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tjon901 « Standard SG for lefties »
Published on 08/15/11 at 14:51I am a vocal critic of the lack of left handed guitars there are for sale. I am a primarily left handed player. Working on and selling guitars for so long I can get by on a right handed guitar now but all of my personal guitars are left handed. It is crazy how little options there are for left handed people. Limited options along with the mark up on lefty guitars is pretty sad. This is one of Gibsons few lefty guitars. This is an SG standard which is the standard SG nowadays. The standard SG now is the large pickguard SG model. I prefer the smaller 61 style SG's but only the 60s tribute model with the P90s comes in lefty. That is one of my favorite models by the way. With the standard model you get the large pickguard design which is cheaper to produce because the pickguard hides the routing. The body is mahogany. The neck is a set in mahogany piece which is the 50s profile which I dont like and is not really even accurate for an SG. The 60s tribute SG comes with a 60s neck which an SG should come with since the SG is a 60s guitar. The Standard comes with the fat 50s neck you get on most Les Pauls. You get a rosewood fretboard with 22 medium frets. Standard non locking tuners up top and a non locking tune-o-matic bridge at the bottom. The pickups are a standard set of Gibson 490/498 in the neck and bridge respectively. The controls are standard Gibson with a volume and tone each with a 3 way.
UTILIZATION
When the SG was designed it was designed to fix the design flaws in the Les Paul that hampered playability. With these new SG standards they take away half of the improvements that the SG was supposed to have over the Les Paul. The upper fret access on the guitar is much better than that of a Les Paul because of the double cutaway body shape. The 50s neck does not help playability. It is much bigger than the 60s style neck that the SG is supposed to have. The 50s style neck was one of the things they changed in the early 60s because they knew it was difficult to play on. Because of the SG shape the guitars can be a bit neck heavy and the fat neck on this model does not help this. Non locking tuners and a non locking bridge in this day and age is pretty silly. People should tell Gibson and the other big companies that they need to enter the 21st century and add these features. You can get these things on just about any ESP guitar. Gibson uses a veil of traditionalism to excuse their lack of advancement in the realm of guitar features.
SOUNDS
The pickups in this guitar are average Gibson pickups. They are nothing special. They have more of a classic rock tone than anything else. The bridge is a bit crunchy and has a bit of gain to it but is pretty insufficient for metal. It is not very smooth either so it does not have the best clean tone. The neck pickup is a little better in the realm of a clean tone but it can get a bit muddy. It is smoother for lead playing and you can get some bluesy and even jazzy tones with it. By comparison the 61 SG reissue comes with 57 Classics in both positions these are much better pickups overall.
OVERALL OPINION
If you are lefty and are looking for an SG this usually is your only choice but you can still find SG 60s tributes out there. With the 61 design with P90 pickups. I would recommend that model over this one. But if you have to have humbuckers this is your only option unless you can find a 61 reissue in lefty. Always expect to pay more and have to look around harder for a lefty model of any guitar. That is just the way of life for a lefty guitar player.
UTILIZATION
When the SG was designed it was designed to fix the design flaws in the Les Paul that hampered playability. With these new SG standards they take away half of the improvements that the SG was supposed to have over the Les Paul. The upper fret access on the guitar is much better than that of a Les Paul because of the double cutaway body shape. The 50s neck does not help playability. It is much bigger than the 60s style neck that the SG is supposed to have. The 50s style neck was one of the things they changed in the early 60s because they knew it was difficult to play on. Because of the SG shape the guitars can be a bit neck heavy and the fat neck on this model does not help this. Non locking tuners and a non locking bridge in this day and age is pretty silly. People should tell Gibson and the other big companies that they need to enter the 21st century and add these features. You can get these things on just about any ESP guitar. Gibson uses a veil of traditionalism to excuse their lack of advancement in the realm of guitar features.
SOUNDS
The pickups in this guitar are average Gibson pickups. They are nothing special. They have more of a classic rock tone than anything else. The bridge is a bit crunchy and has a bit of gain to it but is pretty insufficient for metal. It is not very smooth either so it does not have the best clean tone. The neck pickup is a little better in the realm of a clean tone but it can get a bit muddy. It is smoother for lead playing and you can get some bluesy and even jazzy tones with it. By comparison the 61 SG reissue comes with 57 Classics in both positions these are much better pickups overall.
OVERALL OPINION
If you are lefty and are looking for an SG this usually is your only choice but you can still find SG 60s tributes out there. With the 61 design with P90 pickups. I would recommend that model over this one. But if you have to have humbuckers this is your only option unless you can find a 61 reissue in lefty. Always expect to pay more and have to look around harder for a lefty model of any guitar. That is just the way of life for a lefty guitar player.