to get really heavy, but the guys in the band look at me funny whenever I put it down for a different guitar.

The action is fantastic, and since I've been playing it for so long, I'm extremely comfortable with it.

I've had it since 1967, and have been gigging with it, with and without backups, for over 30 years. It seems indestructible...but I'm still careful because it's still my baby. The finish still looks great, but shows the unavoidable signs of age: wear on the back of the neck and the fretboard, and the dents from a hundred belt buckles on the back. Looks good, but lived-in. I got it from my uncle, (who still regrets selling it to me) and it's now the guitar of choice of my 15-year-old daughter...the third generation to cherish the MM.

Never dealt with them at all.

Been playing for 36 years, and this is one of 10 guitars, including a couple of Strats, a Les Paul,a couple of Ovations, a K.Yairi 12, a Precision Bass and some "campfire" guitars. It's the only one that I would cry over if I lost it. It is a pleasure to play.
I wish I still had the old Gibson 'gator case, but was happy to find that it's a perfect fit into a Les Paul case if you put about an inch of foam under it.
I was happy to read all the reviews that reflected such high opinions of this guitar.

I already have a Fender Hwy 1 with the flat finish and I think Gibson scores a big 10 for going this way also.I want to play it not worry about how it looks .This is the best second guitar around.If I break a string I can keep the show going on this .I replaced the pickup with a P 100.It screams now.Great hardware and even the pegs are ok.They look cheap but work fine.Very light and good frets...Don't know what woods are used but it sounds fine.The dealer would not give me the gibson bag.He had to hold it back to make more dough.I got a cheap gigbag with it.No big deal because I use a Levis double bag anyway.

You almost have to replace the pickup,Try Seymorsmor a Gibson P 100.Most are better than the stock one.It measues at 7.6.Its a better front pickup.Too bright for a bridge.I like simple volume and tone.Its a wondeful slide guitar too.Wish it had a front pickup but i might put one in anyway.My Rivera sounds wonderful and my Marshall even better.The more dirt the better the tone.Its an all out great solo guitar forget jazz chords...

No frills,Easy to set up and play.Looks old out of the box.All good hardware and pots.Finish is brutal...Looks like you left it outside in the rain for a week.

Take this out as a second guitar.Great slide tone cranked.needs better strap buttons.All Gibsons have terrible ones.I like the schaller replacements.

In Canda Yorkville is the distributor.never had to send a guitar back yet...

been playing over 30 years -TV,Concerts and bars...I traded a 61 Supro amp and a Takemine 00018 for it.I didn't care because a Gibson won't de-value that much.I'm going to take iy on yhe road this summer with my Fender hwy 1.No vintage stuff on the road for me.Great guitars get em.....beats all the jap stuff and costs the same....cheers

My Melodymaker is a '64. It was heavily modified by a 20 ish kid (me) many years ago. The original Cherry finish is chipped and dented from many years or use and abuse, most of which came with the guitar when I got it. Love the Mahogony! The pickups are Mighty Mites, one vintage and one hot, wired switchable to single/humbuck/single each. I had a friend build me a preamp which I installed(cut a hole in the back of the guitar, the only mod I wish I didn't do). The style is that was made just prior to the SG bodied Melodymaker. Double cutaway,dual singlecoil pickups w/plastic covers(replaced with the humbuckers), vibroto tailpiece (removed and replaced w/Badass)three way pickup switch and seperate tone and volume controlls per pickup. Grovers replaced the wornout tuners.

I play mostly Blues, Classic rock and funked up R&B and this guitar is great for the job. I use a '80 Legend Rock&Roll 50 amp and nothing else. The sound of this Guitar and Amp combo is Awsom!!! It can be allout gritty or sweet.Love my Melodymaker!!!

The finish as mentioned before is rough ,but that gives it charactor. The clearcoat seams to be very brittle and the nut is in need of replacement(starting to buzz). Even with this wear is guitar is awsom.

I've played it for about 30 years, and will for years. The finish, though nicked and dented,is not warn, and still is glossy. It is my only electric guitar and is often used at gigs with no backup needed.

Have modified and wired it myself.

Been playing for 40 some odd years. The only thinng I would have asked before I got it is the value of the guitar I traded for it. I got Screwed when I traded a 1966 ES 335 for it. Don't get me wrong I love my Melodymaker and would not part with it for anything, But, some people are assholes and take advantage of people(still hurts after all these years). Trading a $1500 (at that time) guitar for a $200 guitar was not a very good deal!! Live and learn. Needed a change at the time. Anyway, I love the Melodymaker and it does exactly what I ask of it. Balls to wall sound and great value. Would like to get another one closer to original condition!

Everyone knows what a Melody Maker is, but in case youve just got back from a 47 year holiday in the Amazon rainforests,,,,its a small bodied 'student size' mahogany bodied guitar. Mine's a double cutaway model from the early 60's, with a 5 digit serial number.It has 2 single coil pickups, each with its own volume and tone control, and a 3 way selector switch - the bridge is a simple 'wrap over' type.As far as Im aware, everything is original. Ive given it a 10. Not because its MY guitar, but because,although not exactly overburdened with features, what it does, it does perfectly.I dont need complicated controls or flashy trems.This is simple and perfect.

I guess Im primarily a blues type player, although over the past 30 years,Ive played in bands playing everthing from 60's pop , to Santana covers. This guitar suits me perfectly as we are both fairly simple!Amps are not really an issue.My favourite was an old Musicman, but it was getting heavier and heavier to schlap around, and I now only use my Randall 60. A truly underated 70's combo that does a pretty good job of impersonating a small Fender/Musicman tube amp.How to describe the sound? well, the guitar is extremely light, and due to that, it really resonates.You can almost feel the wood moving as you play. This seems to result in producing amazing harmonics, far more so than I got from my Les Paul, which in comparison, sounded dead.Again, this could be due to the greater weight of the Les Paul. The front pickup is a rich moody type of sound, the bridge is a real animal!!! It screams,it resonates,its the best sounding blues guitar sound Ive heard. Seriously.

I couldnt say how well it was set up, it was made in 1961! Look, forget bookmatched tops, tiger stripes, leopard spots, birdseye maple, gold tuners and fabulous 3 tone sunbursts. This is a guitar, not a piece of art that you hang on a wall. It was made by guys who prided themselves on crafting instruments, not products. No, its not got the greatest sunburst known to mankind, but its made properly by people who wanted Gibson guitars to be the best,regardless of their price.This guitar is 45 years old, and for my style of playing,theres nothing better out there.

Well, its 45 years old and working perfectly, so I guess you could say its fairly durable and reliable.

Never needed it, but I dont think that Id have any problems.But who know? For that reason, Ive given 'No Opinion'.

Playing around 30 years. Ive owned all the usual.I wont list them all - too painful, not to mention embarrasing - a 78 Strat, an early 70's Tele, [realised after loads more Strats and Teles,that I couldnt get on with Fenders, I could never get the sound that guys like Rory Gallagher could] a 69 Les Paul[very heavy] Tokai Loverock[overpriced copy, my Aria Les Paul was much better] 2 Beautiful 335 types, an '82 Yamaha 700, absolutely the best made guitar, but too heavy after 20 minutes, and an 81 Ibanez , also nice but if I needed a bad shoulder, the Yam was better. A couple of Gordon-Smiths,a small British company that made Gibson LP Junior type guitars,an old 60's Harmony H75 - vastly underated blues guitar, and a couple of SG's - one of which, a late 80's model,Ive kept, its also a stunning guitar. The list goes on,but for your sake, I wont! If anyone steals it, I would definately get another, theyre just so easy to play and everyone who's heard mine just couldnt get over the sound. This is probably the most underated vintage guitar around. An early 60's Les Paul/Strat or Tele will cost thousands.One of these will be around $1500.An absolute steal !

