I just got a 1965 Gibson Sg Standard husk, and I'm in the process of restoring it to something as close as possible to its original state. I have put in a set of 1964/65 pre-T-Top patent sticker pickups, an original TRC, repro tuners and a Vibrola. I have a nylon saddle bridge ready for it as well. I'm waiting for a tenon cover and control cavity plate to arrive in the mail. I still don't have a wiring harness, but I guess I'll buy one after my next payday. By and by the plan is to source all the original parts, but for now, repros are fine. this is pretty much my ultimate dream guitar. The reason I could afford it was (of course) because it has had a neck repair. The repair is noe particularly pretty, but it is solid. More pics to come as the work progresses!
Very cool! Does it have the 1 11/16" nut width? Is the serial number still there? Yes. Moar pics are in order.
That looks like the perfect project guitar. You can take that literally as far as you want, and each step will add value. Keep the pics coming as it progresses please.
The nut is 1 9/16’’, another reason it was affordable. The serial number has been sanded down it seems, and a new one is stamped on the headstock.
Got a set of tuners yesterday, so I installed them and put strings on the guitar. I gave it a quick setup (Biddlin-style), and to my great satisfaction it plays very well. No fret buzz with a nice and low action. I filed the nut a bit, and it now stays in tune pretty damn well. I am never heavy-handed with the Vibrola, but it can take a fair bit of action without going out of tune.
Sweet! That's practically mint compared to how my '65 came! (www.tdpri.com/threads/rebuilding-a-65-sg.776592/)
Ordered a wiring harness and a poker chip today after selling a phaser pedal. i have a tenon cover and backplate on the way as well, and I already have a set of knobs. When it all arrives, I’ll have a complete guitar. The harness was pretty nice, an Emerson kit. It has a .015 uf cap in the neck (as opposed to the regular .022 uf). It will be interesting to se how much of a difference it will make. This is the wiring harness:
Wow this looks great. Nice to see it come together. I have a similar project coming along with a '64 SG Jr, and will be making a thread once I make some headway.
Got the harness and a poker chip on Thursday. Promptly installed it and put pointers and knosbs on the guitar. Everything working perfectly. Now I’m just waiting for the back plate and tenon cover.
Honestly, I bought the harness without really thinking about the caps. All my dual humbucker guitars have 22uf caps both in the neck and bridge, and I have a couple of spare 22uf caps, should I feel the need to change the 15 one. I usually turn down the tone controls a bit on both pickups, but I reckon the brighter 15 cap will still be dark enough when dialling back to suit my needs.
15nF, or even 10nF is my preference. They let me use the tone controls properly all the way down. I find that 22nF just gets too muddy when wound right back.
I'm a simpleton and as such not much for the finer details so I go with on or off on my guitars. A .010 gives me the option to slam it all the way down and get an instant killer tone. But that's me then. I can very much recommend it to anyone that takes a similar view to the tone controls.
This is cool! I love the grain, and the finish is luckily in pretty good shape for its age. The double ring tuners are a great touch, too.
Nice! But, can you straighten the switch ring (poker chip) please? My OCD is tingling! So, how does she sound?
