I had (emphasis on "had") a '59 Melody Maker, first year with "thick p/u," which I traded in to get my first good acoustic...a '95 Gibson J-30.
That MM had a really thick neck, which I liked at the time, but was hard to intonate. I remember those SG shaped MM's back in 66/67 when I fauned over them, badly...not knowing at the time how poorly they were made.
The MM the young man is playing is much later than mine, but before the SG shape...essentially, a flat bodied Les Paul on both sides! Something is up though, as that guitar does not have particularly "high-gain" pickups. Good player though, can see who his influence is