'65 Gibson Melody Maker pickup question

[GregN.]

I have a 65 melody Maker and the pickup sounds incredibly thin. I bought it back around '79 or so and eventually pulled the original PU and squashed a Hot Rail strat pu in there. Later (about 6 years ago) decided to put the original back in. I just use the guitar as a practice guitar and never plug it into an amp but it would be nice to have it sound as it should if I decided to plug it in. It just seems to me something is not right w/ that old pickup. Do they weaken over the years? Do they lose magnetism or something? If that's the case I was wondering if Duncan offered any kind of refurbishing service?
Thanks for any info,
Greg

[Luke Duke]

Re: '65 Gibson Melody Maker pickup question

Greg, WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

Seymour Duncan does offer pup rewinding services for single coils for about $50. Also magnets do weaken over time. What kind of tones are you looking for? Have that in mind and they can custom wind it to YOUR specs.

If I remember correctly the pup is the same size as a strat pup. Maybe you could look into putting one of them in there?

Hope that helps you some man!

Luke

[GregN.]

Re: '65 Gibson Melody Maker pickup question

Thanks for the response!
Well, I thought it was the same size as a strat pu too so that's why I went w/ a Hot Rails. Turned out the screw holes in the pickgaurd didn't quite line up w/ the screw holes in the PU though so I had to do a little, ahem, adjusting, shall we say, to the Hot Rails.
As for tone or whatever, I think I'd just like to get it back to what it's supposed to be. I guess if I wanted to go a different route, I could just do one of my custom adjustment jobs, wink wink, nudge, nudge, to another Strat pickup. Shoot, $50 isn't bad at all for a refurbish. Do I just use the "contact us" link on the Duncan site to work out details?
Greg

[BlueGuitar]

Re: '65 Gibson Melody Maker pickup question

I have a 65 melody Maker and the pickup sounds incredibly thin.... It just seems to me something is not right w/ that old pickup. Do they weaken over the years? Do they lose magnetism or something?

I had one of those guitars, too, and the pickup was just plain lousy. I believe that it used a blade magnet in the middle of the bobbin, which was basically one coil from a mini-humbucker.

If you are really interested in getting better sounds from that pickup you'd want it rewound with a smaller gauge wire to increase the number of turns and dc resistance. And possibly replace the magnet with something a bit stronger.

However with all of the strat pickups available these days you might want to take that route instead. I don't think that the dimensions are exactly the same but they are close. One suggestion that comes to mind is the Lindy Fralin 43ga Steel Pole pickup, since it sounds a lot like a P-90 and many of the Melody Makers came with P-90's.

[Luke Duke]

Re: '65 Gibson Melody Maker pickup question

Thanks for the response!
Well, I thought it was the same size as a strat pu too so that's why I went w/ a Hot Rails. Turned out the screw holes in the pickgaurd didn't quite line up w/ the screw holes in the PU though so I had to do a little, ahem, adjusting, shall we say, to the Hot Rails.
As for tone or whatever, I think I'd just like to get it back to what it's supposed to be. I guess if I wanted to go a different route, I could just do one of my custom adjustment jobs, wink wink, nudge, nudge, to another Strat pickup. Shoot, $50 isn't bad at all for a refurbish. Do I just use the "contact us" link on the Duncan site to work out details?
Greg

hahaha
Greg you crack me up man!

Really though if it was me I'd have the shop wind me a GOOD pup. Of course it sounds like anything will be an improvement. I'd have em make it a little hotter but still vintage-esque. Maybe a new magnet too. You can call the custom shop number under Custom Shop in the products box on the main page.

Luke

[GregN.]

Re: '65 Gibson Melody Maker pickup question

Thanks! I noticed that in that Custom Shop area of the site, Duncan offers a humbucking replacement PU for the Melody Maker for $120. I'm thinking that may be the way to go because I'd spend close to that having it refurbished anyways. Food for thought....
Greg

[Luke Duke]

Re: '65 Gibson Melody Maker pickup question

Thanks! I noticed that in that Custom Shop area of the site, Duncan offers a humbucking replacement PU for the Melody Maker for $120. I'm thinking that may be the way to go because I'd spend close to that having it refurbished anyways. Food for thought....
Greg

Definitely food for thought!

Luke