I've bought an SG - pg2, it has arrived

For guitars of the straight waisted variety (or reverse offset).
User avatar
JSett
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 8803
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:33 pm
Location: Old Hampshire, Old England

I've bought an SG - pg2, it has arrived

Post by JSett » Mon May 23, 2022 9:02 am

I thought I'd take advantage of there being a lot of cheap-ish SG's for sale at the moment and try and start tracking down one with a decent sized neck. I asked on here a while back and the consensus was that there was a spell of fat-necked ones circa 2001-2010.

I had a bunch on my watch list and got a best offer this morning on one. Messaged the seller and he said that is was, indeed, one of the bigger necked ones. So, I threw caution to the wind and fired a counter-offer. The rest, as they say, is history.

This should hopefully arrive at the end of the week. It's just a bone-stock 2008 SG Special. Nothing fancy, meat 'n potatoes USA Gibson. I spent a little over £550 for it.

Image

If it's a good player, and the neck feels nice, there's more than a strong chance I'll grab a new pickguard and throw in a P90 at the bridge and Junior it. Maybe look for a Maestro at some point too.

Hell, I might even paint it BMM :D
Last edited by JSett on Fri May 27, 2022 9:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

User avatar
luau
Admin
Admin
Posts: 10020
Joined: Tue Dec 12, 2006 7:07 am
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by luau » Mon May 23, 2022 9:16 am

Congrats and do it!

User avatar
zhivago
Mods
Mods
Posts: 21926
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 6:18 am
Location: London, UK

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by zhivago » Mon May 23, 2022 12:53 pm

Very nice...is it a "Faded" series Special?

A friend of mine had one years ago...the neck was definitely big on it...waaay bigger than my '61RI or real '63. Great guitar. 8)
Resident Spartan.

User avatar
JSett
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 8803
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:33 pm
Location: Old Hampshire, Old England

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by JSett » Mon May 23, 2022 1:00 pm

luau wrote:
Mon May 23, 2022 9:16 am
Congrats and do it!
Yes, that's definitely got the kinda vibe I'd go for. It's a strong contender.
zhivago wrote:
Mon May 23, 2022 12:53 pm
Very nice...is it a "Faded" series Special?

A friend of mine had one years ago...the neck was definitely big on it...waaay bigger than my '61RI or real '63. Great guitar. 8)
I believe it is, yes. I've done a fair chunk of deep-diving for information on them to try and narrow down the fat ones. It did involve venturing into a lot of Gibson forums which are, ahem, very different from here :D felt like I needed a shower after a few of them haha
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

User avatar
Flurko
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 996
Joined: Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:05 am
Location: Stroßbùrri
Contact:

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by Flurko » Mon May 23, 2022 1:01 pm

Very nice ! I think I prefer small necks myself, but I really like the ergonomics of SGs !

If you ever do some involved modding, please take the time to convert it to a small pickguard, or even cooler, an original Junior style one !

User avatar
JSett
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 8803
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:33 pm
Location: Old Hampshire, Old England

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by JSett » Mon May 23, 2022 1:07 pm

See, I'm a fan of the Batwing as much as any other so I didn't even consider going that far. I kinda dig the look.
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

User avatar
zhivago
Mods
Mods
Posts: 21926
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2006 6:18 am
Location: London, UK

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by zhivago » Mon May 23, 2022 1:14 pm

johnnysomersett wrote:
Mon May 23, 2022 1:00 pm
I believe it is, yes. I've done a fair chunk of deep-diving for information on them to try and narrow down the fat ones. It did involve venturing into a lot of Gibson forums which are, ahem, very different from here :D felt like I needed a shower after a few of them haha
It can definitely be rough on the Gibson-side-of-things when it comes to forums...total bummer, as I love Gibsons...even the vintage sections can be tough to navigate sometimes. :(
Resident Spartan.

User avatar
gishuk
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1677
Joined: Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:57 am
Location: Devon, UK

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by gishuk » Mon May 23, 2022 1:54 pm

Thats so much guitar for the money, SGs really are great.

I vote yes to painting it BMM, that would be super rad!

User avatar
Veitchy
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1525
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:12 am
Location: Robe, South Australia

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by Veitchy » Mon May 23, 2022 2:44 pm

Absolutely lovely. Those fadeds were a pretty good deal back in the day and for whatever reason haven't shot up like the gloss finish stuff. Great choice if you're going down the mod route.

Personally, I'd plug it in that Marshall back there and get all Dickey Betts.

