New Melody Makers

[Oster]

Does anyone know if the new Melody Makers are made from Mahogany? Costs were kept down in the past by mounting the controls to the pickguard. I notice these newbies have body-mounted controls. Could a lesser grade wood account for the 'upgrade'?

[perkins]

They are Mohogany, thin body like the old ones. Main difference is the finish. The type of finish they use cheaper to spray with less detail. To me the Yellow and Cherry look the best. The Black , like all black paint, made the grain pore look real deep where the grain filler had been eliminated. But that is my personal opinion.

[alvis]

I think their pretty cool guitars.Basic.You know the routing is all computerized these days so it's probably not as much as an issue cost wise as it was 40 years ago.

Great necks on the new ones and good choice using the P 90.Audley Freed twisted my arm and talked me into putting the P90 in my 61 Melody,excellent

[DADGAD]

From the Gibson site:

BODY - Species: Santa Maria or equivalent

http://cayehardwoods.com/SantaMaria.htm

NECK - Species: Spanish Cedar or equivalent

http://www.woodzone.com/woods/spancedar.htm

I have a red one. The wood feels & sounds like mahogany. The neck is very rigid. LPMM's in the store had major variations in weight. I picked a light one that had a good acoustic tone. The finish is flat. Playing it for 3 weeks has polished the neck paint to a high gloss.

These LPMM's flat out rock. GC was nice and let me have it for $359 with the free gigbag. They said Gibson's target market was kids but, 'Cats' are snatching these things up quick.

Gary

[johnnelles]

...GC was nice and let me have it for $359 with the free gigbag....Gary

I got the same deal. I was gonna go with the red, but they had a black one that had better action.
The only mod so far is a LP Jr tortoiseshell pickguard from Warmoth. (Hey - It needed something). Eventually, I'd like to put a Bigsby on it.

Meanwhile, the dull black finish is starting to wear off wonderfully.
:wink:

[Blazer]

I'd like to have one of those Yellow ones. I tried one of those and it rocked.

My mods would include a pickguard and a second pickup.

[johnnelles]

My mods would include a pickguard and a second pickup.
I'm with you on the pickguard (custom from Warmoth), though one pickup is plenty for me. How about a Bigsby?

http://www.scopdomscop.com/pictures/LP%20Jr.jpg

[Blazer]

My mods would include a pickguard and a second pickup.
I'm with you on the pickguard (custom from Warmoth), though one pickup is plenty for me. How about a Bigsby?

No Bigsby for me thank you, too much hassle when a string needs to be replaced but I have to admit that your Melody maker looks very MOJO. good job there.

[Mojohand40]

Like others have said, they "feel" like mohagany. I got a cherry one. The finish is kinda' like rustoleum, but after awile the neck smooths out real nice with wear from playing. I consider it one of the best guitars I've ever owned. Dirt simple and built like a rock but plays real nice and sounds killer for some blues and rockabilly stuff. I'm keeping mine stock. Love the p90 on it.

[TG]

I put a single ply brown tortoiseshell pickguard on mine. It's a black guitar so the tortoiseshell just looked black until a slipped a bit of pale green paper under it.
Now it's sexy.

Cool little guitar.

[MendYourWays]

Hey everyone, this is my first post over here, I've been a member over at the telecaster fourm for a while though. I recently picked up one of these Melody Makers on ebay and am awaiting for it to arrive in the mail. I've always been a sucker for simplicity and this guitar nails it. I'll keep you all updated when I get it. In the mean time does anyone have any suggestions for a pickguard? I bought the black model so I'm thinking either tort, or I've seen a black/silver paisly that looks really nice. I've seen a black/white checkerboard guard too that looks kind of neat but that might look a little off.

[Mojohand40]

Mend your Ways;
I'd be curious to read your opinion on your new Melody maker.
I have one and a AV 52ri Tele. Honesty, I love my Tele...but...the Melody Maker is a really sweet guitar. It might be apples and oranges, but in a way they aren't that different. Nice simple guitars with lot's of twang.
I tend to grab for either guitar, but somedays I think if I HAD to get rid of one of them (Heaven Forbid!!) the Tele would go...(of course a week later, and I think the opposite...guess I'm fickle).
I'm still debating getting a pickgaurd for it..I kind of like the nekkid' look. I got a red one.

[MendYourWays]

Well I just got it in hand about 2 days ago and strung it up with some 11g DR Pure Blues nickel strings. First thing I noticed was the neck. This is my first Gibson, I've always played Squiers and Teisco's so I'm not really used to a chunky neck although it is similar to some Teisco's I own. It's an amazingly well built guitar, haven’t had a single problem with tuning and all the pots and jack and such work as they should. I'll admit though, sitting down and playing this guitar is not the most comfortable and a set of strap locks is a must if you move a lot while playing.
As for the plugged in sound, my tube amp is out of commission right now so I only got to play it thru a Peavey Blazer S/S amp. Even thru that though the pickup has a nice punchy bottom end and like you said twangy highs. I find the highs to almost be less twangy and more bite-y hah. I've noticed the G string stands out a lot more then the rest of the strings. Is that normal, I've never really had the problem before. I've adjusted the pole pieces though and it evened out the sound a bit.
Overall it's an awesome guitar that I foresee keeping for a long long time. That's what I was after, a good beater that'll be a keeper hah. As for a pickguard I think I'll keep it plain for a while longer and see maybe later I'll add one.
Quick question though, I've noticed on mine the bridge saddles don't really have grooves cut in them, well the do but their super shallow and the low E is kind of off center. I've played on an Epiphone SG before that had really low cuts in the saddles so I'm wondering if all Melody Makers are like mine or do I have a defect? I haven't really noticed a problem or anything but it'd put me more at ease to know others are like this.

Edit-I forgot to add, the twangy sound can easily be cleaned up with the tone knob.

[moparmutt]

where is the P90 on these made?? Is it a good one?
Just wonderin' I never had a P90 guitar B4 and just got one of these new melody makers

[MendYourWays]

I think they are good, sound good to me. I am thinking of an upgrade but not for a while. As far as I know they are made in the U.S. I know the guitar it self is at least. I have my P-90 wired straight to the jack, perfect dirty blues tone.

Just thought I'd let everyone know, although you might all know this I just found out. Thru to 04' all Melody Makers have Santa Maria bodies, everything after is solid Mahogany. I'm much more tempted to stripe mine now knowing that it's Stana Maria.

[Rob DiStefano]

Not having owned a "student" Gibson in over a decade, last week I went out hunting for a used, recent issue LPJr or a MM ....

... I picked up a 2004 MM off eBay - it was listed as "excellent condition" and it turned out to be dead mint new, guess I got lucky.

It's cherry stained, with a 5 piece 1-3/8" thin body, although listed as a "slim neck" it has some decent enuf chunk to it, just not a 50's baseball bat. I pulled it apart and the pots and jack are top shelf, the tuners are individual Gibson Deluxe with little white tuner buttons and they work super smooth, the nut is Tusq and that's just fine by me, a single Gibson P90 at the bridge.

I strung up with 11-50 roundwounds, tweaked the truss rod, intonated the saddles/bridge, plugged into a Li'l Dawg Champster and cranked the volume. Holy moly, it's got The Tone and the body just resonates forever. Now I'm hooked and wanna find a reissue LPJr - but the MM is totally killer as is, plus I like a TOM bridge over a wraparound.

[Joe-Bob]

The grooves are made by hitting the strings with a hammer. You can clean them up if you like, just keep the radius in mind when you do it. They aren't necessarily supposed to be in the center so long as the spacing is correct.