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Red Melody Maker colors

guitplayer

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So how many or what did they(Gibson) call the "red" color back in 1965?
 

VamboRool

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There were three reds: Cherry, Ember and Cardinal. PM me with a phone number and I can text you a photo.
 

Tom Wittrock

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There were three reds: Cherry, Ember and Cardinal. PM me with a phone number and I can text you a photo.

I've never heard of a color called "ember". Could you explain and hopefully show comparison photos? :hmm
 

VamboRool

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Go to the Gibson Electrics book, in the color section there is the color chart that was used for the Firebirds, Ember Red is there. I have a photo of a 3/4 scale MM in Cardinal Red next to a full scale Ember Red MM. It's on my cell phone and I've tried to send it to an e-mail account with no luck. If someone can do this, send me a PM with your phone number and I'll text the photo to you and then you can post it here.
 

Tom Wittrock

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Go to the Gibson Electrics book, in the color section there is the color chart that was used for the Firebirds, Ember Red is there. I have a photo of a 3/4 scale MM in Cardinal Red next to a full scale Ember Red MM. It's on my cell phone and I've tried to send it to an e-mail account with no luck. If someone can do this, send me a PM with your phone number and I'll text the photo to you and then you can post it here.

Thanks! I'll check out the book. I haven't viewed that chart in decades, so I must have forgotten it. :##
 

VamboRool

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Here are the finishes that I've seen on the 3rd series of Melody Makers (Joan Jett style): tobacco sunburst (front of body only), cherry red (see thru), cardinal red, ember red and pelham blue. I would think that other colors were made like black or white, have any come up?
 

guitplayer

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Ok. I`d like to see the cardinal and ember side by side if possible. thanks
Never heard of a blue , white or black in a 65 MM
 

VamboRool

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I've never seen black or white one either, just thinking that those two colors were used on SGs and that possibly also on MMs. guitplayer-check your inbox, PM sent.
 
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JimR56

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GIBSON_CUSTOM_COLORS_60s_06_large.jpg


A google image search turns up examples of different solidbodies in both ember and cardinal, but so far I haven't found an image that shows side-by-side examples of guitars in the two colors. Posting separate images of each for comparison sake is problematic for two reasons. One, it's hard to trust that people have identified the color of their guitar correctly in a case like this; and two, even if you know the colors are being identified correctly, the representation of colors in photos varies wildly according to all kinds of photographic variables (lighting, etc etc). Might still be worth trying, though...

Edit: speaking of representation of colors in photos, look at the two examples of Inverness Green in the image above (the Heathers don't look the same, either).
 

guitplayer

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Good info... Then it looks like to me that most of
if not all the solid red color on a 1965 MM is Cardinal.
That ember looks very different. I found a pic of
pelham. I bet thats the later part of 1965. Serial # starts with 5XXXXX
 

VamboRool

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One must consider how the lacquer has yellowed over time when comparing a guitar to the color chart from the 60s. I've seen some pelham blue guitars that look green due to this change (blue + yellow = green). Update: Just read JimR56's post and it mentions this also.
 
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guitplayer

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Where does "Burgundy Mist" fall in. Looks kinda like
ember but not mentioned.
 

JimR56

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One must consider how the lacquer has yellowed over time when comparing a guitar to the color chart from the 60s. I've seen some pelham blue guitars that look green due to this change (blue + yellow = green). Update: Just read JimR56's post and it mentions this also.
That's another good point, which I didn't really specify. Lots of variables that make it tricky.

I tried a few more online searches, and after awhile I was reminded of the last time I tried that (albeit with regard to a different color group). It's really difficult when you're not looking at two examples side-by-side, and in person. I did see one listing on gbase for a red SG that the dealer emphatically described as ember and not cardinal. I believe him, but I'm not sure how it can really be proved. And that's not it any way a diss toward that dealer.
 

JimR56

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Where does "Burgundy Mist" fall in. Looks kinda like
ember but not mentioned.

That's covered in the article I linked to above. Burgundy Mist was Fender's equivalent of Gibson's Heather. It wasn't a red, it was more of a purple-ish color.

You might have been thinking of Sparkling Burgundy (Metallic), which Gibson used in the 60's. There are lots of examples of that here in "The Red Thread".
 
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