I have a -64 double cutaway 2 pickup model. The original singlecoil pickups sounds like shit, (too thin) so I put an Allparts dogear P-90 in the bridge position and made a new black pickupguard, similar to a Les Paul JR.

Now the guitar sounds like an SG, like a Telecaster on steroids, like a Les Paul JR with less sustain. It has a fat bite, somewhat midrangehonky, rather short tone. Probably due to the thin body. It's great for Angus Young wannabees like myself.

Hey! It's a Gibson, you can't treat it like a Fender.

Don't know, I live in Sweden.

Been playing guitar for 25 years. I have owned several Gibson & Fenders. The Melodymaker is a bargain, especially if it's been fucked up. Then you can buy it cheap and rebuild it with the pickups you like. But please do NOT put your Black & Decker into a mint original.

Solid mahogany body, set and fast neck, 1 P90 dogear pickup, 1 volume, 1 tone, TOM bridge, locking tuners, satin finish, simple, simple, simple, with Gibson, that means great sound! Bought new at Guitar Center while on vacation...Memorial Day loss leader for $199.99...couldn't pass up the price and it provides exactly what I was looking for in terms of sound and performance. Even though simple means, not "tons of features", it still rates a 10.

I wanted a meatier sound than my son's Strat, and the P90 provides the punch.

Smooth satin finish with no flaws. Factory setup was good...action could be a bit lower, but is fairly fast as it came from the factory.

It's a Gibson, everything is solid! Survived the flight back to Arkansas in checked luggage.

Good response to basic question relative to wrong information provided by retailer salesperson...I was right, he was wrong, and the Gibson support confirmed/

I play on the church Praise Team and to calm myself down from the corporate BS I endure on a daily basis. The Melody Maker provides a bit more choice for me in terms of available instruments...at a price I could afford.

It's a '65 (most likely), two-pickup model. This is my second Melody Maker, my first one, also from '65 only has one pickup.
This guitar was modded when I bought it--Grover tuners, a Badass bridge and a Les Paul-type humbucker in the bridge (the neck pickup is original). I got rid of the humbucker and put a retro-type Gretsch-like mini-humbucker in its place. Also the electronics appeared to have been changed for Dimarzio pots and the cavity has been shielded--the guitar is super quiet.
My original Melody Maker is a lightweight--the neck is super-thin, less than .38 mm at the nut and the body too is really light--but that guitar is a '2'-marked factory second. This guitar is more solid, heavier but not like a Les Paul and the neck is larger and easier to play. It's an addictive guitar and it's hard to put down.

Hard to talk about the sound of this guitar, since it has been modded. The neck pickup is pretty dark...I'll have to see what it's like with a tube amp. In combination with the new mini-humbucker, the guitar really sings, nice and jangly, the way I wanted it. I love to play this guitar unplugged too--it's pretty loud and the sound is excellent. But that's not what you buy an electric for, is it...I like Melody Makers for their feel and the look.

This guitar is almost 40 years old and it shows. Really ages well.

I expect this guitar to outlive me. And I plan on living past 100.

I love both my Melody Makers--but this one is the only guitar that has managed to replace my original Melody Maker (although I play that one every day too). I'll eventually pick up another, I'd like an early '60s sunburst, since both of mine are cherry. It's true the original Melody Maker's sound is quite thin, but it sounds great unplugged. This one has a much beefier tone to it. I'm still in the process of modding it to where I like it--still haven't got the action quite right, probably should have a new nut cut, and I want to replace the grover's with locking tuners, personal preference.
Overall rating is a 'fan' rating, you'd have to play for yourself to judge...but what other 60s-era Gibson sells for $550?

Year:2004
Color: Ebony Satin
Price: Well, Free.
I got it for free when I bought a Les Paul Standard on the net.
It has the same neck (not as fancy as the standard)so the playability is right there. Stripped down little sister of the famous Les Paul.
Beautiful to look at, high quality throughout.

It is great for me. I play just about everything. I am a Bob Dylan fan, Dave Matthews fan, Alice in Chains fan, Zepplin fan......that type of stuff. You can dial it in so as to achieve the right sound, a pretty wide ranger. In my opinion it's gibsons stab at a telecaster, and they hit the bullseye. Sounds very, very close to a standard Paul when using the same pickup. I have this tuned to drop D (standard in basic E) so she can rattle a bit when hammering on it, but you really gotta hit it. Hey it was free.

The finish is great for a satin. No blems at all. Gibson means quality, really it's in the dictionary.

It is what it is. I think it will definitly stand the test of time in any situation. I bet you could use it as a boat oar and it would still look and work great.

This isn't a dell dude. The only support they should offer is emotional, for those who have to part with their gibson.

I have been play for around 18 years. I like this guitar enough, it's nice to take this around for practices instead of my LP standard, I would hate to get that baby nicked.
I own a Les Paul Standard Light Sunburst, an Ibanez RG760 Cranberry, Gibson Melody Maker Ebony Satin, a Martin & Co. DM Natural Finish, an Ensanada 12-stringer, and a Takamine EG540SC for guitars, and rid myself of many others over the years. Still wish I had my old Harmony strat for nostalga. I run a Marshall MG50DFX amp, Yamaha GEP50 effects processor, and a Morley Wah/Distortion/Volume pedal.
Hey it is a good guitar. If someday you want to own a higher end Les Paul but can not afford it right now, buy this baby. It is silky to play and sounds damn good.

I'm not sure of the year but it was my first electric guitar. It was my Christmas present in 1967. It is a double cutaway single bridge pickup, cherry finish model. As basic as they come.

I used to play all types of music on it (it was the only one that I had until 1970). It is very twangy and does not have any bottom to it.

I have been playing this guitar since 1967 and of the 12 guitars that I own it has the best action of all. The neck is superb. Straight as an arrow.

I used to abuse this guitar regularly. I watched it slide across a large stage once during a bar fight. This is a well built guitar.

This melody maker is like a member of the family. I have been playing for 37 years and have taken this one around the world. It has been to Korea and Hawaii. It's still is waiting for a trip to Europe. Other than my Guild Starfire III this is my favorite guitar. I can't believe that I almost sold it in 1973 for $50.00. I have never modified it in any way. It is all original. I even have the brown aligator soft case.

I'm not sure when it was made, it was made in the U.S.A., 22 frets, solid top, 2 volume, and 2 tone control knobs, a 3-way selector. It has 2 pickups, they are single coil. It has the 2 cutaways, they are more rounded than the gibson sg's, and point out from the guitar instead of inwards, like the sg's. It is a stop tail piece, and has a rosewood neck.

I play lead guitar, and this guitar, and my gibson sg suit the gig.
Im using it through a 22watt mesa boogie tube amp. Great sound. Great variety, I love it.

The guitar plays and looks great, the body on the guitar is mint.

Everything is great.

N/A

I've been playing for 3 ys., I am 15 ys. old, the guitar is great, I also own a mesa boogie tube amp, a gibson sg, a jackson kelly, 2 fender strats, an epiphone acoustic, an epiphone chet, an epiphone m3, a yamaha acoustic, an esp f-50, a prs se, 2 home maders, and a greco.


Please e-mail me if you know what year the melody maker it could be!

From what I can tell this is a 1967 model Melody Maker. It has the original pick-up which Gibson re-wound for me that sounds terrific. It also has a humbucker that some idiot added, but I had it un-wired. There are volume and a tone control knobs. There is also a whammy bar on it, that I have taken off. It has been painted off-white, so the serial number is covered up as well as the original cherry finish that is showing through on one spot where there is a ding. I bought this guitar for $20 at a garage sale. I took it to my luthier who set it up for me and got me in touch with Gibson. I knew I had something from the moment I saw it setting up against a tree! The set-up guy at Gibson offered me $250 for it before he even touched it! Since then I have been offered upwards of $300 for it, but I'm not selling.

