Last winter I found and bought back the 65 Melody Maker that was my main guitar in the early 70s. As an 18 year old with no woodworking skills or tools, I butchered the routing with a chisel and drill to add two embossed Gibson humbuckers and Schaller tuners (that made the headstock look like a skinny guy with big ears). Also used auto rattle cans to paint it white. So this guitar never had a chance at collectability.
Since I got it back I’ve been restoring the guitar from decades of bad refinishes, sweat, corrosion, sanding the SN# off the headstock, etc. I was gonna try to maintain as much of what I had as possible, but the pickguard was a mess and the Schallers had to go. I scraped the rosewood fingerboard clean, had to veneer the over sanded headstock and decided to restore it to as “newish“ as I could, with a vintage white finish. The result is a pretty cool guitar with a unique sound and plays like butter. A fortune invested, and not worth much any more, but glad to have her back....
Gibson Melody Maker 1965 (Cherry)
in Vintage Corner
Posted
Last winter I found and bought back the 65 Melody Maker that was my main guitar in the early 70s. As an 18 year old with no woodworking skills or tools, I butchered the routing with a chisel and drill to add two embossed Gibson humbuckers and Schaller tuners (that made the headstock look like a skinny guy with big ears). Also used auto rattle cans to paint it white. So this guitar never had a chance at collectability.
Since I got it back I’ve been restoring the guitar from decades of bad refinishes, sweat, corrosion, sanding the SN# off the headstock, etc. I was gonna try to maintain as much of what I had as possible, but the pickguard was a mess and the Schallers had to go. I scraped the rosewood fingerboard clean, had to veneer the over sanded headstock and decided to restore it to as “newish“ as I could, with a vintage white finish. The result is a pretty cool guitar with a unique sound and plays like butter. A fortune invested, and not worth much any more, but glad to have her back....