Vintage 2003 Gibson Les Paul Junior Melody Maker - Pelham Blue Metallic - Bigsby B5
Weighs only 6.7 lbs

Free Pro Setup - $100 Value
See below for details.

Available Cases:

• Gibson gig bag, $89
• Molded hard shell case, $129
• Gibson premium "basketball" soft case, black, $139 (shown)
• SKB TSA approved case (SKB-56), $199
• Gibson hard shell case, $209
• This guitar will ship without a case unless you add one to your order

History:  The Gibson Melody Maker was introduced in 1959 as an affordable solid-body electric guitar for students, beginners and players with limited funds! The first version from 1959 to 1961 featured a single-cutaway slab body like the Les Paul Junior, but with a thinner 1.375" slab body, a narrow headstock, and one single-coil pickup that looked like a Fender single coil. They mounted the pickup and controls to the pickguard to save cost, an idea possibly lifted from the 1954 Fender Stratocaster.

Description: This particular guitar started life as a 2003 Gibson Melody Maker. It originally came with a stop tailpiece and a dog-ear P90. It has a 1.375" thick mahogany slab body, a set mahogany neck and the standard narrow Melody Maker headstock.

Upgrades: The guitar has been refinished in a beautiful Pelham Blue Metallic. A Bigsby B5 vibrato tailpiece as been added and the pickup has been changed from the original dog ear P90 to a Gibson Alnico humbucker. The body was routed for the humbucker and the pickup mounting holes and unused holes for the stop bar studs were filled before refinishing.

Bigsby B5 Vibrato: A geniune Bigsby B5 vibrato was added, which makes this guitar even cooler. It works great and gives you that shimmer when you want it. If you have an easy hand, it actually stays in tune very well, especially with the upgraded roller bridge. The Bigsby B5 was introduced in 1951, so it's period correct for a Melody Maker and helps maintain that 1950's vibe!

Roller bridge: A roller bridge reduces string friction and improves tuning stability when using a Bigsby B5 vibrato tailpiece. The rotating roller saddles allow strings to move smoothly back and forth instead of dragging and binding in fixed slots during vibrato use. By eliminating the pinch-and-release friction points at the bridge, strings return closer to their original pitch after you push or pull the Bigsby arm. Smooth rotation decreases the sharp angle stress that causes strings to snap right at the saddle notch.

Ultra light weight: Most modern Gibson Les Pauls weigh around 9.0 to 10.0 lbs. This one weighs only 6.7 lbs. That's because the body is only 1.375" thick instead of 1.75". The light weight makes this guitar a lot more comfortable to play than a 9.5 lb guitar.

Condition: This guitar is 23 years old and is in very good condition overall. We've gone through it and addressed any issues. It comes with our professional 66 point inspection and setup, so rest assured it will play and sound wonderful. It has been played and has some small scratches on the pickguard and a few nicks along the edges of the body and headstock. The frets are in excellent condition, and it plays and sounds awesome. The bridge posts had screwdriver adjustment slots. However, the slots have been squeezed closed (possibly by the bridge set screws), so you can no longer get a screwdriver in there. But you can adjust the height with the adjustment wheels like you would on most Gibsons. The paint job looks beautiful, but is far from perfect. The two bridge stud holes that were patched are slightly visible. See photo with a pencil pointing to the top hole. The tuners are not original.

Luthier's measurements and assessment:

• Serial No. 00213416
• Weight: 6.7 lbs
• Nut width: 1.70"
• Neck width at 12th fret: 2.07"
• Neck thickness at 1st fret: 0.82"
• Neck thickness at 12th fret: 0.94"
• Action at high e: 0.050"
• Action at low E: 0.060"
• Bridge pickup DCR: 8.2k Ohms
• Truss rod: Turns smoothly
• Frets: Excellent 9/10
• Cosmetic condition: Very good
• Electronics: Excellent. No issues
• Playability: Excellent. Well balanced. Plays very well.
• Sound: Incredible!
• Overall condition: Very good

Features and Specs:

• Body wood: Mahogany
• Finish: Pelham blue metallic, refinish
• Neck Wood: Quartersawn, one-piece mahogany
• Neck Shape: 1960's slim taper profile
• Fingerboard: Torrefied maple
• Fingerboard Radius: 12"
• Inlays: Dots
• Scale: 24.75"
• No of frets: 22
• Fret size: Medium jumbo
• Neck pickup: None
• Bridge pickup: Gibson vintage output Alnico humbucker
• Controls: Volume, Tone
• Pickup switch: None
• Bridge: Roller
• Tailpiece: Bigsby B5 vibrato
• Tuners: Vintage style
• Hardware: Chrome

About Del Mar Lutherie: We’re a small shop in San Diego County, California. We build electric guitars and hand-wired tube amps, and we do mods and setups.  We also buy and sell vintage and used gear.  Our owner is a guitar enthusiast, woodworker and professional engineer by training. We’re part of the local guitar community (Fender, Taylor, Carvin). We’re not open to the public, but we welcome clients by appointment. 

Why buy from us?  Our customers have peace of mind that they are buying from a highly rated professional shop.  We've been doing this type of work since 1999 and have thousands of happy customers.  We pride ourselves in providing best-in-class personalized service for each of our clients.We are a Reverb Preferred Seller, and our approval rating is pretty darn close to 100%.

