1965 Gibson Melody Maker D Vintage Electric Guitar Cherry w/ Vibrola, Case

Up for sale, a 1965 Gibson Melody Maker D, featuring its original gloss Cherry nitro lacquer finish and complete with its original nickel-plated Maestro Vibrola tailpiece. Some guitars are just plain tough, and this Melody Maker is absolutely ripping, with a resonant mahogany body and one-piece neck. The pair of robust-sounding single coil pickups combine a Fender-esque snap and twang with the fuller midrange and low end punch that mahogany provides. The Melody Maker has a raw, bell-like sound and tonal profile all its own, and the single coils have plenty of detail and cut. This guitar is very easy on the back too, weighing 6lbs 7oz. Professionally setup here at Mike & Mike's Guitar Bar, the Melody Maker features coveted tonewoods and offers easy playability, freshly restrung with 10-46 roundwound strings. The one-piece Honduran mahogany neck has a slender C profile carve at the nut with modest shoulder and notably more roundness and heft as you travel up the fretboard, measuring .800" deep at the 1st fret and .985" at the 12th. The Brazilian rosewood fretboard retains the original medium jumbo fretwire which has plenty of meat, showing moderate wear on the crowns of frets 1-3, extending more faintly beneath the plain strings until fret 7. The guitar plays cleanly in every register with a straight neck and responsive, optimally adjusted truss rod. The nut has a full 1 11/16" width, and this is one of the last Gibson's of the '60s to boast this "full" traditional width. The headstock is fitted with a set of modern Kluson Deluxe single line strip tuners with white buttons, offering smooth performance and excellent tuning stability. The electronics are 100% original, with untouched solder joints and the stock quartet of Centralab pots, dating to the 8th week of '65. Hardware includes the original nickel bridge with "lightning bolt" compensated saddle, working in concert with the short frame Maestro Vibrola tailpiece. The Vibrola has a smooth, easy response for quick flutters and deeper dives, reliably jumping back to the original pitch. The hardware shows uniform surface patina, and the original plastics are all intact save for one closely matched reflector cap knob. The original Cherry nitro lacquer finish is rich and saturated, with tight, faint lacquer checking extending across the body. There is a very cleanly addressed heel repair extending on the inside edge of both cutaways, and the repair is structurally sound. The body exhibits various nicks and scuffs, with wear through the Cherry gloss along the back body edge, and some very shallow marks on the neck profile, mostly clustered behind frets 4-8. A hardshell case is included.