Need Help identifying my SG

[Gritter63]

Hi All;

I am glad I found this forum, because I have a Gibson SG that I bought in a pawn shop in them mid 90's that I would like to identify. It has a mahogony body, rosewood fretboard, pearl dot inlays, 22 frets, the Gibson logo is a pearlized inlay with the closed "b" and closed "o". The guitars serial number is 904225 and is burned into the wood at the top of the pegboard, just above the "Made In USA ", which as the "Made In" over the "USA" and is also burned into the wood.

This guitar has two pickups, both of which are black. The pickup closest to the neck has a single row of silver screws on the half of the pickup closest to the neck, and is about half the height of the other pickup. The other pickup has the single row of silver screws on the half of the pickup closest to the bridge. These appear to be Humbucker pickups. The bridge is an adjustable bridge, with slotted adjustment screwheads on both sides of the bridge. The bridge itself is chrome, but the slides that the strings run over appear to be some other material. This guitar has a Bigsby-style vibrato with the Gibson name on it.

There are 4 speed knobs, and a three-way "rythm/treble" switch with a black cap. The cord connector is on the top of the guitar, right behind the speed knobs, near the bottom of the guitar.

The neck is not bolted on, and the strap connector is on the back of the guitar just below where the neck joins the body. The tuning pegs are obviously aftermarket pegs, as I can see the holes in the back of the pegboard where the original tuning pegs were attached.

OK, that's about as much of a description of this guitar as I can give verbally. I dont know if it is possible to post pictures to this message board, but if it is, and someone will tell me how to do it, I will post them.

Thanks for your help. I have stumped all the local experts, so I'm hoping someone here knows what kind of SG this is.

Gritter63

Edit: OK, I opened a Photobucket account. Here are some pictures

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc210001a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc210002a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc210014a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc210003a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc210006a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc210013a.jpg

 

[ess]

early 70s special?

man these numbers do my head in. i gotta learn it oneday.

the made in usa means a 70s job. but i work the numbers out to be a 68??
what the......... :roll:

 

[Gritter63]

ESS;

Thanks for your timely response. Check out the pics I just posted and see if they tell you anything more.

Gritter63

 

[Sgmaniac]

Gritter, can you post a picture of the back of the head stock? Is there a volute? What are the pot codes (numbers on top of pots)? I love a mystery and this is a big one!! 8)

 

[Six String]

Welcome to ETSG, Gritter63!

 

[CharlieB]

Thats an SG-II from about 73/74ish I believe... in walnut too.

Plastic covered mini-hums... and a Bigsby ... man I always wanted one of those when I was in high school.

 

[Gritter63]

SGManiac;


Here are 3 more pics of the back of the headstock and the electricals. The numbers on the pots are 70-027 and 1377303.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc230018a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc230020a.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/gritter63/Pc230025a.jpg

Charlie:

An SGII, eh? I figured it was from the early 70's, based on my serial number research, but the pick guard threw me. I thought it might be a Les Paul style pick guard. That, plus the Bigsby, had me in a quandry. I am somewhat of a wood nut, and I thought the wood was walnut also, but all the "experts" I showed it to here said it was mahogany. Apparently, I am surrounded by fools

Now for the obvious next question: Is this guitar worth anything? I havent been playing for several years, and this poor baby is sitting in an ill-fitting hard case thinking bad thoughts of me. I have thought about liberating it to a good home.

Thanks for the info.

Gritter63

 

[Sgmaniac]

Gritter, I think Charlie nailed it. It's a very cool guitar, but those cracks will devalue it a bit. Norlin era (70's) guitars don't fetch as much money as other Gibson's typically. Put it on Ebay and you might get $700 - $800, but I'm just guessing here. The only way to really know is to try it! 8)

 

[ess]

guys its not an SGII, they got top cavitys.

i still think this is an early 70s special. like mine, without the block inlays. the blocks were sort of a limited run. pick guard is the same and the pups.

the bigsby is a mystery still.,have to snoop around a bit to see if they made a run with em.,


heres mine for comparison. 1973 special.

 

[Sgmaniac]

His has a bound neck as well Ess. 8)

 

[ess]

yup

 

[ess]

heres a job with a bigs. got it down as an SG200 1972... no bound neck though.....

 

[CharlieB]

Its walnut COLORed mahogany.....

There's a picture of a brouchure and it features one... in the main webpage

 

[CharlieB]

And I stand corrected! Its the special... not the II

 

[ess]

cool! still leaves the binding though :o

 

[Sgmaniac]

Maybe it was custom ordered?

 

[CharlieB]

I dunno ... look at the neck binding in the pics.. its thin... and look a the catalog... it may be showing some thin binding on the special. Note: the catalog doesn't mention binding even on the custom... so who can say.

 

[alazary]

Maybe its a 70's Deluxe.. on harmony central i read revies on the 98 deluxe and found alot of reviews for gibsons with bibson stamped bigsby's.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Guitar/Data4/Gibson/SG-Deluxe-01.html

 

[alazary]

gibson stamped bigsby's.*******

 

[markos]

Yeah, Ess is right that it's a 1972 Special. In John Bulli's book he's got a picture of one just like this (including the bound neck, I believe), and he shows it as a '72. This one was used in the 1973 catalogs, but already by then Gibson had gone to unbound necks with block inlays, like Ess'. I suspect that the Bigsby option was discontinued at the same time.

-Markos.