Injured SG player needs help!

[DaveSG]

The story on my 71 Standard I don't know all the details to, but it is probably second in the running right behind Raney's LP Junior for most 'mojo' I've seen in a guitar. This one has a snapped/repaired headstock, replaced tuners, bridge, the control cavity was snapped right off the guitar, and glued back on, has a replacement chunk of wood in the back, the whole thing is covered in dings, gouges, scratches, checks, melted lacquer, etc. If you look at the picture close enough, you can see the crack running right through the control cavity area. The guitar feels great in the hand! Although it is a bit of a smaller neck, it never seems to bother me much, even though I'm partial to fatter necks. Definitely needs a refret, which will be coming up soon:)

 

[Grizzlyman]

Some guitar stories...

When I was about 10-12 years old, I lived in San Diego and just literally around the block from the house of Jerry Raney, of The Beat Farmers fame. One of the best cowtown hillbilly rock groups ever. Anyway, I was childhood friends with his son Nathan, and we'd hang out and run around the neighborhood. One day, I'm over at their house and Nate asks me 'Do you want to see my dads guitar?' ...now I didn't play guitar at the time, but I really wanted to, if that made sense. So, he brings me out this tattered old beat up case, and opens it up, and here is this old, ratty, beer-soaked, tattered, battered, guitar. Well, turns out it was a 1958-1960 Les Paul Jr DC, heavily modified. Up till that point, I had never seen a more road-worn guitar. It was absolutely beautiful, and earned every scar. To this day, I can remember the texture and deepness of the checking on the top of the guitar, that was enhanced by years of being soaked in sweat and alcohol. Then he says 'check this out', and takes me into the garage, and on the wall, next to the door, is a Gibson headstock. Apparently, it was the original guitar's headstock, hanging up on a nail. I think I was told that on a particular rowdy night's gig, the guitar was banged into something hard enough to snap off the headstock. A new one was grafted on, and alas, the old one was kept as a memento. It was converted to a tuneomatic/stoptail configuration from the wraptail. To this day, it is/was the coolest guitar I have ever seen in my life. If I ever come into some $$, I'm going to beg him to sell it to me, although I'm sure Nathan has first right of refusal, as he is a very accomplished guitarist himself these days. The guitar probably isn't worth much from a collectors point of view, but I would absolutely overpay for it.

There are a few photos of Jerry and the guitar out there...which don't at all capture the true nature of this guitar. That is how much it was worn...20+ years ago.

There was a great, great live video of them performing 'Flyin Man' from a San Diego market day, with Raney using this guitar, and it sounded out of this world, probably one of the top 3 best P90 tones I've ever heard. But I think that video was taken down as I haven't been able to find it for more than a year. I wish someone would repost it.

Anyway, here is the guitar in question... View attachment 41060
View attachment 41061

Such a cool story and such a cool guitar! Thanks man!

 

[Grizzlyman]

The story on my 71 Standard I don't know all the details to, but it is probably second in the running right behind Raney's LP Junior for most 'mojo' I've seen in a guitar. This one has a snapped/repaired headstock, replaced tuners, bridge, the control cavity was snapped right off the guitar, and glued back on, has a replacement chunk of wood in the back, the whole thing is covered in dings, gouges, scratches, checks, melted lacquer, etc. If you look at the picture close enough, you can see the crack running right through the control cavity area. The guitar feels great in the hand! Although it is a bit of a smaller neck, it never seems to bother me much, even though I'm partial to fatter necks. Definitely needs a refret, which will be coming up soon:)

Loving these tales DaveSG!!

 

[DaveSG]

Here's another one.

When I saw your list of mods to your Epiphones, I knew we were kindred spirits.

My #1 player is a '98 Epiphone G400 Korina. It is such a killer guitar, it has bested multiple other guitars I either own or have owned, including a '07 Historic SG VOS I had for a while. I've A/B'd it against several other guitars in band recordings and it always comes out on top. Paired with a 57 classic + in the bridge, it gets 'the sound' that has been in my head for years. It is a giant slayer.

