Types Of Guitars. Part 2: SG

Hi! I´m really glad to see that most of you liked my previews article, and I'd like to thank you all for the nice comments you posted, so let´s get started.

As you requested, this article is about the prestigious guitar known as the “SG”. All right, we all know what a SG looks like, but do we know what does “SG” mean? If you don´t I´ll tell you, it means: “Solid Guitar”.

The SG was firstly built as Gibson´s response to the low quantity of guitars that was being sold, yeah, that´s strange, many of you might be thinking “but, what was going on that nobody wanted a les paul guitar." Well you´ve got to remember that when the SG was firstly sold, it was around 1961!, at that times, most guitar players were looking for a different sound from what was offered by a Les Paul, or an ES-335. Maybe Stratocasters or so, well, I think that´s enough history for now, let´s get started.

Gibson Gibson Gibson, everyone loves Gibson for what it did to guitar players like Slash, Jimmy Page, and bla bla bla, but if there´s one guitar player that couldn´t be taken away from his beloved SG, it is Angus Young (Ac/Dc), (I know there are many more but don´t go angry, at the end of this article there is a short list of guitar players that used this model. I know there are much more, but then the article would be named “SG users”).

Let´s describe shortly this beautiful guitar:

The “solid guitar”´s body is generally made of rosewood (but it could also be made from solid mahogany and so on), which features two-horned cuts (believe it or not, Mr Young firstly bought his SG because he though that these cuts looked like “horns”, and found them were very much appealing to his style), 22 frets, two humbucker pickups, two volume controllers, and two tone controllers too, the hardware is very similar to the one in Les Pauls and the bridge is nowadays a tune-o-matic solid bridge, but in its beginnings, the SG had a pretty useful artifact attached to its body: a very big “vibrato” unit, (many guitars that are not precisely Stratocasters have a tremolo unit, this ones are harder to use, and don´t have as much mobility as the standard tremolo or a floyd rose that you can find in Fenders, Ibanez, Jacksons, etc., but hey! There are other advantages!) Later on, this unit was upgraded and today you can still find lots of Sgs and Les Pauls that have that tremolo. The traditional 3-way switch is located close to the volume and tones regulators, another difference with the les paul, and speaking of differences, the plug-in input is also found near hardware regulators, and not “under” the guitar as in the other models.

I know you might be anxious to read some kind of “pros n cons” about this guitar, sadly, I won´t do that, I think that you are old enough to consider what´s a “Pro” and what´s a “CON”, and what could be considered as a disadvantage for me could be the reason for you to buy this guitar!, so as always my suggestion is the same, go and try it!, there is no “best guitar”, as there is no “best guitar player”, everything depends on what you like, what I will tell you is more or less what you can find in this guitars:

Sound

Have you ever listened to Highway To Hell? Yes! Then have you ever tried to play it? If you don´t own an appropriate guitar for this, you might have noticed that the note kindda spreads out when playing a whole chord with distortion! Well, if you owned a SG, this wouln´t be happening so easily, that´s because this guitars have a more “compact” sound, which is very useful when playing with a “crounchy” dist. If you like hard rock with a bit of distortion, but not so heavy that you can´t hear it, maybe you should try SGs, Tommy Iommy from Black Sabbath also liked distortion and “compressed” riffs, so he choose an SG, what would you like?

Comfort

The double cutaway provides easy reaching to the upper frets, if you have ever tried to reach 21 or 21 frets in a Les Paul, you may have noticed that it is really uncomfortable, well, the SGs neck is still not as comfortable as those in stratos or superstratos, but at least it wont make your fingers ache after a long session of high speed soloing. Relating to switching pick ups positions, you can notice that the fact that the switch is close to your hand, makes it easy to operate it, which I think is an advantage.

