ilovefuzz.com

well, this was unexpected.

Another bucket list guitar "fell" into my lap.

Just minding my business, and along in my fleabay saved searches comes a '68 Melody Maker, Pelham Blue (obviously... you guys should already have figured that part out by now )

Now, your saying to yourself, "there are plenty of vintage MM's available in PB. what makes this so special?"

and you are right!

thing is, I was after a bit of a different beast. I hate the smaller headstock, I just feel like it was cop-out by gibson, and i'll never understand it. it's fine, but i much prefer the open book headstock.

Now, later in the run, they move to the big headstock (68-69ish) not sure of the exact date. they are a bit rarer, as they made less near the end of the run for MM's.

And lots of these big headstock models are the awful walnut with a gross walnut headstock. ew.


let's get trickier. What about a stinger headstock? the stinger headstock is the black cover on the reverse of some Gibson headstocks. these were done to cover up any imperfections after the neck is sanded down. At this point it wouldn't be worth it to Gibson to scrap it, as many hours had gone into the guitar at the point. So they shot a black "stinger" onto the back of the headstock to cover up any knots, etc.

If you were to ask me what my "dream" vintage MM is? easy.. Big Headstock Pelham Blue w/ Stinger

best part? I paid hundreds less than asking price.

https://reverb.com/item/405607-gibson-s ... r-1968-pel

Man, that's pretty. Well played, sir! Well played!

A Gibson with single coils?! Well I never! Looks sweet dude. Hows the vibrato feel?

God I love the look of checking paint. Is that what its called when there are lines going through it?

Anyway, congrats on your purchase.

Nice one, TV!

Never knew they called that blacked out back a "stinger". I dig those too. Now I know why the Heritage guys use 'em.... Very cool.

thanks guys!

kbithecrowing wrote:A Gibson with single coils?! Well I never! Looks sweet dude. Hows the vibrato feel?

i'll know better once i have it in my hands

I have a few similar guitars with the same trem, so i have some idea of what to expect

WayToHip wrote:God I love the look of checking paint. Is that what its called when there are lines going through it?

Anyway, congrats on your purchase.

the lines are caused by the lacquer checking I love it too!

WayToHip wrote:God I love the look of checking paint. Is that what its called when there are lines going through it?

Anyway, congrats on your purchase.

crazing or checking. from what i understand, it's the result of the guitar going through numerous temperature changes without having a chance to acclimate.. like, leaving it in your car overnight on christmas because you want to watch star wars instead of play creepy christmas tunes and when you go get it in the morning so you can play next to the fire, you don't let it sit and slowly warm up, you just pop that case open next to your baby brother cooking marshmallows and the finish cracks and apparently is pretty loud when it does it!

that guitar is gorgeous.

It also happens to really old nitro finishes even when they are pampered, the newer nitro stuff might never do that since it has more plasticizers in it. Congrats man, that's a dream guitar for me.

HA! I was watching this model! Mine is still doing great, how is your SG jr?

dude, pretty much a perfect score. So well played! Stinger, natural neck and pelham…fucking awesome.