I had the guitar in near stock condition for years, but this past year, decided to pull out all the stops and give it a major overhaul. I stripped all the poly finish off of it (an monumental feat in and of itself), re-shaped the headstock into a shape that pays homage to the 1930s Epiphone Masterbilt Broadway, sort of an offset open book design. The purpose was to remove some meat off of the headstock to help it balance a little better. The neck also had a bit of a D shape and I'm much more comfortable on solid C-shape necks, so I re-profiled it and thickness is around .845 at the first fret and it feels great. The entire guitar was recontoured, with playing left handed in mind, and then hand refinished in nitro lacquer. It will eventually be getting some Gotoh stealth tuners, VIP pots, the 57+ in the bridge, and maybe a 490R in the neck (which I do really enjoy the sound of), and a fret level + crown and polish.

Husk of the guitar started around 4lbs 11 oz or so, and now with the reshaping and refinish, it is down to about 4lbs, 2oz. With the hardware left to put on, my goal is to get it under 6lbs, and I think I will hit that mark. So it will be light, comfortable, sound killer, with a great neck, balance better and play better than it ever has.

Original cost was I think around $320 when I got it used. These and the Korean G400 vintage SGs are the real sleepers of the Epiphone world. I simply cannot imagine a better guitar, at almost any price range.

When I get a chance, I'll put some pictures of where it is at now.

 

[Grizzlyman]

Here's another one.

When I saw your list of mods to your Epiphones, I knew we were kindred spirits.

My #1 player is a '98 Epiphone G400 Korina. It is such a killer guitar, it has bested multiple other guitars I either own or have owned, including a '07 Historic SG VOS I had for a while. I've A/B'd it against several other guitars in band recordings and it always comes out on top. Paired with a 57 classic + in the bridge, it gets 'the sound' that has been in my head for years. It is a giant slayer.

I had the guitar in near stock condition for years, but this past year, decided to pull out all the stops and give it a major overhaul. I stripped all the poly finish off of it (an monumental feat in and of itself), re-shaped the headstock into a shape that pays homage to the 1930s Epiphone Masterbilt Broadway, sort of an offset open book design. The purpose was to remove some meat off of the headstock to help it balance a little better. The neck also had a bit of a D shape and I'm much more comfortable on solid C-shape necks, so I re-profiled it and thickness is around .845 at the first fret and it feels great. The entire guitar was recontoured, with playing left handed in mind, and then hand refinished in nitro lacquer. It will eventually be getting some Gotoh stealth tuners, VIP pots, the 57+ in the bridge, and maybe a 490R in the neck (which I do really enjoy the sound of), and a fret level + crown and polish.

Husk of the guitar started around 4lbs 11 oz or so, and now with the reshaping and refinish, it is down to about 4lbs, 2oz. With the hardware left to put on, my goal is to get it under 6lbs, and I think I will hit that mark. So it will be light, comfortable, sound killer, with a great neck, balance better and play better than it ever has.

Original cost was I think around $320 when I got it used. These and the Korean G400 vintage SGs are the real sleepers of the Epiphone world. I simply cannot imagine a better guitar, at almost any price range.

When I get a chance, I'll put some pictures of where it is at now.

Wow! Well you’ve certainly gone further than I ever have with your modding, I feel like a bit of an amateur when I read what you’ve done to that G400, sounds awesome! I never bothered to get my gibbo Sg special re contoured! I’m just living with the RH contours flipped round, only the controls were moved. Kudos for going the whole distance!
I’ve never touched a neck contour, i guess it’s more important for some folks than others, mind you I flip between playing bass and guitar so I guess once you’re used to that adapting to neck profiles is a bit easier. Plus I can’t shred anyway!
My most modded instruments are my Charvel 475 which was originally white crackle finish, I stripped it but never got round to refitting the hardware. I’ll get round to it one day! My other main modded instrument is a Yamaha Pacifica 112 which was my main gigging guitar for years. I put an emg 81 in the bridge and got a custom mirror scratchplate made with just one pickup space made by SIMS, who make the LED inlays cos their workshop is 30mins from my house. For a guitar that cost £90 used it got gigged a lot and never let me down.
The Epiphone Iommi mods I’m doing to my Mk1 is definitely the bravest I’ve been modding! And I haven’t even started taking the finish off the body yet!
But I’ve ordered the clear pick guard from the US so waiting for that to arrive so I need to commit to distressing the body finish! Just ordered a heat gun...

