[4] All the electronics, from the small "Fender style" single-coil pickups to the cable jack, were assembled on the pickguard and installed in a rout in the front of the body.

[5] From 1959 until 1961,[2] the Melody Maker had a single cutaway slab body style similar to the early Les Paul Junior model but thinner.

[6] At the same time of the Melody Maker, Gibson's sister brand Epiphone made a version of the guitar named the Olympic.

Initially virtually identical to the double cut Melody Makers, these guitars eventually developed an asymmetrical body with a slightly larger upper horn with the Olympic Special, and a higher-end model which shared a body with the later Epiphone Coronet, Wilshire, and Crestwoods called the Olympic Double.

These guitars came just in time for the birth of Punk and early Alternative artists, who embraced the simplicity and affordability of the "student instruments" new and vintage, the most notable being Joan Jett for whom the Melody Maker became her signature.

From 1987 to 1992 the Melody Maker Flyer/Pro 2 was a rare but suitably 80s model featuring an Explorer neck, Grover tuners, Kahler tremolo system and dual humbuckers.

[8] The All American II featured two high output single coil pickups creating a tonality similar to a hotrodded Telecaster than a typical Gibson instrument.

The dual pickup configuration was discontinued in 2008 and is now considered a collectors item on eBay[11] In 2008 Gibson released the Joan Jett Signature Melody Maker.

It differs from the standard model by having a single burstbucker 3 humbucker pickup, an ebony fretboard and a double-cutaway body in white with a black vinyl pickguard.

This single-cut variant uses the thinner body of the Les Paul Custom Lite, with a carved maple top, and a satin nitrocellulose finish.

It also incorporates a maple neck with a 50's rounded profile, a full-size Les Paul headstock with a "Melody Maker" truss rod cover, and two P-90S pickups.