About Gerard Melancon

My musical heritage goes back to my grandfather, through my father and onto myself. I can remember as a kid maybe 5 or 6 years old, sitting on my dad’s knee listening to my grandfather, Naree’ (pronounced Na-ray) Melancon, play cajun fiddle. He learned at an early age how to play guitar and fiddle and I am told that as a young man he was one of the finest fiddle players "up and down the bayou". My dad and uncles have painted colorful images of my grandfather showing up at a Fais-do-do (Cajun French for an all-night dance) with his fiddle and being the life of the party. He’d play those old Cajun two-step fiddle tunes and everyone would dance ‘til all hours. Unfortunately when I was old enough to really appreciate music, my grandfather would rarely pull out his fiddle and play. It’s funny how sometimes you don’t realize how much talent surrounds you. Growing up, it seemed as though everyone and their brother played some sort of musical instrument.

Following in my grandfather’s footsteps, my father, Richard Melancon, began his music career at an early age. He played guitar, mandolin and later pedal steel guitar in various country and western bands that played up and down the bayou. People still stop and tell me what a fine player he was in his day. I can remember when I was barely big enough to strap a guitar around my shoulder he’d take me to special gigs and let me get on stage with him. I was so fired up, strumming away with a smile from ear to ear, unplugged of course, but none the less digging every second. As I got older and could sort of play some tunes, my dad would let me plug-in and play with the band. Soon, I was playing "Johnny B. Goode" and other tunes along that same vein. Well, it wasn’t long before I wanted to play rock and roll!

I remember seeing Z.Z. Top at a local club before their first album was released. That was all it took, I was hooked. My dad bought me a Les Paul copy and some friends and I started a band. I must have been 12 or 13 at the time. I don’t think we even had a name but we thought we were something. Our repetoire was limited, if you didn’t like Z. Z. Top you were out of luck. At about this time, I started working summers laying brick with my uncle. After about two summers, I saved enough money to buy a real guitar - a used Les Paul. I worked one more summer to save money for an amp and then my bricklaying days were over, I had to protect those fingers. Our band was really happening, or so we thought. We weren’t old enough to play the local bars in town but whenever someone threw a party, we played it. I still get people, some twenty-five years later that remember some of those parties.

That Les Paul did well for me until I had a bass playing buddy that loaned me his double cutaway, 3 single coil guitar. It took a little while to get used to the feel of a Strat, but once I did I was hooked - the sound and feel of that particular Strat has had a big influence on the guitars we build today. After graduating from high school in 1978, I decided to chase my dream of becoming a full-time musician and hit the road. I joined a band and we traveled through out the US opening for national acts and were on the verge of signing a record deal with Atlantic Records but the rigors of the road took its toll and the band split up before anything materialized.

After becoming burnt out from the traveling I began doing some studio work in many surrounding studios. This is what eventually fueled my need for a guitar that would do more than what the bigger manufacturers were offering. While doing studio work I also began repairing guitars for the music stores in the area. This gave me a first-hand look at what other players were looking for in a guitar as well. I noticed what made a good guitar and what were some of the things that gave problems. At this time there were only a handful of custom guitar builders and I contacted one of them about building the ultimate guitar for me. The problem I ran into was that it would be at least a year before I would see the guitar. Well, I couldn’t wait that long and had the bright idea that I would try and build the guitar myself.

Starting off in this endeavor, I ordered a body and neck from an after-market guitar parts manufacturer along with the electronics and hardware I wanted. In about two months I had the guitar that suited my needs. At this time I was sitting-in with various local bands on the weekends and the second time I had taken this guitar to a gig, someone offered to buy it from me. Of course I told him I was not interested, but he persisted and called again about a week later. I told him to give me a week to think about it. After thinking about the fun and pleasure I had constructing the guitar, I decided to sell it and build another. As often happens, one thing led to another and before long I had all of the local guitar players calling me to build their dream guitars for them. As I built more and more guitars, it made sense to acquire more sophisticated tools that would allow me to efficiently build the bodies and necks from scratch.

At this point, guitar building had become a very serious hobby. The thing that led me to consider building full-time was when some of the great New Orleans players began noticing my work. This all began when I had a bass player bring his bass to my shop for some repairs. He brought a guitar player friend, Tommy Malone of the Subdudes, by the shop to check out my guitars. Tommy is just an incredible player and he loved this blue Tele-style guitar I had in my shop. About a week later he called and said he wanted to buy it. Following his brother Tommy’s lead, Dave Malone, who has played guitar for 20 years as a member of the national touring band "The Radiators" soon had to have a Melancon as well. Not a bad start- one bass player friend leads to two guitars bought by awesome players!

In a similar fashion, word has spread from the professional players in New Orleans to touring professionals throughout the music industry. More and more players are coming to us to build them a guitar after checking out Melancon guitars played by their professional contemporaries.

In New Orleans a hot spot for music is the House of Blues in the French Quarter, the heart of New Orleans nightlife. The Radiators were playing the House of Blues when Tony Hall, who was with the Neville Brothers and Harry Connick, Jr., saw Dave Malone’s Melancon guitar. Tony called me up and had to have one. Tony is currently on tour with Jewel

Anthony Brown, the guitarist for the house band at the House of Blues and also a guitarist for Allen Toussaint, learned about Melancon Guitars through his friend and colleague, Tony Hall. Anthony had us build a jazzy Custom Artist for him.

This list goes on and on about one player after another playing or seeing our guitars and then wanting us to build their dream guitar. Many of these players had endorsement deals and were given free guitars from larger manufactures but chose to purchase and play Melancon guitars. Some of these guys may not be household names but are truly players and fine musicians in every sense.

When you stand back and try to take a closer look at what has happened in your life and the road you are heading, I think in my life two things are true. I believe God gives everyone a talent, some people find it and some people don’t. I think I have found mine in building guitars. Second, I can remember my dad telling me at a young age "if it’s worth doing-it’s worth doing right!" That coupled with the love and passion I have for the instrument, I can see no reason to stop short of building the best guitar possible.