 

[DaveSG]

Whoa brother are you telling me your a lefty too??

You're gonna love this Epi even more!

Let me get some pictures...

 

[DaveSG]

Okay, just took some pics. Here is where the Epi is at...

 

[DaveSG]

Sorry, those were all the lame pictures. I had to resize the others before posting...

Still some work to do. I haven't wet sanded the headstock face yet, but it shows the reprofiled headstock shape. It is much more proportional and lighter. Also, in the past I moved the strap button up furnther on the neck to re-balance it. The main problem this guitar had, as with many SGs, was that it was a bit neck heavy. The huge grovers didn't help. With the shaving off of the neck and headstock, the ultralight tuners, and the slightly moved up strap button, the neck dive will be a thing of the past. The '61 style neck joint puts the strap button much further back compared to the modern SG neck pocket design.

The fretboard I have done nothing with yet. It needs a full level, crown and polish. It will play great once I'm done. I have been torn on plugging the holes of the tune-o-matic and drilling for studs for an ABR. What I like about that is that I can reposition the bridge to be much more lefty-friendly, I can actually get a made in USA bridge (Kluson), and it will save a tiny bit of weight. I actually have some genuine limba wood I can use. I think I'm going to do it.

Because I knew I would never be selling this guitar (I've contemplated it every now and then, but have rightly convinced myself I'd be an idiot for selling my best guitar), I went full bore on the re-shaping of the body, including adding a contour to the control cavity front side to make it more lefty-friendly. Due to that, and the contour on the back side as well, I had to re-shape the control cavity inset for the cavity cover and make it smaller. This necessitated thinning the body a bit and re-doing the shape. Fortunately, Epis such as this one have a body that is just slightly thicker than a normal SG, so it gave me some wiggle room. It is actually now more in line with the thickness of a Gibson. The re-shaping of the cavity cover route came out well, and stays well out of the way, even though it is 'technically' still on the wrong side. Guitar will feel like a true lefty now. The knobs...well, I've contemplated plugging a few of those holes as well. I wasn't interested in moving the cavity to the other side of the guitar, because I had to draw the line somewhere. Plus, I quite like having the input jack location somewhere where I can see it, which works well where it is now - I re-drilled it for a side location, like a les paul, just off to the bottom side of the electronics cavity.

Now that resale value is completely destroyed, I guess I get to keep it forever

The nitro finish is thin, and hand done. It was messy process and FAR from perfect. But it will age well and was fun to do. If I ever do another nitro finish, I will get the right gear and shoot it with a spray gun. Painting nitro was an eye opening experience. The stuff flash dries in about 4-5 seconds.

 

[DaveSG]

If you a lefty, you may also appreciate this.

This is my custom left-handed SG tribute build. The neck design of the SG is inherently flawed, as so many used/vintage SGs with heel repairs can attest to. I've always wanted a neck through SG...with double parallelogram inlays (my favorite), and left handed. Gibson was NEVER going to build my guitar, so I just did.

Also, I saw plenty of hokey SG builds online where the contours were way off, as were the thicknesses, etc., so I wanted to stay really true to a full early 60s deep carve body design. Is is still not quite done, as I need to re-work some of the electronics (it has 3 full 6-way rotaries...nightmare!!! lol) and the cavity cover is not up to my standard, but the actual guitar is KILLER. I wanted a huge neck, and this one measures I think .91 at the first fret. It sounds very, very dynamic...more like a burst than an SG. I know that is a big claim, but it has a very natural, organic, woody, and bloomly tone to it. I mainly attribute that to the pickups. It has a Sheptone Tribute PAF replica in the bridge and a VIP (Vintage Inspired Pickups) Sara-bucker in the neck. It does something that my other guitars can't do, and really channels vintage PAF tones.

