Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

[LLL]

In case you haven't noticed, the Gibson SG horns/body aren't all the same from year to year.

I dunno if you've seen any recent '61 reissues in the store, but they've REALLY started skimping on the beveling on them in the past couple years. It's SAD. Back around '99 till, oh, say, 2004, they looked good with the circa-'99 reintroduced tapered-tip horns and the deep beveling. But now, ugh. It's a shame, considering that they USED to get it closer to "right". And the Historics have "okay" bevels, but lack the proper tapering off on the horn tips so they end up looking just like the early 90's '61 reissues instead of the "real deals". But to answer your question with an appropriate focus:

Up until mid '66 (when the bigger "batwing" pickguard had fully replaced the small treble-side one and the neck joints changed) I'd say more than 98% of all SG's had nice deep bevels, contoured/tapered horn tips and just looked dang sexy. Yes, a few got out with those "five minutes till quitting time" halfassed jobs, but they're few and far between. And even through mid '68 models you can still find some examples of early-to-mid-60's style bevels/tapers on them. But late '68 to '71 (the last years of the REAL SG's in many folks' opinions, including yours truly) saw them decrease radically to simple notches out of the inside of the cutaways, really lazy looking. By the time of the "big redesign" and Norlin catastrophy, the body outline itself had even changed pretty dramatically, as well as an almost TOTAL absence of any body bevels (the top edge of the guitar was the only real bevel for a couple years, like late '71 through early '73). The mid 70's saw a reintroduction of a certain amount of light beveling, but one in several hundred might have made it out with better-than-average beveling more reminiscent of the later 60's models.

It was really the '86 SG-62 model that more or less brought back the older style beveling on the SG (which was itself a decent, but NOT authentic "reissue"). Aside from it, up until about 1992 the Standards/Specials/etc had little beveling at all and were still quite different in outline than the originals. Technically even our Historics today aren't TOTALLY right from the front-on view, but I guess if you've never seen or felt an original 60's one in person you may never know the difference. When they redid the Standards/Specials in about '92 they reintroduced the '68-ish cutaway beveling (and the "new" SG '61 reissue introduced in I believe '93 had about the same lame, shallow beveling...NOT cool for a "reissue"). With a slight bit of variation over the past 15 years they've remained mostly the same on the standard issue stuff, the exception being the '61 RI which started aroun '96 or '97 seeing deeper, more true-to-original-spec bevels, and later got the tapered horns back in '99; and for a while, the Maestro Vibrola option (till they took that one away from us...how unfortunate).

For the past couple years however, there has been a "recession" of sorts when it comes to their attention to detail on them, and they've dwindled to the point of laughable. I would expect more from the company that introduced such landmark designs in the day...looks like they'd take more pride in preserving that rich "artisan" heritage. But I guess pride in the "art" isn't as profitable as cutting overhead, so the real losers are the consumers and guitar fanatics. If enough people *****ed and moaned we could probably get 'em to make good on it, but till then, it's the way it is. Hope that was at least helpful, in between the rants.

 

[LLL]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

Lots of pics here:

http://www.everythingsg.com/threads/the-sg-bevel-reference-project.18524/page-1

 

[GibSG]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

There is only 2 design style :

- Standard / Classic

- '61 reissue

Each design with no pickguard, small pickguard and large pickguard.

2013, 2014 and 2015, the SG Standard body is the '61 RI.

2017, design is Standard / Classic with small pickguard.

 

[LLL]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

There is only 2 design style :

- Standard / Classic

- '61 reissue

Each design with no pickguard, small pickguard and large pickguard.

2013, 2014 and 2015, the SG Standard body is the '61 RI.

2017, design is Standard / Classic with small pickguard.

Check out the pics.

 

[Wattage]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

and then add lefty into the mix

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

Then the Custom Shop created the SG Diablo carved top with no pickguard, and streamlined the electronics. Purists may not be in love with it, but IMO, it's the sexiest version when you see it in person.

 

[d1dsj]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

Oh that Red Diablo.... sexy but evil.

 

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

Oh that Red Diablo.... sexy but evil.

It's a huge sounding guitar as well. It came with Burstbucker 1/2, and I've tried several Duncans, yet come right back to the stock pickups. I think they're pretty much the modern day Gibson PAF.

 

[Drunken Bowling]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

I was watching a video f a '65 sg standard earlier. Is it my imagination, or are the old bodies thicker than the ones on the newer models?

 

[GibSG]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

2013, 2014 and 2015 SG Std have '61 RI shape body

 

[JB_From_Hell]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

I started playing on a '62 Les Paul, so I'm partial to the small guard and ebony block on the tailpiece. That said, I certainly don't hate GJ's Diablo. Since my dad plays strictly acoustic music about 98% of the time, I'm angling to get him to "indefinitely lend" me the Les Paul.

 

[Coma]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

Then the Custom Shop created the SG Diablo carved top with no pickguard, and streamlined the electronics. Purists may not be in love with it, but IMO, it's the sexiest version when you see it in person.

Agreed. I always liked the look of the SG, but the LP smokes it as far as tone goes (IMO, anyway). Would love to try a Diablo out to hear how they compare, but I've never seen one in any store [emoji17]

 

[metalchurch79]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

Very cool thread LLL, some good reading that's for sure.

 

[Mincer]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

I've noticed that the balance of the horns seemed off on all lefties I have seen. Some of the righty's horns look almost identical, yet on some, the bass side horns are certainly bigger.

 

[GibSG]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

Up horn is bigger, looking to the lefty model, it speaks

 

[LLL]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

One of the biggest differences is the deepness of the front facing horn cutaway bevels... some go all the way down to the pickguard, others are just a little half-moon and others are in between.

Yeah also on the 60's it seems one horn is shorter and both horns point inwards more.

 

[SJ318]

Re: Gibson SG Horn Bevel/Body Changes Reference

Hello,
Forgive me, a little off topic, but I also prefer the shape of the SG. As per sound, slap a maple top on it, just to the bevel, or half and half, so the maple goes all the way to the end of the bevel (my fave, with proper deepness), and that thing would sound much more Les Paul-ish, if not the same, (IMHO). Do you really need 9 - 10 pound's of wood? No. Mahogany with maple? YES! But 7 pounds of mahogany plus maple WILL sound very close, IMO.
Put that guitar in Jimmy Page, Peter Green, Eric Clapton W/BluesBreakers, and Mike Bloomfield's hands when they made their bones in the mid to late 60's and I bet a dollar to a doughnut that SG's would be the ones going for $250,000.00 - $500,000.00, NOT the Les Pauls. I just betcha!
Thanks for the mini rant.
Buff