Dr. T’s Professional Inspection and Setup: You may find a similar guitar at a lower price, but ours may still be the better value as we include our professional inspection and setup. This service costs from $100 to $150 at most shops. With over 25 years in the industry, we’re convinced that a good setup is the single most important investment to improve the playability and sound of your guitar.  Here’s what in entails. We inspect the guitar and address issues. Next, we remove the strings and tighten and set the drag on the tuners. We inspect the frets, find any high spots, then level, crown and polish. We clean and oil the fingerboard, restring, tune to pitch and set the neck relief, action and intonation. We then play each fret and check for fret buzz and fret-outs during bends, and we fine-tune as required.  Next, we test the electronics, clean and tighten pots and jacks and balance the pickups.  Occasionally, we find a fault with the electronics, so we dig in and diagnose and repair that.  Once the electronics are tip top, we play the guitar to make sure everything is just right.  Finally, we clean and polish the guitar, then slacken the stings to get it ready for shipping.

String Gauges and Settings:  We do our setups using common string gauges and settings, which we've found work well for most players. For electrics we use 9-42 gauge strings for Fender (25.5") scale guitars and 10-46 for Gibson (24.75") scale guitars.  We set action to 0.050” on the high e side and 0.060” on the low E side. This action is fairly low and allows for easy fretting without buzzing or sacrificing tone. If you have special preferences, please let us know, and we will do our best to accommodate you.

Light Gauge Strings:  We recommend light strings on electrics, which makes fretting and bending easier. And if you want more volume, just turn up your amp. I don’t know anyone who thinks Tony Iommi or Billy Gibbons have thin tone - Tony uses 8’s and Billy uses 7’s. If you use 10’s you might consider 9’s, or if you use 9’s try 8’s. It will take a little time to get used to, but you’ll be surprised at how much easier your guitar is to play… and if you turn up your amp a little, you won’t be sacrificing volume or tone.

Fine Tuning Adjustments:  Your guitar will be playing and sounding wonderful when we finish our setup. However, occasionally minor adjustments will be needed after shipping due to changes in temperature and/or humidity, rough handling or other unfavorable conditions. Since we have no control over this, we cannot cover the cost of these adjustments. However, if your guitar was mishandled during shipping, please let us know, so we can see if a shipping claim is in order. Sometimes it’s possible to get you a partial refund to help cover issues if we can show that they were caused by shipping.

Condition Ratings:  We do our best to be consistent with Reverb’s condition rating system.  Please keep in mind that Reverb’s descriptions are very general and can be open to interpretation. The guitar you get will be the one shown in the photos, and if it has any major flaws or defects, we will point them out in the listing. Our guitars rated below “Mint” will have signs of use and cosmetic imperfections, including minor dings, dents and swirl marks, which might only be visible upon close inspection. If you are sensitive to minor cosmetic defects, please let us know, and we can provide you with close-up photos.  We do not accept returns nor give partial refunds if you receive your guitar and believe that it should have been rated lower.  We’ve sold thousands of guitars, and almost without exception, our clients have not had issues with our ratings.  This tells us that we are doing a great job with our condition ratings.  

Standard of Care:  We strive to meet our clients’ expectations, and we want you to be happy with your purchase.  Guitars develop wear with use and it’s widely accepted that honest wear adds character and shows that the guitar has been played and loved. Our used and vintage guitars will have signs of use. Our Del Mar Lutherie brand guitars are hand-built and will have artifacts that some people might view as "imperfections".  If you want a guitar in “perfect” or “flawless” condition, we advise you to buy new from an authorized dealer or buy locally so you can inspect it in person. We do not guarantee that our guitars will be cosmetically flawless, and we don’t accept returns or give partial refunds due to cosmetic imperfections.

Specs:  We list specs as a courtesy. Some specs are measured by our techs. Others are taken from the manufacturer's data. Manufacturers change specs all the time, and their listed specs may not be 100% accurate. Also, some used guitars have mods that may not be apparent upon visual inspection. The guitar you will get is the one shown in the photos. If there are any "deal breaker" specs that you must have, please let us know so we can double check for you before your purchase.

Videos:  We often include YouTube links to provide our clients with more information. These videos will be of a similar make and model which is representative of the guitar in our listing. 

Shipping:  We ship guitars via UPS ground. The fee shown includes shipping within the contiguous USA with insurance. It also includes packaging materials and our time to pack up and drop off at UPS.  For guitars, shipping costs are controlled by box size and insurance is based on value.

Delivery Time: We do our best to get your guitar setup, boxed and shipped as soon as possible. However, sometimes this can take a few days depending on our workload and other factors. Once UPS receives your guitar, they will estimate a delivery date, which you can access via Reverb. UPS will typically deliver your guitar within 2 to 7 business days after they receive it, depending on your distance from Southern California. If you're in a hurry, please let us know and we’ll do our best to accommodate you, or at least we can advise you of the estimated wait, so you can decide if you need to make other arrangements.

Damage Claims: Although rare, guitars sometimes are damaged during shipping. If you receive a guitar that is damaged, please let us know immediately so we can open a claim.

Returns and Canceled Orders:  We are a small business and can’t afford to offer free returns like the big guys. There is a lot of time, effort and cost involved with processing your order, pulling your guitar from inventory, setting it up, packing and shipping it. Please make sure you want the guitar before you commit to buy. If we agree to a return or to cancel your order, you will be responsible for shipping costs (both ways) and a restocking fee to cover our time.

Trades:   We are a professional guitar business. Anything we take on trade, we resell. To make sense for us, we can only offer wholesale value, which is typically 40% to 60% of what it would sell for on Reverb. This is usually as good or better than you would get at a place like Guitar Center.  If you’re OK with this, please send current photos of the actual gear you have for trade. We need brand, model, year, and condition. Note any mods, repairs or other issues. If your guitar includes a hard case or gig bag, send photos of that as well. Due to shipping costs and transaction fees, we only do trades in person. If you are not local, you would be responsible to cover the cost of shipping, and we would provide your trade-in credit once we receive your item and verify its condition.