Guitar was built mainly out of pallet wood...because before I knew if I could hack it building guitars, I didn't want to spend a fortune on nice wood just to ruin it lol. Hence, the knots, cracks, and other shenanigans

 

[Grizzlyman]

Sorry, those were all the lame pictures. I had to resize the others before posting... View attachment 41079 View attachment 41080 View attachment 41081 View attachment 41082 View attachment 41083 View attachment 41084

Still some work to do. I haven't wet sanded the headstock face yet, but it shows the reprofiled headstock shape. It is much more proportional and lighter. Also, in the past I moved the strap button up furnther on the neck to re-balance it. The main problem this guitar had, as with many SGs, was that it was a bit neck heavy. The huge grovers didn't help. With the shaving off of the neck and headstock, the ultralight tuners, and the slightly moved up strap button, the neck dive will be a thing of the past. The '61 style neck joint puts the strap button much further back compared to the modern SG neck pocket design.

The fretboard I have done nothing with yet. It needs a full level, crown and polish. It will play great once I'm done. I have been torn on plugging the holes of the tune-o-matic and drilling for studs for an ABR. What I like about that is that I can reposition the bridge to be much more lefty-friendly, I can actually get a made in USA bridge (Kluson), and it will save a tiny bit of weight. I actually have some genuine limba wood I can use. I think I'm going to do it.

Because I knew I would never be selling this guitar (I've contemplated it every now and then, but have rightly convinced myself I'd be an idiot for selling my best guitar), I went full bore on the re-shaping of the body, including adding a contour to the control cavity front side to make it more lefty-friendly. Due to that, and the contour on the back side as well, I had to re-shape the control cavity inset for the cavity cover and make it smaller. This necessitated thinning the body a bit and re-doing the shape. Fortunately, Epis such as this one have a body that is just slightly thicker than a normal SG, so it gave me some wiggle room. It is actually now more in line with the thickness of a Gibson. The re-shaping of the cavity cover route came out well, and stays well out of the way, even though it is 'technically' still on the wrong side. Guitar will feel like a true lefty now. The knobs...well, I've contemplated plugging a few of those holes as well. I wasn't interested in moving the cavity to the other side of the guitar, because I had to draw the line somewhere. Plus, I quite like having the input jack location somewhere where I can see it, which works well where it is now - I re-drilled it for a side location, like a les paul, just off to the bottom side of the electronics cavity.

Now that resale value is completely destroyed, I guess I get to keep it forever

The nitro finish is thin, and hand done. It was messy process and FAR from perfect. But it will age well and was fun to do. If I ever do another nitro finish, I will get the right gear and shoot it with a spray gun. Painting nitro was an eye opening experience. The stuff flash dries in about 4-5 seconds.

Wow!! That is droolworthy! I love the natural finish on there now, that Korina really pops!!
That is a PROPER mod story! Definitely worth the effort d say, stunning!

 

[Grizzlyman]

If you a lefty, you may also appreciate this.

This is my custom left-handed SG tribute build. The neck design of the SG is inherently flawed, as so many used/vintage SGs with heel repairs can attest to. I've always wanted a neck through SG...with double parallelogram inlays (my favorite), and left handed. Gibson was NEVER going to build my guitar, so I just did.

Also, I saw plenty of hokey SG builds online where the contours were way off, as were the thicknesses, etc., so I wanted to stay really true to a full early 60s deep carve body design. Is is still not quite done, as I need to re-work some of the electronics (it has 3 full 6-way rotaries...nightmare!!! lol) and the cavity cover is not up to my standard, but the actual guitar is KILLER. I wanted a huge neck, and this one measures I think .91 at the first fret. It sounds very, very dynamic...more like a burst than an SG. I know that is a big claim, but it has a very natural, organic, woody, and bloomly tone to it. I mainly attribute that to the pickups. It has a Sheptone Tribute PAF replica in the bridge and a VIP (Vintage Inspired Pickups) Sara-bucker in the neck. It does something that my other guitars can't do, and really channels vintage PAF tones.

Guitar was built mainly out of pallet wood...because before I knew if I could hack it building guitars, I didn't want to spend a fortune on nice wood just to ruin it lol. Hence, the knots, cracks, and other shenanigans

You built that? From pallet wood?!?!
That thing looks amazing, I really can’t believe it! Those bevels are gorgeous, I see that you’ve gone for those 60s contours, they look amazing!
I’m gobsmacked!!!

