les pauls junior

Reader Guitar of the Month: 1960s Gibson Melody Maker

This Canadian player took over a luthier friend’s restoration project and turned it into a reliable gigging machine.

Name: Robert Morency

Location: Montreal, Canada
Guitar:Gibson Melody Maker

The story begins with my good buddy Pavlo Haikalis, a guitar builder at PHG Guitars here in Montreal, acquiring a vintage Gibson Melody Maker in a trade a few years ago. It had no serial number, but its single cutaway and narrow pickup indicated it was either from 1960 or 1961. The guitar was in poor shape and needed more than a little TLC. It had a bad refinish and lost quite a bit of its thickness due to prior sanding.

Gibson Lukas Nelson ’56 Les Paul Junior Review

Video

Design economy doesn’t stand in the way of delicious, wide-ranging tones on this straight-ahead rock machine.

Ratings

Pros:
A sweet-to-savage range of tones from a relatively noise-free P-90. Comfortable.

Cons:
Some minor intonation issues.

Street:
$1,599

Gibson Lukas Nelson '56 Les Paul Junior
gibson.com

Tones:

Playability:

Build/Design:

Value:

10 Mini-Humbuckers to Try

Why? Yeah, they're smaller, but they can also offer brighter, clearer, more focused tones than their full-sized cousins.

Whether you’re rehabbing a Les Paul Deluxe or an Epiphone Sheraton, or simply working on a different model or project that calls for mini humbuckers, we’ve rounded up 10 contemporary options to wire up, drop in, and rock out.

DIMARZIO

PG-13
Originally developed for Paul Gilbert to deliver the sonic versatility he needs, this pickup was designed to combine the noiseless operation of a ’bucker with the focus and clarity of a single-coil.
$99 street
dimarzio.com

LACE

Drop & Gain Mini Humbucker
Intended for drop-D tunings and high-gain rock, these humbuckers have two discreet coil functions: one to drive output and the other for punch, crunch, sustain, and fast articulation.
$115 street
lacemusic.com

DRAGONFIRE

Mini Bucker
These vintage-wound pickups use alnico-5 magnets to achieve rounded and dynamic rhythm and lead performance for everything from blues to classic rock.
$45 street
dragonfireguitars.com

LOLLAR

Mini Humbucker
Compared with a vintage mini, these pickups are reported to be fatter and hotter without extreme microphonics, and, next to a full-size humbucker, brighter and tighter.
$175 street
lollarpickups.com

RIO GRANDE

Baby BBQ Dawgbucker
Featuring oversized polepieces and available in a number of different finishes, these double-wax-potted pickups were dreamed up to offer more power and presence than their vintage predecessors.
$170 street
riograndepickups.com

SEYMOUR DUNCAN

Seymourized Mini Humbucker
These handmade neck minis were designed to provide more midrange and clarity for clean tones that are clear and snappy, and distorted tones with a pleasant mid-based growl.
$109 street
seymourduncan.com

CURTIS NOVAK

Mini-Hum
Designed to deliver distinctive, harmonically rich tone with no shrillness, these old-school humbuckers are handwound to vintage specs, but can be custom wound upon request.
$160 street
curtisnovak.com

EMG

Mini Hum M-50
For those in the active camp, this alnico-5 mini was designed to provide plenty of inductance and a beefy sound—great for driving a Marshall, but also good for playing slide through a Deluxe.
$99 street
emgpickups.com

KLEIN

Mini Humbucker
Wound to vintage specs, these mini humbuckers are reported to be brighter than their full-size counterparts, with more depth and presence, and offer plenty of bite and grind when dug into.
$150 street
kleinpickups.com

GIBSON

Mini Humbucker
This vintage replica from the company that introduced the mini humbucker in the ’60s uses alnico-2 magnets for its bright and focused output, but still retains Gibson’s well-known humbucker performance.
$155 street
gibson.com

Olivia Rodrigo Rig Rundown