Gibson SG

Note.  This blog was originally published on June 20, 2008.  In the process of transporting my earlier blogs, I accidentally deleted this one.  I might as well rewrite it anyway.  Moreover, I updated the blog in 2021 for some edits, including my current collection.

Gibson’s most famous guitar is the Les Paul, designed by jazz guitarist Les Paul himself.  However, that model wasn’t selling too well in the late 50s – there was no Jimmy Page or Eric Clapton around to popularize it back then – so Gibson tried something else.   In addition to the Flying V and Explorer, they tried changing the body on the Les Paul itself.  First they gave the body a second cutaway, then they sharpened the edges on those cutaways, and by 1961 a slimmer, lighter, nastier looking guitar was born: the SG.   The SG Standard has been Gibson's best selling guitar, and one of the few guitars in continuous production since it began in 1961.  

A few points about the Les Paul before I go on.  The Les Paul has a single cutaway at the base of the neck.  Like other human primates, I have opposable thumbs.  I like to be able to reach both sides of the neck when I’m soloing at the end of the fretboard.  Apparently the lead guitarists who favor Les Pauls over SGs seem to disagree.  Anyway.   Another issue I have with the Les Paul, relative to the SG, is its weight.  It’s all well and fine for sustain (e.g. Nigel Tufnel) but as Jimmy Page himself noted, when he reminded his fans that the first Led Zeppelin album was recorded with a Fender Telecaster, even a Stratocaster can sound heavy if the Marshalls are overdriven hard enough.  

The SG is one of my five current guitars.   My current SG is a 2013 Standard, for which I tried in my prior SG, 1 1989 '62 Reissue.  In 2013 Gibson didn't make a 61 Reissue, so the Standards are very close to 61 spec, especially the neck joint, the most noticeable difference being the crown on the headstock having a slightly different location.  My 2013 is ebony, better known as black. My prior and first SG I bought in May 1989.  It was ’62 Reissue, later modified with Tony Iommi model chrome pickups.  It was cherry, the only color it came in.

Specs:  In Standard format, it has two PAF humbuckers, nickel hardware, a slim double cutaway body, a rosewood fretboard, and trapezoid inlays.  The guitar is VERY light, so much so that the neck is heavier than the body and tends to drop down.  It has a bright but strong sound and excellent access to all 22 frets.  The Reissue neck joins the body closer in than the Standard, for a better feel.

            Of course, the most notable element of the SG is its shape:  the cutaways are more pronounced than on the Melody Maker or Les Paul Junior (with the top one being slightly bigger) and even give a sort of “devil horn” look, especially appropriate for AC/DC and Black Sabbath. 

Models.  Since its introduction in 1961 to the present, the SG has been the one guitar Gibson makes which has been in continuous production.  To go into all the different models would be impossible, so certain models and trends are worth noting.

SG Standard.  The “standard” model, but not the most basic.   Over the years the SG has been offered, this has been the model most consistently offered. This had two humbuckers, a bound fretboard with pearl inlays (usually trapezoid but sometimes block), a pickguard, 4 knobs (2 volume, 2 tone, each controlling one pickup), a 3-way selector switch, and the crown inlay on the headstock.  The “standard” color of the Standard is called cherry – other colors have varied in availability, but included ebony, natural, and tobacco sunburst - but I’ve noticed that this color varies considerably.  My own guitar is more like a deep, uniform maroon color, whereas some others of the same model are considerably brighter, even approaching red, or looking more like brown possibly due to either age, poor paint quality, or both.  The degree to which the wood grain shows through the cherry finish also varies, with mine not showing at all.

           

SG Custom.  This was the deluxe model.  It shared the diamond inlay, bound headstock of the Les Paul Custom.  Like the SG Standard and Les Paul Custom it had a “standard” color – in this case, off-white compared to the LPC’s black – but was still available in other colors.  It had three humbuckers, sometimes mounted immediately next to each other and sometimes spaced slightly apart.  The Custom has also come in ebony and other colors, and sometimes with two humbuckers instead of three.  They all have the block inlays, diamond inlay on the headstock, and gold hardware.  

SG Special & Junior.  These were the economy models, the Junior having one pickup and the Special having two.  These were sometimes the P90 single coil pickup instead of the humbucker.  They had a bare headstock, and a nonbound fretboard with dot inlays (though some 70s model Specials had block inlays).