 

[voodoomin]

or anything else you think would be interesting for a fellow guitar geek to read. My iPad is going to be my best friend for the foreseeable future, so I’m relying on the geekery levels of my fellow SG nuts to keep me from going insane!
View attachment 40716

After I wrote quite a substantial story I got an error message - that I can't post it for it being too spammy (which is understandable since it would've been my second ever post here). Can someone help me with a workaround? I copied the text in another file.

 

[Grizzlyman]

After I wrote quite a substantial story I got an error message - that I can't post it for it being too spammy (which is understandable since it would've been my second ever post here). Can someone help me with a workaround? I copied the text in another file.

Dammit!

 

[voodoomin]

This is my second post here(it should’ve been but I got the error for spamming) so I used the opportunity to tell a story which, for now, has a very anticlimatic ending but I think is a good example of what amount of havoc a guitar shape can wreck into a young man's mind. Just for context, I am not in the US and electric guitars aren't as commonplace as you guys seem to have them.

Roughly around a decade ago, I was typical teenager ready to step on my journey of becoming a Slash-copycat, being cool and wooing women. So obviously the path I chose was that of the electric guitar. I never seen one up close (in my mind they were made out of empty metal) and the lack of music shops in my area forced me to pick my first ever electric guitar online. First one I fell in love with was a Harley Benton SG-copy. It was black. And cheap, with a bolt-on neck but the shape spoke to me so much. I felt it was "traditional" but refreshing, with its almost symmetrical cutaway and slab-like body. Not as bulky as a LP and not as utilitarian as a Strat or a Tele it had all the right parameters in my (very untrained eyes). So, because life usually works that way, I ended up not getting it (some shipping issues if I remember correctly). So I ended up with a Washburn guitar (with a Jackson Soloist inspired shape). This was the first hiccup in my SG journey.

Some years later, I am already becoming known as a guitar player in my group of friends, in my hometown and I got even to hang out with the cool kids in my highschool. What amazed me then and still does to this day is that I was able to find some people to start a band. One punk guy as a rhythm player, one punk guy as a bass and one metalhead on drums. And me on lead guitar (good old pentatonic bluesy riffs). So you can imagine the sounds we were making. But I'd rather suggest against that. Naturally, I got to experiment different guitars and guitar shapes in that period. Still, no SG in sight. Closest I came to the shape was a loosly-SG shaped Yamaha.

Cue some years later, college time. Away from home in a bigger city, in my first year of college (read "I still had some spare time"). Stars have aligned, mountains parted and one of the biggest music retailers in the country announced a contest. The gist of it was simple: they got social media exposure, and us, participants could win a pretty consistent (1k usd) voucher to use in their shop. So you had to take a photo, upload it and do a popularity contest on FB. So I had one of the best ideeas in my musical career up to that point and since: I borrowed a ring box from my then-girlfriend, took a guitar pick, placed it instead of the "ring" and went to the guitar shop to "propose". I told the clerk what my intentions were, I got his blessings to do so, he was also very happy with my ideea. So then, I had my first ever close up with the SG. I went for the Epiphones because due to limited budget thats what I associated SG's with. For the record I haven’t even laid one finger on the guitars. I guess I was starstruck (which is a very poetic way of saying I was embarrassed to take the picture and was severely panicking, so actually trying the guitar was out of my mind completely).I slowly initiate a kneeling intention when the guitar clerk stops me: "nah man, if you gonna do that its gonna be proper". So he went for the back of the store (top shelf stuff) and grabbed the Gibson SG. In black - as if a black SG is a recurring theme in my life. Propped it against a red chair covered in velvet. I took my picture and ran out of the shop. The picture got a few laughs but me not really understanding that the contest was for marketing purposes not for quirky ideas, I obviously came a triumphant second. So the SG eluded me again.

Add another 6 years to that experience, I just graduated but my guitar became only a bi-monthly pass-time in college. So, having the luxury of spare time again, I started re-learning what I never knew: chords, theory, mastering my scales, working on my timing, the lot. And things are ramping up again: new year, Epiphone launches their new line-up and I really feel like this is the year I finally can get my hands on an SG and it will be mine. But 2020 took the turn we all know. So for now, the idea got put on hold.

It is not a matter of getting one and ending the whole prelude anymore. Things got very personal and until the perfect moment will arise, I have still yet to wait to get an SG.

