[BillSPrestonEsq]

Product:
Gibson Melody Maker 2003 Les Paul

Price:
Usually around $350. Over the years I have owned 5 of these. I have a bad tendency to sell them. They are in my opinion the best value for the money on the market.

Experience:
I have been playing about 12 years I think. I play mostly punk to be honest, of the old school variety. I also play some P & W, and a little metal I have used these with a veritable pantheon of the best distortion pedals and a host of amps. It really does best with clean to mid level of gain. A high gain amp is not very user friendly with a p90. I have used it at church, however, one of my sales of these is to a touring musician on a national act.

Features:
Barebones, which is this guitar's charm. 1 P90, volume and tone on a mahogany body/neck. Really great tone, but no combos, no switches, no fuss. Very lightweight, which adds to the dislike of high gain, high spl combos with this guitar. It is practically speaking, the only melody maker with a full tunomatic adjustable bridge, which elevates this guitar into the class with a Les Paul more than the rest of the melody makers. FInish is the weakest point of this guitar. It looks to be a cheap paint that is made to fade. However, the 3 I purchased new had excellent factory setups. This guitar is great for sound, lame on fashion.

Sound:
Very good tone for rock, blues, punk, etc. Lame for metal. It has the P90 tone you look for as a P90 mahogany body gibson. No more, no less. If you know that sound, thats the sound this guitar makes.

Playability:
near perfect on the new ones I purcased. The used/abused ones I have picked up have varied a lot. The one that was covered in potatoes was in a severe state of disrepair.

Reliability:
I have seen a pot stem broken off, though it still worked on a severely damaged and abused guitar. Overall, not much here to break.

Other:
Great guitar for the price. Get one if you want a p90 equipped gibson for a song and dance.

Overall:
I think this guitar is great. However, if you are mostly a strat player, I doubt you would want this guitar as there are no pickup combinations or such. If you are into punk rock or praise and worship guitar, and you find one of these, its a good deal. Also if you are into classic rock, its a good guitar. Now, if you have a bad back and love the Les Paul sound, but not the weight, this is your guitar.