I play mostly rhythm and this is perfect. I use a jangly, clean sound, but she can roar when she wants to.

The action on this guitar is amazing, very low and fast. There are some dings on her, heck she's almost 40 years old! But she's a beauty!

This guitar is played live some, but mostly for studio work. I depend on her so much!

Gibson is top notch , like I said they re-wound the original pickup for next to nothing.

I have been playing for 11 years. This is the only electric guitar I own. Live, I play her through a Fender princeton 1X12. In the studio I use my Johnson J-Station. I also have a Takamine acoustic/electric and an Ovation 12 string acoustic/electric. I am always on the look out for good deals on GOOD used equipment and would JUMP at the chance for another Melody Maker.

63-ish double cut
single bridge pick-up
2 knobs , tone and volume
cherry red but heavy grain is showing through due to age

I play a blues/rock style and its perfect. I compare the sound to an earlt tele but with a little more balls. But it can sound frail if not played loud enough. The knobs are highly sensitive also.

This is by far the best playing guitar i have ever played. Period. the stock tuners had to be replaced but other than that its a-ok

I cant count how many times i have dropped this thing and it still wails. i was playing a show and the strap came loose and it fell face-first on the ground. i picked it back up and to my suprise it was still IN TUNE!

Ilove the sound and action of this guitar and truly couldnt see myself without this guitar. If i could find another i would most deff. buy it. i have been playing for a solid 16 years and i must say this is truly a great guitar.

2003 USA made. Single coil P-90 bridge humbucker. Black satin Mahogany finish. Grover tuners, Gibson wire strings, TOM bridge, thin neck and included a gig bag.

First "true" P-90 pup and it ROCKS! Using lowly Crate CR1 amp that with Boss DS1 pedal and the sound is incredible. Major hum when left unattended and in high volume. Distortion and overdrive is definitely acceptable in this price range. Likes? Everything Dislikes? Another single coil pickup by the neck (I guess this would make it a LP Classic).

I had the action lowered a tad bit. Pickups were as is. No major flaws (this is a black satin finish). Neck could be smoother for faster action.

Very durable and sturdy...It's a GIBSON!! Haven't played it live so I haven't used a strap on it yet. I'm lazy and play the beauty sitting down.

Not have to dealt with them.

Had it for about a month and love it. Don't think I'll trade it in like my previuos 7 guitars and 1 bass (Fender Am Std, Squier, Godin LG, LGX, Radiator, Ibanez RG series, and Fender Bass). This one is a keeper for practicing and playing the blues and gool 'ol RNR!!

This is the lowest level Gibson that was available in 1960: a single pickup, single cutaway Melody Maker solidbody in the typical yellow/brown sunburst of the LP jr. - and this cool alligator cardboard case!! Fat mahagony neck and thin solidbody (like a Firebird). I picked this one up real cheap with a non-original pickup and a replacement bridge, which was perfect since I had a set of old P-90 pickups and got a real well-made one-piece bridge made by Nik Huber. The wood that they used in those days and that is unavailable today really has this rich, musical tone.

A perfect match of Gibson balls with just a touch of Tele spank! Finally a Gibson solidbody that's a good rythm instrument - and of course she wails!

This one was in rather good condition for a 40+ year-old-lady - simple and solid. It didn't take a lot of effort to bring it back to top performance. It had a set of nickel Grover tuners put on that made this little guitar almost top-heavey. I love the looks of old Grovers but a new set of reissue Kluson's made much more sense on this guitar.

Rock solid. The single cutaway design of this model (the first year of production) makes it a little more dependable than an SG. The MM's body is as thick (1 1/4") as the SG's behind the bridge but doesn't get thinner towards the neck. The double cutaway models of the MM made after 1960 that I tried did not sound as good as this one.

This might sound exxaggerated, but I really feel that this student model from 1960 is the perfect solid body of the 'brown' variant': light-weight, small, faster attack than a Les Paul, more stable (and better sounding on the front pickup) than an SG. A very good usable all-around instrument.

I'm going to review 2 at once, a 1967 D (dual pick-up) which i used to own, and a 1963 (single pick-up) which i got 2 weeks ago.

67- two pick up sg style with mastero whammy bar. 2 volume and 2 tone knobs. three way pickup toggle switch.

63- one pick up earlier shape. used to have the mastero that had been removed. holes remain. one volume and one tone knob.

i play mostly blues-rock type stuff. both guitars suit that style well. the 63, perhaps more so.

67-when i had this, i had a randall solid state amp, so maybe i didn't get "the sound." still sounded very good

63-i run this through a peavey classic 30 tube amp w/o effects. this thing sounds GREAT!!!!

67- i have never been able to play faster and cleaner on any other neck, ever. cardinal red finish.

63- nice feeling neck. once i get reaquainted with a fatter gibson neck, i bet this will rival the 67's neck. tobaccoburst finish (top) deep mahogany (back)

67- i dropped it once, and the neck broke off at the body joint. had it repaired, and it was fine.

63- i didn't drop this one, but somebody did. headstock has been broken off and repaired.

i could depend on either, as long as i didn't drop it

i have been playing guitar for about 25 years or so. i loved the 67, and could kick myself in the ass for selling it. it is overall the guitar i had the most fun playing. when i found the 63, i HAD to get it. true, it's a different body style, but, it's still a melody maker. i haven't had it long enough to rate it on my all time list, but i do think it will climb the rungs of my personal mt olympus of guitars. i'd compare the 67 to an sg, and the 63 to a lp jr (very similar neck feel).

these are the forgotten gibsons. get one now, while they are inexpensive. the prices will only go up!!!

I have no idea what year it was made, but the serial # is 017339
My Dad gave it to me not long ago. As for features, the only thing on it that has been changed is the pick-up: He decided to put a Seymore Duncan in it ..........For Juice!
It's the good 'ole sunburst. I like it!

Screw a fender! Screw a Les Paul! Screw a PRS! This thing is a Blues Machine that also has the capability to be as gentle as a lamb

As much as I would have loved playing this guitar when it was still a 10 ........... I'm not that old but it still plays like a dream. The only reason it gets a 9 is that after this mmany years it finally needs a fretjob.

It's older than the hills & still the best I've played. And I've played alot! Need I say more?

Nobody touches this one but me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been playing stringed instruments for over 20 years now, and this is one of the only 2 guitars that have stayed right there with me. So I give it a 10 hands down!

I have determined that this is a '65 Melody Maker 3/4. The serial number is not in the Gibson book, but I found a picture of a '65 with a god-awful ugly tremelo plate with three screws that was only made in '65. My guitar was "hot rodded" before I got it, but still has the 3 holes in the body. That was the only year that featured the tremelo.

This is my favorite Rock/Blues guitar. The neck is perfect, it is the fastest "lead" neck I own. Since it was modified, I put in a Seymour Duncan Jeff Beck pickup and it SMOKES! I play through a Fender Hot Rod Deville or a Blues Junior and only use an Ibanez Tube Screamer for a lead boost. Simple and AWSOME!

This Guitar was Jacked up when I bought it for $40 at a swap meet 20 years ago, but the neck feels the best of any guitar I've owned. I put about $150 into fixing it up and it plays great! I got a Hipshot "Baby Grand" bridge to replace the sloppy Badass bridge I bought it with. Much better!

Only grip is the open chord tuning is just a touch off.... I'm working on it. (the neck is so narrow, A chord variations are hard, it could be just clumsy me...ha ha)

Awsome!