That's my SG story, hope it was "interesting enough for a fellow guitarist to read" - I really revisited some memories writing that.

Cheers!

edit: yay! today it worked. I just randomly tried again..

 

[Grizzlyman]

This is my second post here(it should’ve been but I got the error for spamming) so I used the opportunity to tell a story which, for now, has a very anticlimatic ending but I think is a good example of what amount of havoc a guitar shape can wreck into a young man's mind. Just for context, I am not in the US and electric guitars aren't as commonplace as you guys seem to have them.

Roughly around a decade ago, I was typical teenager ready to step on my journey of becoming a Slash-copycat, being cool and wooing women. So obviously the path I chose was that of the electric guitar. I never seen one up close (in my mind they were made out of empty metal) and the lack of music shops in my area forced me to pick my first ever electric guitar online. First one I fell in love with was a Harley Benton SG-copy. It was black. And cheap, with a bolt-on neck but the shape spoke to me so much. I felt it was "traditional" but refreshing, with its almost symmetrical cutaway and slab-like body. Not as bulky as a LP and not as utilitarian as a Strat or a Tele it had all the right parameters in my (very untrained eyes). So, because life usually works that way, I ended up not getting it (some shipping issues if I remember correctly). So I ended up with a Washburn guitar (with a Jackson Soloist inspired shape). This was the first hiccup in my SG journey.

Some years later, I am already becoming known as a guitar player in my group of friends, in my hometown and I got even to hang out with the cool kids in my highschool. What amazed me then and still does to this day is that I was able to find some people to start a band. One punk guy as a rhythm player, one punk guy as a bass and one metalhead on drums. And me on lead guitar (good old pentatonic bluesy riffs). So you can imagine the sounds we were making. But I'd rather suggest against that. Naturally, I got to experiment different guitars and guitar shapes in that period. Still, no SG in sight. Closest I came to the shape was a loosly-SG shaped Yamaha.

Cue some years later, college time. Away from home in a bigger city, in my first year of college (read "I still had some spare time"). Stars have aligned, mountains parted and one of the biggest music retailers in the country announced a contest. The gist of it was simple: they got social media exposure, and us, participants could win a pretty consistent (1k usd) voucher to use in their shop. So you had to take a photo, upload it and do a popularity contest on FB. So I had one of the best ideeas in my musical career up to that point and since: I borrowed a ring box from my then-girlfriend, took a guitar pick, placed it instead of the "ring" and went to the guitar shop to "propose". I told the clerk what my intentions were, I got his blessings to do so, he was also very happy with my ideea. So then, I had my first ever close up with the SG. I went for the Epiphones because due to limited budget thats what I associated SG's with. For the record I haven’t even laid one finger on the guitars. I guess I was starstruck (which is a very poetic way of saying I was embarrassed to take the picture and was severely panicking, so actually trying the guitar was out of my mind completely).I slowly initiate a kneeling intention when the guitar clerk stops me: "nah man, if you gonna do that its gonna be proper". So he went for the back of the store (top shelf stuff) and grabbed the Gibson SG. In black - as if a black SG is a recurring theme in my life. Propped it against a red chair covered in velvet. I took my picture and ran out of the shop. The picture got a few laughs but me not really understanding that the contest was for marketing purposes not for quirky ideas, I obviously came a triumphant second. So the SG eluded me again.

Add another 6 years to that experience, I just graduated but my guitar became only a bi-monthly pass-time in college. So, having the luxury of spare time again, I started re-learning what I never knew: chords, theory, mastering my scales, working on my timing, the lot. And things are ramping up again: new year, Epiphone launches their new line-up and I really feel like this is the year I finally can get my hands on an SG and it will be mine. But 2020 took the turn we all know. So for now, the idea got put on hold.

It is not a matter of getting one and ending the whole prelude anymore. Things got very personal and until the perfect moment will arise, I have still yet to wait to get an SG.

That's my SG story, hope it was "interesting enough for a fellow guitarist to read" - I really revisited some memories writing that.

Cheers!

edit: yay! today it worked. I just randomly tried again..

