Gibson SG
The Gibson SG is a popular model of solid-bodied electric guitar that was introduced in the early 1960's. In 1960, Gibson Les Paul sales were significantly lower than they had been in
previous years, so in 1961 the model was given a completely new body style that was thinner and had two sharp cutaway horns that
made the upper frets more accessible. The neck joint was also moved up about three frets. It was felt the new design could compete
with the popular Fender Stratocaster, another benefit being lower production costs than that of the previous model due to the one
piece body and flat top. The guitar was advertised as having the "fastest neck in the world," due to its slender neck profile and
virtually non-existent heel.
The new Les Paul was popular, but Les Paul himself did not care for it and asked to have his name
removed from it. Gibson renamed the model the 'SG' which was short for 'solid guitar.' Even though Les Paul's name was officially
removed from the model in 1961, the plastic Les Paul nameplates (positioned between the rhythm pickup and fingerboard) were in
abundance in the Gibson factory and SG models having these nameplates were built and sold by Gibson up to the end of 1963.
Physically, the SG has a shallower body than the Gibson Les Paul, and thus is much lighter; the neck profile is also typically
shallower, although this varies from year to year and guitar to guitar. The body is usually made entirely of mahogany (notable
exceptions are the Swamp Ash SG Special, the Swamp Ash bodied SG Voodoo, the 2009 Raw Power, and some walnut bodied 1970s models),
and does not have the curved, maple top section of the earlier design; neither does it have the accompanying body binding.
Probably the most striking visual difference is that the SG is a double-cutaway guitar. The standard SG shares the basic pickup and
control layout (twin humbuckers with dedicated tone and volume controls, three position selector switch) with the standard Les Paul.
The three main variations on the basic Les Paul design (Special, Jr., Custom) also had equivalent SG models. The neck is joined on
the 19th fret just like a Gibson ES 335 where as the Les Paul is joined at the 15th fret like an early Gibson ES 330 thus making the
SG much easier to access the upper register of the fretboard. The SG has a tendency to be top heavy, meaning that the head feels
heavy compared to the relatively light body. There are also some 24-fret editions of the SG, such as the Diablo limited edition,
while all Les Pauls have 22 frets.
Eric Clapton used a 1964 Gibson SG Standard starting in 1967 while in Cream. This guitar was known as the Fool guitar, as it was
painted by the Dutch artists, known collectively as The Fool. In spring 1968, the SG was loaned to Jackie Lomax, a companion of
George Harrison. The "Fool" was later sold to Todd Rundgren for $500 before eventually being sold to a private collector for about
$500,000.
John Cipollina was an accomplished luthier as well as a player and heavily customized two of his SGs. The entire bodies were bound,
and the rhythm pickup mounting was reversed so the screws were closer to the neck. The four volume and tone controls had Mercury-head
dimes glued to their tops (continuing the Quicksilver theme), they were wired in stereo with separate outputs for the two pickups,
and he replaced the Gibson Vibrolas with Bigsby B-5 vibrato assemblies. One of the SGs had a very elaborate set of plastic designs,
with a large bat-wing replacing the small-size pickguard; this one also had added and embellished inlays in the neck. The other did
not have inlays and had a more modest set of plastic art on its face, though with the same bat-wing design as its brother.
Angus Young of AC/DC plays an SG; he has said that he's always loved the look of the style, possibly because the two cutaway points at
the top of the body resemble a devil's horns. Gibson has produced an Angus Young Signature SG model.