Tell me about SG's

[dezb1]

I have a 2014 SG special - the one that shipped with the disgusting cream / beige pickup rings (which were swapped the day I got it), Mahogany body maple neck - so less chance of the headstock snapping - great sounding guitar.

[PixMix]

I never liked the SG body shape. I thought, and still do, the pointy horns are a bit to exaggerated, and general lack of color choices and association with AC/DC just made it even worse in my head. But then last spring I was driving through a town and decided to stop at their GC just to see what they had. I tried a used SG '61 Standard (that's the actual model name) just out of curiosity, and I took it home with me. The price was right, it sounded and played amazing and I just had to have it. It's probably my favorite humbucker guitar I have ever owned or even played. I can play everything I can think of and make it sound great.





Then toward the end of last year, CME jut released the special run of SGs in an amazing range of colors, all with tort guards and overall great specs. Though I'm not in the market for another guitar, one of these might change my mind. I think they look amazing.

[dezb1]

I never liked the SG body shape. I thought, and still do, the pointy horns are a bit to exaggerated, and general lack of color choices and association with AC/DC just made it even worse in my head.

I had a mini rant about this a while back:


https://audiodeluxeblog.wordpress.com/2 ... like-acdc/

[Maggieo]

I have a real soft spot for them. I wish I still had the 2013 "SG Original." My Classic is still a staple though.


Gibson SG Body, July, 2009 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

It's got Lollar P-90s in it and it's amazing.


Gibson SG, May 12, 2015 by Maggie Osterberg, on Flickr

It was the perfect way to get my Tweedy on.

[leokula]

I see SG's as very unique guitars in how they feel, in big part because of how the neck joins the body. As for their sound, I can't distinguish much between them and a les paul, so soundwise I don't really say much about them. I also think they look great, I got two Epis myself that I really love, they're definitely my "rock" guitars, SG's just got that vibe for me.

This one is a worn brown with a chinese vibrola added and batwing pickguard:



And this is the 61' RI refinished in antique pelham blue:

[sallikaan]

Not a fan. Don’t like the look or the ergonomics (well, the lack of them).

ergonomics are awful, the famous neck dive and all that.

Neverthless if you find a Les Paul Custom Epiphone, or a 60s reissue Gibson SG less than 400 EURs, keep it in the arsenal.

For sure never a go-to guitar, but still got real good tones all over.

[sallikaan]

And this is the 61' RI refinished in antique pelham blue:

I've got the same G-400 but in ivory, oh man I love it.

[PixMix]

AMS has '18 Standards on sale for $1199. Too bad I'm caught up financially in some other obligations + already have a similar SG.

https://www.americanmusical.com/Item--i-GIB-SGS18-HCCH1

[mynameisjonas]

I've always loved SGs, but I've only owned one, a Faded Special from the mid-00s. I swapped out the humbuckers for P90s, and played it a lot for a while, but the music I played at the time called for Jazzmasters, so I eventually sold it. Kinda regret it now, it was a very nice guitar for the money.

An SG Jr and a Pelham Blue Melody Maker SG are very high on my list of dream guitars.

[Despot]

I've owned a few - my first Gibson was a '99 SG Standard.

I hated it.

The 490/498T pickup set were pretty awful to my ear. Muddy in the neck and ... okay I guess in the bridge, but nothing special. I bought it when I was all hopped up on the idea of getting my first Gibson. I'd have bought whatever I could afford ... and that turned out to be it. It was a pretty nice guitar to play though ... and that's what stuck with me; as long as I wasn't playing it through an amp I liked it, but amplified it sounded less than my Epiphone Sheraton (which cost a third as much).

It took me a few years to try another - a good friend of mine had a '90s '61 RI with a vibrola and it was so much better than that black standard (which I'd sold by then). But I had other priorities - like getting an ES or Jazzmaster, so I consigned SGs to the status of "maybe one day".

Fast forward a few years and I take down a '62/'62 Special from the wall of a store. I loved it! Totally different beast than the modern SGs I'd played, and having P90s it was right up my alley. But then I discovered that the vintage SG necks have their own issues - like there being so little wood connecting the neck to body, and a thin neck, so that any sort of movement of the neck when standing/playing tended to bend notes out of tune! I sold it and ended up buying a Junior - with a baseball bat of a neck there were no more worries about tuning stability, and the single bridge P90 was hot as hell. That guitar was a revelation for me - while SG Juniors are a different beast than a LP Junior, they're close enough that (to my mind) there's no real reason to try to find an affordable '50s Junior if you find a good '60s one instead.

I've had a few Juniors - but none stuck. I had a clean/lovely white '65, but the nut was too narrow for me. I've even had that '69 Custom ... which was a guitar I really felt bad selling, but sold regardless.

Now I've one SG that I'll probably keep for good - a '69 Standard. In a show of how subjective guitar 'feelings' can be, this guitar ticks a lot of 'bad' boxes for me (narrow late '60s nut, relatively thin neck) and yet I still love it. Somehow I don't mind the narrow nut or skinny neck on this one - it plays wonderfully and sounds fantastic. The patent number t-tops are nice and bright, totally unlike the mud-fest that I encountered on first dipping my toe into the SG world with that '99 Standard nearly 20 years ago.

I get how the styling might not be for everyone - and I don't always love the associations that come with the SG ... but it comes down to a simple test for me, which is whether I love playing it. And yes, I do, very much.

[thenewromance]

Now I want an SG Junior.