This beautifical Melody Maker was made in the USA in the late 1960's. The body is all mahogany while the fretboad - 22 frets - is made of rosewood. Very well made guitar with two pickups and a three-way switch. It used to have a vibrola on it (I'm guessing) but that's long gone and replaced by what my friends call the 'wish a bridge,' which actually works fine.

This is a very versatile guitar - I use it for rock and roll, but you could definitely play blues on it if you needed to and a bunch of other styles in between. Despite being something of a budget guitar for the time, this give a player a good number of options. It can be bright (Gibson bright, not Fender bright) but it also does darker tones very, very well. More variety you can't find in such a simple package. I'm now considering having the pickups rewound just to see what I'm missing, but so far I have no complaints.

This is an old guitar with a lot of wear, but it's still kicking and I don't see it quiting any time soon. The neck on this guitar is very, very comfortable. It feels, in a lot of ways, like an acoustic. It's also crazy cool looking - an SG with a little humility. Over time the only thing to breakdown is the paint job, which I'm told is common for these models (mine's Pelham blue). But, this guitar looks well played and feels well played.

I use this guitar to play live and it has almost never gone out of tune. I play hard and this seems to take the beating and then some. I doubt if it's as inert as a Telecaster, but for a budget student instrument, I'm really impressed how well this was made. I can depend on it without question and I'd use it without a back-up if I had to.

I actually contacted Gibson about re-winding the pickups on this guitar and they got back to me with some info in 24 hours. Not bad. I think Gibson is a top company to deal with.

Forget it. I don't think you can buy a cooler looking guitar for the money these days, especially if you're interested in getting something vintage. These have been going up in price in recent years - I've been amazed that some from the early 1960's are pushing up over a $1000. But, maybe I shouldn't be amazed. These are good quality guitars that sound great and are a blast to play.

I purchased a 1959 gibson melody maker,I paid $300 dollars,mahogany body with a cherry finish,single pick up,volume control knob & tone knob

I play "amplified Blues" thats how I once heard Jimi Hendrix"s style described as.I have a tube style Mesa Boogie amp (unsure of model& age) Gotta love pawn shops(paid 50 bucks)The pick up was replaced with a Fender"lace sensor" pick-up." i had a guitar like this when i was 10 years old." You never forget your first! Ha ha. I can't explain the sound. It's unique.

The bridge has been replaced with an ajustable type. That's the only complaint iv'e ever heard, about this guitar. It has a light cherry finish, I belive it is not original. the frets are unworn and action is fast.

Durability is about 9, it made it 44 years and it still looks great! i hope i look that good at 44! I would use it on a gig with out a back up, definetly.

N/A i have not seeked customer support.

I have been playing for 21 years, i have been looking for a guitar like this for 20 years! it is unbelivable i now have it today!

1964 doublecut melody maker. solid mahogahny. single volume and tone controls.heavily modified with grover tuners, routed for 2 70's? humbuckers. basically les paul electronics. schaller intonable bridge with fine tuners. jumbo frets recently dressed (very slick) original sunburst finish. the mods were done so wonderfully everyone except collectors think it came this way.big and i mean BALLBAT neck.

i play blues and classic rock along with some retro space country not unlike Junior Brown. very quiet pickups without noticible noise. this is my main guitar and i absolutely LOVE it. the best value in vintage gibson players guitars bar none.sreaming 70's classic rock tones from the bridge( think Joe Perry) to a very subdued jazzy sound from the neck bucker with a great clean country blues sound from both.i am currently using a mesa boogie nomad 45 1x12 with a 1x12 extension cabinet.

can't say about the factory set up but she is a total monster now. beautiful wood and tone,tone and more tone.after a set up by one of if not the best tech in nashville(see the review of my 59') this is vintage gibson at it's best and you can even take it out of the house.built like a tank yet lightweight. very cool.no cracks or breaks and it was a backup guitar on tour for the band Hobbit for 10 years!

i would and do play the heck out of this one!

never contacted gibson.

i have been playing 34 years and have played a lot of guitars. after taking a chance i bought this online from a retired bass player. liked it so much i bought another one he had . slowly but surely most of my other guitars have left for new homes but both the MM's seem to be here to stay! i tried to be critcal but really find it hard to pick out any flaws.

1959 gibson melody maker. solid mahoganhy . original sunburst finish (did the 59' come in anything else?) single vol and tone controls. beatiful thick grained brazillian rosewood fingerboard.single bridge pickup(the fat one)

i play SRV style blues, country and classic rock. i am currently using this guitar through a mesa boogie 45 1x12 with a mesa theilman 1x12 extension cabinet. it's got a really hot pickup which is extremely noisy within 5 feet of the amp. this is the only guitar i have ever owned that i can put in front of my face and sing into to the pickup and it comes through well enough to be heard in a club. talk about character!on a straight clean channel (1)it has a beautiful almost acoustic sound for rhythyms. on my really dirty channel(2) this thing squalls like a bobcat with his ass on fire.

i bought this guitar last year from a retired musician (bass player)who had bought this to put up as an investment.it was basically like it left the factory. i took it to nashville's premier guitar tech Dub Hollowell and asked him to make it as good as it could be without changing anything that would affect the value. the original bridge (non-compensated) although in remarkable condition lacked any accurate intonation qualities so it had to go.we tried a compensated replacement but the spuds had pulled forward enough that a happy medium was all that could be achieved. so i decided to go with a badass intonable which put it spot on. the cheap plastic nut was in poor condition so he carved me a bone nut. the open gears were terrible and the buttons slipped on a couple of them so a repro set of jr. style klusons were installed(NO extra holes) he also polished the frets. the result is a near mint player that is the envy of every gibson player in nashville that sees it. he did also tell me a very interesting bit of gibson trivia. there are some red streaks showing through the yellow in the burst. this is where they actually beat plaster of paris into the slab by hand to fill the heavy grain in the wood. which is why the 50's models juniors and melody makers have a remarkable tone and sustain. in another 40 years or so the red will completely take over the yellow.

very rarely will this guitar see the outside of my studio. everything works like it did when it left the factory without any pops or anything so i guess you could say other than the cheap nut and tuners they put on the so called student guitars it is built to last just like the $50,000 LP bursts of the same year.

maybe i'll drop by someday and show them how their daddys built guitars. it might be fun to see what they say.

i have been playing 34 years and have used various other guitars including univox special editions, fender jaguar(my first guitar) a carvin dc150 and epiphones.if it were stolen i would buy another in a heartbeat. this is the most fun i have ever had with a guitar.

This guitar is a '66 Gibson Melody Maker with a cherry finish and black pickguard. 22 Frets, 1 volume pot, 1 tone pot, 1 original single coil bridge pickup, rosewood fretboard, double cutaway model. I've added a Leo Quan Bad-Ass Bridge, and new tuners. It has a fat neck, but not very wide, and it came with a hardshell case. I give it rating of 5 for features, because it's very one dimensional b/c of the one pickup.

This guitar suits me just fine for some styles of playing--blues and the mellower rock stuff. I use other guitars for more aggressive rock, as it doesn't sustain as well as other guitars and just has a mellow, vintage sound that wouldn't do justice to the aforemetioned types of music. I run it through a '66 Vox Berkeley Super Reverb, except for practice in which I run it through a Vox Pathfinder. It's not too noisy for a vintage guitar, it sounds like a cross between Les Paul Junior and a Telecaster (Kind of like a Tele on the bridge position, without the biting brightness--more of a warm sound). This guitar sounds fantastic when played clean through either amp. I either play it clean or semi-dirty. Although it only gets one type of sound, I like the sound that it gets. I'm sure it could get different sounds if run through different amps.

