INTERESTING VINTAGE GIBSON FIND TODAY

[brentrocks]

Once again, I came across this very interesting Vintage piece.




A 1967 Gibson SG Special...but this isn't any SG Special.....it has 3 pickups!!!




This guitar was originally Polaris White. The finish was stripped off at some point and then a clear coat was sprayed on.




This appears to be a guitar that was either a special order of maybe an employee build. Its like they took a Junior that was coming down the line and decided to add 2 more p90s. It certainly looks like all 3 routes are factory and there are remnants of the original paint in all 3 routes. Regardless, its a very unique piece!




The wiring appears to all be factory as well. All 4 pots date to 1967. The biggest mystery is, why do 2 soapbars and 1 dogear? (the JR turned into a 3 pup special theory)




When I first saw the guitar, I expected to see some sort of crack or repair in the usual places....given the way it looked, played hard, you know. I was pleasantly surprised to not find any repairs.




The frets are pretty much gone. It playable but you really have to dig in to grab a note. A re fret is inevitable. It does set up nice...but taller frets would be a plus.




The neck is a medium D. .840/.990. Beautiful Brazilian board! Narrow nut. It very lightweight and hangs nicely. It had a BADASS bridge on it when i got it, but it was in really bad shape so I decided to put on this TONEPROS bridge that I had in my parts bin...it works perfectly!!




It has that p90 growl that you would expect from a vintage SG/Les Paul special. Its a rock and blues machine!!!













IMG_5191 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5192 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5194 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5195 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5196 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5197 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5199 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5203 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5204 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5160 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5162 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5164 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5166 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5168 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5165 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5170 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5172 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5180 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5181 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr




IMG_5190 by brent HENDERSON, on Flickr

 

[ICTGoober]

NEAT. I wanna hear it.

 

[beaubrummels]

I imagine a dogear wouldn't sit low enough at the neck on a flat top like an SG. I'm inclined to believe it might be a factory order because of the wire channel - how would you rout that unless it was before the pieces were glued together? Cool find. Player grade - made for playin'. What is the switch configuration for the pickups? Typical Gibson B, B+M, N? Or something else?

 

[eclecticsynergy]

Yep, that's an unusual bird all right. Neat find.

 

[brentrocks]

I paid $2300 for it. I felt that was a good price, considering there were no cracks or breaks. Although I will most likely put another $375 into a refret and new nut.

 

[Wattage]

A wildly bastardized Junior

I love it

 

[hamerfan]

I am inclined to say the soapbars are not orginal to the guitar, because the clear bobbins started in 1969.

 

[64 Tele]

With that body finish color, headstock shape/color/Gibson logo painted on, I think it might have started life as an SG body style MelodyMaker guitar.
I had a 1970 model year 2 pickup MelodyMaker from 1970-72.
The single pickup (if it was an SG) would have 2 controls in a different orientation from the 4 on yours (even before adding 2 controls).
I would bet if you pulled the pickguard, you might see where the sliding pickup switch had been on the lower bout/horn.
I've never seen any SG Jr from that time frame with a walnut finish/neck/headstock, that's why I think it was a MelodyMaker initially.
The pickup selector and pickups/pickguard look to be changed/added after the fact.

I tried to add pics I found on the web of a SG style MelodyMaker from 67-70, but couldn't get them to load.

pictures of sg style melody makers - Bing images

Here's a link I was able to add.

 

[beaubrummels]

With that body finish color, headstock shape/color/Gibson logo painted on, I think it might have started life as an SG body style MelodyMaker guitar.
I had a 1970 model year 2 pickup MelodyMaker from 1970-72.
The single pickup (if it was an SG) would have 2 controls in a different orientation from the 4 on yours (even before adding 2 controls).
I would bet if you pulled the pickguard, you might see where the sliding pickup switch had been on the lower bout/horn.
I've never seen any SG Jr from that time frame with a walnut finish/neck/headstock, that's why I think it was a MelodyMaker initially.
The pickup selector and pickups/pickguard look to be changed/added after the fact.

I tried to add pics I found on the web of a SG style MelodyMaker from 67-70, but couldn't get them to load.

pictures of sg style melody makers - Bing images

Here's a link I was able to add.

The body and upper horn don't show evidence of filled holes from a MM-style pickguard of the time, however. It does look like it had a short Vibrola at some point because you can see the three filled holes for that.

 

[64 Tele]

The body and upper horn don't show evidence of filled holes from a MM-style pickguard of the time, however. It does look like it had a short Vibrola at some point because you can see the three filled holes for that.

Does it show evidence of a neck swap?
Cause that's the only explanation for that walnut head stock and painted Gibson logo from my experiences.

 

[Fender_Punk]

That is an awesome piece of history. Great find, count your lucky stars that you came across it at a time you could buy it. The refret will be well worth it. P-90s have such a great sound!