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Gibson Joan Jett Melody Maker


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JOAN JETT SIGNATURE GIBSON MELODY MAKER

Crap! Gibson (and Joan Jett) missed the boat on this one. Instead of making an exact copy of Eric's white Melody Maker (which is the model Joan ACTUALLY played on all of her hits and on stage and in photos in her glory days) she chose to have Gibson copy one of her COPIES of Eric's guitar—the one she uses on stage today. The big difference is this Melody Maker has one pickup (rather than two) and a black pickguard (instead of white) along with a different configuration for the tone and volume knobs, pickup selector switch and guitar jack. But it *is* close. It's just too bad, 'cause I would have loved to have an exact copy of Eric's customized Raspberries axe. Still, this is one cool looking guitar and Gibson hasn't sold this style of Melody Maker for years! Anyone know a good guitar luthier who can add another pcikup to one of these babies?

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Actually the more I think about this, I'm slightly irked by the the promotional blurb from Gibson in which Joan says "This is my guitar......I got it in 1977...." and then bangs on about how they managed to make it to her original specification. Er, I don't think so. It's a pity that old Joan could not acknowledge where "her" signature guitar actually came from in the first place. But then I don't suppose "The Joan Jett signature Melody Maker, to an original design by Eric Carmen" would have fitted on the headstock would it?

And as I understand they are only making 400 of them, maybe this one on eBay may be slightly closer to the original?

1961 GIBSON MELODY MAKER

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There have been a few on Ebay the past year.A good friend of mine, bought one, fairly reasonable too.However, the seller insisted that it had the original pickups,(the primary reason my friend wanted it in the first place), and when it arrived, They werent...he was so upset, and STILL is fighting with the seller.Be careful!

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"A guitar is more than a thing. The energy in that guitar is undeniable. I've used it on 17 songs that charted in one format or another, including 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' and 'I Hate Myself For Loving You.' The energy is always there and I never forget how this 'white baby' served Eric Carmen well on Top 10 hits long before I bought it from him."

—Joan Jett, Eric Carmen: Marathon Man, page 119

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