When I bought it at a vintage guitar shop, it wasn't set up very well. The bridge was on upside down, and so the strings had a "loose" feel to them. I immediately brought it to the guy who works on all of my guitars, and he replaced the bridge and tuners as the orginal bridges with the cool looking vibrato arm just don't stay in tune very well. The pickup sounded great, but just needed to be raised a bit. This guitar has some slight wear and tear, but for a '66 it looks fantastic. The volume and tone pots work great. After the adjustments this guitar plays really, really well, stays in tune most of the time (occational problems with the "G" string (no pun intented), and still looks very classy.

This guitar definately withstands live playing, although I plan to trade it in for a 70s Gibson ES-335. The ES-335 would score a 10 in all of these catagories, so nothing against this guitar. It was the bottom of the barrell Gibson back in the 60s, so for the price, it's an outstanding piece of craftsmenship that has stood the test of time.

Haven't dealt directly with Gibson, yet.

I've been playing for about 16 years, have been through several guitars and amps, but this is the first Gibson I've owned, and am very impressed. I agree with most that Gibson produced great guitars until the mid 80s, and now their products, with some exceptions, of course, are not as high quality and are way over-priced. Right now I'm into old Gibsons and new Fenders. If this guitar were lost or stolen, I would be very sad, but like I said earlier, I plan to trade it in for an ES-335. Overall I'm very happy with the purchase I made, and now that I've played it for a while I'm ready for something new.

1965 Gibson Melody Maker USA Standard double cutaway. red with one single coil pickup in the bridge position. Trapeze bar bridge with grover tuners.

This was my first"real" guitar. It was perfect for a beginer playing rock. I used an old Carvin Bassmaster 120 and Fender Dual Showman cabinet. Never was noisy. Clear and Bright. I did add a Carvin M22 humbucker to the neck position. I also had a friend make a Frank Zappa pre amp for it. I know it ruined the value of this little axe, but i was into FZ and wanted to emulate him. (is that possible?) Also i couldn't afford a SG!

This guitar played perfectly from the gitgo. Always stayed in tune. I had my dog knock it over one time and snap the neck clean off from the body. It was my fault for not casing it after practicing. Being poor I couldn't take it to a pro so I sanded down the neck and body, put some good wood glue on it and put it in a vise. The thing came out amazingly straight and true. It still plays great today.

I played this guitar for a number of years through the 70's and early 80's. It kept on tickin and definetly took a lickin. I lost this guitar to a "friend" of mine in the mid 80's. I found it in a pawn shop a few years later. This idiot had taken it and chopped on the cutaways and body and headstock to make it resemble some sort of weird Dean guitar. He also painted over the natural red finish. Even through all of this, it still sounds great and plays well. I don't gig with this axe. I use a G&L S500 for my main rig now.

Never had any problems with it.

I've been playing for 35 years. I currently use the G&L for my main guitar and a fender Lead 2 for a backup. I run it through a Carvin Belair vintage tube amp. ADA delay and Tubeworks OD pedal. I was glad to get this guitar back just for the sake of it was my "1st". It's not worth much, but I'll keep it forever.

Received on my 14th birthday in November, 1965, it was "new" but I don't know if it was a 1964 or 65 model. Cherry red, with two pickups, all original. Two volume and two tone switches, with a three-way toggle at the bridge. The original tremolo bar is in place, stubby but with an elegant pearl-colored plastic handle, it is only used when I don't care if I am in tune afterwards. Original tuning keys get true and stay that way for amazing periods of time. The head stock was split many years ago, and repaired. (I remember hearing this was a common occurance for these guitars.)

I play a wide variety of music styles, and until I started running this ax through a POD and a plain vanilla amplifier, I was more likely to use my accoustic. However, stripped of the constant nasality of the sound as it came through the Crate and Peavy amps I had been using, to my delight I heard a clear and even beautiful-sounding instrument that responded to the POD's variety of settings with amazing versatility.

Left to itself, it can be either tubby (on the low-tone pickup) or wanky (on the high tone), but mixing these pickups and manipulating the tone settings can get that variety. Add the POD's capabilities, and I am able to crank some nasty over-driven sounds, or alternatively sound really jazzy and cool, especially playing octaves.

After 35 years, it stays in tune and makes a wide variety of pleasant and rocking sounds. That has to be a tribute to the Gibson technicians who built it, because it has been altered not at all, and serviced no more than a handful of times in all those years.

This guitar has not had hard use for many years, so I cannot comment on most of this, other than to refer to the previous category.

N/A

I am a songwriter who is approaching a modicum of guitar playing expertise many years after it might have had an impact on how I make a living. This old friend has seen me through a lot, as a teenage garage band member intoxicated with the British invasion, an erstwhile blues cat, an eighties jazz-punker, a 90s neo-country lead guitar player, a writer of standard tunes. I feel I am paying it back by playing it decently now. It is repaying me with a pretty wonderful array of sounds, ease of play, and amazing durability.

However, it is a solid body electric, and there is no fooling you on that. I semi hollow body would be in my future

1.) 1965, USA
2.) 21 or 22
3.) solid I believe
4.) volume, tone, and there is a tap that has been added.
5.) 1 single (paf style) humbucker.
6.) Gibson (see above)
7.) Passive
8.) Body-mahogany, neck-maple (?)
9.) red metalflake (refinished)
10.) double cut-away
11.)compensated stop tailpiece
12.)replacements, non-locking schaller
13.)VERY thin neck, not 3/4 scale, but shorter than my SG

1.) This suits my style well. (Basically rock)
2.) Gibson Scout or Fender Bassman w/Danelectro FAB Tone
3.) Really quiet until played
4.) Very bright sound. Pretty decent sustain but thinner than my SG
5.)The guitar can probably make more sounds than my talent (or lack thereof) allows. It does a great "snotty" punk rythm.
6.) I love the light weight. I'm not crazy about the tailpiece even though the intonation is pretty good.

The one I got (although I love it) would be considered a Frankenstein by most guitar guys. Since nothing but the body,neck,and fingerboard are original... I can't say.

1.) YES!
2.) Yes
3.)Finish is good.
4.) I replaced the strap buttons and put Schaller locking ones on.
5.)Most definitely.
6.) I would never do a gig without a back-up.

1.) I've now been playing guitar for about 14 months. I have been a drummer for 27 years. I also have a 1994 SG standard, a 1987 Gibson WRC (super-strat kind of thing), a 1987 Japanese Squier Strat, a 1967 Fender Bassman w/BIG 2x12 cabinet, a 1960's Gibson Scout amp, a Peavey "Classic 20", and mounds of effects and other jazz I pick up at pawn shops...
2.) Do you have another?
3.) I would try to replace this, but with the heavy mod's it might be tough.
4.) I love the modifications. Melody Maker tuners weren't good. I don't know about every club, but most I've been in play havoc with single coil p/u's, so the humbucker that has been added is a plus. And the red metalflake finish is cooler (to me) than the original I'm sure this one had. But, I hate that it's not original because if it was I could sell it and buy 2 of these. My favorite thing is the "slinkiness" of the strings. Bending is EASY on this. It doesn't help my technique when I pick the SG up, but I'm still a guitar infant.
5.) I wish it had a case with it. I guess I have to buy one.

my 65' melody maker,
u.s.a
22 frets
solid top
1 volume, 1 tone
2 double hums
gibson p.a.f's
passive piskups
wood?
natural wood
sg style
tune-o-matic
thin neck

I've a '67 melody maker, sg body, pelham blue, 2 single coils, maestro tailpiece--a fairly rare bird, I'd say. Tons of features? Geeze, how many do you need? And you gotta love the cheesey old case it came with.

i play rock, blues, honky tonk, and weird hybrid stuff. I run this baby through a '64 vibro champ. It's hard to beat the sound of a gibson through a fender tube amp. I know--I've tried. Throw in some danelectro pedals and there's no sound i can't get that i want. The maestro beats any other whammy bar I've used, and I've used 'em all.

