Ye Olde Brown SG Club

Beautiful as always, Michael... Maybe I should ship you some jarrah and see what you can do with that... It's hard and dense like ebony, but with a lovely reddish brown heartwood. Absolutely beautiful...
 
My wife's cousin has a bush property about 2 1/2 hours drive south of me. And he has loads of jarrah down there. He makes coffee tables etc out of the jarrah burl.
Here's what the burl looks like:
image.jpeg
When its lacquered and polished it's absolutely gorgeous.
 
Col Mustard said:
The foil job is nicely done, but what I love is the tone and grain of the wood on that new SG.
That is absolutely gorgeous.
Click to expand...

I agree. The grain and color is very rich. Its one of best looking I have seen...but its the thick neck, the bendability of the strings on the 24-3/4" scale, how effortless step and a half bends can be performed, the tuning and intonation stability that made me keep it...
 
you can seek long and far for one guitar that combines all those virtues.
once you find one, it's worth working on to bring it up to your standards.
Just my humble opinion of course.

I never had an SG until 2008, but played other instruments. I was blown away
by my faded special in '08, and I haven't changed my mind. I have two SGs
now and am content to play them. Just a classic design... it does everything I
know how to ask of it.
 
Col Mustard said:
you can seek long and far for one guitar that combines all those virtues.
once you find one, it's worth working on to bring it up to your standards.
Just my humble opinion of course.

I never had an SG until 2008, but played other instruments. I was blown away
by my faded special in '08, and I haven't changed my mind. I have two SGs
now and am content to play them. Just a classic design... it does everything I
know how to ask of it.
Click to expand...

This has been a leap of faith, to some degree, with the Gibson. I really have no idea if this latest venture will end in success or failure...The wire harness had to be custom made. Tone Man (Gary Standerfer) built one to my control cavity dimensions. The ground runs around the inside of the pots and the K40Y Russian Mil-Surplus PIO caps ( a .033uf on the bridge and a .015uf on the neck) are tucked between the pots.

I finished the bridge pickup today...hand wound from a Stewie-Mac kit, with a Gibson nickel cover and the old school, 2 conductor wiring with a braid. It ended up spec'ing out at 7.6k. The neck pickup still needs to be wound and it will end up around 7.0k when finished.
 
Col Mustard said:
you can seek long and far for one guitar that combines all those virtues.
once you find one, it's worth working on to bring it up to your standards.
Just my humble opinion of course.

I never had an SG until 2008, but played other instruments. I was blown away
by my faded special in '08, and I haven't changed my mind. I have two SGs
now and am content to play them. Just a classic design... it does everything I
know how to ask of it.
Click to expand...

I have also realized how much more I like the 1987 squire with its compliment of dual humbuckers. Much more tonally pleasing than before....I personally detest Stratocaster tone, but must admit, I find it to be a most comfortable body shape....and I think I have the EFI situation on the run...

Strat H-H PAF's.jpg
 
Now that, my friend is a real beauty. The '73 has earned it's brown tone the hard way
and the long way. What a cool looking guitar. it looks like it's in good shape for being
44 years old.

This one is what the "faded brown" SGs are trying to resemble. Welcome to the Tone Rooms.
 
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chilipeppermaniac said:
sgsandamps-jpg.2380


Perfect picture,,,,,,,,,,,, especially the brown SGs and brown VV amp
Click to expand...


Tony, your two brown beauties were missing in this thread!

Btw, about your stripped custom early 60s SG: you said you got it already stripped of the original finish, but is it sprayed with a thick filler and nitro or does it resemble a "faded" finish, I mean, like just a thin nitro coat and you can feel the grain underneath as in an SG special faded?
 
Another update:

My SG had a hairthin crack in the fretboard, going through a whole inlay and underneath a fret.

Looking at it in an angle I noticed it and returned it.

Last monday I received a brand new one, just alike, from Gibson.

Here it is:

FC575EEE-6FF8-47EC-9C0F-412E66B12ABE_zpsqolekjyu.jpg


The good side of the story: this one actuallysounds better all around, and came in a Canadian made case, which is often deemed better than the Costa Rican ones (I couldn't tell the difference, but this one has a sticker with a maple leaf :D )

The bad side: the one I returned had tone pros Klusons, this one has Gibson Deluxe green tulips, which people often bash on. I can't see any performance difference. These do look like nose goo, but hell, this is a workhorse guitar, not a display item.

And it has a fretboard made of a slightly lighter shade of baked maple. But lemon oil and elbow grease will darken it soon enough.
 
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A lot. It's good, actually. Maple is a great wood for necks and fretboards, thing is just the color when itcomes to classic guitars that have a history withrosewood, but....
 
I wouldn't fuss too much about the tuners. Gibson makes excellent guitars, in spite of yours
having a crack. I'd give the tuners (and the whole guitar) a workout before paying attention to any Gibson bashing.
And actually, I never pay any attention to Gibson bashing anyway. It's mostly blowing smoke.

I've replaced many a set of tuners... and so I believe that lots of guitarists do this because they CAN do it.
All you need is a screw driver. The Gibson snot-green tuners are traditional, man. The only reason to change them
is if they don't stay in tune. And if you use the self locking method of installing strings, you save yourself the cost
of replacing tuners. *grins

I'm surprised to hear that Gibson is using the Baked Maple again, but it's probably what we can expect... as supplies
of fine rosewood and ebony become harder to get, for political reasons or because the market prices rise.
Brazilian guitar makers are blessed with the best rosewood in the world... and Gibson has to leap through many hoops
to get any... if they ever do. (I don't think they do).

I believe that what drives the market prices of tropical tone woods up up up... is the economic muscle
of the Chinese Middle Class. Millions of people in China are feeling more prosperous,
and they all want nice cabinets made of rosewood and mahogany etc... The supplies needed for guitars are very small
by comparison IMHO.

I have a baked maple fretboard on my 2012 SG special, and I like it a lot. It's hard and smooth, and the SG neck
is fast and comfortable. I oiled mine with Fret Doctor, and it darkened up nicely. When new, it was a reddish brown,
actually a lovely color. But in 2012, guitarists didn't know what to make of the substitution of Baked Maple for
Rosewood, and they refused to buy this year class. All that means now is that I got a great marked down price on an
excellent SG. *grins So I'm happy. My 2012 SG special also came stock with Tone Pros tuners, marked Gibson Deluxe.
So those are staying, IMHO those 'Gorilla-Snot" colored tuners might be the best in the world.

Anyway, I'm glad that Gibson treated you properly, and gave you a better guitar. Play the hell out of it, and then
return and report.
 
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