Paid 175 bucks for one of these back in 1980.....butchered it by putting 2 dimarzio super distortions in it. Plugged it into a 50 dollar Peavey Standard with a 2x12 cab turned it all the way up and as a result I am now half deaf......it was almost worth it
I had the 2008 reissue of this exact version as my main guitar all through my teen years. It felt like a pretty faithful reproduction compared to the few 60's melody makers I played. It's a killer guitar for like garage punk and stuff like that
Neck Pickup: I Love Rock 'N' Roll - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts Middle Pickup: Crimson and Clover - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts Bridge Pickup: I Hate Myself For Loving You - Joan Jett & the Blackhearts Happy 60th to Joan, I honestly had no idea she was that old but she still rocks to this day, man
I used to own a '59 single pickup Melody Maker that some basement wizard had completely gutted and refitted with whatever he had laying around (great bridge and double-stacked mini-humbucker) and a great refret job. It shot the collector's value to hell, but it was nonetheless the most perfect guitar I ever owned. It still breaks my heart that I had to sell it.
Spring 1992 I took my Aria Pro II Flying V into U-Crest Music in Buffalo, NY bc the nut had cracked in half. They asked if I needed to borrow a guitar, I said yes. They gave me a guitar that looked exactly like this, two p/u, 4 knobs, said Melody Maker, never got the date. I had it for 3-4 days, I loved it!! When I went to pick up my guitar (my 1st guitar, a piece of crap) I asked how much this one was, they said $250 with the original case. I was 17 and stupid bc I said "with all these scratches?" lol This guitar sells for about $3500 today in this condition...live and learn!!
Had to liook for Gary and Thin Lizzy,. Sydney Opera House, '78. Single pup single cut w/ one HB (DiMarzio?). Screaming and blazing break at the 30 minute mark for Me And The Boys!
Bill does that at a bunch of theaters when he’s in town. He did it at Madison square garden. So cool!! I’m a udge burr fan. That’s badass mark. Sounds like a ton of fun.
IT SQUEALS IN A BIG AMP I DO LIKE THESE GUITARS IT NEEDS THE OCD PEDAL I WAS 15 IN 1965 AND I HAD A CHANCE TO PURCHASE A 1960 EXACTLY LIKE THIS ONE IT WAS ONLY $60 AND I DIDN'T RAISE DA $ FAST NUFF I WAS IN MY FIRST BAND WE WERE STEAMROLLER BLACKHEART GARY RYAN WAS IN MY OLD L.A. BAND Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs BEFORE DA BLACKHEARTS HE WAS ONLY 15 IN 1980 AND HE WAS A GOOD PLAYER I KNEW JOAN BACK THEN 2 BLACKHEART ERIC AMBLE CAME OUT FROM WYOMING WITH THE DIRTY DOGS TJ&RPs RHYTHM PLAYER WAS DIG THE PIG & HE WAS IN THE DIRTY DOGS AS WELL THIS 1960 MELODY MAKER IS A COOL AX WITH DIFFERENT TONALITY'S TO IT... IF YOU LIKE IT YOU LIKE IT CARLOS GUITARLOS USA HIGHLAND PARK L.A. 90042
Hey man I'm in way over my comfort zone with a Gibson Melody Maker that looks like the one you have in your hand now.. Who would let Joan Jett know I want her opinion, no I need her opinion and we all love rock n roll!!! And this guitar!! You rock..
Joan Jett is a goddess , nothing like a leather clad chick singer with a melody maker slung low over her neck and rockin the joint. I've seen Joan live 4 times as far back as the 80's and she has kicked ass every time , no names , no prisoners , a Runaways train. Oh nice guitar by the way , nice freakin Straturday.
No mention of where Joan Jett got her white MM. She bought it from Eric Carmen. This is the same guitar played on The Raspberries hit "Go All The Way".
Bill what can I say, same mind set, anyway thanks Mark ✌️ thanks Jen 🌷btw I have a picture of my friend Cherie Currie signing one of Joan’s melody makers few years back.
I wonder if you could order them to installed some vintage PAFs into that guitar back then since someone ordered a sunburst 59 les paul to be painted black.
