Gibson SG Special Electric Guitar

I've played a couple of different SG's and it's about time to do a review. SG special one of the cheapest Gibson guitars. First it was introduced as Les Paul's upgrade in 1959. Gibson stopped Les Pauls' production and put a new model under the same name. In this "new" Les Paul Gibson designers tried to take care of two very problematic points of the first solidbody guitar: first, LP was too heavy, and second, the access to upper frets was not easy. The new LP design came to fix these problems: the body weight was reduced - it was thinner and it was flattop, which also reduced the price (and, huh, sustain). Then, the body shape was changed to double cut, and the whole contour was different. The first double cut solidbody guitar was Fender Stratocaster, and it was introduced right after Les Paul, so this time Gibson was recycling Leo Fender's ideas (by the way, the single cut was patented by Orwell Gibson in 1895). Neck joined the body only at 18th fret, and access to upper frets became very good. Electronics, scale and all the hardware of the new guitar was the same as on Les Paul.
This new Les Paul was renamed into SG after a couple of years, which stands for Solidbody Guitar. That's a short history of SG. There are numerous modifications of SG, but first I'd like to put out the common features.

The weight
SG is a light guitar - relatively to Gibsons. Although it's not your featherweight Ibanez, it's still light for a guitar with mahogany body and neck.

The sound
It's got incredible rock sound - although I'm not a big fan of its clean sound (listen to Doors). There's much less meat than on Les Paul - due to the light body. But if you have a bass player in your band you don't need too many lows in your sound, right? I've got Les Paul, it's phat and juicy, but every time on mix I have to cut low frequencies. There are mainly mids in SG's sound - but what mids! Listen to early Black Sabbath or Clutch - they knew exactly why they use SGs.

The feel
It's a very comfortable guitar. The neck is a bit chunky - it must have some volume since it's very long, but it's easy to play and you can even hang it very low. The body is well balanced, it sits much better on the knee than Les Paul. I think SG is the most comfortable of all Gibsons - compared to Les Paul, V, Explorer and Firebird with their crazy body shapes. There are also different forgotten Gibsons like MIII, Hawks and RD, which are very comfortable, but they're rare and not so popular.

SG Special specifications
In SG series Special means "especially cheap", and you can see it mainly in the details: "Gibson" logo is not pearl inlay but gold paint; pickups are opened (no covers); fretboard inlays are simple dots. Thanks to the designers, materials, hardware and pickups are the same as on Standard model, which means the price is being cut on finishes, not on woods.


Materials: mahogany body and neck, rosewood fingerboard
Binding: none
Tuners: Gibson Deluxe
Pickups: 480R (neck) and 500T(bridge), no covers
Controls: two volume, two tone, three-way switch (same as LP)
Hardware: usually chrome
Bridge: tune-o-matic/stopbar
Colors: Specials are usually painted, you can find black, red, white and cherry.
Logo is gold paint, not inlay, and neck inlays are simple dots.
(of course, there are modifications and in a couple of years you will probably find something else under the same name)

What I like and dislike about it.

First, you can trust Gibson. If you see this word on the headstock of any guitar, you can be sure it's made in U.S.A. and it's a highest quality product. You can dislike the sound, the look, the feel - whatever, but it's still a totally professional instrument.
Now, regarding its' weak points:
I've heard that it's a very fragile guitar. Pete Townsend says he can break it with his bare hands. I don't care about Pete - he can break any guitar, but I've heard it from other people as well. The long neck might break if the guitar falls on the floor. Sometimes, when you buy a used SG, you can see a barely noticeable crack on the back of the neck, which means the neck was broken and repaired. I'd say - avoid buying broken guitars, even for $100. And if you bought a new SG, try to be more gentle with it - about twice as gentle as with Telecaster.
Another weak point is the clean sound. It's a bit too sharp - to my taste. I like the sound of humbuckers with covers, it's softer. I've seen guys playing SG Specials with a very sharp and annoying sound - they would scratch a pick against the strings and it would sound like glass being cut with a kitchen knife. ARRRGGGHHHH!!! To avoid it, lower the pickups a bit, don't push them too close to the strings. SGs always sound good with distortion, but sometimes clean is a problem.

What else?
It's very comfortable. It's reliable. It's a classic. It's cheap. And it's Gibson.