Melody Maker build

[flatfive]

Hi all. Here's the story behind this build.

For about 20 years my only electric was a '64 Gibson Melody
Maker. At that time of my life I never thought of doing more
than tuning the strings on my guitar (and playing it).

The guitar was heavily modified when I bought it, with humbuckers
and a Leo Quan Badass Bridge. It had all sorts of dings, plus
heavy cracking of the finish -- it whatever the term is that
gets used when this cracking is supposed to be a good thing .

After I started buying other guitars, I believed this was my
beater. I wasn't smart enough to know that a vintage Gibson
was worth more than a Yamaha Pacifica

About four years ago I discovered that the guitar, and even
the beat up case, were worth money, and then I sold it faster
than Al Di Meola can play the dorian mode.

My plan is to build something close to my old Melody Maker,
partly because I miss it a little, partly because it was a fun
guitar to play, and partly as a way to get some chops together
for the Gretsch build I started recently.

Here's some pics.









(Fortunately I took tons of pics before selling it.)

The mods done on it were very crude. Here's what it looked
like under the pick guard.



I'm going to use two humbuckers, a Wilkinson/Gotoh wraparound bridge
more like the original bridge, and Kluson replica tuners. Not sure what
kind of humbuckers yet. The ones on my Melody Maker
were Gibsons.

The new stuff for me on this build will be: angled headstock,
angled, glued neck, and burst finish.

One thing I don't plan to copy is the way the original
pickguard wrapped around the bridge pickup.

Thanks to ievans and Pat Sharkey, I've got a great, detailed
Melody Maker plan to work from.

Originally Posted by ievans

I've got a Melody Maker plan, by Pat Sharkey. It's quite detailed.

Edit: just get it from the man himself here:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...thkey=CN_g4_sI

Thanks again!

[Colt W. Knight]

Cool project.

I had one of the newer Vintage white ones, and the single pickup sounded amazing. But I hated just about everything else about that guitar. I traded it for a Blues Jr. amp. Eventhough I didn't like the way it played, finish, or short scale, I still regret trading it off.

[ievans]

No problem, and really Pat Sharkey (landsharkey on MLP) deserves all the thanks. I'm super interested in this build, especially with your history.

If you decide for whatever reason to not use a humbucker, Bryan at BG Pickups makes a great Melody Maker P90, with a reissue and vintage size.
http://www.bg-pups.com/mm90.html

Bryan's a great guy to deal with.

[guitarbuilder]

I've got a few MM's here. They are my main guitars. I have one like you show in your pix, except it was turned into Steinberger guitar by the previous owner. I grafted on a peghead and rebuilt the body, although it's ugly to look at, it plays pretty well. I stuck in 2 p 90's. My take on that body configuration is that the neck flexs a lot more than the LP jr style mm's as the tenon is narrower and shorter. I'd beef up that area if I were making one.

The current MM pickups are the size of one coil of a humbucker. A friend of mine gave me a dirty fingers bucker with one bad coil. I made the good coil into a mm one by getting a piece of brass at the hobby shop and bending it with some hand tools and drilling it to mount to the holes in the coil.

[guitarbuilder]

Duplicate post...gotta love this DSL provider.

[Picton]

I'll be very curious what you think about that adjustable wraparound bridge; they're a neat idea, and I've been thinking about getting one.

Should be a nice build!

[flatfive]

Thanks, Colt. Maybe someday I'll do a custom design, as you
have done at least a couple of times.

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

Cool project.

I had one of the newer Vintage white ones, and the single pickup sounded amazing. But I hated just about everything else about that guitar. I traded it for a Blues Jr. amp. Eventhough I didn't like the way it played, finish, or short scale, I still regret trading it off.

[flatfive]

Thanks for the link to BG Pickups. Once you have the template,
you gotta build at least two, right? So maybe after making
something like my old guitar I can make a vintage MM copy, and
use those pickups.

Originally Posted by ievans

No problem, and really Pat Sharkey (landsharkey on MLP) deserves all the thanks. I'm super interested in this build, especially with your history.

If you decide for whatever reason to not use a humbucker, Bryan at BG Pickups makes a great Melody Maker P90, with a reissue and vintage size.
http://www.bg-pups.com/mm90.html

Bryan's a great guy to deal with.

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by guitarbuilder

My take on that body configuration is that the neck flexs a lot more than the LP jr style mm's as the tenon is narrower and shorter. I'd beef up that area if I were making one....