Well, that’s all for now, I hope you will forgive my numerous grammar mistakes (please have in mind that I am from Argentina), as I did with the Telecaster, I will strongly recommend this guitar, there are many manufacturers, between we can distinguish Fender (yes, I´ve seen and played with a squire SG). Fernandes, and of course Gibson, this last one is the most appropriate for professional guitars of this type in my opinion, but you never know what you can find out there, for those who have chosen an SG, congratulations, you own a very good guitar, for those who have not, congratulations! I´m sure you play that guitar because you like its sound, and that something really good in a guitar player, would you like to read a list with guitar players who have chosen SGs. Here it comes (please note that many of them as Adrian Smith, have used many types of guitars):

Adam McGrath, Cave In

Adrian Smith, Iron Maiden

Agata, Melt-Banana

Alex Newport, Fudgetunnel

Angus Young, AC/DC

Bernard Sumner, Joy Division

Carrie Brownstein, Sleater-Kinney

Dave Murray, Iron Maiden

David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap

Elizabeth Elmore, Sarge

Glen Buxton, Alice Cooper

Ian MacKaye, Fugazi

Jamie Frost, the Makers

Jenny Möllberg, Misdemeanor

Jim Allison, Fuel

Johnny Marr, post-Smiths

Mike Kirsch, Fuel

Paul, Lärm

Pete Townshend

Rachel Rosen, Indecision/Most Precious Blood/ Wage Of Sin

Sara, Doughnuts

Sara Fredriksson, Misdemeanor

Sarah Utter, the Bangs

Tim Sult, Clutch

Tony Iommi, Black Sabbath

Please! Visit this website if you would like to see some nice SG): Everythingsg.com (this is a great site, you have a lot of things to read in order to get more info about this guitar)

And of course official site: gibson.com

PS: please stay tuned because right now I´m working in an article about “the strangest guitars” and believe me, this guitars are weird…

Comments

[How Far]

nice article

[jcthomasva]

good article - SG probably ain't for my style, but your column was very informative

[fireoptic]

Tommy Iommy from Black Sabbath

Tony Iommi is how you spell it, anyway great article. I hope to see you write some more articles like this on other guitars soon!

[Valkyrie]

Nice article! Very imformative.

[Voldragon]

Good article, I looo..ve SGs

[olif8]

I love MY SG.....ok, I think we've all established we love our SG's, and a good article to refresh my memory on my darling.....*dreamy eyes*

[PianoBlackSP]

You forgot Robby(sp?)Kreiger (The Doors)

[kornrules09]

I'm excited for the strange guitar one, but this was good

[bc2skaterpunk]

i love my sg

[atc228]

excellent, keep it up-oh and for your next article, have you seen the guitar that kind of has "flames" or something comming of the body- wow thats a wierd, strange and ugly guitar

[Ozzman_Cometh]

I love sg's.. They are so comfortable to play. Lps Can be sometimes a pain in the ass while doing solos

[AndyGray]

wow i didnt know adrain smith played an SG, but im almost sure that dave murray's only ever played stratocastors.... hmmm, i dont believe it, but good article man, not just informative, u should write for total guitar

[GibsonBlues]

Love my SG...

great article... um, do an Ibanez next! Or even a Flying V.

[Metal_Man666]

I tihnk the strat would be appropriate but i warn you.....lot and lots of info we expect.....but don't let that get you down.....take your time..

[twistedsister]

very good article. do a flying v next

[killer_mop]

Sg's Like the tone i can get a natural high of off.....okay well back to reality, sg is teh kick ass

[Wylde]

lol who the *** is Tommy Iommy

[GuitarJunkie]

do the gibson firebird next, thats a sweet ass guit

[Paranoid_ITA]

tony iommi kicks ***in ass

[Paranoid_ITA]

luv my jackson sl1t soloist though....

[MONOROCK]

This is a great article and i man from argentina too

[ChordMonger]

You seem to know a lot about guitars man. Have you ever heard of a brand called Raven? they are way out of buiseness now, but i have one of their guitar and it is amazing!

[Viscosity]

SGs RULE but not the epiphone ones

[5150man]

^just kidding guys....private joke between comet n me...i own a strat

[rockinlewis]

nice article

[broken circle]

Hmm...that wasn't a very informative article. You didn't tell me anything that I didn't know, and I didn't know much about SGs anyway. It's also quite easy to reach the upper frets on a Les Paul, as it goes...

[GuitarSmurf]

Nice article. Do a Strat or Les Paul next. That would be interesting.

[NickDaBeast]

^ I agree do a Stratocaster or a Les Paul cuz a lot of people know about them but not a lot of people know about them

[DopeDanny]

unmentioned names:
Hendrix
Linde(HIM,Daniel Lioneye) not well known in the U.S.
Gary Rossington

and i was in NYC this past weekend went to abunch of music shops,saw a beautiful dark blue sg that had black around the edge of the guitar and i saw a white sg with 3 humbuckers,they had the gold covers on em.Nice damn guitars.

