The Gibson SG Electric Guitar – 10 Interesting Facts
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011The Gibson SG electric guitar ended up being remarkably popular throughout its years of construction. The layout of the guitar with its Gothic looking horns as well as the flat top would not be to everyone’s liking, and this was undoubtedly the issue with a certain Mr Les Paul. With that said, the Gibson SG became very popular in numerous styles of music resulting from its biting, no-nonsense sound.
Following next are 10 excellent facts about the Gibson SG:
1. The guitar was unveiled by Gibson in 1961 and has continued to be made since that date.
2. The guitar evolved on account of the decline in the sales of the Les Paul shape. The Les Paul design was handed an all mahogany body and a flat top and additionally the important double cutaway. This innovative Les Paul was finally renamed the SG model due to Les Paul himself not liking the new style of the guitar carrying his name.
3. The SG by and large features an all mahogany body and neck. The neck is a more shallow design than that of a Les Paul standard.
4. The guitar in addition utilised two humbucker guitar pickups and a Tune-o-matic bridge set up, although a few very special models would have featured a tremolo system.
5. A larger ‘bat winged’ style pick guard was launched in 1967 to replace the original smaller sized version.
6. The SG acquired a reputation for being neck heavy as a result of its thin mahogany body, which actually was much less heavy than that of a Les Paul guitar.
7. Eminent SG players include: Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix’s cream three pickup SG currently resides in Orlando’s Hard Rock Cafe.
8. The scale of a mahogany neck is 24.75″ and is connected to the body at the 19th fret. The double cutaway enabled much easier access to the high notes.
9. Guitarist Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath promotes this kind of guitar and the ones that bear his signature have religious crosses inlaid into the fret board instead of the stock block inlays.
10. A double-neck variety of this model of guitar was also produced by Gibson utilising 12 string and 6 string necks. Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page famously played this double-neck version of the guitar when playing live at various phases throughout his career.
So there you have it, 10 fascinating facts about this fantastic guitar. Not all guitars achieve legendary status but the Gibson SG model is certainly one that does. It’s been with us for many years and no doubt will continue to attract guitarists of all playing styles for some years to come.