‘62/61 Reissue.  The “SG-62” was introduced in 1986, and eventually changed to the ’61 reissue.  This is the model I have, the model my buddy Baron had (which is what inspired me to purchase it), and the model my friend Leonard has, who was inspired by me to purchase his own.  These are all in cherry and are set up to ‘61/62 specs with stop bar tailpieces, cherry finish, and bound rosewood fretboards with trapezoid inlays.  The major difference between this model and original ’61-62 models is that the latter were equipped with a unique Gibson vibrato system operated by springs, whereas the reissue simply has the stop bar tailpiece.  The Gary Rossington signature SG – a replica of the guitar he played on “Freebird” – has the vibrato and is meant to be a closer approximation of the SG as originally issued.

Doubleneck.  The EDS-1275, with a 12 string on top and a six string on the bottom, had been out of production when Jimmy Page popularized it in the 70s as a way to perform “Stairway to Heaven” onstage.

Pickguard.  From 1961-66 and from 1973 onward, the SG had a small wing-like pickguard to the right of the pickups (the Junior had its own special pickguard).  From 1967-70 the guitars had a larger pickguard which surrounded the humbuckers (most often seen played by Angus Young in the 70s and Robby Krieger).  Oddly, in 1971-72 the SG had the Les Paul’s triangular pickguard (e.g. Tim Sult of Clutch).  The current “Standard” features the ’67-70 large pickguard.

70s. In the 70s the models proliferated, with lots of weird stuff going on.  Les Paul pickguards, natural finish models (“the SG”), sunburst finishes, the neck was tilted parallel to the body, the bridge design changed, the body was a bit larger without as much beveling, Super Humbuckers were introduced, and the triple pickup spacing on the Customs varied back and forth.  Clearly this was a period when Gibson was experimenting heavily on this model, sometimes switching back to earlier features as it learned the hard way what worked and what didn’t.

Players.  Many different players have been seen, from time to time, playing SGs.  Eric Clapton played a stylishly painted SG in Cream, Frank Zappa had been an SG player, and Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd played one on “Freebird”.   Mick Box of Uriah Heep, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, George Harrison of the Beatles, Mickey Jones of Man, Pete Townshend of the Who, John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service, Frank Hannon of Tesla; plus Jimmy Page, Don Felder, Slash, Frank Hannon, and Alex Lifeson have all played the doubleneck version.

The big two are Angus Young of AC/DC and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath - since both of these bands are tied as my favorite, it was a no-brainer that I had to have this guitar. 

Iommi only started using his SG when his main guitar, a Stratocaster, crapped out (before Sabbath even started making albums) – but once he started, he never looked back.  He started using it on the first Black Sabbath album, and has been exclusively playing SGs on every Black Sabbath album and on every tour ever since.

Angus Young has noted the “devil horn” shape of the SG’s body, and AC/DC, for their part, have no less than 3 songs referring to “hell”: “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be” (From Let There Be Rock), “Highway to Hell” (from Highway to Hell) and “Hell’s Bells” (from Back in Black).  Not only does he use the guitar exclusively, but he is prominently pictured on the band’s album covers with his SG.  On If You Want Blood (You Got It) (the live album), he’s impaled by the guitar.  Angus Young, even more so than Tony Iommi, has been the #1 publicist for the Gibson SG among all musicians (he should get a royalty for every SG sold, even if it isn’t to an AC/DC fan).  No one is more closely associated with the guitar, or has prominently displayed it as often or widely, as him.

In March 1989, I was trying to work out a deal to sell my Japanese made Fender Stratocaster in France and buy a US made vintage reissue Stratocaster.  At the same time, I borrowed a Gibson SG ’62 reissue from my friend Baron in March 1989, and two months later I was the proud owner of my own.  It had a much stronger sound than the Strat, so it was more in line with Sabbath (learning “The Warning” at that time) and AC/DC.  Clearly, the fact that Black Sabbath and AC/DC were my two favorite bands, had a major impact on my decision.  The Jap Strat was traded for a US Strat, which was traded for a Mexican Strat, and I got an Explorer in 1990, but the SG is still here.  To these I added a Gibson Les Paul Studio Pro in black cherry pearl, and a Gibson Firebird V in ebony (with a black pickguard), which has the Steinberger tuners.