Thanks -- that's good to know. I plan on building the neck
"Guitarnut" style, out of 3/4" mahog. I'll make sure to make the
tenon substantial.

[flatfive]

Picton, you'll be glad to know that I'm going to try to use more
hand tools on this build than usual.

Originally Posted by Picton

I'll be very curious what you think about that adjustable wraparound bridge; they're a neat idea, and I've been thinking about getting one.

Should be a nice build!

[Picton]

Originally Posted by flatfive

Picton, you'll be glad to know that I'm going to try to use more
hand tools on this build than usual.

Just ONE chisel... that's all I ask, even if it's just a symbolic squaring of your neck mortise. Mortise and tenon construction, after all, is what chisels and handsaws do best.

The other reason I'll be watching this is because I'm coming around to an understanding that "simple," beginner-type guitars are really rewarding to build. As nice as a top-of-the-line preeb-style LP is, I'm finding I like the idea of building Danos, an LP jr, a Mustang... you get the idea.

[crazydave911]

Originally Posted by Picton

The other reason I'll be watching this is because I'm coming around to an understanding that "simple," beginner-type guitars are really rewarding to build. As nice as a top-of-the-line preeb-style LP is, I'm finding I like the idea of building Danos, an LP jr, a Mustang... you get the idea.

Or maybe even a Music Maker? I'm thinking along the same lines as you

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by crazydave911

Or maybe even a Music Maker? I'm thinking along the same lines as you

I had one of those! A kid down the street sold me one in mint
condition along with some kind of small tweed Fender amp in
mint condition. I stupidly traded them both -- plus some cash --
-- for the Melody Maker, which was very far from mint.

[flatfive]

Speaking of chisels, I was in Sears last week -- can't remember
what I was looking for -- but they were blowing out their
Footprint chisels. I got a few of them in different sizes for
about $7 each.

I don't know a lot about chisels but they were marked down
from $18 or so, and they're made in Sheffield, England.

Also found a set of 3 Footprint scrapers for $12, marked down
from $30.

Originally Posted by Picton

Just ONE chisel... that's all I ask, even if it's just a symbolic squaring of your neck mortise. Mortise and tenon construction, after all, is what chisels and handsaws do best.

The other reason I'll be watching this is because I'm coming around to an understanding that "simple," beginner-type guitars are really rewarding to build. As nice as a top-of-the-line preeb-style LP is, I'm finding I like the idea of building Danos, an LP jr, a Mustang... you get the idea.

[ievans]

My Footprint gents saw I use for dovetails is a nice saw. Sounds like I should stop by and see if I can find some more chisels.

[adirondak5]

Originally Posted by flatfive

Speaking of chisels, I was in Sears last week -- can't remember
what I was looking for -- but they were blowing out their
Footprint chisels. I got a few of them in different sizes for
about $7 each.

I don't know a lot about chisels but they were marked down
from $18 or so, and they're made in Sheffield, England.

Also found a set of 3 Footprint scrapers for $12, marked down
from $30.

Good chisels come in handy Glenn , you'd be surprised the control you can have with a good sharp chisel , sometimes I use a bench chisel to do neck transitions .

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by ievans

My Footprint gents saw I use for dovetails is a nice saw. Sounds like I should stop by and see if I can find some more chisels.

I don't know if it was just my local Sears, or whether Sears
is generally going to stop carrying Footprint tools.

Here's one of the chisels I got. I think it was marked down to
$7 (maybe 8):

http://www.amazon.com/Footprint-120099-1-Inch-Handle-Chisels/dp/B00020JNXI/ref=sr_1_29?ie=UTF8&qid=1318869356&sr=8-29

[Guitarnut]

Subscribed!

Mark

[Colt W. Knight]

Originally Posted by flatfive

I don't know if it was just my local Sears, or whether Sears
is generally going to stop carrying Footprint tools.

Here's one of the chisels I got. I think it was marked down to
$7 (maybe 8):

http://www.amazon.com/Footprint-120099-1-Inch-Handle-Chisels/dp/B00020JNXI/ref=sr_1_29?ie=UTF8&qid=1318869356&sr=8-29

Most sears don't carry very many wood working tools anymore, but their big mail order catalog is usually full of footprint chisels and planes.

[flatfive]

Originally Posted by Colt W. Knight

Most sears don't carry very many wood working tools anymore, but their big mail order catalog is usually full of footprint chisels and planes.

They still have a big mail order catalog? Wow, didn't realize that.