This axe shows normal use and wear--well-seasoned fretboard but not worn out.

This guitar is a keeper and a workhorse i'd use anywhere, with and for anyone. It's got crunch out the ass or it's sweet as soda pop--action and intonation are flawless after lo these many years. Appears to have had gears replaced once. Although I'm not a big fan of slide switches, this one functions well.

I don't think there's more than 4 repairmen I'd let touch this axe should the need arise, 3 in oklahoma, 1 in ny city. Not that there aren't lots of decent repairmen--i'll just stick with the ones i know and trust.

I've played for 32 years--always use fender tube amps and a danelectro nifty fifty. I've used les pauls, 335s, strats, teles, ricks, sgs, guild, epiphone, danelectros, ibanez, yamaha--this old melody maker beats anything i've had. I was looking for another sg when i came across this puppy at 1st flight music in nyc. Thought it looked kinda strange and didn't pay it much mind other than it was a curio--until i picked it up and played it. I didn't even plug it in until i'd payed it off and gotten it home 'cause i KNEW it would be sweet. And no, you can't touch it--marvel at it from afar, ye infidels...hehehe...

i have a 64' melody maker (exactly like the one in the picture on the previous page)and i enjoy playing it on an HOURLY bassis. It sounds phenomenal when playing blues or moderate rock.I like that the volume dial on the guitar actually controls the volume with precision(unlike my epiphone special)

I use a bassman 100 with my melody maker attached to a DOD grunge pedal it sounds alot better playing through a bass amp in my opinion.
The effect that i get is a beautiful blues echo. The slide plays nicely up the fretboard producing a distant sharp tune.

I bought it around 1986 so im not sure how it looked directly from the factory, but its in good condition. The screws are a bit rusty and the pegs are a bit loose but its been played for about 38 years now.

The strap buttons hold the strap perfectly and im always confident that it will continue to hold. I actually use this guitar as a backup.
after my les paul classic fails(rarely)during gigs.

for about the first 5 years i had it i didnt play it. so when i started,the jack(plugin) on the body was loose and i had no sound but i got that repaired for under 30 dollars.
so all in all its an awesome piece of guitar!

1997 gibson melody maker reissue, red, single cut one humbucker, 22 frets, mahogany body, rosewood fretboard, tunomatic, stop tailpiece, grover tuners, solid canadian made flightcase, two control knobs (vol, tone), front panel jack input. No frills, cheap pickguard, half as heavy as a regular 'Paul, half as thick, flat top. Light. Hangs well.

One humbucker, bites well, clean sounds ok (maybe a bit muddy), overdriven not too agressive (no death metal allowed), unplugged nice and ringing, surprisingly close to a jazzmaster or jaguar (metalic zing)

Good action, no flaws, fretboard slighty misadjusted at the edges, no big deal. Nice red.

Looks a little fragile, small Gibson, like the gracile sister of any 'Paul. Treat her nice, right ? Little lady can't take any abuse in my opinion.

no idea

i've been playing for 10 years or so, owned 19 guitars, cheap stuff, pices of junk, and also good working machines Fender and Gibson. My main staff is currently a beat up ' 84 The Paul, Standard Us Telecaster and this newly arrived Melody Maker. I traded a Fender thinline 72 japan reissue for this little red head, and I don't regret it because I hated the vintage tuners on the Thinline, the light weight and it had some switching problems. But it was a nice guitar none the less. This Melody Maker is the most basic guitar I've ever had, I like a change every now and then, so? I'll give it a global 8. Next axe I get : Jazzmaster or Les Paul junior.

Mine is a 66 SG style melody maker. I bought about a year ago in Leeds, after playing it for about two minutes I layed down a diposit! It cost #450 and is definately the best guitar I have ever owned (and I`ve owned some traditionally thought of classics such as Les Paul
Standards and Strat Elites)! 22 frets, Brazilian rosewood fingerboard,(amazing) single coil pickups,wrap-around bridge, un-original case

This is where this guitar s**ts on other Gibsons in my opinion. It`s sound is kinda like a Tele but with more balls and sustain, the two single coils sound amazing individually or together (and as others have said acoustics on this guitar are unbeatable) I do a lot of home recording, quite rocky guitar pop and this guitar sounds great whatever sound you try to get! I sometimes even just stick a mic in front of it the acoustic sound is so good !

I have no idea what it was like when new, but since I`ve had it the only changes I`ve made are the tuners (old ones were good but starting to stick a little)which I replaced with LSR`s and the wrap-around bridge (which was`nt original anyway)!Finish is cherry and still looks beautiful and the action makes you play better than you actually are !

I have used this guitar without a backup and all was well but I usually take one with me regardless of what I`m playing !what can I say its 35 years old, i`m only 23 and I look worse !

N/A

Overall I give this guitar a 10 for no other reason than since I`ve had it I`ve tried to get as good a sound from other guitars (Les Pauls with P90`s etc)and just can`t quite get that tone! If it were stolen I`d try to replace it straight away but I don`t fancy my chances because I have`nt seen one in a music shop since !

My melody make is a 65 double cut away,thinks les paul jr.1 vol,1 tone pot.Serial #556557.Mahogany set neck and body,with a rosewood fretboard.When I bought it the god awful bridge had been replaced by a wrap around type ala pre 56. other then that it was stock.It has that awsome fat like the butcher's dog gibson neck,which is the # 1 reason I bought it.That and it has the most incredible accoustic tones in any soild body guitar I have ever owned, my freinds vintage 52 tele is the only solid body I have ever heard beat out mine,I jam unpluged in my apartment because it is so bright,loud,and clean also it sustains so well you can bend and do vibrato.

I play rhythem in a bar band.classic rock,blues.etc. I play chords and sing not much else.The only time I take a lead is when if the night's slow and there are 4 people in the bar then I do the lead on chuck berry and duane eddie tunes.Hey it not my job to take leads.I use a 67 fender bass man with the original 2 -12 cab.Also the stock fender speakers the cab came with.The only thing beside a 67 fender reverb is a marshall blues braker 2 pedal.The original pickup was not for me but I understand there is so strong a cult following that you can buy a replacement from Seymour Duncan.Anyway I didn't want to cut any wood from my guitar for fear that it would lose it's tone and gain weight,it is also the lightest guitar I have ever owned.So in the bridge and neck.I put Duncan little 59's,replace the jack with a 3 way gibson toggle switch and put the jack on the bottom of it.I am very,very happy with the result.It sounds better then a sg standard and a 1/4 of the price.It is everything a good gibson with paf's is.

The finish is heritage/now aged cherry.it is old and beat,the neck was cracked at 1 time and the finsh is cracked like a river bedi the desert.Hell it's older then me.

this guitar will be around after I am dead and gone.Not bad for gibsons bottom of the barrel beginners guitar.

After 37 years not bloody likely.

