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Buying Advice - Melody Maker


Price88

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HI,

 

 

I'm on the lookout for a 1959 Melody Maker or a 1960 version (single cutout). I've spotted one of each but both have their own pros and cons. I wanted to know what are the main things to go for in either. In particular whether a 1960 MM with the thinner pickup, excellent condition and all original parts compares against a 1959 MM with the thicker pickup but the guitar has a replaced nut and knobs and is in overall slightly worse condition. I've read a lot on the forums about the thinner pickup being a bit disappointing so wanted some advice. Also how valued are the original cases? The guitar would be played regularly but it may need to be sold at some point in the future so i want to make sure it will be easy to resell.

 

 

Any advice would be much appreciated.

 

Price

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Hi there. I have a 61 MM which is basically a '60 with double cut (smaller pup)

To try and help you a little-what will you be using it for?... Gigs or recording or...?, type of music you play and effects/gain used?

 

Unless they are collector grade (which still doesn't mean worth much) then a nut change doesn't matter it's normal wear and tear, and knobs can be bought on line or from luthiers so easy to change those back if you want, so I'd go with whichever you like the most...chances are someone else will feel the same when you go to sell! [smile]

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...I wanted to know (how) a 1960 MM with the thinner pickup, excellent condition and all original parts compares against a 1959 MM with the thicker pickup but the guitar has a replaced nut and knobs and is in overall slightly worse condition...

...The guitar...may need to be sold at some point in the future so i want to make sure it will be easy to resell...

As far as ease of selling is concerned;

In general a guitar which is 100% original will be easier to sell that something modified.

In general a guitar which is in excellent condition will be easier to sell than one in worse condition.

In general a '59 is more sought-after than a '60.

 

A changed nut on pretty much any 55+ year old guitar is unimportant.

Swapped knobs are a slightly different matter if we are talking about a '59 'burst but on a Melody Maker less so.

 

The p'ups on MM's are hardly their strong point. If you are used to ANY modern guitar they will probably be disappointing.

I'm guessing buyers will know this so it shouldn't feature too highly up the 'priority' list.

 

Neither is likely either to increase- or decrease in value by aything which might be considered a 'significant sum'.

FWIW if it were me I'd buy the best-playing-and-sounding one.

Purely in terms of ease of selling you should (probably) get the more original, better condition guitar.

 

Pip.

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Hi there. I have a 61 MM which is basically a '60 with double cut (smaller pup)

To try and help you a little-what will you be using it for?... Gigs or recording or...?, type of music you play and effects/gain used?

 

Unless they are collector grade (which still doesn't mean worth much) then a nut change doesn't matter it's normal wear and tear, and knobs can be bought on line or from luthiers so easy to change those back if you want, so I'd go with whichever you like the most...chances are someone else will feel the same when you go to sell! [smile]

 

 

 

Thanks for your help, I'm going to be using the guitar for a little bit of recording and some occasional jamming but mainly just for my own enjoyment. I tend to avoid using any pedals and lean more towards playing straight through my Marshall AVT150. In terms of sound I'm more of a blues guy so try to play stuff by Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck, Gary Moore (Try being the key word here!). I also dig a bit of a dirty blues sound. I think my main concern for going for a 1960's one over a 1959 version was the pickup. Online the thicker pickup seems much more popular and I personally cant test any as their are none near me here in the UK so I can only buy on the basis of what i read or listen to on Youtube.

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As far as ease of selling is concerned;

In general a guitar which is 100% original will be easier to sell that something modified.

In general a guitar which is in excellent condition will be easier to sell than one in worse condition.

In general a '59 is more sought-after than a '60.

 

A changed nut on pretty much any 55+ year old guitar is unimportant.

Swapped knobs are a slightly different matter if we are talking about a '59 'burst but on a Melody Maker less so.

 

The p'ups on MM's are hardly their strong point. If you are used to ANY modern guitar they will probably be disappointing.

I'm guessing buyers will know this so it shouldn't feature too highly up the 'priority' list.

 

Neither is likely either to increase- or decrease in value by aything which might be considered a 'significant sum'.

FWIW if it were me I'd buy the best-playing-and-sounding one.

Purely in terms of ease of selling you should (probably) get the more original, better condition guitar.

 

Pip.

 

 

 

Thanks for your advice Pip,

 

I think i need to hear the difference between the thinner and thicker pickup to make my mind up. I'm looking to buy from the US which means it's difficult to get a clear idea of how they sound but they are open to doing a skype link which would be helpful.

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Thanks for your help, I'm going to be using the guitar for a little bit of recording and some occasional jamming but mainly just for my own enjoyment. I tend to avoid using any pedals and lean more towards playing straight through my Marshall AVT150. In terms of sound I'm more of a blues guy so try to play stuff by Rory Gallagher, Jeff Beck, Gary Moore (Try being the key word here!). I also dig a bit of a dirty blues sound. I think my main concern for going for a 1960's one over a 1959 version was the pickup. Online the thicker pickup seems much more popular and I personally cant test any as their are none near me here in the UK so I can only buy on the basis of what i read or listen to on Youtube.

Cool. I haven't played a 59 but I don't think the pickups would sound too different. They are a blade pickup of limited output and have a thin, sharp sort of sound to my ears with the tone up - though I gotta say if you back the tone off to about 3 they have a pretty fair approximation of an acoustic guitar which is cool. They have a rather nasty neck to body joint in regards upper fret access, but if you are going for a single cut that may be trumped as an issue anyhow.

 

I asked about playing live/type of music because I reckon you'd have issues with interchanging with another guitar given how low the pup output seems to be. Maybe require a volume pedal or more think-on-the-fly ability than I posses. I got mine for that purpose and against my (hot) mini HB powered 69 Epi it wouldn't have worked out well [biggrin] If you are playing at home through a Marshall with some dirt I don't see the pickup as much of an issue though (aside from any hum) as you have the ability to override its sound via the amp to a fair degree.

 

I look at mine as a bit of fun. It looks cool in an alt rock/punk sort of way, though I find it a bit tricky to play (the neck seems wider than it is for some reason, maybe the shoulders are thicker), but it was cheap, is beautifully light weight, neck dive is OK provided it has the original very light weight tuners, and it's a bit different and not worth selling really so it stays. [smile]

 

Enjoy whatever you get - you can't go too far wrong and should find a buyer if it doesn't work for you [thumbup]

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