Gibson 67 Melody Maker Refinish Job

Single or double sharp cutaway mahogany body, black pickguard with model name stamp, mahogany neck, 22-fret rosewood fingerboard with pearl dot inlay, wrap over stop tailpiece, 3-per-side tuners with plastic buttons, nickel hardware, covered single coil pickup, volume/tone control. Available in Sunburst finish. Mfg. 1959 - 1971.

The single cutaway is the most desirable configuration of this model. In 1960, redesigned narrower pickup replaced original part/design. In 1961, double round cutaway body replaced original part/design. In 1962, Maestro vibrato became an option. In 1963, Cherry finish became available. In 1966, double sharp cutaway body, white pick guard, vibrato tailpiece, Fire Engine Red and Pelham Blue finishes replaced previous part/design. In 1967, Sparkling Burgundy finish became an option. In 1970, only Walnut finish was available.

These are the before pictures, even before it arrived at my home. Looks like the previous owner had sanded the body only and then decided to play it like that for a few years. These Grovers have got to go! Let's see what can be done to bring this 1961 Melody Maker back to life again.

Step 1 - Rough Sanding

Step one of this project is to remove the existing finish from the neck and headstock and sand the body and neck. Here there is plenty of sanding to be done. The serial number is 'stamped' into the wood so sanding around it carefully will keep the number intact.

Here is the Melody Maker after completing the first step - Finish removal and rough sanding. I sanded the entire guitar with 340 grit paper and cleaned it up pretty good.
Next, the grain filler is applied. I use an oil-based grain filler from Guitar Reranch and follow their instructions. Oil-based filler is very similar to wood putty in consistency and has to be applied with a small plastic scraper or even your fingers. I did two applications with the grain filler to ensure all the grain was filed.

I let the guitar hang in my shop overnight and then sanded with 400 to remove any grain filler from the field of the wood, leaving the grain filled flush. You can see the filler in the grain easier when you tilt it towards the light. It's a good idea to leave the grain filler in the screw holes for the pickguard and strap buttons as this will keep water from getting in during the wet sanding later on in the project. Water can cause problems by making the wood swell and cracking the finish.

The "Gibson" Headstock

Here is the first coat of black lacquer on the headstock. The headstock face in itself if a project! I'm not sure how many coats I will do yet, I will play it by sight, once it looks like pure smooth black, almost plastic like then I will let it dry for a week or so before applying the Gibson logo decal. The little holes you see is actually the grain, even though I used several coats of water based grain filler (this was before I found the oil-based filler) the water based did and awful job of filling the grain. I needed something I could handle easier and the oil-based did the trick.

Seven coats later...., the mahogany grain has just about vanished but more sanding is needed before the next coat. I find that spraying a heavier coat during this stage is a definite plus! Notice the reflection on the headstock, looking much better now! I have been sanding with a fine grade sponge sanding block that is washable and reusable, seems to be working pretty well. 6 more coats will be enough, remember that I will finish this with multiple coats of clear lacquer over the headstock to protect the Gibson logo. Lacquer dries harder over the years.

Step 2 - Sand and Sealer

I use Deft Brand clear sand and sealer nitrocellulose lacquer. This product comes in 16 oz. spray cans and is easily applied and readily available.

After masking off the fret board, I applied a coat of this to the body and neck and hung the guitar up to dry. I added a second coat after sanding down some minor rough spots and drop filled lacquer into a couple of small dents in the body, sanded smooth and now it's ready for step 3, the Cherry/Heritage Aniline dye blend lacquer. Notice how much darker the Mahogany has become.

Step 3 - Cherry/Heritage Red

Again I used Guitar Reranch's product Cherry Heritage Red nitrocellulose lacquer. This product comes in 16 oz. spray cans and is easily applied. I will shoot this part of the process so you can see how the color darkens as I add more coats. I use 3 passes to create a single coat, then let it dry for 3 hours and lightly sand any areas that may have dripped along with any dust so that the surface is smooth before I add the next coat.

The 2nd coat of cherry, looking even better! Do I need a third coat? I'll sand down lightly and see. Looking for light spots or irregularities. I want the best possible even color before I do many coats of clear Nitro!

If your contemplating refinishing a guitar like this, you have to prepare yourself for setbacks and have tons of patience. This is my second attempt at refinishing this Melody Maker. The first came out less than what I was looking for so I ended up sanding the whole guitar down again and started over. There is much to do yet, the wiring, making a new nut, some inlays are missing - plus I have to add a few more coats to the headstock and add the decal. Not to mention I will be re-fretting the neck eventually!

Step 4 - Wet Sand till you arm falls off!

Now comes the fun part. I applied about 1-1/2 cans of clear Nitrocellulose (Deft) to the Melody Maker, letting each coat of 2 passes dry and then did another coat. Here I am sanding with 600 grit paper that has soaked in water for most of the day. I bought some 1/4" x 6" pine slats at a craft shop and cut them to small flat sanding blocks. This works out pretty good as I can use whatever size I need especially in tight places like around the neck pocket.
The object here is to sand off enough lacquer to make a flat matt surface with no pitt's or shiny spots. Once thats done all over the guitar you move to a finer grade paper 1000 and lightly sand to remove some of the swirls from the heavier paper. Sand in a small circular motion! After all your sanding is done the surface should look matt, if you missed any spots, now is the time to go back and get them.

The next step is to used white polishing compound and polish the surface in circular motions. This is where you start to bring up that nice gloss that only Nitro can give you. It doesn't take much just like you were waxing your car. I use Turtle polishing compound for this step. Wipe off the polish and you will see a nice deep shine, amazing stuff!

After all is buffed to a pretty hi gloss, take some Swirl or scratch remover and do the same, this time the finish will reach its highest possible gloss or HPG.
And there you have it, in my next segment of this page - I'll be putting it all back together with a new nut, new strap buttons, reinsert the bridge posts and grounding wire, new fret markers where they are missing and a rewired pickguard. Also I still have to finish up the headstock with new decal and several coats of lacquer.

Step 5 - Putting it all together..

Putting the pickguard assembly was a breeze. This picture shows the wires a little messy and thats because I have to fit it into the cavity before I clean then up. I need to be able to twist the pots and jack to suit the fit etc. The Melody Maker has a small cavity to work with.

Adding the new logo took some patience. After cleaning and buffing the black lacquer on the headstock, I soaked the decal in warm water for a few minutes and then carefully positioned the decal in the proper location on the headstock according to the regiters on the decal backing paper.

These decals are super thin and MUST be handled with extreme care otherwise you risk tearing the logo. I then allowed the decal to dry overnight and gave it 12 coats of clear Nitro over the next two days. Some light blushing appeared around three of the tuner holes but a little light sanding and buffing solved that problem.

Well it's been a long journey, I started this project in December 2002 and it's now June 2003! Collecting the right parts was a chore and prepping took longer than I expected. The tuners that were on this guitar as you recall, were gold colored full sized grovers. They have been replaced with Gibson Deluxe Strap style tuners from a 61 SG.
I like the enclosed tuners with the nickle plating much better than the stock tuners with the white plastic buttons. I put on a set of Gibson light gage Brite Wire strings and they sound pretty sweet. This 61' Melody Maker was named appropriately! The tones coming from this axe are as sweet as ever. This was pretty much a big learning experience for me but I had some good advice along the way from a very good friend in Canada, Thanks Rob.

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