Resurrection: Gibson Melody Maker

     When I was a child, I killed my guitar...

     Actually, I wasn't a child when I did it. But it was over twenty-five years ago. What can I say? I was stupid. I had damage to my skull, I was... young. That pretty much explains it.

     Now I'm better, and to prove it I resurrected my dead Melody Maker. Why not take a look at the before and after images? I'll be glad you did... Resurrection: Gibson Melody Maker

     I found a web message board the other day that had a section called, "Why do people do these stupid things to their guitars." I wish I had that particular abuse available to me around twenty five years ago when I butchered my Gibson. However, I have made amends. Ok, I wasn't all that young back then, but obviously I must have been suffering from some sort of brain disorder during that unremarkable point of my existance.
     Guitar aficionado's should take care in viewing the following disturbing photos. They obviously represent the results of a tortured youths attempt at creating something that only he could possibly imagine. The vision simply eludes those of us made from a more stable gene pool.


(Click photo to enlarge)
     "Full frontal in all it's glory. The Melody Maker had one single coil pickup when new. It had all the routing done on the front with the volume and tone controls mounted in a black pickguard.Some young jackass mounted two humbuckers from an old Gretch in this puppy."



     (Click photo's to enlarge) Here you can see some fairly incompetent craftsmanship. Of course I'm sure the youth in question was a little young to consider as a craftsman. A hack maybe. Or idiot child perhaps. The back routing was done in a fashion as to accomidate the Gretch control covers."

(Click photo to enlarge)      "Here's where the tone, volume and input goes. Notice the different species of wood. Having suffered several makeovers, some filling of the mahogany body was done with white oak. (Ugh!) "
     "You notice the little fuzzy white balls? Yep, you guessed it! Spider nest! Also note the burn mark on the left where the guitar sat against the baseboard heat a bit to long. The man child responsible for this butchery should be hung by his neck with rusty guitar strings."

(Click photo's to enlarge) Here we have a few shots of the head damage on the guitar. (Head damage, the same thing the youth in question suffers from.) The cracks are a result of screwing without pre drilling. In one photo, you can see a screw on the side of the head that kept it from splitting apart."

(Click photo to enlarge)      "This is where the Gretch toggle switch went. By the way, my brother-in-law snapped the neck off a Gretch he had and that's where I got all the Gretch parts. You can also see the mahogany veneer patchwork on the back to cover various surgical atrocities best left unseen."
     Well, I have much more documention that would prove that the young man who killed this quitar had a hormone imbalance, brain damage or other equally debilitating sickness. However, that particular child no longer exists. He has developed in to a relativly sane, and highly skilled person. At least that's what he thinks.
     There is still the possibility that some people may not like what I hope is the final chapter on the remaking of The Melody Maker. It was not repaired to look like the origonal. There is no yellow, pear shaped Gibson style sunburst. And It now has two single coil pickups. I have my reasoning. Simply put, the guitar body was unsalvageable so I felt the collectors value of the guitar was zero. The neck was still in near perfect condition other than the cracks in the head, but that remains the only origonal part.
     While I would still eventually love to have an origonal Melody Maker, I felt under the circumstances that I should go a different route than that of a straight restoration. In the photos below, you will see the results...

(Click photo to enlarge)      "I tried to save a few bucks where I could. I actually found a replacement pickguard on the web but decided to save the forty bucks. Instead, I spent five or six hours of my time making one out of a piece of cherry I had in the shop. It had to be a little thicker than a standard pickguard but I kind of beveled the edges so that it doesn't look as thick as it is. It shined up pretty good. I also spread the controls out more than the standard pickguard."

     "(Click photo to enlarge) As you can see, this is not a Gibson sunburst. It's a fender sunburst. The main reason I went with the fender look is that I didn't want to paint over the good looking mahogany grain on the new body. In the enlarged photo you can see the finish reflects very nicely. I learned a few tricks on the internet that made spraying the sunburst a snap."

     "(Click photo to enlarge)Here you can see the Schaller 455 bridge, the Duncan Performer "Great White Snarks" pickup and gold colord speed knobs. Also, did I mention that it has a nice shine? Yes, you can even see the dust already..."

     "(Click photo to enlarge)While a little on the bright side, this one shows the colors of the sunburst well. I found the sunburst aerosols in spray cans at The Guitar ReRanch. They really did a great job. The five or six hours I spent polishing sure paid off. First I sprayed the two color edge. It consists of brown with red highlights. The red is hard to see unless in the proper lighting. The two color edge is followed by a few coats of amber that shows well in the sun but not as well in the shade or dark lighting."

     "(Click photo to enlarge)This really shows the high gloss! Ten coats of Behlen nitrocellulose stringed instrument lacquer will do that when sanded with 2000 grit sandpaper and polished for hours. You can see the camera tripod reflected clearly in the finish. In this light, the amber finish doesn't show as well but it really helped the color of the two different species of wood of the pickguard and body match up."

     "(Click photo to enlarge) This really shows the amber color and the red in the sunburst. The body of the guitar was prepped with two coats of lacquer based vinyl sealer, then two coats of oil based grain filler. It was then sanded to 400 grit. Then came six coats of nitro finish followed by sanding with 400, 600, and then 800 sand paper. Four more coats of finish followed and then final sanding with 1000, 1200, 1500 and 2000 grit paper."

     (Click photo to enlarge) The repair on the head came out well. You can't find where it was cracked at all. The body was made out of solid mahogany, (four pieces glued up) and I was able to remove the neck from the old body without ruining it. I started the project on the last day in November and finished it yesterday, January 14th.
     I know it's no longer a colectors item but it is a rare and unique guitar with it's cherry pickguard complete with it's own sunburst. I feel much better having saved it from the corner of the basement where it has sat the past fifteen years.

Email me with comments!
Hal Tenny