Why no love for the Gibson SG?

[GuyBoden]

I had an SG about 30+ years ago, it had severe neck dive, I had to clamp the body between my elbow and body to stop the neck dive. But, it had a good electric guitar sound and incredible playing action. Used, they were incredibly inexpensive at the time, 30+ years ago.

[Greywolf]

agree with the neck dive problem.. but they are SO easy to play and light it makes up for it.

[garybaldy]

This is a wonderful SGJ 2013 Model. 24 frets, Maple neck, odd looking pickups but they're 490s and sound fantastic. Stripped down finish but at £399 new in 2014 it's amazing.

[Hep To The Jive]

I tried another SG a couple of years ago, 2022 standard, and again couldn't bond with it. I think that's the last one, unless they going to change the neck specs. Why in the world they make SG's necks so wide? It's really uncomfortable, the sound is good, but no use. I've heard in the late 60's the necks were more like Fender narrow, I wish they start doing it again.

[Bob_Ross]

Early Bill Frisell almost feels like the exception that proves the rule...there seemed to be no one else with his level of notoriety who would even deign to be seen playing jazz on an SG. (Insert obligatory "Frank Zappa Is Not Jazz!" diatribe here.)

But I remembered my dear friend Rich Stevens, an extraordinarily talented jazz guitarist in Massachussetts who I've known since 1982, played an SG exclusively for probably the first 10 or 15 years that I knew him. So there are folks out there doing it, and it always sounds like jazz.

Incidentally, producer/engineer Lou Giordano owns the most fantastic SG Standard I have ever played in my life. There is something about his particular guitar that must be infused with magic, because every time I played it I would sound better than I have any right to! I used to borrow it from him for recording sessions, it was such an inspiring instrument.

Not that anyone would call Lou a "Jazz guitarist"...

[Jimmy Mack]

John A.

I used to own a SG Custom. It sounded and played like a great SG...with a cotton-picking pickup in the middle, getting in the way of my right hand.

I would have gladly exchanged it, at the time, for a good SG Special--but one from the 60s that featured P90 pickups--like the instruments that Pete Townshend and Carlos Santana played. Those guitars both played and sounded superb, to me. (No, I never played _their_ guitars, but I played period-correct Specials.) I think the Specials from the 60s are perhaps the best SGs ever.

I remember seeing Santana around 1972-3. Carlos spent more time tuning his SG than playing it! Very un-enjoyable.

[Hammertone]

This is a wonderful SGJ 2013 Model. 24 frets, Maple neck, odd looking pickups but they're 490s and sound fantastic. Stripped down finish but at £399 new in 2014 it's amazing.

Those SGJ and LPJ guitars were a great deal. Gibson blew them out for dirt in the US. Perfect platform for customizing and upgrading. Unlike the 2014 version, the 2013 version didn't have the lame 12th fret inlay, and came with a substantial "50s" neck. Here's a 2013 that got the upgrade treatment.

[Hammertone]

After selling the purple SG, yet another one wandered in - big fat neck, excellent balance. It started out as a 2010 Robot (a particularly stupid-looking SG) but has since been redeemed. The bonus is that Gibson used a big fat neck (maybe they were worried about the battery constantly working to adjust tuning on the typically wiggly little weiner neck) and also used relatively heavy mahogany to offset the massive extra weight of the robot tuners. I removed all the robot idiocy (including a stupid-looking bridge and tailpiece) and added pickup covers. I just swapped the Rotomatics for plastic keystone button tuners, not shown. Now it's a great fat-neck, well-balanced SG with the jack in the right place. Plenty of love for the right SG. If anyone wants to experience the love, let me know - I just have too many *&^(%#$@ guitars.

[garybaldy]

Those SGJ and LPJ guitars were a great deal. Gibson blew them out for dirt in the US. Perfect platform for customizing and upgrading. Unlike the 2014 version, the 2013 version didn't have the lame 12th fret inlay, and came with a substantial "50s" neck. Here's a 2013 that got the upgrade treatment.

Great work. Mine will stay as is. They are one of the few Gibsons that have increased in value.

[Oscar67]

I’m late to the party but the vid in the OP’s original post is just wonderful. I can’t play like that, not even close. Sometimes I use solidbody instruments to play jazzy stuff. On certain days the simplicity and ergonomics of a good solidbody pull me in. I adore Gibson guitars when other people play them (I grew up on those sounds) but they don’t really work for me, including the SG. When I see Derek Trucks or Angus Young or Dweezil Zappa play their SG’s, pfff, so great. But I’ll stick to my PRS’s, they work for me.

My most SG-like guitar is a PRS 20th Ann McCarty with a thinner-than-usual body and a wide-thin neck pattern. It has the biggest, fattest, warmest tone ever and sounds good through any amp, in any style. That warmth comes at the expense of some of the openness and transparency for which PRS is known, but unless guitars are A/B’d you’d never know.

[Greywolf]

Thankfully Carlos solved his neck dive issues when he went with PRS. I've got 3 Santana's and they are just pure magic. My favorite is a rosewood neck semi custom built for the head of PRS HR as an anni present.