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  1. Guitars
  2. Electric Guitars

Musikmesse 2011: Gibson Melody Maker series in pictures

News
By Chris Vinnicombe published 11 April 2011

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Gibson Melody Maker series

Gibson Melody Maker series

Musikmesse 2011: In characteristically idiosyncratic style, Gibson chose to launch its new range of affordable USA-made Melody Maker electric guitars at Frankfurt without a sniff of any detailed information or pictures being sent out to the media. Indeed, at the time of writing, there's only a very brief mention of the new line and one blink-and-you'll-miss-it gallery image on Gibson.com.

However, MusicRadar was on hand with a camera in the darkest recesses of the Gibson booth at the show to not only bring you pictures of the whole range, but tell you everything you need to know about the new Melody Makers. Not to be confused with the company's traditional Melody Maker design, the new range comprises four models utilising the iconic Les Paul, SG, Explorer and Flying V outlines.

Key specifications across the board include maple bodies, mahogany slim-taper necks with torrefied maple fingerboards and wrap-around tailpieces. All four shapes are available in satin blue, satin ebony and satin white, and they come stripped-down and ready to rock with just a single 491T humbucker at the bridge and a master volume control.

We've already seen UK street prices for these models as low as £449 including a gigbag, which, for a 'proper' USA Gibson is very tempting indeed. Whether these will be a roaring success for Gibson or merely cannibalise Epiphone sales remains to be seen, but the office consensus is that they look very cool indeed, albeit with something of a 'thrown together on a Friday afternoon' vibe. We'd like a white V and an Explorer in blue please.

Click onwards for a closer look at Gibson's new-for-2011 Melody Maker series...

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Page 1 of 6
Black and blue

Black and blue

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Page 2 of 6
Explorer Melody Maker

Explorer Melody Maker

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
Les Paul Melody Maker

Les Paul Melody Maker

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
SG Melody Maker

SG Melody Maker

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
Flying V Melody Maker

Flying V Melody Maker

Liked this? Now read: Gibson and Epiphone host 'revolution' in Frankfurt

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Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
Chris Vinnicombe

Chris Vinnicombe worked with us here on the MusicRadar team from the site's initial launch way back in 2007, and also contributed to Guitarist magazine as Features Editor until 2014, as well as Total Guitar magazine, amongst others. These days he can be found at Gibson Guitars, where he is editor-in-chief.

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