A Solid Body Aimed at Beginners

This very light guitar weighs 6.20 lbs. and has a nice, fat nut width of slightly over 1 11/16 inches and a scale length of 24 3/4 inches. Solid mahogany body, one-piece mahogany neck, and rosewood fretboard with 22 frets and inlaid pearl dot position markers. Gold "Gibson" headstock decal. Open-back strip tuners with white plastic oval buttons. Serial number ("118857") stamped on the back of the headstock. Black plastic "all-on-one-plate" pickguard with the words "Melody Maker" in white at the end of the fretboard. Two Melody Maker pickups (black plastic-covered single-coil pickups without adjustable polepieces) with outputs of 7.30k and 7.15k, four controls (two volume, two tone), plus three-way selector switch and jack input, all mounted on pickguard. Gold plastic bell-shaped knobs with white markings and metal tops. CentraLab pots stamped "1346320" (May 1963). Factory Maestro vibrato tailpiece and combination ridged wrap-over bar bridge/tailpiece with the strings draped over it and attaching to the vibrato. This super little guitar is in near mint condition, with only two "check" lines on the top and a couple of tiny marks on the edges. Housed in its original Gibson "alligator" softshell case with brown velvet lining -- very clean, but with the handle broken (8.75).

"The Melody Maker was originally released [in early 1959] as a single pickup model, available with either a regular (24 3/4") or a short (22 1/2") scale neck. The favourable response to the model led Gibson to list a dual pickup version on November 1, 1959 but the Melody Maker D was not shipped in quantity until 1960. Unlike the single pickup model, the MM-D was exclusively offered with a full-size neck at a price fractionally higher ($135.00) than the single pickup Junior and TV models" (A.R. Duchossoir, Gibson Electrics -- The Classic Years, p. 88). The Melody Maker D is structurally identical to the single pickup Melody Maker except for an enlarged pickguard supporting two pickups, four controls, and a three-way toggle switch.

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.