Rory Gallagher: A Gibson Melody Maker Electric Guitar, 1960,

guitar 39in (99cm) long

Footnotes

"I use for some slide a Gibson Melody Maker which is very nice."
- Rory Gallagher, Guitarist Magazine, February 1985.

Rory was a big fan of Melody Makers and eventually owned four of them. With Gibson models, Rory preferred single-pickup guitars, especially for slide playing. This was used by Rory in 1985 for blues and slide work.

The guitar was also played by Slash of Guns N' Roses at The Roxy in Los Angeles when he joined Rory onstage in March 1991. Speaking about this event in Hot Press Magazine in 2020, Slash said: "I think when you go up and jam with somebody like Rory, the music really takes over...When I got up there he was so gracious and enthusiastic so the intimidation factor just fell away and we just started playing..."

This guitar was featured in an article in Guitar Player magazine in 2019:
'This 1960 Melody Maker was beefed up with a humbucker squeezed into the oval extension of the pickguard which would otherwise have sported a slender 7/8-inch-wide pickup with a plastic cover. The humbucker was mounted on a slab body that was just 1 3/8 inches deep, with a wraparound bridge/tailpiece that was at some point replaced by the intonation-adjustable six-saddle unit shown here, presumably to make it more effective and reliable for gigging. This example's single-cutaway body would seem to place it within the run of early models produced from 1959-60.'

Live Performance
Rory Gallagher, Out in the Green Festival, Dinkelsbühl, Germany, 5th July, 1986, www.youtube.com/watch?v=s53SblUP-24.

Literature
'Rory Gallagher, Lost Sessions And Guitars', Guitar Player, June 2019, Issue 446.

Gibson Melody Makers:
The Gibson Melody Maker was introduced in 1959. It is a major model in the history of electric guitars, known for its simplicity and affordability while still maintaining Gibson's high standard of craftsmanship. Designed as a more accessible option for beginners and students, the Melody Maker featured a lightweight, single-cutaway body, similar in shape to the Les Paul Junior, but thinner and more streamlined. Initially equipped with a single-coil pickup, it offered a bright, punchy sound that found favour among rock and roll and garage rock musicians. Over the years, the Melody Maker evolved, with later versions featuring double-cutaway bodies and additional pickup configurations, but it always retained its status as a straightforward, no-frills instrument. Despite its budget-friendly design, the Melody Maker became popular with professional musicians, valued for its raw tone and playability. Today, vintage Melody Makers are cherished by collectors and players alike, representing a unique chapter in Gibson's legacy of producing iconic electric guitars.