Well, I bought one. My very first guitar was a first year Melody Maker, bought new in 1959 for $99. I traded it about 4 years later. So at this price I had to have one. After all, it's been 50 years.
It arrived today, and I love it. It was ready to go right out of the box, very low action, minimal relief, nice medium neck profile like the original. And above all, it's got tone like the original. Just plug into my Blues Jr. and wail away.
The finish is pretty smooth, no grain filler but not rough like some of the Gibson faded series.
The original pickup was a blade type with a magnet for the blade, same type construction as 60s TBirds only single coil. The new pickup has six poles (not screw type) so it's obviously not identical but I think it's the same size and it sure sounds like the old ones.
And I think I know what's behind the good deal on these: the s/n is from late May 2007, and a guy at the TDPRI who got his says his is from July 2007. Gibson probably overproduced this color and had them warehoused and then gave MF a special price.