[vinniebeast]

Frank Zappa

[punkrockdude2]

cant wait for the strat!!

[proguit933]

u forgot ec uses a sg

[Voodoo8868]

i play an epiphone SG, but its in the form of a bass...the only differace - - about 200 bucks..
and you didnt say which band Pete Townsend ..but thats easy, its the who...:

LPs pwn SGs.


spam deleted.

[kbass9267]

informitive article.

[Seany]

dont forget that Eric Clapton used a very special SG during his time with cream!

[brendan666]

Who the hell is TOMMY Iommi? It's TONY!

[cconq9]

John Frusciante of RHCP records with and recently began playing live shows with an SG.

[Zepp_head]

pete townsed also played one.....

but..... let me say this its not the gear your playing with its the player(so says Steve vai)

if angus came to your house and played with your rigg he cound get an ac dc sound just by setteing your amp or playing in his style..... so you dont need all this shit to get a tone.... but let me say if you have a guitar hero like me, whos are jimmy pgae and eddie van halen and you like there gear and tone and you want to try and re produse it by getting all this gear... do it its not nessery but its an investment

[funky_munks]

i played a gibson sg and a epiphone sg.

the only difference... 3200 bucks

by the way nice article

[WorldXguitarist]

wow! i didnt know fender made SGs...i guess you learn something new every day. I have a Gibson standard sg-its awesome. i dont think i could go back to anything else. Hey you might not get that "country twang" out of it, but thats just my "hatebreed lovin'" self that doent need it! awesome article, rock on!

[smb]

The Vintage VS6 kicks ass and is really cheap. Go buy one.

[The Jin]

do one on les pauls!! i got one!!!! Yippe dooodahhhh

[diego224]

yea, id like to see one on a stratocaster

[NeverBeenKilled]

SG's own.Great article,though you did spell Iommi wrong,I'm gonna have to rate it four stars for that and I noticed you said one word twice right together.Entertaining read.Cheers.

[GuitarJunkie]

It was a good article, but i think it could have been better...still informative though

[evening_crow]

i can't wait till i finish paying mine....darn it! three more months..

[sensate]

Where do you get your history from?
The SG was conceived as a way to revitalise the Les Paul range. Things weren't going to well for Gibson and Fender with the Brittish bands that were coming over with their European made hollow bodies, that were inspiring would be guitar players to buy an electric. It was considered a better choice to buy a guitar that could double as an accoustic rather than buy one that was limited to only worth playing when it was plugged into an amp. This was why Fender created their hollowbodies(The corona/ coronation range I think).

It hardly worked either, the first SGs weren't even named SGs, but rather Les Paul Special. They stopped printing that after LP refused to endorse such a hideous guitar. Solid Guitar came out as a boardroom joke as it wasn't hollow.
This is why you'll find a lot of 60s hollowbodies with names from companies that seemingly disappeared with the time. Many countries, especially the Italians cashed in the huge demand for hollowbodies.
You'll also find if you dig deep enough that Gibson was facing financial ruin around this time... always cracks me up.
It wasn't until Fender gave the Beatles some kit (including a 6 string bass that you can see Lennon playing in Hey Jude session) that things started to pick up again, figuring something along the lines of, "Hey, Hofner, Gretsch and Rickenbacker are getting all this free publicity, why shouldn't we?"
I'm still waiting for a decent history of any guitar that you plan to gloss over.
As for the history of players, George Harrison played one also, Jimmy Page only played the twinneck. And speaking of Page, try to get the history of his Dano...

[dkmfan4189]

ive never seen and SG ever made out of rosewood. there almost always out of mahogaony. sumtimes out of alder or agathis.

[zakk_wylde4]

i didn't understand how to describe the sound of an SG, but now i do, you said it, "compressed" thanks.

[teej]

cant wait for "strangest" article.

[lynxxx]

i prefer strats, but hell yeah pretty good article can't wait for the next one i'm putting these types of guitars asrticles in a file

[timmEH]

flyiing V or les paul next

[Bulletbass man]

You put TOmmy Iommi in the article you dumass

[andythefir]

good article, but vibrato and tremolo arent exactly how you put them. vibrato means the pitch of a note wavers a bit, singers and orchestra players use it all the time. all whammy bars are vibrato arms, they all change the pitch. Fender called their whammy bars tremolo, which is incorrect. Tremolo is when the volume of a note wavers, but now guitar players know their whammy bars as tremolo. doesnt matter what brand, where it situated on the guitar, any whammy bar is really a vibrato.

