Non-Gibson SG?

[phil_104]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Point is I don't have full faith in Gibson. I've heard too many horror stories about f**kups that somehow made it past QC and left customers totally unhappy. I would personally rather give my business to a company I can trust implicitly to not screw me over.

Try (and inspect) before you buy?

This. I've owned 6 Gibsons, and I currently have 4. I sold my first LP (studio faded) and an SG actually (black standard). The standard is probably the only guitar I sold that I regret selling.

With that said, I have 4 Gibsons at the moment, but I've played plenty of dogs from that brand. The trick is finding the right one. When you do, they are very, very interesting guitars. For the price, the right SG Standard or 61RI is a hard guitar to beat.

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

She almost even looks like she knows how to play that thing. :naughty:

I had seen this thread on the mylespaul forum that discusses various SG clones (and also touches on pros/cons of top-wrapping). They speak well of Tokai, Edwards, Burny, Greco, and a few others. Some good pics in there, too, along with a wee bit of (gasp!) Gibson-bashing.

I'm pretty happy with my SG Special so far, but I'm still well within the honeymoon period. I did have to tweak the setup to make it what I want, but it's a solid axe. I may decide to upgrade some of the hardware - time will tell - but there's nothing wrong with it that can't easily be fixed. I have no problem with the build quality of the Gibson, and consider it to have been a good purchase.

 

[tonello]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Just buy a Gibson SG. Any reputable dealer should be more than willing to allow you to buy and try it at home to test for quality, and then bring it back if it doesn't meet your standards.

Even Guitar Center does that, and they have next to no reputation, except for ****ing you over on used ****.

 

[Hellion]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Just buy a Gibson SG. Any reputable dealer should be more than willing to allow you to buy and try it at home to test for quality, and then bring it back if it doesn't meet your standards.

Even Guitar Center does that, and they have next to no reputation, except for ****ing you over on used ****.

+1 on this. Try it out first. I don't think you should EVER buy a guitar without playing it first (though I've taken my chances on more than one occasion). Despite their occasional problems, Gibson still, for the most part, makes damned good instruments.

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

guild s100. ****en awesome.

 

[Funkfingers]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Frank Zappa owned and toured with a hand-made SG replica. Distinctive features include star fingerboard inlays, a twenty third fret and no end of DPDT mode switches for the pickups.

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

There is also the Jay Dee SG's out there http://www.jaydeecustomguitars.co.uk/angus_young_sg.html

 

[uOpt]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

The Bunry SG models (small pickguard like the Gibson 61 model) pop up on Ebay pretty frequently. That's a safe bet for a good SG.

You can't use the Yamaha SG-1000/2000/3000 because they have Les Paul thickness bodies, sustain blocks under the bridge and a couple other things that make it sound differently from a SG. A SG needs that paper thin body and the neck join that breaks if you look at it too sharply.

 

[CTN]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

hmm. I found a Tokai dealer not too far from me.

But OK FINE I'll make sure to actually test out some Gibbys and try to find the magic one.

Are there tonal differences between the batwing p/g models vs the small p/g models?

 

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Not due to the PG.

 

[0v3nm4n]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

nahh man, you want THIS:

http://www.phantom-guitars.de/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115

 

[Dr. Vegetable]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

nahh man, you want THIS:

http://www.phantom-guitars.de/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115

Great mooglie googlie!!! That is awesome!!!

 

[CTN]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Not due to the PG.

does that mean there ARE tonal differences though?

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

does that mean there ARE tonal differences though?

Not really. Nothing you can definitely say belongs to one or another. The biggest differences you will find from one to another will be more related to the finish, the wood, and the hardware used. You would be hard pressed to find anyone that could tell you exactly what the tonal differences between a short neck joint SG and a long neck joing SG would be. Like between a 65 and a 68. Sure there are differences but the differences between individual instruments are larger.

The only tonal difference would probably be the ones from the 80's had the neck pickup pushed forward towards the fretboard. I wish i would have kept mine but the pickup selector location drove me batty.

 

[The Owl]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

IF you have the $$, consider having an SG style axe built to your specs. I'm an ex-SG player myself., the thing that ruined it for me in the end was the neck joint, very spongy and fragile, unstable tuning etc. The only way to fix that is having a neck-thru build which Gibson foolishly refused to do (despite Les Paul's pleading) . No matter how pricey the SG, it will always have that problem unless you get one built neck -thru.

 

[phil_104]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Not really. Nothing you can definitely say belongs to one or another. The biggest differences you will find from one to another will be more related to the finish, the wood, and the hardware used. You would be hard pressed to find anyone that could tell you exactly what the tonal differences between a short neck joint SG and a long neck joing SG would be. Like between a 65 and a 68. Sure there are differences but the differences between individual instruments are larger.

The only tonal difference would probably be the ones from the 80's had the neck pickup pushed forward towards the fretboard. I wish i would have kept mine but the pickup selector location drove me batty.

I can also add that a major factor is going to be pickups. The 61RI comes with 57 classics, which are my favourite humbuckers in the world.

Also, I asked the guy at my local shop, who I trust, and another difference is that the 61RI is made from 2 piece bodies. The standard could be made from a 3 piece body.

The horns are different from the standard to the 61. The 61 has more edges on it. It's cosmetic, but some people like one better than the other.

The neck profile is also different. The 61RI neck plays like butter.

But there are good examples of both out there. If ever I go back to playing an SG, I'm going to be looking at the 61 though. Killer features.

 

[Ashurbanipal]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Agree with you, Owl; I like SGs, but if I were to get one, it would be to my spec. Though the old Juniors are a bit better since they have a long neck tenon.

nahh man, you want THIS:

http://www.phantom-guitars.de/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=115

Too much switcheroo but easily one of the nicest SGs I've seen.

 

[The Owl]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

Point is I don't have full faith in Gibson. I've heard too many horror stories about f**kups that somehow made it past QC and left customers totally unhappy. I would personally rather give my business to a company I can trust implicitly to not screw me over.

Excellent point! Gibson is basically over-priced and lacking in real consistent quality anymore, sad to say. Heritage instruments are far superior to Gibsons in every way.

 

[BloodRose]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

I was going to say Edwards and Burny are about the best Gibby clones out there being mass produced.

 

[CTN]

Re: Non-Gibson SG?

If Heritage made an SG, I'd just buy that, but they don't so I can't.

As for shelling out for a custom SG built to my specs...Uh...that's what I'm doing. Except I'm building it. That way I can pay myself the entire profit margin! huzzah!