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NGD NHC - 2004 Gibson SG Standard in Natural Burst


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Been looking for one of these in decent shape for a while. I had a 2008 in Black, which I sold, and the PCB electronics have been giving my friend, the new owner, some issues at times, so I figured I'd look for one earlier than that. I checked last week and there were not one but two listed, so I went for the cheaper one. It's in great shape for a 13 year old guitar, with a few repaired dings but nothing major at all. Case is in good shape too. I could have always gone for a Cherry or Black SG Standard, but everyone has those, and I wanted something different.

Also it's got:

-Longer late 60's style neck joint - Gibson keeps switching back and forth from the earlier short neck joint

-Standard Deluxe tuners: helps reduce neck dive

-490R 498T pickups, which I happen to like

-Batwing pickguard. I just think it looks better.

 

These pictures are the sellers. I'll take some of my own soon, once I finish cleaning her up.

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That's one fine looking SG! I had one almost just like it with a set of BG Pure 90s in it. I got seller's remorse a few months later and hit the new owner up to see if he was interested in selling. "Not on your life!" was the response. :lol:

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It really is in nice shape for the age it is. Definitely in better shape than most of my Hamers, except for one of my P90 specials, which is minty. It's always good when it has a few dents/dings when I get it. Then I won't obsess about it as much.  It IS kinda dirty however. It will be thoroughly defunkified.

I also need to see if I can find a fix for the age old "sg batwing pickup angle problem" that doesn't involve putting bezels on top of the pickguard.

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I have owned pretty much every classic guitar style/model out there at least once over the last 4 decades.  The one that I have somehow never owned, is an SG.  I must remedy that some day...

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My first "real" guitar was a Gibson SG Special. It didn't play very well but it sounded incredible. It's just such a great design, IMHO.

It does need a little work to clean it up, but it'll be awesome once that is done.

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On 8/28/2017 at 9:31 PM, cmatthes said:

I have owned pretty much every classic guitar style/model out there at least once over the last 4 decades.  The one that I have somehow never owned, is an SG.  I must remedy that some day...

Yeah, good call. I never owned one until I traded with Lockbody for an '05/1962 RI.

Fantastic guitar. I get it now...

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I finally got one a few years ago, cherry standard with alnico II's in it and push/pull pots for coil tap, it has the 120 anniversary logo on the 12th fret but doesn't have the wacky tuners.

Simply a great guitar,  what I first noticed was when I looked down at the neck when I had it strapped on is that I could see all the frets and no body on them at all, wow talk about having access to upper registers it almost didn't look right, like the neck was too long but was easy to get used to.   I really like a good SG.

Cool Beans

Gene

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14 hours ago, RobB said:

Yeah, good call. I never owned one until I traded with Lockbody for an '05/1962 RI.

Fantastic guitar. I get it now...

Just FYI, that's a '61 RI. The '62 RI SG from the late 80s was a different beast.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, the kinda "meh" things about the guitar.

- there were a lot of finish spot repairs that were not disclosed or really visible in the pictures shown on the reverb listing. If you look in the upper left of the photo, you can see what looks like grain inclusions. It's actually finish scratches or worming that was filled in and brought down. It was a good job, but a UV light confirms that there definitely was some finish work done.

-the frets are more worn than the seller said they were. They are not at fret dress level quite yet, but there is one in the future.

Now for the good:

-the setup is awesome. Corian nut replaced with Bone. Intonation is SPOT ON, action is awesome. I was doing freakin 19th fret drop 2 7th chord voicings, and they were completely in tune.

-feels great when playing. This is what I missed from my SG standard in black. It just plays and feels awesome. It's got the big beefy neck, which helps a bit, but nothing really plays like an SG. It also doesn't fight me like some SG's have in the past. It just plays good and sounds good.

-THE PICKUPS. I had never had any problems with the 490R and 498T pickups. I don't see why they are so maligned. They are solid pickups, and were the pickups used by Gibson for years until they started needing to compete with the aftermarket makers.

All in all, a great playing guitar. I just need to clean it up a bit, put some new strings on, put some locking straps on, and it'll be golden.

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21 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

-THE PICKUPS. I had never had any problems with the 490R and 498T pickups. I don't see why they are so maligned. They are solid pickups, and were the pickups used by Gibson for years until they started needing to compete with the aftermarket makers.

Agree. Zero problems with the stock pickups in my SG. I didn't know people be baton' on them. Curious. 

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59 minutes ago, RobB said:

Agree. Zero problems with the stock pickups in my SG. I didn't know people be baton' on them. Curious. 

As you should, since the '61 RI has 57 Classics, arguably the best pickups Gibson offers.

That said, I dig the 490/498 pickups, too. Nice, straight ahead, rock 'n roll pickups.

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I did like the sound of the 57 classics in the SG Supreme I had for a while. They are a bit more airy sounding, and not as direct, but definitely good pickups.

Still, they were lacking something with the sound that I like. I had a black 2008 SG that I sold to a friend. I honestly should have kept it, but something about me and black guitars ends up never working out. The same with finished maple fretboards.

The 2017 SG Standard had 57 classics, but now the 2018 has 61R and 61T pickups, which are somewhat of an unkown.

People are down on the 498T and 490R pickups though, and I have never understood why. The friend I sold the SG to, he had one before, and the guy at his guitar shop was like "you should put burstbuckers in it you'll love it". Well, he did, and hated it, and ended up selling the guitar. He then had a Les Paul Classic with the snot green inlays and 500T and 496R Ceramic pickups, and loved that. If you like vintage/modern pickups, the burstbuckers, 57 classics, etc may not really get the sound you like.

I posted at various forums before, and many of these people couldn't get the "stock pickups" out of their guitars fast enough. I never understood why. Gibson really doesn't make any crappy pickups, and the 498T/490R combo is STILL the standard set in the Les Paul Custom. Has been for years in most of the variations, even the ones with the special "widow" finishes and flame tops. I think pretty much all Les Pauls in the 80s and into the 90s had them.

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5 minutes ago, tbonesullivan said:

I posted at various forums before, and many of these people couldn't get the "stock pickups" out of their guitars fast enough. I never understood why. Gibson really doesn't make any crappy pickups, and the 498T/490R combo is STILL the standard set in the Les Paul Custom. Has been for years in most of the variations, even the ones with the special "widow" finishes and flame tops. I think pretty much all Les Pauls in the 80s and into the 90s had them.

People couldn't rip out the T-Tops fast enough, now look how much they go for!

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9 minutes ago, Lockbody said:

Ima gonna learn you some SGs yet!

I miss when everythingsg.com was a giant list of pictures and specs for pretty much EVERY SG EVER MADE. There have been so many strange variants, like the ones with 2 and 3 strat-style single coils. There were also the supremes with two P90s. Just a great guitar. Only thing that I REQUIRE now: the longer late 60's neck joint. It's literally twice as long as the 61 neck joint, and I don't think it impacts playability at all. Definitely better than having the neck crack off.

Now I just need to keep my enthusiasm contained for a year when I will plunk down for one of these beauties:

Also, one thing I never realized until I got one: the "natural burst" SG's only have the burst on the top and the back, but not the sides. It's a pretty weird look sometimes.

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On 8/28/2017 at 11:31 PM, cmatthes said:

I have owned pretty much every classic guitar style/model out there at least once over the last 4 decades.  The one that I have somehow never owned, is an SG.  I must remedy that some day...

I don't recall ever owning a SG as well. Let me know if you come across a cheap package deal, I may buy in LOL

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  • 5 weeks later...

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