[Bryce<3sTheROCK]

My SG was definately the greatest investment i've ever made.
i suggest bringing an extra pair of underwear if you decide to let loose on one

[)Eric(Draven]

I'm trying to decide something for a 3rd guitar. First is a beginners guitar, second is a mediocre one, so this third one is definitely the one I want to be proud of. The article really helped me, and this EverythingSG site is as well. Great Article 5/5.

PianoBlackSP:
You forgot Robby(sp?)Kreiger (The Doors)
[POSTED: 19 March 2005 - 08:48]

damn right he did...

good article though.

[_The_Rover_]

Niiice, pls do Les Paul next... i'm planning on buying one soon, and some info' would be great + Les Pauls rule!

[dwnbowden]

what about epiphone SGs

[Metallica12_12]

its true the original SG's were called les paul specials this is an excelletn artical though..

[Eagles3]

Great article, SGs are cool. Do a Les Paul next. Gibson is awesome

[Custom24lover]

Didn't Carlos Santana play an SG in the late sixties and early seventies?

[uptheironschile]

AndyGray:
wow i didnt know adrain smith played an SG, but im almost sure that dave murray's only ever played stratocastors.... hmmm, i dont believe it, but good article man, not just informative, u should write for total guitar
[POSTED: 19 March 2005 - 11:45]|

If you look at the booklet of the "Killers" album (Enhanced CD version), you can see VERY rare pictures of both Smith and Murray playing SGs... a heavily modded one in Murray's case. But in fact they have played a wide variety of guitars, for example Hammersmith 1982--> both played Ibanez Destroyers.

[killer_mop]

And dont forget the 1337 Frank Zappa he loved his sg

[AC_friggin'_DC]

great article but hendrix played an SG some too how could u forget hendrix? lol doesn't matter though good article

[gryftorsguitar]

i think you should have mentioned that every hardcore band has an sg player in it. EVERY hardcore band.

[talman71]

and of course dont forget the man himself...Ed Vedder...pearl jam of course. Although he does change his guitars often but hes been playin sg's for a while now. jimmy pages double neck as well...aand...haha...david st.hubbins...does everyone else agree when i say that is one of the greatest movies ever!!

[duffy duck]

man i really like this article&i also love my SG now even more then before

[PistolPeet]

not too keen on the SG, prefere my Telecaster or Strat

[Neon Knight]

on the next artical do a flying V, or a Jem, or a Les Paul!!

[punkrockrocks]

i have a epeiphone g310, good article

[Tremebundo]

those are the guitarist of fuel? arent they carl bell and Brett Scallions?

[neverserious88]

nice info... but very poorly written

[TWP man]

Great article. Do the Strat next!

i've even seen footage of Jimi playing the wind cries mary on an SG but i find the neck to be too chunky for me

[Unourrit01]

the last two articles you made were very good

[mikedeit]

Very good article. I always thought that the SG had a wider neck than all the other guitars. The feel of an SG are awesome. I played one at New York Music. It was awesome. Great Article on SG's.

[LatinRoller89]

danm i want an SG so bad!

[futurehendrix07]

Good article, not quite as informative as the telecaster one but still good. Definitely do one over the Stratocaster next.

[Vinura]

bitchin article man

[sonicsoul]

Greetings from Argentina!! Great and interesting article. I live in the province of Córdoba and would like to stay in touch with you cause I have some questions.
I own a Gibson Epiphone Sheraton II. Can ya make an article about it??

[Sabre0001]

good article, worth the read...

[FortunateSon]

It's odd you didn't mention the most famous SG anywhere in your article- Jimmy Paige's double neck SG used to play Stairway to Heaven.

[Klistrad]

Gibson Sg history:
(Excuse my bad english)

Around 1960.
The Gibson Les Paul was selling bad, so Ted McCarthy (Factorydirector at the time) re-designed it. 1960 there was a new Les Paul-model. It started shipping.
But there was just one problem, nobody had looked with Les Paul himself if he liked it.
He din´t!
So Gibson guitars had to change the name. What should they call this solid guitar?

Ahh, Solid Guitar (SG) !!!

So from the very beginning it was an Les Paul...

