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I would disagree with you on points #1 and 2 - I've had an SG special for 3 1/2 years now, and it was my main gigging guitar until I got my JM. The neck isn't as huge as you make it out to be, it's a little wider and fatter than my AVRI JM, but that's all. There's not much in it, TBH.

I know a lot of people have problems with the neck-heaviness, but I really never encoutered it.

The sg classic I was going to buy from a friend didn't have any neck dive, which was good. If it bothers you, put a roll of nickels in the control cavity.

SGs are cool...unfortunately, they look tiny on me

I'd still love to get a 30th Anniversary TV Yellow SG custom one day...they were a limited edition run in the 90s....

StevenO wrote: The sg classic I was going to buy from a friend didn't have any neck dive, which was good. If it bothers you, put a roll of nickels in the control cavity.

Or just use a suede strap that won't easily move on your shoulder.

I own a Classic, so I'll weigh in.

flatfiver wrote:#1: Pretty much all the current production models (with the exception of the '61 Reissue and probably the Angus Young model) have gigantic baseball-bat-sawn-in-half necks.  Some people like these, however once you develop tendinitis the appeal is largely eclipsed by the intense pain in your hand, wrist and forearm.  At least in my personal experience.

Definitely play one first to see if you like the neck. Mine is nearly, but not quite, as fat as my '56 RI. I expect it on the '56, but not on a production SG that supposedly has a '59 rounded profile'.

flatfiver wrote:#2: As Jay stated above, SGs always want to dive headstock-first toward the floor.  I found it to be a real pain to try to keep the neck in playing position.  I also had issues with mine tilting forward on the strap.  It was almost impossible to play comfortably sitting down, it also felt weird because the bridge was almost in my armpit.

Agreed on both counts. As noted, something in the control cavity helps. I have two wheel weights taped to the side in mine that I found in my parking lot.

flatfiver wrote:#3: Good god do they sound good with the right pickups, especially P-90s!  I'm tempted to build a 24 3/4 scale all-mahogany T-O-M or wraparound Jazzmaster just to get that sound back.

What he said. A slab of mahogany + P90s == heaven. It's the only reason I still have mine.

Good luck with your choice, I'm sure you'll be pleased either way.

well, I just recently sold my SG, that sounded great and hurt like hell to play, to put a downpayment in a vintage JM. 

Id rather have the MIJ JM than the SG classic, even if I wound up putting a tune-o-matic bridge and humbuckers or p-90s in it

sookwinder wrote: buy a strat .....   

That's never a god way to go. You should get a Jaguar, it has a nice sound to it (not too far off a JM) and has a Gibson style neck, which I guess you would find more comfortable

Ah!  Controversy!    ( )

I should have probably stated that SGs have, in my experience, a tendency to do certain things.  Also that my SG didn't cause tendinitis, but it became a real pain to play after I developed it.  It may not have been so much a neck size thing as it was a profile thing.

I think Gibson differentiates between the SG "Rounded" profile and the "'59 Rounded" Les Paul profile.

Good ideas about putting some kind of weight in the cavity.  I played mine with a heavy-woven cotton/canvas strap that didn't move around too much on my shoulder, maybe suede would have been even better.

Chris, do you have the stock pickups in your Special?

Naturality wrote:

sookwinder wrote: buy a strat .....   

That's never a god way to go.

I disagree, god even has his own signature model:

flatfiver wrote: Chris, do you have the stock pickups in your Special?

Yep, the whole guitar is stock. I'm not really a fan of switching pickups out unless they break or something. I hadn't played the SG live since May because I was getting used to the JM, but I used it for one song at a gig on Thursday night and it was really great. The 490 R and T pickups are nice, you can get a lot of nice sounds out of them.

pheh!  thats just a picture of some old yuppie!