Let's talk SGs / Modern Gibson quality

[Larry Mal]

The red one has a long body portion of the joint and ends towards the top of the horn.

Right- I see that now.

[Pepe Silvia]

The red one has a long body portion of the joint and ends towards the top of the horn.

Right- I see that now.

Which is the correct neck joint? I hear that a good way to tell a fake is if it has the epiphone neck joint

[mekhem]

SG's are an odd shape. Surprisingly long. I find that I have to spend some time adjusting when I start playing. I have cycled through a couple and quality has been good on all of them.

RE: the 61 pickups. Those were the 'new' ones released during the 120th anniversary models. They are pretty hot....

[Grey]

Sure, but there aren't bushings after you do the Faber (and Callaham) Nashville to ABR conversions. You pull all that stuff out and replace it with a single piece of solid steel and a post sticking out of it. None of the Nashville hardware is left behind.

Oh my mistake, I misunderstood. Thanks for making me aware of these.

[Larry Mal]

Which is the correct neck joint? I hear that a good way to tell a fake is if it has the epiphone neck joint

Sorry, not sure. Truthfully while you could say that I know a fair amount about Gibsons, I'm not super knowledgeable about SGs, I owed a Norlin one way back in the day and that's it. I've been kind of looking into the model myself which is how I know what I do, plus what my friend tells me.

I think they've used more than one neck join, though, but I'm not entirely sure of that, either.

[Pepe Silvia]

There is so much to take in and consider. I feel like going to my safe zone and building an HH Strat

[InLimbo]

Just looked at my SG and mine matches the longer neck joint. Not sure if there's a difference in year changes.

Also just noticed that the electronics cavity is closer to the edge on the black example you posted. The cherry one matches my guitar. But again, this could be a model year thing. Or it could be a fake.

Grey - thanks for the explanation. Mine has a Nashville bridge. FWIW, it's not been problematic, but it may be a case of not knowing the difference.

[Pepe Silvia]

Yeah, they are both supposed to be 2016s, I think the black one is fake and being sold by GC

[Larry Mal]

Grey - thanks for the explanation. Mine has a Nashville bridge. FWIW, it's not been problematic, but it may be a case of not knowing the difference.

Next time you change your strings, just take your hand and see how much the bridge rocks on the posts, and then see how much the posts rock in the cheap grommets.

And then ask yourself, why would that be happening? Why isn't this shit just, you know, on the guitar?

[shoule79]

I guess I'll voice my experiences with modern SG's. The first one I bought was a 2016 model, which was perfect. The next 3 all had issues, from relatively small, like paint flaws, to structural issues. Two had bridges drilled in the wrong spot making intonation impossible. All 3 bad ones were 2017 models, I just gave up after the third one.

All 3 had finish issues on the neck, looking like some variation of this:



That wasn't even the worst one, but it's the only pic I can find. I didn't return it for that, but I was pretty disappointed that something like that passes QC.

For what it's worth, the 2016 one was amazing, one of the few guitars that I would buy back if I could. Definitely play it in person first, or at least buy from somewhere with good returns.

The Finish near the neck looks as sloppy on my 2016 Pelham blue Firebird. The bird also shows lots of wood grain under the finish in some areas On the body, like it wasn’t filled properly.

The neck angle is a bit wonky, the bridge is bottomed out and the action, while low should be able to go lower.

That being said, the guitar feels and plays amazing. Very resonant and loud, even unplugged.

[Larry Mal]

Seeing the wood grain under the finish is just the Pelham blue thing, I've had two guitars that were like that. It's on purpose.

The rest of it sounds terrible.

[Pepe Silvia]

So I think that black one is a 61 reissue, not a standard... hmmm

[Pepe Silvia]

So, I bought the cheapest Tweedy SG that I've ever seen. I like it but the quality is a few steps below my Thinskin JM. The curve on the back of the body as it slopes to the neck is uneven. The edge of the control cavity wasnt sanded all the way, and they didnt clean up the control cavity after routing at all. But it plays nice.

[Larry Mal]

Looks great, though. That vibrato unit will be a lot of fun, and that extra weight back there will help with the neck dive issue. I think you did great!

[Pepe Silvia]

Looks great, though. That vibrato unit will be a lot of fun, and that extra weight back there will help with the neck dive issue. I think you did great!

I just put a strap on it for the first time, I dont notice any neck dive issues, although the vibrato will he more for decoration as they are known for going out of tune.