"Back in Black…and Heritage Cherry! The Gibson SG Standard rocks the
classic looks and features associated with the late 60's style SG models
sought after by many. A rounded profile mahogany neck, bound rosewood
fingerboard, long tenon 19th fret neck joint, and a solid mahogany body
provide the backbone for singing sustain. The 490R and 490T Alnico II
pickups provide the power to drive. A black, 5-ply, full-face pickguard set
this SG Standard apart from others... a truly versatile classic."
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After
buying my SG Junior and being quite happy with it, I started eyeing the
Original Collection SG with the stopbar tailpiece. This wasn't too long
after I dropped the Phat Cats into the Les Paul Traditional so I thought about
getting a new SG Standard and putting Phat Cats into it. And I thought about
getting the OC SG and putting Phat Cats into that. Also, I was missing my
old SG Classic so I thought I could convert this into a Special since they
have pickguards already cut out with the proper P90 spacing. Decisions,
decisions.
I thought if I'm going to modify a guitar, I may as well go with the cheaper
model in case something goes sideways, so I opted for the Standard even
though I'm not a fan of the big pickguard. As far as colour selection, I
went with black because I already have two in cherry. The 490s that come
with these couldn't have hit the garbage can fast enough.
It's light. I'm not sure if most of them are like that but it's great. I
think it might be the lightest guitar I own. And the neck is great. It's not
a slim taper neck but a nice, rounded neck profile, so maybe I would have
been let down with the OC SG.
Modifications didn't go as planned at first. I had a look under the
pickguard and after being amazed at how shoddy the routing/wood working was
(see below), I saw there wasn't a big "swimming pool" route so I couldn't
just get P90s and a P90 pickguard and have a Special, so I ordered a set of
Phat Cats. I do want to say that I'm not a "single-coil snob". The reason I
did it was because, at the time, I already have an SG with humbuckers. If I prefer a
single coil, it's only because the pick attack comes out better than a
humbucker so you have to be a bit more articulate with the right hand. The
trade off is single coils sound nasally compared to humbuckers. And the hum.
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Once the Phat Cats came in, and as I was about to replace the pickups, I got
another surprise: it's a QuickConnect system. This wasn't advertised at all. That would be great if they only made after market QuickConnect pickups. It
took a little longer for the Emerson wiring kit to come in but in one fun
evening, I got the pots and pickups replaced. I know, money-wise, I should
have just went with the '61 by then.
For those new to SGs, use a Les Paul style front pickup ring for the back
pickup. Because of the flat body and neck angle, the pickups don't sit
level. The front pickup you can recess so it's not too weird looking but the
angled pickup ring straightens the back pickup out. The reason you have to
use the front pickup ring is because it's smaller and sits at a good height
when on top of the pickguard. You might be able to get away with a back
pickup ring if you replace the pickguard with a 1 ply guard. I didn't put a
ring around the front pickup because a ring's top left edge would hang over
the pickguard and it would look silly.
Later, it got the zero fret installed and I put the pointers on the volume
and tone knobs. And then I replaced the screws on the pickguard with black
ones. It just makes a nice difference.
The most recent change to this guitar was replacing the pickups again (July
'22). Since I have the Iommi SG Special now, this guitar doesn't have to be
a Special Wannabe anymore. Now there's a BurstBucker 1 in the neck position,
and a 59 something or other in the bridge and that's the pickup that came
out of my Les Paul Traditional.
I bought a trippy brown swirl pickguard from Greasy Groove a couple of
months ago and it's a good thing I didn't set up the pickups in that first
because, surprise, the screw holes didn't line up. Christ, I'm tired of
replacement pickguards never being a replacement. I can understand that from
an overseas company since they stricly use metric but I don't think I could
excuse a Canadian company, and not at $40 a pop.
I guess it all worked out
because what I was really looking for was a single ply black pickguard. Those are harder to find online than Hoffa's body (and the screwholes would
probably be in the wrong place anyways) so I got a black Sharpie out and coloured
the pickguard sides. Looks good from far away and close up.
| Changes: Pickups: Seymore Duncan Phat Cats, Emerson pots, ZeroFret, black screws, pickups again: BB1 in neck position, 59 in bridge position, Sharpie'd the pickguard edges.  |
2020 Gibson SG Standard (Black)
Serial No: 205100338 Price paid: $1800 Cnd; Bought new 2020; SSC Body Body Type: Solidbody Body; Shape: SG Standard Body Material: Mahogany Body (3 piece); Finish: Gloss Nitrocellulose Lacquer; Color: Ebony Neck Neck Material: Mahogany Neck Shape: Rounded Neck Joint: Set Neck Radius: 12"; Fingerboard Material: Rosewood; Fingerboard Inlay: Acrylic Trapezoids; Number of Frets: 22, Medium; Scale Length: 24.75" Nut Width: 1.695"; Nut Material: GraphTech Hardware Bridge/Tailpiece: Nashville Tune-O-Matic with Stopbar Tuners: Grover Rotomatics Electronics Neck Pickup: 490R Humbucker; Bridge Pickup: 490T Humbucker Controls: 2 x volume, 2 x tone Switching: 3-way toggle pickup switch Miscellaneous Strings Gibson, .010-.046 Case/Gig Bag Softshell Case Manufacturer Part Number: SGS00EBCH1  |