Gibson redeem themselves

[chip]

Yes folks, after much soul searching and hankering after a no frills Gibson I ordered a LP Melody Maker, Satin white, the one with the single humbucker. It arrived this afternoon, there were no flaws in the build, paint or anything else. Plugged in tuned up and  intonation is bang on out the box. Let rip on the Laney 15 watt  valve amp ( one Channel  Strummer ) cranked it and wow snarling , growling, clean, rock N roll and every thing in between..

 Now the real good bits... The neck is mahogany with a baked maple fret board, it feels and smells real nice, the body is maple with a nitro satin paint job or should that be spray job. The pick up is a Gibson 491T in the bridge position with one volume control and that's it.   But..... wait...... that volume control can bring about vast changes in tone, full on a raging monster, back off blues, back off again clean and country, very bright at all levels which I like.

Now the best bit of all.... The price for this hand built USA, environmentally friendly, Gibson was..........£300 including a real plush Gibson gigbag. So at last Gibson make a guitar that is both very affordable and really does rock it. Hats off to Gibson for once......... Read all about it here http://www.musicradar.com/gear/guitars/electric/6-string-solid-body/melody-maker-les-paul-486307/review

[bruno]

Very nice - need some songs/sounds now :-)

[IanR]

Man, there's nothing like the smell of new equipment straight out of the box.  If you're lucky, it lasts a long time.

I watched the video and I was very impressed. I had not noticed these guitars before.  I have been thinking of getting a solid bridge guitar (I have a Strat) and I might have to try one out myself.

The guy in the video could be be my (slightly younger and more talented) twin brother.   I think we shop at the same clothing store and go to the same hairdresser 

cheers,

Ian

[chip]

I took this out last night and boy does this growl and bark. We were rehearsing and working on new stuff but it ended up a night of dueling Gibsons swinging between ACDC and Led Zep. This guitar is a real suprise, plays as good as any Gibson I have played, sounds as good and looks real cool to the bargain, in fact when we put the Standard next to it you realise how small this thing and it looks real dinky. It is real light but it sustains in the same way as a standard does... forever.

I just love the simplicity of it, no faffing about with dials , just plug and go.... great...The pickup is very hot, cuts through the mix like a knife through butter. No matter whether its clean or filthy this guitar is a winner, a bargain with build quality to match........ Now where can I get a Flying V version for £300.

[fenderbender]

Nice looking guitar
lovely golden creamy sound from clean amp setting
great price for a Gibby

[Farrell Jackson]

It looks and sounds like you a real winner there Chip. I like the simplicity of the single volume and single bridge pickup design. I have an OLP with this same simplicity and it's one of my favorites to play. As you said, no fuss no muss just plug and go. Great snag!

Farrell

[chip]

It sounds even better now. I had through The Tiny Terror and it's a match made in Heaven. I used it last night for the first time with the Orange one and boy does it rock out. I added a Jet city 1 x 12 cab to the Orange combo which makes the whole sound much fuller than the tiny one alone. By the way those Jet city cabs are very cool for the money, well built, decent speaker, very light, bigger than a normal 1x12 and look great http://www.musiciansfriend.com/amplifiers-effects/jet-city-amplification-jca12s-1x12-guitar-speaker-cabinet I had the Tiny on 7 watt mode and it had no trouble keeping up with the band, it is a very hot little amp.

 The guitar though is very hot also, no fuss, no messing just out and out rock and roll, play and forget about it. I think the Orange really brings the best out of the Gibson, and I might add the Italia Rimini which sounded very clean through the amp which surprised me. I have yet to try my old Jap Squire but I am sure the results will be just as good as the other two. After40 years of buying guitars, selling guitars, buying amps, selling amps I think I may have found that holy grail I have been searching for. One would hope so

[flyon90]

I tried out one of those cheaper(relatively) gibson les paul specials recently and it felt like a real winner.  Wish I had an extra $700 burning a hole in my pocket so I could pick up one of those or a melody maker.

[chip]

I tried out one of those cheaper(relatively) gibson les paul specials recently and it felt like a real winner.  Wish I had an extra $700 burning a hole in my pocket so I could pick up one of those or a melody maker.

Yep that Melody maker is a very good guitar, sounds great and looks a million dollars, It is my main live axe at the moment, nobody can quite make out what it is with it's dinky headstock. It's light, small and really is a steal. Gibson have now started using baked maple for fretboards across their range including the higher spec guitars. Most players seem to have given the fretboard the thumbs up, so Gibson are back in the good books at last. They also appear to be making more wallet friendly instruments which is great news.

[Speed Demon]

I owned a Melody Maker many years ago. I used it for one summer then sold it.
The problem I had with it was that the bridge did not have adjustable saddles so there was no way to properly
tune to concert pitch. The best I could do was adjust it so the two E strings were correct, and good luck with
the four inside strings. It never sounded good. Frustrating instrument.

To this day, I wonder what the folks at Gibson were thinking when they designed and marketed an instrument with a useless bridge. Nice paperweight, though.