NGD! Gibson SG Special!

[MisterZ]

sHodgo88l asked about neck dive. I don't notice any. This guitar came with an old-style leather (I think) Gibson guitar strap -- you know, two-piece, with a skinny and a fat strap piece, where the skinny piece of the strap hooks up to the neck-side strap button and the fat piece that hooks up to the tail-side button? I've never worn a strap like this before, but it does grip well, and holds the guitar where I locate it.

I'm having a hard time visualizing this...could you post a pic of it stretched out?

 

[NoTeleBob]

I'm having a hard time visualizing this...could you post a pic of it stretched out?

I think he means one of these. Check the photos to get a feel for it. Plain and simple... I used them too.

Gibson Black Leather Guitar Strap for Les Paul Classic SG, Gold Logo | eBay

Type: Strap - Black Leather. Condition: Mint.

www.ebay.com

 

[NoTeleBob]

Nice. P90s? My '73 SG special has the mini humbuckers instead. I mean, I love P90s yeah, but I love those mini-humbuckers. My old guitarist called them "volcanic", I prefer to think of them as an ice pick planted mid-forehead! hehe

View attachment 989161

I love my P90's in my SG, they fill a special niche. But, my other guitar has Gibson Mini's. They are an awesome pickup... Bright, articulate, clean if you want that or send them to a gainy pedal or amp and they scream if you prefer. Play Jazz, BB King blues, or AC/DC.

 

[rze99]

Nice. P90s? My '73 SG special has the mini humbuckers instead. I mean, I love P90s yeah, but I love those mini-humbuckers. My old guitarist called them "volcanic", I prefer to think of them as an ice pick planted mid-forehead! hehe

View attachment 989161

Mini Humbuckers are cool

 

[MisterZ]

I think he means one of these. Check the photos to get a feel for it. Plain and simple... I used them too.

Gibson Black Leather Guitar Strap for Les Paul Classic SG, Gold Logo | eBay

Type: Strap - Black Leather. Condition: Mint.

www.ebay.com

Ah, got it. I was confused when OP said the skinny bit went in front (not that there's a wrong way to connect a strap to a guitar). Thanks!

 

[GGardner]

:
View attachment 983017 View attachment 983018

Really beautiful. I didn't know that the Specials had a shiny glossy finish. For some reason, I always thought they only came with a flat finish like the LP Tributes.

 

[backporchmusic]

Can you share the first 5 digits on the serial? That may help date it. You also might try to get numbers off the pots.

Yes, Gibson did go back to the old numbering system, but this was done late 2018, so you should be first and fifth here to get year.

BTW the 2018 model had a distinctive script Gibson headstock logo and a banner that says 'Only a Gibson is goon enough' on the back of the headstock.

 

[cooltouch]

My guitar's partial serial number is 20252xxxx - 9 digits. You can see where the confusion lies, with the 0 as the second digit.

The link that NoTeleBob provided is my strap. I like it, although, as I wrote before, I've never used one before. It does want to bunch up where the two pieces come together when I first put it on, but once I've smoothed it out, it stays that way. Kinda reminds me of something the Everly Brothers, or Johnny Cash, or the Beatles would have used.

 

[1 21 gigawatts]

My guitar's partial serial number is 20252xxxx - 9 digits. You can see where the confusion lies, with the 0 as the second digit.

25th day (Jan 25) of 2022
The rest of the number is the count of that day.

 

[cooltouch]

Yes, that's what I had thought as well.

 

[gwjensen]

Very cool, congrats. One of these days I need to try an SG. Never even picked one up...

 

[NoTeleBob]

Very cool, congrats. One of these days I need to try an SG. Never even picked one up...

They feel odd at first if you sit down with them. The body curve is in a different location vs. the neck compared to most guitars. Makes it feel like the neck is way to the left (if you're a right handed player). After playing them for a few hours, that goes away and it seems normal.

Great upper fret access. Necks come in original slim, later medium, and still later baseball bat.

