I’m lucky enough to own both a single cutaway SE Soapbar and an SG Classic. Both really great guitars for the money!
I bought one of the original single cutaway SE Soapbars new when they came out and liked it so well that I wanted to order another one as a spare. By then, they’d been taken off the market due to the totally ridiculous lawsuit by Gibson. As soon as the double cutaway Soapbar II came out, I bought one of them too. The necks are the same size-wise and both are very fun axes of good quality that I really enjoy playing. The pots on both crapped out after little use and had to be replaced with better quality CTS units. The pickups sound nice – full & gutsy with a solid clarity and nice tonal range.
This last October, I stopped by a Guitar Center and tried out the SG Classic. I’d heard they were stopping production on them and I wanted to check them out before they were all gone. They had 3 and I was amazed at the consistency between them. The necks were all the same size-wise. I tended to like the heaviest one (still pretty light) the best. It seemed to have a little edge in the sustain department over the other two. I ended up buying it, and although I’m sure I would’ve been happy with any of the 3, this particular one has to be one of the best feeling and sounding guitars I’ve ever had. I just can’t keep my hands off of it. It’s neck is full & round, but it plays faster than anything in my arsenal. The intonation was spot on and it just rings out in every register.
None of these guitars were set up when I originally got them from the dealers, but each only needed the bridge height adjusted and minor truss rod tweaks to become ace players.
I love all my guitars and my mahogany p90 planks are dear to my heart because I originally started playing long ago on a 1965 SG Special and they remind me of my old SG.
If I had to choose only one of these 3 – the SE Soapbars or the SG Classic, it would be the SG hands down. It simply sounds better, plays better, feels better, and will retain it’s value better than the SEs. In fact, I noticed recently that Guitar Center doesn’t advertise them anymore and Musician’s Friend is out of them and just says they have been discontinued. If you can still pick up one somewhere (even used), it’ll be an investment in tone that you’ll likely never regret!