User avatar
JSett
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 8803
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:33 pm
Location: Old Hampshire, Old England

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by JSett » Mon May 23, 2022 9:07 pm

gishuk wrote:
Mon May 23, 2022 1:54 pm
Thats so much guitar for the money, SGs really are great.

I vote yes to painting it BMM, that would be super rad!
Indeed, they are a bargain these days. I don kinda regret selling my Tweedy SG all those years back (although I was happy to make a £300 profit over what I paid new...little did I know :D :fp: ) and a BMM body-only refin with cream guard might be the way to go. Keeping the neck 'raw' as I quite liked that little touch on those.
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

User avatar
JSett
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 8803
Joined: Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:33 pm
Location: Old Hampshire, Old England

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by JSett » Mon May 23, 2022 10:49 pm

The Kisekae dressing room is kinda limited in scope but this would be the general idea I'd go with if I went the modding route. With vibrola cover (not an option on their dressing room and I CBA to open photoshop):

Image

Might go with a raw nickel P90 cover though. We'll see
Silly Rabbit, don't you know scooped mids are for kids?

User avatar
sal paradise
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 3596
Joined: Thu May 27, 2021 12:41 am

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by sal paradise » Tue May 24, 2022 12:42 am

Yes!!! Love that colour

I’ve always wanted an SG. A special is such a good value guitar imo.

I had a Gordon Smith one built back in 2003, I regret selling that. Was an awesome guitar.
I have nothing to offer anybody, except my own confusion?

User avatar
jvin248
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 660
Joined: Mon Apr 11, 2016 5:34 pm

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by jvin248 » Tue May 24, 2022 3:11 am

.

Before you go too far (like routing the body to fit a P90) ... rotate the bridge pickup so the screw poles are on the 'north' side bobbin, raise the screw poles 1/8th-3/16th inch and lower the pickup to rebalance with the neck pickup output, or ignore the neck pickup and set the bridge output tone the way you like. I've done this reversible mod on three HH guitars and it gives me a very good P90 tone that I love while also keeping noise reduction. If you like it then get a replacement pickguard without the neck pickup cutout, remove the neck pickup, and you're done.

The north coil on a humbucker is really close to the centerline of a P90 and pickup position is a large part of the tone.

I have an Epiphone Junior-H that I did that with a decade ago and it got most of my play time because it sounded so good (played easy after a fret level too). Later on I got P90 guitars and then recently started rotating humbuckers in other guitars I have to get that P90 tone.

.

User avatar
MechaBulletBill
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 2813
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2013 8:16 am
Location: UK

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by MechaBulletBill » Tue May 24, 2022 5:09 am

i felt like i noticed chunkier necks on epiphones including SGs (on the rare occasion i would be in a shop trying out a newer-ish guitar like that) after they had success with the bonamassa signatures. those, to my hands, have very uhhh overcompensatory neck girths, so perhaps they saw a bit of a trend and started making them with an extra few mm on the neck dimensions. then again, i realise all this is very subjective.
jvin248 wrote:
Tue May 24, 2022 3:11 am
rotate the bridge pickup so the screw poles are on the 'north' side bobbin, raise the screw poles 1/8th-3/16th inch and lower the pickup to rebalance with the neck pickup output, or ignore the neck pickup and set the bridge output tone the way you like. I've done this reversible mod on three HH guitars and it gives me a very good P90 tone that I love while also keeping noise reduction. If you like it then get a replacement pickguard without the neck pickup cutout, remove the neck pickup, and you're done.

The north coil on a humbucker is really close to the centerline of a P90 and pickup position is a large part of the tone.
a warning from EXTREMELY recent experience following this post, make sure you have enough slack on the bridge pickup's wire to make this flip BEFORE you take a screwdriver to it! :fp: :fp: :fp:

User avatar
Veitchy
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1525
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2011 7:12 am
Location: Robe, South Australia

Re: I've bought an SG

Post by Veitchy » Tue May 24, 2022 4:09 pm

jvin248 wrote:
Tue May 24, 2022 3:11 am
.

Before you go too far (like routing the body to fit a P90) ... rotate the bridge pickup so the screw poles are on the 'north' side bobbin, raise the screw poles 1/8th-3/16th inch and lower the pickup to rebalance with the neck pickup output, or ignore the neck pickup and set the bridge output tone the way you like. I've done this reversible mod on three HH guitars and it gives me a very good P90 tone that I love while also keeping noise reduction. If you like it then get a replacement pickguard without the neck pickup cutout, remove the neck pickup, and you're done.

.
That's solid. I've got to save that somewhere.

Post Reply