Hey folks – This is my first post; I recently discovered this site and I can't tell you how much I love seeing everyone’s beautiful SGs! I’d like to share the story of how I breathed new life into my black 1996 Gibson SG Special…
I bought this guitar new off the rack 19 years ago after saving for months at my college job at a photo lab. It was my first decent electric and I was ecstatic with it, I had lusted after an SG for years after seeing them in the hands of players like Ian MacKaye, Greg Hetson and Juliana Hatfield (and Iommi, Townshend and Angus, of course). I played it constantly.
I played this Special in various bands in the years that followed, dragging it around the country to gigs from Portland, ME to Portland, OR, and all sorts of dive bars and basement shows in between. It never let me down and I never babied this guitar—it was a true workhorse live and in the studio. Outside of putting a set of Grover locking tuners on it back in 2000 or so, it remained stock, mostly played direct through a Marshall JCM800 head. I loved this guitar so much.
By 2005 or so, those bands had broken up and I was focusing on other things musically (bass, synths and vocals). I still played guitar, but I found myself picking up the acoustic or my newly-acquired Jazzmaster when I plugged in at home. The SG, worse for the wear after nine years of constant (ab)use, mostly remained in its case.
Fast forward to last summer: I gave the SG a good examination for the first time in years, and what I found really bummed me out. The frets and stock pickups were in far worse shape than I remembered, and the bridge had collapsed. I was ashamed at the state of disrepair I had let it fall into and I promised myself that I would restore it to its former glory as soon as I could.
Well, I’m happy to report that my ’96 Special is back (in black)! I had all new frets, a bone nut, a new bridge and a set of Seymour Duncan Whole Lotta Humbuckers installed last month. This guitar now plays better than ever before, and I can’t put it down! I really can’t say enough about these pickups—I’m no expert on humbuckers but they just sound incredible, with really nice midrange. The finish still has some battle scars from my younger days, but it has reminded me why I love SGs so much.
I’m so happy I found this site while my SG was in the shop, and I look forward to seeing more of everyone’s beautiful vintage, reissue, new and especially the knock-around workhorse SGs like mine!
Now I just need an SG with P90s and I’ll be all set, hahaha!
I bought this guitar new off the rack 19 years ago after saving for months at my college job at a photo lab. It was my first decent electric and I was ecstatic with it, I had lusted after an SG for years after seeing them in the hands of players like Ian MacKaye, Greg Hetson and Juliana Hatfield (and Iommi, Townshend and Angus, of course). I played it constantly.
I played this Special in various bands in the years that followed, dragging it around the country to gigs from Portland, ME to Portland, OR, and all sorts of dive bars and basement shows in between. It never let me down and I never babied this guitar—it was a true workhorse live and in the studio. Outside of putting a set of Grover locking tuners on it back in 2000 or so, it remained stock, mostly played direct through a Marshall JCM800 head. I loved this guitar so much.
By 2005 or so, those bands had broken up and I was focusing on other things musically (bass, synths and vocals). I still played guitar, but I found myself picking up the acoustic or my newly-acquired Jazzmaster when I plugged in at home. The SG, worse for the wear after nine years of constant (ab)use, mostly remained in its case.
Fast forward to last summer: I gave the SG a good examination for the first time in years, and what I found really bummed me out. The frets and stock pickups were in far worse shape than I remembered, and the bridge had collapsed. I was ashamed at the state of disrepair I had let it fall into and I promised myself that I would restore it to its former glory as soon as I could.
Well, I’m happy to report that my ’96 Special is back (in black)! I had all new frets, a bone nut, a new bridge and a set of Seymour Duncan Whole Lotta Humbuckers installed last month. This guitar now plays better than ever before, and I can’t put it down! I really can’t say enough about these pickups—I’m no expert on humbuckers but they just sound incredible, with really nice midrange. The finish still has some battle scars from my younger days, but it has reminded me why I love SGs so much.
I’m so happy I found this site while my SG was in the shop, and I look forward to seeing more of everyone’s beautiful vintage, reissue, new and especially the knock-around workhorse SGs like mine!
Now I just need an SG with P90s and I’ll be all set, hahaha!
