I finished my restoration of a '65 standard (http://www.tdpri.com/threads/rebuilding-a-65-sg.776592). I still need to replace the case lining, but the guitar is done:
Wow! That’s the perfect balance of perfect condition with some slight checkering. Like when you see a bombshell of a honey walking down the road, the. Get closer and realize she has some crows feet. But still hot as all hell
Incredible work! Very inspiring to me as an aspiring builder. Looking at more SGs of that era, it's not uncommon for the lower bevel to not end as neatly as has become the standard with SGs since then.
Man, I wish I had a picture of my vintage SG but I never took any and it was destroyed in a car wreck. I bought it for $200 in 1984 or '85 when I was in high school. Shop owner told me it was a 1968 and I took his word for it. 12 or 15 ears later just before it was destroyed I discovered it was a 1961 SG Special. I am enjoying all the SG p0rn here with a wee bit of nostalgia tinged with some sadness. It was kind of similar to that warm brown, not the cherry red. And the neck! oh that neck profile! It was perfect! Someone had ripped out the original pickups and replaced them with some humbuckers, maybe T-tops, I dunno. So it wasn't 100% original but that was the only change. It had what I think was the original case, kind of faux alligator patterned with blue velvet lining inside. Man, I loved playing that rock monster! I've been playing strats since and there are things I love about them but you just can't unleash the rock and roll kraken in a twangy strat. I just finally decided "enough crying, go get another SG but vintage was not in the cards this time unless I can find that same guitar dealer working somewhere still. Anyway, my new 2018 SG Special with the mini humbuckers is on the way, in the meantime I'll soak up all 23 pages of this awesome thread!
Thanks syscokid. It's hard to imagine that when I was in high school I was jamming with kids who thought I had the crappiest rig because it was old fashioned with no tremolo, a sort of plain looking wood grain that wasn't very shiny and just wasn't as sweet (in their view) as their shiny new Kramer clone with the locking tremolo which was certified hair-metal ready. Truthfully I didn't even know what an SG was when I went into that store but I had $250ish bucks and wanted something cool, dude showed me the SG and I fell in love with that devil horn shape and the overall look of it. And hell, it was a Gibson, a real Gibson! nobody in my sophomore class had one of them! I thought I'd be the big man on campus when I took that out of the case but everyone was like "oh, did you find that at a yard sale of something? Maybe you can get a nice new guitar some day." Funny how perspectives change!
1962 Les Paul / SG. It was drilled for a stop bar long before I got it. I have the original sideways vibrola though.
That's a beauty. Some SGs of that era have that iconic cherry red thing going on and others have a warm brown with more subtle hints of red like your photo shows, more satin than glossy. I wonder if that's a case of it fading somehow or if there were really different finishes used. I love that natural stained mahogany look yours has, it's a lovely guitar and looks to be in amazing and nearly completely original shape (and really well preserved on top of that!). I only wish I could hear it. Thanks for sharing it with us. Oh yeah, you have many cool pairs of shoes too
I love that shade of blue, really nice. The finish looks very well preserved for a guitar of that age. Honestly, it looks like it just rolled off the factory floor. Incredible condition. I've never really gotten to hear an SG junior like that in person but I notice that many people seem to really appreciate them so I hope to some day get a shot to hear one for myself. Anyway, your's is a head turner for sure!
What an amazing restoration! Just went through the TDPRI thread and I'm totally amazed at your skills and patience throughout the process. Hat off to you!
It is really faded there's also a lot of checking. The back is more cherry looking. Some of the cherry can be made out where the sideways vibrola used to be.