I have been a bassist for years.But I got this gig to be a singer/rhtythem guitarist.My brothers and sisters you are not going to get a vintage gibson for $300.00 any way else, it needed some work but it about kicked a $3500.00 65 reissue SG,in the ass.It will stomp any stock SG standard with 490/498's out there; I double dead damn dog dare you to prove me wrong! Buy them before they are gone.

i think mine's a 64. its a nice deep red double cutaway, with one tone knob, and a single humbucker. the only thing i dont like about this mofo is that the one humbucker is a single coid, but that could be fixed up fairly easily. other than that, its fabulous. 22 thin frets, with an extremely small and light body, and a crystal clear tone and an amazing rosewood fingerboard. its 30+ years old, and i lost the original whammy bar a looong time ago, but that was easily replaced. I'm not all to crazy about the tuners. maybe its the age of the thing finally taking its toll, but it seems to go out of tune fairly quickly. but, thats not all to important. its a beautiful intrument.

very quiet... i rarely get buzzing or feedback (unless im tryin for it). It has a rich tone, unlike some modern electrics, so that the tune of the song shines through beautifully even on heavy distortion. i play nearly everything, hard rock to bluegrass on occasion, and it does the job. what i like most is the way it responds to your fingerwork. bends are especially fantastic on this thing, compared to others.

great action! nice finish! 37 years, its barely scuffed!

as i said... 37 years, its barely scuffed!

i had it repaired once, earlier this year. after so long, you'd expect so much. the only problem was one of the screws holding the bridge in was bent after i dropped it onto hard conrete. funny, though.... the finish was fine. i didnt check the warranty, and i doubt that after so long it'd still be covered. so, ive never really dealt with gibson.

if find one, buy it!

i have a 65 melody maker D double cutaway with 2 stacked humbuckers. its mint

the sound is extremely bluesy

the action is incredible, i almost dont have to touch it!

its all original, and its been played a lot, and still maintains its sound after over 30 years. the hardware is original. it is very reliable.

100% in every way, for me.

This guitar is supposedly a '64, but based on photos and specs I've seen in various books, it could be either a '63 or '64. It is a double cutaway with the 'tobacco sunburst' finish, which was already cracked all over the body and the back of the neck when I bought the guitar back around 1978. The cracks in the finish just give it more character, though. I believe the body and neck are both mahogany. It has one single-coil pickup near the bridge, a volume knob and a tone knob, and was obviously one of Gibson's bottom of the line/beginner's electric guitars at the time it was made. Nevertheless, it has a lovely 22-fret rosewood fretboard and one of the most delightful I have ever played on. (This feature has been mentioned by several other reviewers as well.) The fretboard is presumably Brazilian rosewood, and the grain is a bit more porous than the rosewood I see on most newer guitars. It doesn't feel coarse or anything; it just doesn't look as dense.

When I bought the guitar, it was all-original, with a one-piece cast saddle and crummy tuners. I soon replaced these with much nicer Schaller tuners and a wrap-around Badass bridge, which made it possible to set the guitar up properly and keep it in tune a lot longer. I still have the original parts. Unfortunately, installation of the new tuners required drilling some new screw holes, which probably reduced the value of the guitar from a collector's viewpoint.
Nevertheless, guitars are meant to be played, and the gear swaps definitely improved the overall playability, even if the larger tuning keys initially reminded me of mouse ears on that narrow headstock! I seriously considered replacing the pickup also, since I was unable to find a tone that I really liked with it, but decided not to after being told that installation of a Strat-type pickup would require some extra routing. Another comment about this guitar is that considering the location of the strap knobs, it hangs in a much more balanced way than an Epiphone G-400 (SG-style guitar) that I have, whose neck drops to about 4:30 as soon as you let go of it. The Melody Maker doesn't budge much when you take your hand off the neck.

It is difficult to rate this guitar's features with a number. It was never intended to be fancy, just basic and reliable. The original features combined rather miserable hardware with with a fabulous neck and fretboard. I have to dock it some points for the hardware and pickup, but it was never meant to compete with contemporary Les Pauls and SGs. It definitely gets some points for sturdiness. Also, the single bridge pickup means that there is a lot more string area to pick on than on a guitar with multiple pickups.

As mentioned above, the tone possibilities available from the one single-coil pickup are limited. More specifically, with the tone knob wide open, it sounds overly bright and tinny and to me, but when you turn the knob down too far, the tone gets too muddy. There is a narrow range in between the two where it is alright. I really think that a lot of the problem has to do with the position of the pickup so close to the bridge (I rarely play a Strat with only the bridge pickup selected, for the same reason). Also, pairing it with the right amp can do a lot for the tone. My guitar sounds a lot nicer through my Fender tube amps (a Concert and a Blues Junior) than it did through the Peavey solid state amp that I had when I first bought the guitar over 20 years ago.

I believe one other reviewer commented on how loud this guitar sounds unplugged, and I agree. For a solidbody guitar, it is remarkable.

This guitar has a very nice action, which I have set relatively low and with GHS lights. As mentioned earlier, the neck is truly a pleasure to play on.

This old girl left the factory nearly four decades ago, and already had a lot of "character" when I got her. As I mentioned before, the finish is cracked all over, like the glaze on an old teapot, but that doesn't seem to have an adverse effect on the sound of the quitar. The sunburst finish is handsome, but certainly not the prettiest I have ever seen.

With the original hardware, I think that keeping it in tune for extended periods of time when jamming or playing live could be a problem, but with the replaced gear it seldom goes out of tune. It has plenty of dings in the finish, and I've contributed a few over the years. In a couple of places, a little piece of finish is gone entirely, so you can see the wood. The finish there is at least 2-3 mm thick. In my biggest accident, the peghead smacked into the floor after I had put the neck strap on a bit too carelessly. This split a small chunk of wood off a back corner of the peghead, but luckily the damage did not split the wood up far enough to interfere with the nearest tuning peg. Based on that experience, I'd say this guitar is pretty solid!

Because of its tonal limitations, this is not my favorite guitar, but it is very special and always a pleasure to play. I am sure it would be hard to put down if I ever had the opportunity to plug it into a Fender amp of the same vintage. The overall feel of the neck and fretboard is great. I have to confess to a certain sentimental attachment to this particular guitar. If it were lost or stolen, I would certainly keep an eye out for another, but I would have to pay pretty dearly for it compared to what I paid for this one >20 years ago. Nevertheless, if you want a vintage guitar for less than $1000, a Melody Maker is not a bad choice, and I don't think the value of one these guitars in original or near-original condition is likely to drop.

I bought this '61 Melody Maker off of some guy on the 'net. It has 22 frets, solid top, etc, etc. It has two humbuckers (on DiMarzio in the bridge, and the original stacked humbucker at the neck). It has a three way switcher-oo, two tones, two volumes, just like a Les Paul. The original bridge was replaced with a newer one for better sustain. The tuners are Schallers, which were replacements.

All the good stuff that you need, none of that fancy crap you don't

I play heavy freak-metal. You think Korn and Limp Bizkit are heavy? I could take 'em on any day (dang posers!!!!) I play old-school metal, and this beast does it all, from heavy grinding distortion to smooth, jazzy clean stuff. The wood has dried out and gives it a real nice woody sound that kicks the crap out of my Ibanez.

This guitar was used, so it was set up extremely well.

I don't know about live, I would definitely have a backup. The bridge style makes me kind of nervous (I'm used to Floyd Roses). The finish is 39 years old and its still there, so its been around the block more than a few times.

????

I have been playing for a couple of years now, and I have an '87 Ibanez RG550 w/Seymour Duncans, and a Marshal Vs65r that kicks some booty. If this was lost, I would definitely look for another classic Gibson ax (not an LP or an SG, they cost too much).
I wish it had a case, I don't know what size of case I'm gonna need for it.

Its a sixty five bought over the internet to replace one stolen from my house.

I am in England and bought it from a dealer in philly I paid for it monday evening and paid a special UPS rate it arrived in London Wednesay afternoon! Thats Neals Guitars and UPS.

Double cutaway two pickup and original bridge which has a early trem system on it but no arm!!
Tobacco sunburst and I love it. There is a way of setting the volume and pick up selectors to give you that treble rythym sound and fat lead without the use of pedals. It seems to suit being played through the newish Dano Nifty Fifty amp.

Made in 1961 with a poorly designed 1 piece bridge that I replaced with a better designed drop-in a few years ago. this is a double cut, two pickup one made from really nice mahogany with cheesy single coils. Incredibly smooth pots (original with nary a crackle.)

