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  #1  
Old 12-03-2017, 07:45 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Default Gibson SG Fans?

Any Gibson or Epiphone SG fans here? Took me close to 30 years to discover them but a couple of years ago I did. Great tone and easy on the shoulder.

I just ordered a 2017 SG Standard. Due date is on Friday.

Last edited by Dru Edwards; 12-03-2017 at 09:44 AM. Reason: Added Epiphone.
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Old 12-03-2017, 07:57 AM
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I read an interesting story about the guitar. if I get it right:

Gibson had planned on phasing out the Les Paul. The SG was designed to be Gibson's Solid Guitar (hence the "SG" name). The double cutaway was an improvement as well as the lighter weight body. This was supposed to become their flagship guitar.

The problem was that traditionalists were outraged and too many people still demanded the Les Paul.
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Old 12-03-2017, 08:34 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool View Post
I read an interesting story about the guitar. if I get it right:

Gibson had planned on phasing out the Les Paul. The SG was designed to be Gibson's Solid Guitar (hence the "SG" name). The double cutaway was an improvement as well as the lighter weight body. This was supposed to become their flagship guitar.

The problem was that traditionalists were outraged and too many people still demanded the Les Paul.
Yep. In fact, the SG was first issued with Les Paul's name on it. There were publicity pictures with Les and his wife Mary Ford and a publicity tour. There were only two problems:
Les wasn't consulted in the design of the instrument and didn't like the long unsupported neck length of the guitar. He felt it made the neck too flexible.
Les and Mary were going through a divorce and needed to separate their money matters including the endorsements.
HERE is what Les thought of the SG. All this stuff brought about the renaming of the guitar. Gibson phased out the under-performing single cutaway Les Paul and went to the SG in '60-61. Towards the end of the '60s Les discovered that the old single cutaway Les Pauls were selling to the blues players for a fortune. He called up the president of Gibson and suggested the restart production of the original Les Paul.

Back to the OP's question, I'd always been interested in the SG but never tried one out. After finally sitting down with one on my own terms I decided I wanted one and began looking at them at the beginning of this year. I eventually tracked down a special run that had been done by Dave's Guitars called the 2016 Gibson SG Standard '61 Reissue Limited Edition.



A thread in another forum asked of the SG, "Where has the guitar been all my life?" My answer? "Lost to my personal biases." More about the SG on my web page, HERE.

Bob
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Old 12-03-2017, 09:46 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fazool View Post
I read an interesting story about the guitar. if I get it right:

Gibson had planned on phasing out the Les Paul. The SG was designed to be Gibson's Solid Guitar (hence the "SG" name). The double cutaway was an improvement as well as the lighter weight body. This was supposed to become their flagship guitar.

The problem was that traditionalists were outraged and too many people still demanded the Les Paul.
That's right. The Les Paul was discontinued after 1960 due to poor sales and the SG debuted in 1961. The Truss Rod cover still had Les Paul's name IIRC and Les didn't like that so it was phased out. The Les Paul came back in 1968 with those mini humbuckers (that's worth its own thread).
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Old 12-03-2017, 09:49 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Originally Posted by Bob Womack View Post
<<snippet>>
Back to the OP's question, I'd always been interested in the SG but never tried one out. After finally sitting down with one on my own terms I decided I wanted one and began looking at them at the beginning of this year. I eventually tracked down a special run that had been done by Dave's Guitars called the 2016 Gibson SG Standard '61 Reissue Limited Edition.



A thread in another forum asked of the SG, "Where has the guitar been all my life?" My answer? "Lost to my personal biases." More about the SG on my web page, HERE.

Bob
Bob, what a beauty. I've done a lot of reading on SGs and the '61 Reissue appears to be the cream of the bunch. I think it was discontinued back in 2012 so you're lucky you could find your Limited Edition.
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Old 12-03-2017, 10:12 AM
Texsunburst59 Texsunburst59 is offline
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I've owned 3 SG's in my life.

The first was a '00 Gibson SG Supreme. I let it go in a trade because I ended up not liking the neck and the really bad neck dive.

The 2nd was my '71 SG Deluxe w/ Bigsby. I found it in a pawnshop for a really good price.

My 3rd in my '07 Gibson SG-3 LE #006 I also found in a pawnshop for killer price.

I think every guitar player should have at least 1 good SG in their collection.

Here are the 2 SG's I still own:


'07 Gibson SG-3 LE #006:



'71 Gibson SG Deluxe W/ Bigsby

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Old 12-03-2017, 10:23 AM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Texsunburst59 View Post
I've owned 3 SG's in my life.

The first was a '00 Gibson SG Supreme. I let it go in a trade because I ended up not liking the neck and the really bad neck dive.

The 2nd was my '71 SG Deluxe w/ Bigsby. I found it in a pawnshop for a really good price.

My 3rd in my '07 Gibson SG-3 LE #006 I also found in a pawnshop for killer price.

I think every guitar player should have at least 1 good SG in their collection.

Here are the 2 SG's I still own:


'07 Gibson SG-3 LE #006:



<<snippet pic>>
Wow, that gold hardware really makes that guitar pop. Is the fretboard binding also gold color? I don't think I've ever seen that before.
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Old 12-03-2017, 10:35 AM
MIGAS79 MIGAS79 is offline
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the SG for me would be my first unnecessary sports car-like buy. They look and feel amazing but I know I wouldn’t use it as much as others.
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Old 12-03-2017, 12:16 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
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Bought one of the very first '61 SG reissues - the ones with the period-correct skinny neck and hideous oversize blue-lined plastic case - back in the mid-80's...

Set it up as it would have come from Gibson back in the day, flatwound 12's/ultra-low action - fastest-playing electric I ever owned, and light on the shoulder to boot...

Traded it on an excellent-condition script-logo/early A-Series '47 L-7 w/OHSC in the early-90's...

Been wanting one ever since, especially as a companion to my go-to '07 SG Faded bass...
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Old 12-03-2017, 12:45 PM
Texsunburst59 Texsunburst59 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dru Edwards View Post
Wow, that gold hardware really makes that guitar pop. Is the fretboard binding also gold color? I don't think I've ever seen that before.
No Dru. It's just very yellow gold in color. I guess in the pic it looks gold-like.
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Old 12-03-2017, 01:14 PM
Dru Edwards Dru Edwards is offline
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Originally Posted by Texsunburst59 View Post
No Dru. It's just very yellow gold in color. I guess in the pic it looks gold-like.
Cool. What kind of pickups? Probably 490R/498T or '57 classics I assume?
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Old 12-03-2017, 01:25 PM
rockabilly69 rockabilly69 is offline
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I'm a fan, here's my Historic Special reissue....

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Old 12-03-2017, 01:43 PM
pf400 pf400 is offline
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Little question for you guys...can you coil-tap the '57 Classic pickups?
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Old 12-03-2017, 02:30 PM
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Little question for you guys...can you coil-tap the '57 Classic pickups?
You can now. Gibson has released a four -conductor version. More info HERE.

Bob
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Old 12-03-2017, 02:43 PM
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Thanks. I've been hearing amazing tones from bands playing Les Pauls and SGs recently.
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