Maestro Guitars?

[tonello]

A friend had a Gibson Maestro Les Paul Melody Maker that his son played for a while before giving up on the instrument. I told I would take it off his hands. It's got a single humbucker, and a bolt on neck. There is also a wraparound bridge. Is this worth anything to fix up? or should I play it once and then smash it on stage? I have no idea about the kind of wood in there (probably whatever scraps Gibson could get on hand). Any input is helpful. I've also thought about giving it a proper set up and then giving it away to a Goodwill or something along with a little shoebox amp.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Maestro Guitars?

My brother bought one and I couldn't do much with it, I could never seem to get the bridge intonated and it was just made really poorly, I probably wouldn't put much time or effort into it. Maybe just get it set up decently and use it as a around the house beater.

 

[Empty Pockets]

Re: Maestro Guitars?

I bought one recently for $20.

I intend to replace the bridge and pickup once I get all the paint off of it and use it as a template for a future build.

Gibson's site says it's a hard rock maple neck, poplar body and maple veneer top... Fender used poplar on Mexican Fenders for a while so it's not some mystery tonewood or anything. I'd say for a free / cheap guitar they are actually pretty nice. I used mine for slide tunings before disassembling... sounded pretty cool.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Maestro Guitars?

They kind of remind me of First Act guitars. Worse than Jay Tursers...and that is bad. Real bottom of the barrel miserable ****. However, they are still kind of cool, and that doesn't mean you can't make beautiful music with them! I've always liked cheap guitars. If nothing else, make it your slide guitar.

 

[tonello]

Re: Maestro Guitars?

They kind of remind me of First Act guitars. Worse than Jay Tursers...and that is bad. Real bottom of the barrel miserable ****. However, they are still kind of cool, and that doesn't mean you can't make beautiful music with them! I've always liked cheap guitars. If nothing else, make it your slide guitar.

I don't do much slide, but I have an old DD here that's just sitting there doing nothing. I'm thinking about taking the pup out of the Maestro, and replace it with the the DD, just to see how it sounds. If it sounds good I'm gonna go ahead and redo the whole thing (probably dye the fingerboard to my preferred black), and maybe do a new paint job. I'll let you guys know how it sounds.