A fine and all original 1962 Melody Maker

1962 Gibson Melody Maker

This super light guitar weighs just 5.80 lbs. and has a 'double-cut' one and a third inch deep solid mahogany body. One-piece mahogany neck with a nice, fat nut width of 1 11/16 inches, a full scale length of 24 3/4 inches. and a very comfortable thin-to-medium profile. 'Slab' rosewood fretboard with 22 original jumbo frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Gold silk-screen "Gibson" headstock logo. Open-back strip tuners with oval white plastic buttons. Serial number "83544" stamped in blind on the back of the headstock. Black plastic "all-on-one-plate" pickguard with the words "Melody Maker" in white by the end of the fretboard. One Melody Maker pickup (black plastic-covered single-coil without adjustable polepieces) with an output of 7.37k, two controls (one volume, one tone) and jack input, all mounted on pickguard. Gold plastic bell-shaped knobs with metal tops. The potentiometers are stamped "134 6145" & "131 6148" (Centralab November 1961). Combination wrap-over bar 'preset' bridge/tailpiece with two intonation adjustment screws. This super little guitar is in exceptionally (9.00) fine condition with very little signs of playing wear to the original frets and fretboard and just a few tiny marks/dings on the edges of the body. Housed in a later Gibson five-latch, shaped black hardshell case with red plush lining (8.75).

Between 1959 and 1965, the Melody Maker kept the same basic specifications but went through two successive body redesigns. When introduced in 1959, the Melody Maker had a single rounded cutaway body shape identical to the original Les Paul Junior, but thinner. In early 1961, this was modified to a symmetrical double cutaway with rounded horns and slightly rounded body edges. The last change to the Melody Maker came in 1965, when it adopted the body style of the SG, with pointed horns and with the body edges slightly more rounded. This body design lasted until the Melody Maker was dropped from the Gibson line in 1971.