Fro
Experienced
I'm a sucker for player grade guitars, and stumbled across a fun one. This is my first SG, and so far I love it!
It's a 1969 SG Standard. The "bad" parts about it when I got it is that it had been refretted, the tuning machines were changed, it did not have the original pickups, it was missing the witch hat knobs, the Maestro Vibrola was removed and they actually turned it into a string through body tailpiece. The good part is that there is no neck or headstock damage. And no cracking around the control cavity. The body is in great shape.
I put vintage style tuning machines back on it. I ripped out the EMG pickups and all EMG related electronics, which included all the pots and input jack. I replaced the pickguard (they had an un-original 3-pickup configuration), and I put in a set of David Allen Powerage pickups. Just a side note: I have a 1973 Les Paul with original T-Top pickups. I've tried both David Allen and Brandonwound T-Top replicas, and they both are pretty darn close to the original.
Here it is after my modifications, or more accurately, my un-modifications.
and the back side so you can see the string through.
And this is what is was like when I first got it.
And a sight that is just plain wrong. You should never ever see a 9v battery in a 1969 guitar. LOL
I'll probably just leave the actual tailpiece part as is. I had thought about adding a mock Maestro piece to it like the Derek Trucks model so that it looked a little more original. But the chrome of the tailpiece doesn't bother me as much now that I changed out the pickups. It kind of balanced out the look. I don't have another SG to compare it to, but I would be curious to see if the string through the body increases sustain or not.
It's a 1969 SG Standard. The "bad" parts about it when I got it is that it had been refretted, the tuning machines were changed, it did not have the original pickups, it was missing the witch hat knobs, the Maestro Vibrola was removed and they actually turned it into a string through body tailpiece. The good part is that there is no neck or headstock damage. And no cracking around the control cavity. The body is in great shape.
I put vintage style tuning machines back on it. I ripped out the EMG pickups and all EMG related electronics, which included all the pots and input jack. I replaced the pickguard (they had an un-original 3-pickup configuration), and I put in a set of David Allen Powerage pickups. Just a side note: I have a 1973 Les Paul with original T-Top pickups. I've tried both David Allen and Brandonwound T-Top replicas, and they both are pretty darn close to the original.
Here it is after my modifications, or more accurately, my un-modifications.
and the back side so you can see the string through.
And this is what is was like when I first got it.
And a sight that is just plain wrong. You should never ever see a 9v battery in a 1969 guitar. LOL
I'll probably just leave the actual tailpiece part as is. I had thought about adding a mock Maestro piece to it like the Derek Trucks model so that it looked a little more original. But the chrome of the tailpiece doesn't bother me as much now that I changed out the pickups. It kind of balanced out the look. I don't have another SG to compare it to, but I would be curious to see if the string through the body increases sustain or not.