Gibson SG Special Faded

I got bought this guitar from a local shop by my house.

i love this guitar because it can look just like an older guitar from the 70's but really it dosent matter how it looks its how it sounds and feel and belive me it feels and sounds awsome. and you can total customize it. alot of people say that the SG is only for hard rock and metel but i replaceed the pickups. with 57 humbuckers and now i can play the hardest of rock and the bluest of blues.

well from what i see only 1 out of every 5 of these things have a really good finish all the others have just a reagular finish luckyly i got a good one. but trust me its nothin to worrie about.

very stong solid body

whatever you what to be angus young, tony iommi, pete townshead, buck darma, gary rossington the sg is perfect for you

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

I paid £499 GBP from Sound Control in Glasgow. I ordered this over the phone after seeing it advertised on special offer.

Firstly I love the design of the SG and its probably my favourite guitar of all. I owned an Epiphone SG400 before because at the time I couldnt afford a Gibson and to me this was the natural set up. I love playing the SG because all parts of the neck are so accessible and its a really comfortable and easy guitar to play. It has two 490 series humbuckers which produce just the sound I like and are perfect for blues/hard rock. I play Black Sabbath, Led Zep, Deep Purple etc but I am in a band that plays more punky and modern style numbers but this is still perfect for the job. When you wind down the gain for softer numbers it still sounds sweet and soulful too.

In retrospect I wish I'd saved up a bit more and bought a better colour. Mine is in Faded Cherry which is ok if you like the "vintage" look but I'd personally prefer the wine red or solid cherry colours. I don't like the uncovered pickups personally, mainly because they look tacky because you can see where they've got insulation tape wound round them. You can tell this is the base model, they don't even give you a truss rod cover with "SG" written on it!

Gibson build quality is faultless as far as I'm concerned. The wood and finish is of a superb quality and the fittings such as machine heads, pickups, pickup switches, tone controls etc etc are all built, fitted and finished to a very high standard indeed. This may be the base model of its class but it still benefits from the high standards of the entire Gibson range.
The dot inlays on my guitar were not finished perfectly, as the wood from the fretboard overlapped the circles by a tiny amount, but this is a minor issue.

I'll try to summarise the guitar with respect to both my opinions, and to the point of view of someone looking to buy an SG without having owned one before.
This guitar is an excellent choice if you want to upgrade from a cheaper brand or perhaps are looking for something a little different, say if you've only played Strats or Teles. This is because its of excellent predigree and build quality and will last you a lifetime of playing. Its a lovely guitar to play and is fairly versatile with respect to the sounds you can produce with it, although it is best of bluesy rock. Although the Les Paul is I suppose tonally superior the SG is far lighter and more pleasant to play. If this were stolen/lost/destroyed I'd maybe not get exactly the same model but I'd definatley get another Gibson SG.


This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

About three years ago, I was searching for a great guitar at a reasonable price, (which is nearly impossible nowadays) and I heard of a guitar store in downtown portland oregon called apple music row. I went inside and looked around for about two hours or so. I repeated this pattern about five or six times and eventually I had had about 650 dollars saved up and had a list of guitars I really liked. One of these was a gibson SG in a really cool brown color, I wasn't sure of it's model or anything like that because I was not as keen on the world of guitars as I am now. But i eventually bought it for a fairly reasonable amount of 600 dollars, and with some bickering, i got some strap locks as well.

I really like this guitar because of the look and feel when you play it. You look and feel like a tough dude with a tough guitar. The body shape is really cool looking and adds a lot of character to live performance especially if you play harder music like rock, metal, or punk. I purchased the faded brown finish (but you can also get the faded cherry). It sounds kind of hokey because brown isn't color normally used to project beauty or greatness, but it REALLY works well for this guitar. As a matter of fact, it has kind of a redish tint to it that adds more of a "high price finish" look.The really great thing that I like about the finish on this guitar is the fact that it DOES NOT get fingerprint smudges. The sound has a nice vintage sound to it that is perfect for the player that is into classic rock,(you can get away with blues and jazz) or rock that isn't super heavy because of the output levels of the pick-ups.

As hard as it is to believe. This guitar is the absolute cheapest solidbody with the gibson name on it. With this cheap price, there are things that don't quite live up to it's more expensive brothers and sisters. I really wasn't a fan of the gibson deluxe tuners, they were like a greyish green and put off a nice vintage look, but thats not what I was after. The finish doesn't protect the wood on the guitar very well either, it is VERY easy to scratch it because the finish isn't very protective. The pick ups do not put out enough power for my tastes (which is metal output levels). I think my biggest problem with it was probably the fact that the pickups were screwed to the pickgaurd, when I pulled off the pickguard, i was stunned, All i wanted to do was clean it and i ended up doing all of the work to take the pickups out and put them back in.

this is a very high quality guitar, especially for the tiny price.it feels very solid. My particular guitar has been tested. One night I played a show at a park and i went to swing my guitar around my hsoulder when my strap broke at the button and sent the guitar flying into a street and tumbling all over the place. the result: only two broken tuners and a "scab" on the body. no intonation problems, no funky sounding pickups, nothing wrong with it.with this level of quality construction, it is a great choice for the working musician. There weren't any real flaws about this guitar when i walked out of the store with it.
mahogany body
rounded mahogany neck
rosewood fretboard
dot inlay (pearloid)
chrome hardware
tune-o-matic bridge
stopbar tailpiece
black knobs (2 volume, 2 tone. 3 way switch)
green key gibson deluxe tuners
490R alnico pickup(neck)
490T alnico pickup(bridge)
came with gigbag




very much a great guitar. If you don't want to spend a great deal of cash on a standard or custom SG, i recommend buying this one and upgrading it over time. thats what I am doing, (for less money you can make it contour to your style, and have better quality than the expensive ones). Lets be honest though don't buy this guitar expecting it to be the most incredible thing you have ever played, it is NOT a 100,000 dollar '57 les paul. it's a big bang for your buck deal, buy it if you don't like anything else better..

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Sam Ash, Lombard Illinois, $550. ...Had a Les Paul stolen and wanted to stick with a Gibson product.

I certainly like the distinctive body and headstock as well as the unbelievable crunch.

Out of the box: The intonation was way off, the frets were really sharp at the edges, and the action was barely passable. I had it set up and also added grover tuners because...well, you know why. This added more than $100 to the price. Additionally, the guitar isn't balanced so you must hold it up with your fingering hand. I own several guitars and can get an awesome clean sound out of my line 6. The SG, however, is only clean with the drive way down. This creates problems with volume if you're in a band with an insane drummer. I now use a full stack while practicing (...with an insane drummer) and have to turn the distorted channels down to match the clean.

Besides the lack of factory set-up, there were no problems.

It is not a versatile guitar. It is crunchy and very noticeable in its appearance. I've used it extensively in live performances for these reasons. I do not, however, record with it.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com