What's your opinion of the Gibson SG ??

I've played one for quite a while. An old used one from '79. And I was absolutely in love with her. The reason why I wanted a SG is cause I saw many NY HC bands playing those at the time. Never tried one before. And I never regret it. Those pups have something special, the guitar is light, the neck a bit shorter and easy to play. It hangs though slightly out of balance, G string is most of the time out of tune but I had such a good time with her.

The best thing is that I thought the guitar was broken as I saw it, because of that odd angle between the neck and the body. The guy who brought it had a good laugh.

At some point I switched to a 7-string and the SG collected dust since then. Never thought about selling it. Recently I wanted to record one side double tracked with it and the frets are so rusty and worn off that it momentarily killed the sustain few times in the middle of performance. Then I gave up.

I had to write this up cause my beloved SG would never forgive me if I hadn't. It's for her, for my love.
 
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I bought an early-70s SG back around 1980 with the headstock broken off. (I think I paid $50 for it...less than the hardware was worth at the time.) I repaired the neck and had it repainted, but never really liked sound or the feel of the neck so I sold it.
 
I have three and they vary widely ...my first is a 78 warhorse that travelled with me through my busiest gigging years in the 80s and 90s...weighs 5 1/2 lbs, survived a couple headstock breaks at the infamous neck joint...also a Custom Shop
SG/Les Paul that won’t stay in tune, and the Zappa Roxy SG, a very limited release based on Franks heavily modded SG that he used through the 70s.....awesome guitar, but almost Impossible to find
How did you get headstock breaks at the neck joint? :)
 
My 11 year olds first pick ( as I'm a LP player ) , was an SG.

I ordered an SG and got it a few days ago ( cause I live in no-where ).
....I just can't bond with it. I love the look. Can't argue with Angus and Tony ( I ) tones.
I've got some nice LPs. Thru my AX8 , they are magic. Volume knob is a clean to mean adjuster on them.
This SG is a 2017 cherry burst standard. Beauty. 60's neck , classic 57 pickups. But - the pickups and bridge are so damn shiny , it almost looks like a cheap piece if Chinese crap. ( If that makes sense )
The guitar won't clean up like my LPs do with the volume knob. I've moved the pickups away from the strings , which helps , but the volume disappears quickly. It lacks the dimension of my LPs too. Perhaps it's the lack of maple top , thickness of the mahogany , who knows.
I'm a fool for expecting ( or wanting ) a Gibson SG to sound like a Gibson LP I guess. I mean , why would it , just because it has the same pickups.
Looks like this awkward SG guitar is just not meant for me.
....nice to hear there are a few actual SG players here though !
 
The SG has a unique sound and feel. It will not cover a lot of sounds compared to some other guitars. If you need SG sound, there is no other choice. Sold my '08 '61 Reissue and missed it so I got a killer deal on a 2017 SG Standard, put a brass tailpiece and Kinman P90 Buckers on it and wow, SG heaven but I still need my LP, Strat, 335 and Tele as they all have their own signature sound and feel!
If I could only have one guitar for playing out, it would be a Strat. If I could only have one guitar for at home, it would be a LP.
 
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Loved SG's since the Alice Cooper dualing SG days. They're like any Gibson, hit or miss, but if you get a good one I can't find anything to not like. Great looks, great pickups and crazy 12th fret + neck access.
 
I always liked the way they look, and way back in the early 80s i got one that had been taken apart by someone who wanted to refinish it, and had sanded it down, even the logo. (Bonehead) I think it was a Gibson SG100 or 200 or something like that from late 60s or very early 70s.

That was my project guitar for years, tried out various pickups, etc. My old bandmates dad painted it for me at one point, and a few years ago, i took it to a guy to get it refretted, and a decent bridge, tailpiece, and nut put on.

I ended up leaving it in SoCal with my old bass player because it was his (and his twin brother's) dad who had painted it. Well that and he needed a guitar to plunk around on.

Back on topic, yeah, I like the way they look, but the balance with them just seems off when I play most of them. It's not so much neck dive for me, but having the strap button where it is, it just seems like the guitar wants to roll forward away from me.
 
In High School. Of course the monitor had to p!ss me off in the middle of a song. (Judy Blume's son was our drummer...he wasn't good, but he sure could afford gear.)

Loved the SG. That headstock dive was kind of a bummer tho.
 

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I've had several FADED's

They were okay- but I owned for a few minutes a REALLY expensive SG- like one of a kind custom shop crazy expensive one and i played like a million bucks

SO the fadeds are so far from the standards and custom shops

The standards aren't bad at one point they basically made the 61 reissues the standard- but the real 61 reissues before that are GREAT guitars- and the history/custom shop ones are good

BUT they'd never become my main guitar or ever be something I'd use that often

and by todays standard- they all suck- so finding the right one will be more trouble than it's worth

The neck tennon thing is a little uncomfortable and some sg's can be a little unbalanced- so- idk- probably not worth the trouble
 
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