I love the story man, thanks for sharing!! I’m not in the USA either, and I’m left handed so choices are limited. However, I can say that I’ve bought many of the guitars in my collection without trying them before, actually most of them! So many people say you MUST try before you buy, I can say from experience that most of the time these days you can be fairly confident to buy something without playing it.
But... would I buy a NEW Gibson without trying it first? No!

 

[DaveSG]

You built that? From pallet wood?!?!
That thing looks amazing, I really can’t believe it! Those bevels are gorgeous, I see that you’ve gone for those 60s contours, they look amazing!
I’m gobsmacked!!!

Yeah, it was a fun build. I'm probably going to do a few more, out of limba (korina) this time. Everyone always hates on the vibrolas for their lack of tuning stability, but very few have experienced the stability of a vibrola combined with a neck-through body

 

[DaveSG]

This is my second post here(it should’ve been but I got the error for spamming) so I used the opportunity to tell a story which, for now, has a very anticlimatic ending but I think is a good example of what amount of havoc a guitar shape can wreck into a young man's mind. Just for context, I am not in the US and electric guitars aren't as commonplace as you guys seem to have them.

Roughly around a decade ago, I was typical teenager ready to step on my journey of becoming a Slash-copycat, being cool and wooing women. So obviously the path I chose was that of the electric guitar. I never seen one up close (in my mind they were made out of empty metal) and the lack of music shops in my area forced me to pick my first ever electric guitar online. First one I fell in love with was a Harley Benton SG-copy. It was black. And cheap, with a bolt-on neck but the shape spoke to me so much. I felt it was "traditional" but refreshing, with its almost symmetrical cutaway and slab-like body. Not as bulky as a LP and not as utilitarian as a Strat or a Tele it had all the right parameters in my (very untrained eyes). So, because life usually works that way, I ended up not getting it (some shipping issues if I remember correctly). So I ended up with a Washburn guitar (with a Jackson Soloist inspired shape). This was the first hiccup in my SG journey.

Some years later, I am already becoming known as a guitar player in my group of friends, in my hometown and I got even to hang out with the cool kids in my highschool. What amazed me then and still does to this day is that I was able to find some people to start a band. One punk guy as a rhythm player, one punk guy as a bass and one metalhead on drums. And me on lead guitar (good old pentatonic bluesy riffs). So you can imagine the sounds we were making. But I'd rather suggest against that. Naturally, I got to experiment different guitars and guitar shapes in that period. Still, no SG in sight. Closest I came to the shape was a loosly-SG shaped Yamaha.

Cue some years later, college time. Away from home in a bigger city, in my first year of college (read "I still had some spare time"). Stars have aligned, mountains parted and one of the biggest music retailers in the country announced a contest. The gist of it was simple: they got social media exposure, and us, participants could win a pretty consistent (1k usd) voucher to use in their shop. So you had to take a photo, upload it and do a popularity contest on FB. So I had one of the best ideeas in my musical career up to that point and since: I borrowed a ring box from my then-girlfriend, took a guitar pick, placed it instead of the "ring" and went to the guitar shop to "propose". I told the clerk what my intentions were, I got his blessings to do so, he was also very happy with my ideea. So then, I had my first ever close up with the SG. I went for the Epiphones because due to limited budget thats what I associated SG's with. For the record I haven’t even laid one finger on the guitars. I guess I was starstruck (which is a very poetic way of saying I was embarrassed to take the picture and was severely panicking, so actually trying the guitar was out of my mind completely).I slowly initiate a kneeling intention when the guitar clerk stops me: "nah man, if you gonna do that its gonna be proper". So he went for the back of the store (top shelf stuff) and grabbed the Gibson SG. In black - as if a black SG is a recurring theme in my life. Propped it against a red chair covered in velvet. I took my picture and ran out of the shop. The picture got a few laughs but me not really understanding that the contest was for marketing purposes not for quirky ideas, I obviously came a triumphant second. So the SG eluded me again.

Add another 6 years to that experience, I just graduated but my guitar became only a bi-monthly pass-time in college. So, having the luxury of spare time again, I started re-learning what I never knew: chords, theory, mastering my scales, working on my timing, the lot. And things are ramping up again: new year, Epiphone launches their new line-up and I really feel like this is the year I finally can get my hands on an SG and it will be mine. But 2020 took the turn we all know. So for now, the idea got put on hold.