Really nice tone since I replaced the bridge. Sort of like a mellow tele clean, but screams through a rotovibe and real tube amplification.

Mostly original. Tuners suck (that's my next project) Some big belt buckle scratches in back from too many 15 minute Down by the River jams back in the day. Action is wide but great. Sunburst is really sweet.

This thing is pretty rugged. Have to replace the jack every couple of years, though.

Would like to get the original cheesy cardboard snakeskin case repaired some time.

This is a great vintage cheezy guitar. To me it is irreplaceable. I wish they still made these scrappy rockers.

In typical Gibson fashion, the serial number does not lock down to a specific year, but I am guessing it is a '63. I got it used in a small shop in LA in '72 as a replacement for my recently stolen LP junior (a '59, double cutaway...still miss that axe)...paid $145 with a generic case. This is the 2 single, separate tone/volume/toggle config, which I fell in love with the 'center' sound. I made numerous mods to this axe, the first being to roue the cavity lip so the faceplate sits flush (why? because I thought it would look cool...and it did.) This had the really ugly black to yellow sunburst finish on the front, so I painted the face in a black satin finish (it blended beautifully with the face plate!). I put Schaller tuners on it shortly thereafter, and over the years have replaced those with Gotohs. I removed the formed steel tremolo, thinking that would solve the tuning issues. I finally had to put a Badass on it to hold the intonation.

This was my stage axe for several years, and sounded great through both my Fender Vibrolux ('64) and my Marshall SL100 half stack. It was superceded by a Strat in the mid 70's, but I kept it as my backup.
It is noisy (single coils after all), but tonally it matched everything I heard from SGs of the era, just less output, much lighter and far more prone to feeding back with the SL100. I've used it for everything from rock to country to 30's swing, and it always managed to have the right sound somewhere between thos little pickups!

the action was bad when I got it, but with the modifications over the years, it has been fine. See above regarding finish etc.

I play predominantly Blues now, and with the latest addition of a hand made brass nut, this has become my slide axe, and it gets used every gig. Still looks good on stage under the lights.

yeah, right!

I have been playing about 30 years on and off, and I tend to keep my guitars...I learned alot messing around with this one! I love the weight and the balance, the look is just so vintage rock'n'roll, yet it sounds so good cranked out... I recently found an early 70's SG for $150, and although I use it, the MM seems to have been far more versatile... I doubt anyone in their right mind would steal this one since it has no resale value except for parts...I would probably replace it with a Blueshawk if it were gone.

I believe this is a '67 Melody Maker. One humbucker at the bridge. One volume and one tone knob. This one has 2 switches on it, but the other one had been added for more tonal variety. 22 frets. New chrome tuners. I have no idea what the orignal had so...... Natural brown wood finish with a black pickguard. I give the features a 7 because u sorta expect more from Gibson but oh well, it was found under the stage at Woodstock '69 with the headstock broken. And I have the original hardshell (sorta) case.

Except for some internal damage due to the pots not working right and the switches not connected all the way. This baby sounds great. It's old and I don't expect it to be perfect. I could work on it and fix it but this really isn't my main guitar of choice. I play metal and this does the job perfect. :) P.S. A GOOD CLEAN SOUND AS WELL!!!!

Hmmm....considering this was found under the stage at Woodstock with the headstock broken and everything's basically beat up. The finish is practically gone and there are tons of blemishes. The little finish on the back of it looks great and the whole guitar looking like that would be beautiful. But dreamers dream. The action is a little high and I would mess with it but it's not my guitar and my girlfriend would kill me. I rate it as a 1 as it is right now. But if this thing would have been taken care of, it would have gotten a 9.

Let's see 32 years later and this still works? I'd have to say it's durable all right. Even with the head glued back on, there is still nothing wrong with it. I'd have to admire Gibson for building such a strong piece of guitar. I'd use this as a gig most definitely. Cuz my "reliable" Squier is all messed up and that needs to die. I can't wait til i get a new Ibanez or something. And on another note, these strap buttons ain't falling off at all.

Never called Gibson. But the repairs done to it were homemade and we didn't need Gibson at all. If there ever was a warranty I bet it's long gone by now.

I've been playing for 3 years now and this already has outlasted my Squier Strat. If this thing were stolen, I'd probably be murdered but I would be pretty pissed about it.

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

I have owned two Melody Makers. The first was also my first electric, and it was a mid-late Seventies reissue, solid mahogany, double cutaway, with two single coil Melody Maker pickups and the unique skinny Melody Maker peghead. When I got it, I slapped a Firebird Pickup in between the two. Turns out I didn't need it unless I wanted to cut the buzz between songs, but what did I know, it was my first electric.
Had the basic, deluxe-style Gibson tuners, which I replaced, two tone and two volume knobs with a three-position switch. I also put a coil cutter on the Firebird pickup.
When this guitar was stolen from me in the early eighties, I was devastated. I went out and tried to find another and, to this day, hav not found another late seventies re-issue Melody Maker. If ANYONE has one to sell, please email me.
Anyway, I ended up buying an original, circa '61 or '62 Melody Maker. Very similar except for the following: only one pickup, but the sound of the pickups was the same as hat on the re-issue. Kind of amazing. I again installed a humbucker, this one a Deluxe-type. Also, the finish on this guitar is what I call the "vegetable oil finish." I thought for sure that it was a homemade refinish until I started seeing others around. This on already had Grovers on the peghead. Aside from that, the only difference is that the cutaway horns were slightly less deep, a bit sharper, and curve away from the neck a bit. The Melody Makers came in those two basic body shapes, not counting the SG-shaped Melody Makers.

I love Melody Makers and the infamous Melody Maker pickup. I play blues, rock, lots of reggae and dub skanking, and some country. This guitar twangs when needed (cause it's so light), yet it delivers a great chop sound.
It is not a loud, powerful axe on its own, but it more than makes up for this with the character of its sound.
I have owned Teles, Firebirds, Travis Beans, and SG's, and the one guitar I wouldn't ever dream of selling is my Melody Maker, and not just for sentimental value. It is unique.

First guitar was set up pretty well back in 1977 when I bought it. Or was it 76? Anyway, I messed with it, but nothing major.
The second one was used, and I had to have it re-fretted, but once set up, haven't needed to do a thing.
Oh yeah, the second one (the 61) had the vibrato removed and I replace the wraparound tailpiece with a Leo Quann BadAss bridge. Works well for me.

I have utter faith in these guitars. They are light, but they both have taken thrashings. I certainly was rough on my first one when I was a young lad.
The second one I'm a bit more careful with cause it's old, but it still seems as solid as my first one did when it was new, and t's going on 40 years old soon.
Original plastic strap buttons still on the second one. And I used it for almost ten years without a backup. Only recently have I started keeping more than one electric again. Of course, it's getting out of hand, cause I now think I need about five, but for years a Melody Maker was my one-and-only.

Never had to deal with them on this guitar, although I had some problems with them in 1980 about a Firebird case that was no good. they eventually replaced it with a gracious letter, to boot.

I would hunt out another Melody Maker and buy it if this were stolen. I am STILL looking for another Seventies re-issue Melody Maker.
I have been playing for 25 years, since I was 13. I use a Crybaby Wah and used to use an original Small Stone and other sundry boxes, but now go through a Korg AX-300 Unit, which I like, but the jury is still out on whether I'll be using it for long.
I go through an old Peavey transistor amp and am looking to buy a good am finally. For years, thoughve used Melody Makers in studios and other rooms through almost every amp-type made. The only thing about it is the hum that does not get humbucked. As I am a single-coil kind of guy, though, I have no real issue with that. The sound of that pickup more than compensates for that.
I couldn't think of a better guitar for a beginner or for a skank or country sound, to tell the truth.