Coming from 18 years in Fender land, I am having an interesting time getting to know this Gibson SG that I picked up earlier this year. I'd never been inspired by Gibsons, but the thing just oozed tone and woody vibes, I was looking for something different, plus the price was right so I brought it home. I've been plinking on it for several months now and after a couple of jam sessions with others, I'm as confused by this guitar as ever. It is all mahogany with 57 Classics.
Cleans - Fat. Woody. Marvelous sound. Warm, even the bridge pickup. Needing to add treble at the amp. Almost lacks dynamic response to picking attack - all notes kind of come out the same. Middle position seems to make the tone thinner and more clear, which is a nice contrast to the neck or bridge by themselves. Gorgeous bedroom tone, live it feels a little clumsy. Less to "explore" because my picking dynamics don't come across, but probably sounds better and more consistent to the listener.
High gain - Oh my. This is the money. The compressed nature makes high gain riffage real smooth and slick sounding. Solos sound like I know what I'm doing. Classic, almost radio-ready sound. I almost don't know what to do with a classic sound after so many years of chasing my own sound. I can't seem to get any extra snarl by picking harder. Would probably sound nice on a recording.
Hardware - I don't know what to do with 2 volumes and 2 tones. Running volume at 50% and below seems to open up the sound and let it breathe somewhat. 2 tone knobs feels crazy when the whole guitar is so warm. Frets are super tall even after I crowned them. Tempted to take off more fret height so its closer to what I'm used to. I was pushing notes out of tune easily so I put on heavy gauge strings... not pushing notes out of tune anymore but my fingertips are sore from a 2 hr jam, what gives? Love the fixed bridge... tuning is super stable. Whole guitar is 6.5 lbs so it's no sweat to pick it up and plink. 24.75" scale is a revelation! I can hit lines and chords that I never thought possible.
Live band - so many mids! What do I do with all these mids? I am taking up a boatload of musical space here. Usually I take up space by playing big chords with a fat attack and thin out my sound by backing off the attack... this guitar takes up the same amount of space with a single note. I need to find a new way to dial it down and play dynamically - maybe the volume knob plays more of a role here than my picking hand.
Anyways, just reflecting on this instrument instead of working. Back to it.
Alex
Cleans - Fat. Woody. Marvelous sound. Warm, even the bridge pickup. Needing to add treble at the amp. Almost lacks dynamic response to picking attack - all notes kind of come out the same. Middle position seems to make the tone thinner and more clear, which is a nice contrast to the neck or bridge by themselves. Gorgeous bedroom tone, live it feels a little clumsy. Less to "explore" because my picking dynamics don't come across, but probably sounds better and more consistent to the listener.
High gain - Oh my. This is the money. The compressed nature makes high gain riffage real smooth and slick sounding. Solos sound like I know what I'm doing. Classic, almost radio-ready sound. I almost don't know what to do with a classic sound after so many years of chasing my own sound. I can't seem to get any extra snarl by picking harder. Would probably sound nice on a recording.
Hardware - I don't know what to do with 2 volumes and 2 tones. Running volume at 50% and below seems to open up the sound and let it breathe somewhat. 2 tone knobs feels crazy when the whole guitar is so warm. Frets are super tall even after I crowned them. Tempted to take off more fret height so its closer to what I'm used to. I was pushing notes out of tune easily so I put on heavy gauge strings... not pushing notes out of tune anymore but my fingertips are sore from a 2 hr jam, what gives? Love the fixed bridge... tuning is super stable. Whole guitar is 6.5 lbs so it's no sweat to pick it up and plink. 24.75" scale is a revelation! I can hit lines and chords that I never thought possible.
Live band - so many mids! What do I do with all these mids? I am taking up a boatload of musical space here. Usually I take up space by playing big chords with a fat attack and thin out my sound by backing off the attack... this guitar takes up the same amount of space with a single note. I need to find a new way to dial it down and play dynamically - maybe the volume knob plays more of a role here than my picking hand.
Anyways, just reflecting on this instrument instead of working. Back to it.
Alex
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