Gibson SGs are the ****.

Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

The basses are frickin' neck heavy as all hell. But I've never had a problem with that on any of my SG guitars, and I use $4 nylon straps.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

I've owned 3 in my life. Could not stand how neck-heavy they were. I prefer a guitar to stay where I put it without having to use a high-friction strap, and without having to use my fretting hand OR hold it tightly with my picking arm.

Neck heavy SG's are a problem SG players have had to deal with since 1961...this is about the best thing I've see so far!

http://www.neckheavy.com/index.html
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

Nice, but adding weights seems to defeat the purpose of getting a lightweight guitar. Granted the ad says you barely notice it because of the strap width, but any extra weight will be noticeable. May as well hang a beer can off your strap :lol:

I suppose adding weight to the strap is better than adding it to the guitar, although increasing the guitar's mass can, in most cases, increase the guitar's sustain.


But that weight pocket looks like an easy enough mod for DiMarzio ClipLocks as well.


Hmmm. Might even hang a spare pickup or two off the strap :lol:
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

I don't play mine much but still a keeper..

SG.jpg

I can see why you don't play it much...it's backwards.

Yeah, I know.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

I've owned 3 in my life. Could not stand how neck-heavy they were. I prefer a guitar to stay where I put it without having to use a high-friction strap, and without having to use my fretting hand OR hold it tightly with my picking arm.

I keep hearing this neck heavy stories . . . mine is not neck heavy, not even with a good dose of imagination.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

An Undated photo of Clapton with his famous SG. I believe this was either a 62 or 63.
42-16887160.jpg


Part of the reason why I bought mine. I bought this guitar in either 68 or 69. I played the crap out of it. In 1972 or 73 I changed the tuners. I bent a tuner on my Gibson acoustic so I swapped the tuners on my SG & replaced the SG's with grovers. In 72 it was just an older guitar. About 6 months ago I had it refretted, The frets had been dressed, crowned and reground so many times there was really nothing left. She plays amazing now & sounds as good as ever. And I disagree that you can't get some mellow tones out of the neck pickup. I do it regularly. Just roll the tone back. Woman tones are gorgeous out of her! 44 years has a lot to do with a guitars tone!


picture.php
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

Way to go Diego! You've come a long way in your tone search. The SG is a monster guitar and with so many pickups out there to choose from I'm sure you will find the right pickup for it.
My suggestion is: get a Custom 5 or Brobucker for the bridge and an A2 '59 for the neck and you will have the best guitar you will ever own!
The only problem with the '59 are the long legs on the baseplate, it might not fit.

I would sell the SZ instead of the strat though.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

You are aware that all guitars come from the factory with a generic setup that has to be tailored to the individual player, right?

I'm not talking "It's 2 mm. too high for me! WAAAH!", I'm talking "the low E string chokes on the bridge pickup if I pick it too hard because they're 1 mm. apart".
That's unacceptable and you know it. That's not a setup, that's a ****-up.
I'm not saying all Gibsons come setup by monkeys or something, because I've played less than 10 Gibsons in my life and only half have been at stores.

Also, I don't have the skill of Rhoads, Moore or Sykes. They'd shred the crap out of a harp if you gave them one.
 
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Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

Way to go Diego! You've come a long way in your tone search. The SG is a monster guitar and with so many pickups out there to choose from I'm sure you will find the right pickup for it.
My suggestion is: get a Custom 5 or Brobucker for the bridge and an A2 '59 for the neck and you will have the best guitar you will ever own!
The only problem with the '59 are the long legs on the baseplate, it might not fit.

I would sell the SZ instead of the strat though.

Thanks man! I'll take that in account.

Frankly I don't like the Strat very much and I rarely play it. It's just wrong for me and I've come to accept it.
It also costs twice as much as the Ibanez!
I'd like to swap my A2Pro/Demon combo from my SZ to the SG, then drop some really hot pickups on the SZ.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

Yeah they are pretty awesome. My uncle bought one, and he says that he loves the Mexican rosewood boards. I don't care for the look, but it does sound beautiful. The bridge pup i think is a arbon copy of the JB, and the neck to me is realy super smooth.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

Randy Rhoads did alright with it, and despite the internet rumors, he was just a man, not a god.