It is not a matter of getting one and ending the whole prelude anymore. Things got very personal and until the perfect moment will arise, I have still yet to wait to get an SG.

That's my SG story, hope it was "interesting enough for a fellow guitarist to read" - I really revisited some memories writing that.

Cheers!

edit: yay! today it worked. I just randomly tried again..

Gotta say man, keep your eyes open for a good deal, and you can land a decent SG for cheap. I found a lefty SG Standard (in black) on Reverb for $600 - I was about to buy it, but someone grabbed before I could. Later, I picked up another SG Standard for under $400 because it had a headstock break. 25 cents worth of hot hide glue and a clamp, fixed. You get the look, the feel, the sound, the smell, the made-in-USA, etc. Headstock breaks don't affect tone, except in a few cases where people think their repaired guitar actually sound better.

Keep an eye out for an SG 'husk' or 'project' or 'broken', and watch some basic repair videos, determine your abilities/limitations, and go for it! All 3 of my Gibson SGs (71 Standard, 99 Standard, and 92 Special) have headstock repairs. Love them!

 

[DaveSG]

My first SG -

Back when I lived in Japan as a kid, they had these things called 'gomi piles', which are piles of stuff people don't want anymore and just start piling it up on the sidewalk. As more people add stuff, it keeps growing. Not trash - just stuff people don't want anymore. One of the things I found in the pile was a candy apple red strat called a 'Liverpool' - really cool guitar, and my first up-close encounter with a guitar. We later traded it for a Washburn bass guitar, with wild black/white rising sun motif. Then, when I was about 14 years old, we took it down to Freedom Guitar in San Diego, and looked at what they had on the wall. I remember Freedom Guitar, and a few other really cool guitar shops in downtown San Diego. I would go with friends, and I think my dad and I went looking a few times. I remember seeing a near mint 1969 SG Standard (at Freedom), for $1999, and a beat up (but wonderful looking) '67 Standard for $1700. Those were the days!

Well, we stumbled across a 1979 Gibson 'The SG', made out of walnut. I think the price was somewhere around $450 or so. We traded the bass + cash, and got the guitar. I cut my teeth playing that SG, and it was a wonderful guitar. Regrettably, I sold it (why?????), but if I ever see it again, I will instantly know if it was mine or not, because I put a gouge in the top of the headstock curve trying to do a 'cool' guitar hero move in the garage and the headstock of the guitar hit the garage door opener lol. Good times...great memories.

 

[voodoomin]

Gotta say man, keep your eyes open for a good deal, and you can land a decent SG for cheap. I found a lefty SG Standard (in black) on Reverb for $600 - I was about to buy it, but someone grabbed before I could. Later, I picked up another SG Standard for under $400 because it had a headstock break. 25 cents worth of hot hide glue and a clamp, fixed. You get the look, the feel, the sound, the smell, the made-in-USA, etc. Headstock breaks don't affect tone, except in a few cases where people think their repaired guitar actually sound better.

Keep an eye out for an SG 'husk' or 'project' or 'broken', and watch some basic repair videos, determine your abilities/limitations, and go for it! All 3 of my Gibson SGs (71 Standard, 99 Standard, and 92 Special) have headstock repairs. Love them!

Yeah thats definately an option to keep in mind. Ill first have to aquire a trained eye first to know what to look for in an SG (besides the subjective stuff) but yes you gave me quite a nice idea

 

[DaveSG]

Yeah thats definately an option to keep in mind. Ill first have to aquire a trained eye first to know what to look for in an SG (besides the subjective stuff) but yes you gave me quite a nice idea

If you look for an SG that had a headstock break, I always prefer 'unrepaired', as there is sometimes no way to determine the quality of a previous repair. Plus, they are usually cheaper as fewer people are willing to fix themselves and no-one wants to buy a guitar just to spend $150 on a headstock repair and still lose value. Also, another key thing is to look at the surface area of the break - breaks that go along with the grain tend to be decently flat and have good surface area = easy glue up. Breaks that cross through the grain line can be much more difficult (think of a break from the nut, straight down to the back of the neck) - very little surface area and harder to make strong.