NGD Gibson SG Special 2018

[ParisStarlight]

I’ve had my SG Special now for about a week. This is a guitar I spent a couple of months considering before buying, so it was far from an impulse purchase. I tried one out and immediately fell in love with the tone from the Mini Humbuckers. They have great definition and clarity, while still retaining that SG bite and growl. To me, it’s like a Tele on steroids. I have also long been a huge fan of the faded finishes on Gibson models. I feel like they play extremely well and feel fast; never getting “gummy” like a thick gloss finish. As far as looks, I must admit the block inlays were a nice touch to a very basic, no frills guitar in my opinion. This guitar looks quite nice in my music room next to my Rickenbacker and my Starfire.
The factory (or Sweetwater) setup on this was fantastic. All I did was a couple of very minor tweaks to get it to my preferences. The neck was adjusted quite nicely, the strings were intonated quite well, and I very slightly adjusted string and pickup height to my personal taste (though they were actually quite close to what I wanted). The frets are all nicely done and do not poke out. The only reason I didn’t give this a 5 star rating is there were some scrapes in the tailpiece, a little odd spot in the finish around the neck pickup, and the screws are slightly off center in the pickguard. I can’t say any of these surprised me greatly, as the faded models I’ve had in the past had similar issues. I just feel that at the $1k price level there should be a high attention to finish details (though I’m spoiled with my Rickenbacker in those regards). None of these were issues with how it plays or sounds, so I’ll keep it and love it.
I must also add, even though it comes with a gig bag that it is the first time in my life I’ve felt that a gig bag will truly protect the guitar and looks nice. I will likely eventually buy a hard case for it, but I’m quite happy with the brown (I’m guessing faux leather) bag for now.
I think this model is a great guitar for the price. It offers a very unique tone, while still sounding and feeling like a Gibson. There is a lot of clarity and a definite jangle in the sound, while still being edgy and sounding beautiful with some tube drive. I’ve owned many different SG’s over the years, and this one has a voice of its own that I see staying with me for a long time.

Photos to come soon!

[Dru Edwards]

Congrats! Any SG is an SG worth having. I have one of those soft cases that I got with my SGJ. It is nice and very well padded but if you're going to be taking it out around a lot a hard shell is worth it.

Enjoy!

[ParisStarlight]

Pictures! I swapped the knobs to witch hats, my preference.

[ParisStarlight]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Congrats! Any SG is an SG worth having. I have one of those soft cases that I got with my SGJ. It is nice and very well padded but if you're going to be taking it out around a lot a hard shell is worth it.

Enjoy!

Thanks! I looked at the SGJ quite a bit, those can be had for such a good price used...eventually the minis on this special won me over. I bet yours plays like a dream also though! I will eventually buy a hard case, but it won’t be leaving home more than maybe once a month for now so I’m not terribly worried. Just happy that they finally made a gig bag that doesn’t feel like it is worthless!

[Beachrunner]

A beauty! Love that finish. Congrats!

[Dru Edwards]

Wow - what a beauty! It even matches your amp. What's your amp?

[ParisStarlight]

Originally Posted by Beachrunner

A beauty! Love that finish. Congrats!

Thank you! I tried hard to finder a lighter variant of the finish for my own taste. To me it has that classic SG vibe, but a bit of a unique color to it.

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

Wow - what a beauty! It even matches your amp. What's your amp?

That’s one of the few amps I have....I’ve almost sold that amp a few times, but it pairs perfectly with the SG. It’s a Fender Ramparte. I love it’s simplicity, it only has a volume for each input. The rest is up to you and the guitar! I did put a different speaker in it, the stock ones are garbage...but for $250 it’s an absolutely beautiful rock and roll single 6l6 amp!

[Song]

Congratulations on your new guitar!

[Johnny K]

I think you have the nicest SG I've ever seen.

[FrankHudson]

Mine's faded red, and I love it.

I'm a long time single coil pickup fan who preferred the Fender sound, but in the past few years I've begun to really appreciate those "not a regular Gibson humbucker, not a Fender single coil either" sounds: P90s, DeArmonds, Filtertron's, and yes those Firebird style mini-humbuckers.

With all the threads here about Gibson's financial situation, and replaying the way their current management has done things, these less than $1K instruments are a great value. And I too kind of like the faded, open pore look. From the handful of instruments I saw in stores, Gibson's earliest 21st century faded finish, sub $1K models had some QC issues. I have a smaller sample size on these in the past few years, but the ones I've seen, and the faded SG I own, came out of the box with a good setup and no functional issues. The cosmetics may not be to everyone's taste, and obviously things like best wood grain patterns, a perfectly buffed out gloss finish, and such aren't in the deal.