Gibson SG Pics for Forktender (And anyone else who loves vintage Gibson guitars)

[kevin james]

I'm kind of a hobby jumper.... always have been, but my oldest hobby is guitars. Over the years I've built up a pretty good collection, but the Gibson SG, especially the old ones, is my go to. You could border line say I'm obsessed with them lol.

User Forktender brought up the one in my avatar in another thread, and I didn't want to hijack that thread as it has nothing whatsoever to do with guitars, so I thought I'd just start a thread and post some better pictures of that SG, and a few others.

These pictures are all about 7 or 8 years old from my old apartment. I had just gotten a new camera and wanted to take some test pictures... and I thought these guitars made pretty good subjects for a test shoot.

This one is my crown jewel, a 1962 GIbson Les Paul SG Standard with the very rare "Ebony Block" tail piece.





Here it is with it's younger brother... a 1964 Gibson SG Standard which is my main player (the 62 is too scary clean and gets babied)


A solo pic of the 1964


A Late 1965 SG Standard


This one saw a lot of use and was someone's road warrior battle axe prior to me taking ownership of it. A 1961 Les Paul SG Standard


A a nice trio pic of the evolution of the early SG model and the different tale pieces Gibson tried before settling on the one with the long "Lyre" tailpiece as seen on this 1964 example.


Anyways, as you can see I have a little bit of a problem LOL

Anyone else, if you're in to guitars, lets see some pictures!

 

[forktender]

Holy chit!!!
Those are all amazing, examples, did you sell a kidney to pay for those?

 

[Danblacksher]

Beautiful I tried for years to play guitar but never could get it. My daughter on the other hand decided she wanted to play and taught herself and is excellent. There is a little guy from Australia that played that model that I hear made a little money with those.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

I was always a Gibson fan. Those are fantastic! In my younger days I was in a band 6 years. Junior high through High school. At the end we got in big fights and I ended up selling everything. My mom tried to tell me to keep some of it. One was a Gibson Marauder. Man that would be worth some money now! My favorite was my SG. Also sold a Fender Twin. Would love to have that one back. Had a Earth Producer and blew all 4 drivers hooked up to my brothers stereo!

 

[kevin james]

Holy chit!!!
Those are all amazing, examples, did you sell a kidney to pay for those?

I bought all of them several years ago. While they were definitely not cheap at the time, they were not as expensive as they are today.

I know this is going to sound crazy... but I would still eventually like one or two more. That will more than likely never happen though as they have gone up waaaay too much now.

If I could swing it, I'd still like a six digit serial number 1963 Les Paul SG Standard with the "side pull" trem like my old battle axe 1961 pictured (mid 1963 saw them move from 5 digit serial numbers to 6 digit serial numbers, and those six digit 63's have some of the best neck profile's of all the early 60's vintage SG's). And a late 1960 Les Paul SG standard. The late 1960 is as rare as hens teeth because "technically" 1961 was the first year of issue, but the very first ones actually rolled off the production line in very late 1960 and had an ink stamped serial number starting with a 0 (the serial number pattern changed in very early 1961, probably in the first couple weeks of January. The new numbers were impressed rather than ink stamped and started with just three digits soon moving into 4 digits). Realistically, there were probably no more than 10-20 of the late 1960 LP SG's produced. I almost had one many years ago, it was a road dog battle axe like my 61, but it was at a dealer who was asking twice what it was worth and it had had a broken but expertly repaired headstock (I've never seen such an invisible headstock repair before or since). I didn't care about the repair because it was so rare, and it was expertly done, but I just couldn't do it at his ridiculous asking price.

And to those saying.... but why so many? They all look exactly the same. True... but the necks on all of them feel COMPLETELY different. The 1961 has a super thin and flat neck profile, the 1962 is still thin, but more more rounded so it feels a little fuller in the hand. The 1964 is my favorite, it starts out fairly thin at the top, but with a nice round C shape, but gets thicker and thicker as you get down towards the body, and by the 12th fret it's a nice chunky hand full that just feels great. The late 1965 is a nice round and chunky neck, but 65 was a transitional year, and they started maker the necks more narrow, which years later collectors would consider as "undesirable". I like them though.

On a side note... the 1964 is considered the pinnacle of the early 60's SG, and is often called a "Harrison spec SG", because George Harrison used a 1964 with the same specifications on the Beatles Revolver album. Eric Clapton also used a 1964 SG Standard with the same specs on the Cream album Disreali Gears, including on the song Sunshine of Your Love. And Angus Young's current main stage SG, the black one you always see him with, is also a 1964, but has been highly modified (refinished in black, electronics changed, tail piece removed). His tech incorrectly called it a 67, but it's not, it's a 64, and can ONLY be a 64 based on certain characteristics. I would bet my house on it, and I'm not a betting guy.

 

[forktender]

I had a good laugh, when I saw the Marshall Amp in the background in your apartment, that's a whole lot of loud for an apartment.
Your guitars are AMAZING!!!!
And amazingly clean, do you play them? Or do you have others that you play?

"And for the people asking why so many?"
You wouldn't understand unless you play, guitars are like guns, or smokers to some of you. You can never have too many, it's another healthy form of addiction.

I've only been playing for a short while, I have a Martin acoustic and a Special limited addition Fender HSS Strat. I'll post some pictures when I get home to take a few. I'm a huge Gibson SG fan, and was completely into ACDC when I was younger. I've seen them live 15 time in CA, NV, AZ, and Mexico, I still have a rotation of ACDC CD's in the rotation in my truck multi changer. I'm always on the lookout for a good used SG at an affordable price. I almost bought a 99 black SG yesterday, but I let it go for $100 difference in his price and my better judgement. I probably will be kicking myself in the ass down the road as prices seem to keep going up. It was a completely road hard and put away wet death metal guitar, but that is what I am looking for in a restoration project.

Awesome write up on Gibson SG's, Kevin.

Dan.

 

[912smoker]

I'm a Fender man myself but definitely have an appreciation for Gibson and their contribution to the industry...heck .the world !
Have played a P or J bass for almost 50 yrs now and have strummed a lot of SGs of band mates thru the yrs.
Very impressive collection and write up Kevin !

Keith

 

[Kevin DeShazo]

Beautiful collection of SGs, of all the Gibsons, I like the SGs neck the best. Its not paper thin like some of the Ibanez had but not a baseball bat neck either.

 

[ddow229]

I have an Epiphone Sg in sunburst and an Epiphone 5 watt tube amp I mess with but this Gretsch is my baby. I don’t remember the model but it’s like a 2560 I think. I mess around finger picking blues and old country and then throw in some punk finger pick style. It’s all fun!!

 

[MileHiGuy]

I have a Gibson SG too. A 2013. I love it.

Someone once told me that the perfect number of guitars is "just one more". Too true!

 

[CTXSmokeLover]

I have a Fender Strat but love Gibson's as well. Those are some beautiful guitars!!