Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

NSGD


Lockbody

Recommended Posts

I’ve been on the lookout for a reasonably-priced “rock”guitar, and since I had the day off I thought I’d go visit one of my favorite haunts, Highland Music. Some okay guitars, but nothing really said “buy me” until I went back to the black SG on the top rack. Just seeing a black SG Std, I missed the coolest thing about it, the Maestro vibrola. 
 

A3778598-6416-4106-876A-66A20BA0AC53.jpeg

 

All I really know is that it’s a 2018 with a Maestro, roller bridge, locking Grovers, and it plays and sounds fantastic.  I’m not sure if it’s stock, or not, but I don’t care. It’s bad-ass and the price was right. I really dig the Maestro’s feel and it comes back in tune fairly well. Me likey. 
 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My best fren in high school still has a trans-red one, new sometime in the early 70s. He has a picture of me passed out cradling it like we just had our way with each other.

He made me promise never to run for local office.

 

Like, if.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, a.bandini said:

Awesome!  Congratulations!

 

‘Preesh!  I knew within 30 seconds of sitting down with it I’d be taking it home. 

8 hours ago, JGale said:

My best fren in high school still has a trans-red one, new sometime in the early 70s. He has a picture of me passed out cradling it like we just had our way with each other.

He made me promise never to run for local office.

 

Like, if.

This one has the same look as those ‘68-71 SG Stds  without the 1 9/16” nut, which I detest. That sucks, too, because those SGs are one of the few vintage Gibsons I can actually afford and are fairly well-regarded, but that narrow nut is just a dealbreaker for me. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice! I like the look of the tortoiseshell pickguard against the black finish.

I have three SGs - a '75 Standard, a '79 Standard and a 2013 SG Original - and the necks are all different. What's the neck like on yours?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/4/2020 at 8:21 AM, tbonesullivan said:

ROCK IT! Who cares if it's "original" or not.

 

Do you know which pickups are in it? Gibson has used a bunch of different ones over the years.

I haven't puled the pickguard yet, but the bridge pickup seems a little lower in output than what I remember a 498T being. They might be those newer SG '61 pickups. They both sound nice in any case.

On 11/4/2020 at 9:04 AM, Dana_V said:

Nice! I like the look of the tortoiseshell pickguard against the black finish.

I have three SGs - a '75 Standard, a '79 Standard and a 2013 SG Original - and the necks are all different. What's the neck like on yours?

The neck is what Gibson calls the SG rounded profile that they put on all the large pickguard SGs these days. Its definitely fatter than the slim profile necks, but it's a tad smaller in depth than the one on my SG Classic, and even more so compared to the 2016 SG Std T I used to own, which was 1.06" at the 12th fret.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a few questions with this SG, like, it's a 2018 which came with the small pickguard, but this one has the large. And it has a Maestro vibrola, which was stock on at least one 2018 SG and some dealer runs, but none of those are like mine. 

Taking the various plastic off when changing the strings today answered all those questions. It's a 2018, which did come with the smaller pickguard, that the PO added the tortoise shell batwing. I guess he wanted the look of the late-sixties SG when he added the Maestro vs the mid-sixties look with the smaller one. Too bad that involved drilling a bunch of holes in the top, but I don't hate the larger pickguard SGs, either, so no big deal.

It really being a small pickguard SG also explains why the neck feels smaller than my other batwing SG a Classic. While 2018's came with the slim taper, this one is probably the largest slim taper I've played at .920 at the 12th fret. It definitely feels fuller, and rounder, than the last few 61RI SG's necks I owned. The 2017 and 2018 SG Standards were kinda odd ducks anyway, with the small pickguard like the early sixties, but the body contours of the late-sixties, so maybe the neck is different, too. Who knows with Gibson?

Pickups are indeed SG61 T/R. I read one review that said they thought they were like Gibson's version of the Pearly Gates. A little "toppy" through my Boogie MkIV. They have pretty much identical output, so the bridge seems underpowered in contrast to the neck, especially when clean, but they sound good enough that I'm not just rushing to pull them out. One day I'll swap them out for something in the 10k bridge/7-8k neck range. I've got a 500k SG wiring harness stashed away just for that very thing.

A guitar string as a ground for the Maestro proved it was an aftermarket install. What I'm unsure of is, who made it. It could be Gibson, but other than the cover engraving, there's no other Gibson marks on it anywhere, and I know how they like to tag their stuff. Of course, you'd think a repro manufacturer would do the same thing. It's a quality piece whoever made it. It's got the look, has great action, returns to pitch just fine, and sustains as well as any guitar. That hefty-ass Schaller roller bridge probably helps with sustain, too. And while like that the guitar stays in tune, man, that bridge ain't got the look for sho.

Since I'm not worried now about messing up the value of some special run SG, when I do swap the pickups one day, I might play around with some different color combos. Cream rings and pickups for a tuxedo SG, leave the tort PG or go with a black one with white or covered pickups to hammer home that 70's look? Got some pics below, if there's any comments. I did swap the top hat knobs for witch hats, which is period correct for late-sixties SG. I love them on my Classic, but I'm not sold yet on this one.

All-in-all, it's still a whip-ass SG. 

IMG_1535 (1).jpeg

IMG_1534 (1).jpeg

IMG_1533 (1).jpeg

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...