NVGD - My Gibson Holy Trinity is now complete

nickb_boy

Well it turned out to be a bit of a fluke in the timing but it ended up being a pretty decent start to my birthday after collecting this off Parcel Force this morning:



After stressing about CITES and import charges there turned out to be a happy ending (after begrudgingly handing over funds to HMRC).  The arrival of my new addition a '66 Melody Maker finished in Pelham Blue with matching neck.  It's all original including the case.  It's stamped with a 2 on the rear of the headstock so indicating it's a factory second.  Could possibly have been due to a flaw with the neck finish that ended up meaning they went for a complete Pelham blue paint job or simply due to Gibson's way of providing discount to it's preferred dealers without there being an issue with the guitar.  Who knows, but after all these years it doesn't matter to me.  






The neck is slimmer in nut width to what I usually play and reminds me of my old Mustang around the first fret.  The single coil not surprisingly is cleaner and has less output than my other juniors.  It has a nice Strat like quality to it and the tone control is still really usable despite the age which gives some decent variety.




The finish itself has aged really nicely and has some cool lacquer checking and the expected dings from years of use.  It definitely oozes mojo and is nice on the eye which has made it fit in well as the youngest of the family:




They may be all over 50 years old, made for students and only have 3 pickups between them but this little lot has got to be best set up I've ever owned by a country mile.  My Gibson Holy Trinity is complete!

GavRichList

No neck pickups make the little baby Jesus cry! 

mburekenge

Awesome. Enjoy!

sawyer

Sweet! I approve heartily of anything with a single pickup. Very nice trio! 

nickb_boy

GavRichList said:

No neck pickups make the little baby Jesus cry! 

Haha, that's only because his tiny little hands at the time couldn't stretch to use the guitar vol and tone!  When he became a man and turned in to the bearded Jesus he found no need for a neck pickup

GavRichList

nickb_boy said:

GavRichList said:

No neck pickups make the little baby Jesus cry! 

Haha, that's only because his tiny little hands at the time couldn't stretch to use the guitar vol and tone!  When he became a man and turned in to the bearded Jesus he found no need for a neck pickup

Well at least it's got a wiggly stick 

guitars4you

very cool and cute in that blue and looks well with its mate - hope you enjoy it and the hassle was worth it

did you have to get an appendix 1 CITES for Brazilian - did you need to get one from the USA and EU - just curious as to how it worked at your end

nickb_boy

GavRichList said:

nickb_boy said:

GavRichList said:

No neck pickups make the little baby Jesus cry! 

Haha, that's only because his tiny little hands at the time couldn't stretch to use the guitar vol and tone!  When he became a man and turned in to the bearded Jesus he found no need for a neck pickup

Well at least it's got a wiggly stick 

Yeah they were popular for most of the Jesus eras but for some reason after the zombie Jesus they went out of favour.

guitars4you said:

very cool and cute in that blue and looks well with its mate - hope you enjoy it and the hassle was worth it

did you have to get an appendix 1 CITES for Brazilian - did you need to get one from the USA and EU - just curious as to how it worked at your end

I'Il pm you!

Voxman

Holy Trinity Batman!  


Very nice & congrats! 

Neil

Wow added.

Lovely set you have there.

Funkfingers

guitars4you said:

did you have to get an appendix 1 CITES for Brazilian

This piqued my interest. I have a 1965 Melody Maker. I'm not certain about the timbers in it. I just know that it sounds fabulous.

Set a valve amplifier to overdrive, roll the guitar tone pot back to five and a half, that Skylark single coil might as well be a P90. A Coricidin bottle slide completes the picture.

ChuckManual

Very, VERY nice. "WOW" awarded. 

Boring paint finish/wear question; Why does it have those straight lines in it? Goldtops do that too. Does anyone know why?

peteri

Congratulations - look lovely!

Although I have to say, as the proud owner of a similar aged special - you need that front P90!

builttospill

stunning guitar and colour and that beautiful finish checking!

IvisonGuitars

peteri said:

Congratulations - look lovely!

Although I have to say, as the proud owner of a similar aged special - you need that front P90!

Nonsense! Roll down the tone and you're 90% there....

....and I say this as the proud owner of a similarly aged Special with an exceptional sounding neck P90 too!

tony99

well in, you've scored

bingefeller

Nice collection!! Happy NGD.  

guitars4you

Funkfingers said:

guitars4you said:

did you have to get an appendix 1 CITES for Brazilian

This piqued my interest. I have a 1965 Melody Maker. I'm not certain about the timbers in it. I just know that it sounds fabulous.

Set a valve amplifier to overdrive, roll the guitar tone pot back to five and a half, that Skylark single coil might as well be a P90. A Coricidin bottle slide completes the picture.

mahogany body/neck - same period and chances are it is a Brazilian fingerboard - but no CITES required if you are just keeping it - selling it out of the EU you will/should get one - selling it in the UK/EU, by the letter of the law you will need to obtain one, but no one bothers, so leave as is

fandango

Bootiful. Absolutely bootiful. Pelham Blue cool as [insert superlative here].

Forgive my ignorance, but the single coil pickup looks out of place. Is it really original, because to my Friday afternoon eyes it looks like an aftermarket mod?

Edit: and it looks like the slim head might mitigate any neck dive. What's not to like?

tone1

Hang on while I go and get my sunglasses for that white Pickguard.........right I'm back. Only joking they all look ace

HAL9000

Stunnning. Enjoy.