[bryan j]

my sg is weird its an sg but it says les paul custom on it i love it it confuses people when i tell them i have an sg les paul

[Nirvana101]

I love it how on an SG you can reach the higher frets so easily. I hate trying to do that on a strat

[gabaj]

hendrix didn't play an SG like someone said before.

Also he forgot Carlos Santana out of the list ... he used to play one in his early days before PRS.

Also this article wasn't as informative as some people said it was. Infact it was quite a baby-ish article. I mean honestly. Many of you people think that Gibsons are the greatest guitars ever. However none of you seem to notice that Gibson guitars are constantly decreasing in quality and their craftsmanship is shitty nowadays. In my opinion people ought to start looking into other brands that are far better then Gibsons and come fitted with most after-market parts. Like most ESPs and LTDs do.

[Croat]

nice

[insanepyro]

frank zappa used one.glenn tipton has one and uses one.

[pete_mack]

hendrix did use an SG for a period

[Pyro128]

My dream guitar is an Alpine White Gibson Les Paul SG Custom (beautiful white guitar with three pickups and gold hardware...*drool*) Maybe the next time I have a spare $3300, I'll buy one

[Little blood]

Do they do the G400 customs in alpine white? coz i dont like the ivory colour. Are the epiphones better or the gibsons? And finally, u forgot to mention Kelly Jones from The Stereophonics. He sometimes uses an SG.

[Dyaxe666]

ya mna, this is siic. i have a custom epiphone SG and i play heavey metal, and this is awsome. 5 stars most definitly

[rackmesideways]

I think that les pauls are imposible to play.
I like SG's.

[chris11989]

I love my sg, the body starts too far up the neck on a les paul, they're hard to play. I find it difficult to shred or solo on my sg unless i use a compressor or threshold, and then I get feedback, if you want to shred get a superstrat

[cpt_pimp]

awesome article, and good spelling for being an Argentinian. whatever you do though, don't ever do an article about telecastors, 'cos those are the ugliest guitars ever.

[Myke1432]

do the destroyer next i love that guitar
great article too

[sensate]

Telecasters are the ugliest? The explorer/ exploder and Thunderbirds are the ugliest guitars, and have some cruddy quality on them, even that star guitar that ABBA had was better

[chuck mitchell]

Hey, nice article. You should do an Ibanez next. Those are nice to play. I give the article 4 stars.

[areguzanda]

nice article keep up the good work man .. 5 stars !!!

[wafflemanwillis]

not a bad article at all even thought the grammar wasnt too good

[Aditya]

U'v definately done ur home work..great job..4.5 stars

[guitare_kid13]

good article, dont get me wrong,but I'll rather buy a schecter than an sg just beacause they are like half the price ,same or better quality, and a kick as sound.all in all if i had the money i would buy an sg to.

[metalphor]

Awesome article...You've certainly done your research...For weird guitars...Do BC RICHES...they may not be the weirdest guitar...or the nicest sounding...but they are one of the most famous...And plus i own an NJ BEAST and an WARLOCK PLATINUM...Rock on, dude!

[poontastic]

nice mate that was good, very helpful.
DO AN ICEMAN!
I have an epiphone LP and its nice, but i would like to have an SG by the sound of it. Cheers 5 stars

[Rikstron]

can you do a article about the gibson les paul i really need the info

[GLSGplayer]

Very GOOD article on the Gibson SG. Don't forget that Gibson in the early 80's made a SG with the great Kahler tremolo, I bought one in 83 & stil have it. I don't think there's better metal rhythem/muting tones from another guitar.

[ledhed68]

Personally, i hate the SG. I think that there is too much distortion and you cant controll it. I have no idea how some SG players get a clean sound out of it. I have tried some SG and I hated it. I still like my Strat and Les Paul.

[ledhed68]

In my oppinion, SG are horrible. There is way too much distortion and you cant controll it. I can't immagine how Robby Kreiger got a clean sound out of that thing. I do like the double cutaways. What I have found out is that the best guitars are Strats, Les Pauls and Telecasters. And yes I have tried a couple SGs and I hate them.

[GLSGplayer]

I agree it's not the best guitar for soloing but it's a very good hard rock rhythm playing guitar, I think it's great. It was never meant for soft tone none distortion. It's built for high distortion Sabbath AC/DC playing, for soloing riffs you're better off with a Les Paul or Strat.....