$1,600 · Vintage 1962 Gibson Melody Maker

This is the real deal and definitely not a reissue. But it is also a player so it is not entirely original. The body of the guitar is made from Honduran Mahogany, and the fretboard is Brazilian Rosewood. These materials have not been available for a very long time and definitely adds to the killer tone of this guitar. I have the original pickup, but swapped it out for a Seymour Duncan Custom shop pickup (specifically made for vintage Melody Makers) and I opted for a P90 wind so this guitar is currently a poor man's vintage Les Paul Junior. The pickguard, volume/tone knobs are original, but the bridge was changed out many years ago for a Leo Quan Badass bridge to improve intonation. The tuners are not original and appear to be 80's Gotoh tuners. You can also see from the pictures that this guitar has had a neck repair, but it creates no issues, and is completely stable. The frets are in great shape which means that it must have been refretted at some point (I consider this a positive) and the frets have many years of life left in them. This guitar is almost 60 years old, and it has the scrapes, scratches, finish checking and nicks to prove it. But overall this is an amazing sounding guitar (with either pickup in it) made in the glory days of Gibson's Kalazazoo factory, and it has a ton of mojo. Crank it up through a tube amp and find out for yourself.