 

[Skyhook]

That's a beautiful guitar!
As I've always said(and meant it too); SG:s look iconic and sound great, but personally... I can't play them since they're
ergonomic train wrecks in my hands.
So... I know to steer clear of anything SG when prowling for NGD fodder and I know to rejoice when good
people like you find a beautiful SG and play the hell out of it.

 

[Skyhook]

They feel odd at first if you sit down with them. The body curve is in a different location vs. the neck compared to most guitars. Makes it feel like the neck is way to the left (if you're a right handed player). After playing them for a few hours, that goes away and it seems normal.

Great upper fret access. Necks come in original slim, later medium, and still later baseball bat.

Never went away for me.

The neck was a bit left, true, but way worse was the bridge! The bridge on an SG sits in the exact spot
where I would strum so I'm hitting nothing but bridge if I don't actively watch where I'm going.
Also, as someone who sits a lot with guitars I can say that the SG is one of the most uncomfortable guitars
I've ever sat with. It keeps poking me in all the wrong places(moobs, armpits, what-have-you...).

Still love the looks and the sound!
It's just one of those guitars I know better than to GAS for.

 

[effzee]

Well, my last two guitars have been Fenders, so I figured I was about due for a change.

I've wanted one of these guitars since shortly after I sold my early 60s SG Special several decades ago. Along the way, I've acquired other Gibsons that were close -- some more than others -- but they just never were the same thing. In about 2000, I bought an SG Showcase Edition -- a very nice, limited edition model with active EMGs. Sounds killer, but it just wasn't the same. Then maybe a year later, I got closer and bought a double-cut Les Paul Special -- with P90s -- and that was much closer. But still, it wasn't an SG. Just about as close as you can get to one without it being an SG, though. And most recently, in 2018, I bought a Les Paul BFG with P90s. Again, about as close as you can get, although it doesn't quite have the upper reach ease that the SG has, and its neck is a touch thicker.

And then I start seeing these SG Specials -- new ones -- that look pretty much identical to the one I used to own. Right down to the Klusons with the white knobs and the compensated wraparound bridge. I kept telling myself, I've got two Les Pauls with P90s, and that should be enough, but it kept eating at me. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer. I'd saved up enough where I could afford it, and I decided that I'm not getting any younger and I'd better get one while I can still enjoy the experience of playing it. What sealed the deal was a really good deal I ran across at Reverb, and when I saw it, I was lost -- or rather, a major chunk of my savings was lost. Hehe.

Anyway, here it is:
View attachment 983017 View attachment 983018 View attachment 983019

So here's the deal. This is a 2020 build. But it is brand spanking new. Still has the peel-away plastic on the pickguard -- and there's no wear on the plastic. No marks or scratches anywhere. The case is equally unmarked. So, I'm guessing it's NOS. But that seems strange to me -- a guitar like this is pretty popular. Seems like it would have sold -- unless maybe all the covid crap may have rained pretty hard on a certain music store's parade or something. All I can think of.

The third pic shows the bling that came with the guitar. A leather strap, a cleaning cloth, a manual, a hangtag, a case key, a cool little multi-tool, and coolest of all, a -- what do you guys call it? A birth photo or something? It's a shot of the guitar sitting on the workbench of the tech who did the final setup.

You know what I was really hoping to find with this SG? A guitar that has had a couple of years of honest wear -- you know, minor nicks and dings here and there. Some pick fogging on the pickguard. Maybe a bit of corrosion on the pickup screws. But what do I get? None of that. I get a guitar that is perfect, and now I get to agonize over that first ding or nick or evidence of wear. That's probably the one thing I hate about owning a new guitar. I will feel so relieved once I finally put that first nick or ding on the guitar. Not that I plan to do any such thing, of course. And so the angst continues.

That's gorgeous! I'll ding it up for you a bit, nothing extreme, just give me two weeks with it, no problem at all happy to assist