Finally arrived today. Yeah I ordered it months ago. It's great - there are some similarities to the old book but some new stuff too. Some great pics. I highly recommend it to relive the passion. Thumbs up
wow last week i bought "the history of the guitar" book the one that has something to do with zakk wylde and was disappointed that they didn't mention the SG only one the 60s classic with the worst picture that they could find of tony iommi so i remembered that this book exist is this the one with tony iommi jaydee guitars ? i remember a member ( < lol) i think his name is moon something that jaydee asked if he could use the guitar that he's makin for him for the book ?
Got mine in the mail today, too. (On a Sunday?) Pre-ordered from amazon, they shipped it out the moment it was released (Friday), got mine Sunday. It's a Tony Bacon book, I usually enjoy what he does so I will be cracking this book open soon and will most likely enjoy it. And I know the book will make me play my SG more in the coming days.
Had mine pre-ordered a month ago and it came this morning! Love the quick Amazon shipping. Hope I like the book...
I got mine, and have had my nose in it periodically ever since. I like Tony Bacon's writing, and I believe he's British, so if he interviews more Englishmen with SGs he can be forgiven. Pictures are great. Lots of stuff we already know, but he organizes things well and explains the whole "Les Paul/SG" boondoggle fairly clearly (even if he dwells too long on it). I mean really, most SG players don't give a rip what Les Paul might think or say, and most SG players would like to have a book about SGs that never mentions Les Paul even once. I would anyway. I own two SGs that I bought new, and both of them shipped from Gibson with an "Owner's Manual" that is all about the Les Paul guitar, and never mentions the SG. *grrrr *shrugs All right, I haven't got too far into the text yet, eh? There's a couple pages of text about EC and The Fool, and the author sort of mentions in passing that there were LOTS of other musicians of the time who used SGs and played awesome music. But here on ETSG lots of us were bemoaning the fact that we didn't have an SG book to read, (Except John Bulli's book from the '80s which is a real snooze). Now we have Paul Balmer's "The Gibson SG Manual" which is also chock full of good how to info and excellent pictures, as well as a round up of famous players and an intro by Tony Iommi. And Tony Bacon writes good books and has access to an excellent library of memorable high quality pictures, so am I complaining? NO! I am happy with this. But we still need to band together and write "The Workingman's Book of the SG" which might not mention Les Paul anywhere, but might discuss the kind of SGs we all play, and the kind of gigs where SGs rule, and have a whole chapter on "Girls with SGs" (who are actually musicians) and interview them about why women like this model... and have a whole chapter on '70s SGs and what happened to the design then, and how these keep turning up in the hands of newbies, and have a whole chapter on Mod Fever and the results of that, and have a lot of links to the music of relatively unknown (but excellent) SG players, and have a whole chapter on Epiphanies and... How about a chapter on the kind of amps that bring out the best in SGs... get the picture?
All your ideas on your reply are great, but Les Paul would have to be mentioned at least briefly because the SG evolved because of him directly or indirectly. If one didn't know anything about the Gibson SG, and bought this yet-to-be-written book, this would be a critical point of the evolution of the SG that would not be available to the Newbie.
Received this today, just a quick look so far but two out of my three SGs seem to be rare enough to not even be mentioned: my 2006 SG Junior and my 2007 SG Special Faded Worn Yellow. The only colours it mentions for the Faded are cherry and brown. The fact that there were Juniors made in 2006 is not mentioned at all.
Started reading, but after ten minutes I was bored and prefered doing the dishes. But I found one interesting thing. The author is writing about a SG Studio in 1978. Something like 400 were produced. The description doesn't fit totally but somehow I am thinking of that mysterious lady. Any opinions?
anybody writing about the gibson sg should join & sniff around this site & ask pertinent questions...
All excellent points that would make a great Everyman's SG book. If anyone writes one, I'll buy it. BTW I've just finished TB's book and I thought it was a good if quick read. Lots of interesting models and variants that are unlikely to ever show up around here (New Zealand).
I'll try and answer this... I have three books dedicated to the SG, and keep them all for different reasons. Paul Balmer's book, "The Gibson SG Manual" is full of great photos, it's got a lot of nuts and bolts How-To information... setting up your SG, modding your SG, famous SG Players, as well as the introduction by Tony Iommi. So this book is good for players or newbies who can use a reference work and a guide to all the parts of the guitar and how they work. And who plays (or played) the SG, if that matters. Balmer is a real musician and recording producer, and he knows his stuff in his own sphere of influence. I own his books on the Les Paul, the Fender Bass, the Telecaster, the Strat, so I guess I'm a fan. Tony Bacon's book "The SG Guitar Book: 50 Years of Gibson's Stylish Solid Guitar" is more of a history of the guitar industry and the music business, and how the SG played its part in it all. Bacon is a good writer, but not a musician like Paul Balmer is...his sphere of influence is way different. Tony Bacon has access to a wonderful library of pictures of famous players of SGs... also he has wonderful photos of SGs of all time periods... so his book is worth the price just for the pictures IMHO. He can call up Eric Clapton for an interview, and Eric will allow it. The only other book dedicated to the SG that I know of is by John Bulli... The title is "Guitar History, Volume 2, Gibson SG." If you want one that covers the Norlin years, this is it. It was published in 1989. But don't expect praise for the Norlin era guitars. Bulli explains in painful detail just how wonky they were. Norlin era SGs suffered from a bad reputation for decades, because of the arbitrary and often pointless changes to the design that were made in those times. Gibson/Norlin had to be forced, by lack of sales... to restore the SG (and the Les Paul) to their original design... and it took them years and years to do it. So a lot of those old dogs are out there, and many have been modded/butchered mercilessly by owners trying to correct their flaws. So you can buy them for smaller money than most 'Vintage" guitars. But what are they worth? They are worth what you can make while playing your music with one. It's only in recent years that people remember that a lot of great music was played and recorded on those old Norlin SGs. So they have been rehabilitated in the public opinion in maybe the last five years. And for those who are convinced that new Gibsons are crap and only the old ones are cool, the '70s SGs offer the only 'affordable' vintage guitar. THAT'S BECAUSE THEY WERE PANNED SO THOROUGHLY by the cork sniffers of the past, of course. *shrugs. Me, I believe there are good ones and bad ones... and there are members of this forum who will confirm that. And I have two new SGs that are the best of all my guitars... so I'm happy and don't need to fuss over old warhorses. Because it's true for the new ones too... there are good ones and bad ones. Fortunately, the good ones out number the bad ones in all the time periods. So Gibson remains a good bet, but always play it before you buy it. That was true back in the 60s and 70s, and it's true now.