Didn't bother Gary Moore, either, or John Sykes.

So just because it didn't bother those guys it shouldn't bother anyone else?

:bsflag:
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

I LOVE SGs!!! Favorite guitar ever, even more than the telecaster, which I LOVE. My dream guitar is a custom SG with ebony fretboard, 3 custom wound humbucker pups and wiring (bridge - ceramic, muddle - alnico 2, neck - alnico 5, custom 6-way switch, Coil tap and phase switching.) Black satin finish on body and neck, all gold hardware, vintage SG tremolo. I would give up SO MUCH just to have that guitar.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

Look closely and note that on these two SG's, the neck pickup is where it's SUPPOSED TO BE!!!!! OH! OOOOOOOOHHHHHHH!!!!!

Judging from that being a pic of Les Paul, the side-to-side vibrato, and the weird pickguard, I'm guessing that those SGs are early prototypes. Either way the neck pickup was moved toward the bridge when the SG design changed to the full pickguard version in '66. All current SGs (except historics and '61 reissues) use the later design and neck pickup position.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

Judging from that being a pic of Les Paul, the side-to-side vibrato, and the weird pickguard, I'm guessing that those SGs are early prototypes. Either way the neck pickup was moved toward the bridge when the SG design changed to the full pickguard version in '66. All current SGs (except historics and '61 reissues) use the later design and neck pickup position.

Actually, the only SGs that share that pickup location are all the Norlin SGs from the '70s and the standards from the '80s (dunno about the '80s customs, I've never played one).

The '61 SG (as well as all reissues) had the neck pickup on the same position as the '66 SG and later full 'guard standards. You can tell by the small plastic cover between the fretboard and the pickup.
For example, look at the white standard a few posts up, no plastic cover. Iit's an '80s model by the lack of a selector switch on the traditional spot.


I'm guessing Gibson decided to move the neck pickup towards the bridge because of the box joint used on the early SG necks. Having the neck pup on the traditional Les Paul spot would have taken away a great chunk of the neck joint, making the guitar even more fragile. The neck joint changed around '66 (when the full 'guard was added) to a stronger and longer tenon and mortise joint. They kept the same pickup location until 1970 when they figured they could move the pickup, or rather the whole neck/fretboard, to have the neck pickup on the traditional Les Paul spot without compromising the neck joint integrity.

Those SG/Les Pauls on the Les and Mary photo above are really odd, most likely prototypes. The neck/fretboard looks, to me, like the ones on the '70s SG, not like the ones on the '61-'65/early '66 small 'guard SGs. Anyway, hard to tell from a photo.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

The '61 SG (as well as all reissues) had the neck pickup on the same position as the '66 SG and later full 'guard standards. You can tell by the small plastic cover between the fretboard and the pickup.
For example, look at the white standard a few posts up, no plastic cover. Iit's an '80s model by the lack of a selector switch on the traditional spot.

I stand corrected regarding when the neck pickup was moved.

Those SG/Les Pauls on the Les and Mary photo above are really odd, most likely prototypes. The neck/fretboard looks, to me, like the ones on the '70s SG, not like the ones on the '61-'65/early '66 small 'guard SGs. Anyway, hard to tell from a photo.

As I said in my post above, I'm pretty sure the guitars above are early prototypes rather than later ones. Les Paul and Mary Ford divorced in 1961 and Les Paul ended his endorsement deal with Gibson at the same time. He later resumed as a solo endorsee in 1966.
 
Re: Gibson SGs are the ****.

I'm keenly aware that all but a few SG's have the neck pu pushed closer to the bridge. That's my point. It's just wrong, just plain wrong, and the main reason I could never warm up to SG's.

I know the idea was to keep from weakening the neck joint, but some of those 70's Norlin SG's had the neck pushed a little deeper into the body so they could have a strong neck joint and a (ahem) properly placed neck pu.
 
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