Epiphone just put out the exact same guitar probably made in N. Korea with lower quality for $99. Would not compare the two obviously but it's interesting they used exact design down to pickguard but called it a Les Paul SL (Seriously Lacking). New one clean sounds a lot like a Fender, same underpower that gives them that twang/treble. Also sounded like it has similar intonation issue
I have a refurbished, beefed up 1968 Gibson Melody Maker w/SG body style and it still wails away! I bought it for $250 in 1975. It is one of my best friends. My soul is in that guitar! When I saw a Leslie West concert and he had the same guitar, I beamed big time!
Awesome guitar! Otis Rush passed away today at 84. Would love to see a small tribute on the next vid to a true legend of the Blues world. R.I.P. Otis R.
Phil Moore wrong bridge yes, but 1960 was the transitional year from the wide to the narrow MM pickups. They got whatever was in the parts bin so some came with one of each like this one.
I had a '59 Melody Maker single pickup with a trapeze tail piece....was it stock or a modification ? The original owner said he bought it new with the trapeze....
I have a 59 single pickup with the trapeze, except it's not really what I'd call "trapeze." There's a kind of floating metal bar behind the bridge, bolted to the body, that the strings go through, and there's a flat vibrato bar. Is that what you're talking about? It was definitely stock, a friend bought it in a pawn shop in 1970 for $100. I bought it from him five years later for $30.
I wonder what the list price on that guitar was in 1960. I had a small one pick-up epiphone different body, I think from the late 1950s - same finish. Wish I still had it. I think I gave it away to a freind along with a BASSMAN AMP I didn't use.
Not sure if i missed it, but whats up with the condition of the pickups on this thing? The neck pickup looks like its been chewed on, and the bridge pickup looks like the cover just settled onto the magnet. I know thats just age, but ive not seen that before
In my opinion this Melody Maker has either had some mods or is a transition model. The treble pickup is the larger thin plastic cover first gen version , the neck pickup is the narrower thick plastic gen 1.1 model. And the tailpiece-bridge has been changed from a period correct smooth top version to a later compensated model.
After 1959 they change the single coil pick up in the melody maker and the 1959‘s have a much better sounding fuller pick up than any year after it . That being said these are fantastic mod platforms. You get a single piece body of beautiful Honduran mahogany and neck and a Brazilian Rosewood fretboard and you throw a PAF pick up in there or a P90 and it’s a fantastic guitar . I have four and if you look hard enough you can find really nice melody makers for under $1200 and where else are you going to get a 60-year-old piece of Honduran mahogany single slab body with Gibson USA construction ?
You could call it ‘ham sandwich’ if you want. Nobody denies that it was designed and marketed as a student Guitar and by the way so was the Les Paul Junior. And yes it is less blingy than, for example the Les Paul. But when you look at valuation and what you get in the current market you can get a single piece slab body Honduran mahogany guitar with a mahogany neck and long tenon construction, a Brazilian Rosewood fretboard, made in the USA 60 years old and made by the same exact craftsman and equipment that the much higher value Gibson guitars were made by . The last one I bought had GIBSON PATENT NO pickups from the 60’s in it (seller clearly didn’t realize this and I didn’t either until I took them out to look at them). The only difference between MM’s and Juniors is the body thickness - same sweet neck, real lacquer (modern lacquer is different because environment ) , frets, wood, etc - FOR ABOUT $1k
It use to be guitars with one pickup cost half of what a guitar with two would cost you. It was always about quality, you had to pay for the good stuff... juniors are a fluke... lol
‘It used to be’ so few people wanted to buy Les Pauls in 1958, 1959 etc. that they STOPPED making them and replaced the Classic burst with what we now call the SG. And didn’t start making the LP until years later. I guess the were bad quality !
Especially with the current state of CITES (possibly to be amended in 2019) and the rarity of old growth Honduran mahogany and Brazilian Rosewood I think they are a great deal for $1000 but YMMV
Saturday but no Strat. But that Gibson is a nice change! They were over looked guitars. Shouldn't be a high dollar guitar but with today's crazy prices who can tell. Always a fan a true work horse of the Rock and the Roll music. Me. Jett would be proud!
Owned a sngl p/u one that I traded a 62 Fender Mustang even for. The Fender was rescued from a trash can in Geneva OH by a close friend. All that was wrong with the 'Stang was a pot....the Gibson went to a NE Ohioan...perhaps e.carmen????
Unless you use a wound third string, it's not going to compensate properly with that stagger. Best to put a set of flatwounds on it, and use it for slide...!
