Gibson SG is the perfect slide machine.

That's one I ain't got. Closest I come is a Chinese Firefly I bought for giggles, and dropped in a set of Duncan Pearly Gates. Plays and sounds great, but I don't play it much anymore.
 
Big guard is generally a 50s rounded neck.
Small guard is generally a slim taper neck.
This generally applies to all standard SG models after 2012.
Other models will have individual specs.
Sorry…working right now…
I have four different models from 81(ish) to 2012.
 
Small pick guard, Gibson '57 Classic pickups. Look for a 2013. It's like a '61 Reissue without the price.
The one on the left is a '61 Les Paul Tribute. I bought it new in '13. It's quite a good guitar. My only complaint is that after they plek'd the frets, they never crowned or finished them. I had to do all that myself. Somewhere in the Luthiers section is a thread I created when I did that.

Cipollina and Reissue_Resized.jpeg
 
Big guard is generally a 50s rounded neck.
Small guard is generally a slim taper neck.
This generally applies to all standard SG models after 2012.
Other models will have individual specs.
Sorry…working right now…
I have four different models from 81(ish) to 2012.
Truth be told, throughout the years (here or elsewhere) I've read enough to know that some players struggle with neck profiles.
I have small hands, but I have never encountered a neck profile that I couldn't ever handle. Guitar necks are like the neck of a woman that require a gentle touch.
Thanks, Don! Show me your SGs whenever you have time. (y)
 
The one on the left is a '61 Les Paul Tribute. I bought it new in '13. It's quite a good guitar. My only complaint is that after they plek'd the frets, they never crowned or finished them. I had to do all that myself. Somewhere in the Luthiers section is a thread I created when I did that.
I haven't read that old thread of yours. I'll search for it. Nonetheless, it's quite disturbing that you had to crown and finish the frets.
 
Truth be told, throughout the years (here or elsewhere) I've read enough to know that some players struggle with neck profiles.
I have small hands, but I have never encountered a neck profile that I couldn't ever handle. Guitar necks are like the neck of a woman that require a gentle touch.
Thanks, Don! Show me your SGs whenever you have time. (y)

There are pretty much two style profiles for SGs. From '61 until sometime in mid '66, they had a wide fingerboard that was usually around 1.68-1.70" wide with a slim profile. It was very thin at the nut.

Sometime in '66 after some of the changes to the heel, the nut was narrowed to 1.625", and the neck itself had a much rounder and thicker profile. My '68 SG Junior has a neck like a baseball bat. From '66 nothing really changed until the mid eighties or so. When Gibson finally started to listen to customers, they started introducing models that were close (but not enough) to what people wanted. It wasn't until the late 1990s or 2000s that Gibson put half the effort into SGs that they put into Les Pauls. With smaller hands, you'd probably like the profile that's on my '69 Standard. Even though the neck has a certain amount of roundness or heft, because the fingerboard is narrower it fits comfortably in one's hand.

But then, I like to fret with my index and middle finger behind the slide, so the wider fingerboard is better for that sort of stuff.


I likes dem es jeez too…

View attachment 107491

I always have wondered what makes the SG so appealing to slide players!

One of my '69 Standards was always my go-to slide guitar. It had the same power as the Les Paul I liked to use, but with easier high fret access. My Firebird was my other favorite slide guitar for the same reason. You could easily slide up to the middle of the pickups without any real efforet.
 
The one on the left is a '61 Les Paul Tribute. I bought it new in '13. It's quite a good guitar. My only complaint is that after they plek'd the frets, they never crowned or finished them. I had to do all that myself. Somewhere in the Luthiers section is a thread I created when I did that.

View attachment 107490
How did you come by the John Cippolina version on the right?
 
There are pretty much two style profiles for SGs. From '61 until sometime in mid '66, they had a wide fingerboard that was usually around 1.68-1.70" wide with a slim profile. It was very thin at the nut.

Sometime in '66 after some of the changes to the heel, the nut was narrowed to 1.625", and the neck itself had a much rounder and thicker profile. My '68 SG Junior has a neck like a baseball bat. From '66 nothing really changed until the mid eighties or so. When Gibson finally started to listen to customers, they started introducing models that were close (but not enough) to what people wanted. It wasn't until the late 1990s or 2000s that Gibson put half the effort into SGs that they put into Les Pauls. With smaller hands, you'd probably like the profile that's on my '69 Standard. Even though the neck has a certain amount of roundness or heft, because the fingerboard is narrower it fits comfortably in one's hand.

But then, I like to fret with my index and middle finger behind the slide, so the wider fingerboard is better for that sort of stuff.




One of my '69 Standards was always my go-to slide guitar. It had the same power as the Les Paul I liked to use, but with easier high fret access. My Firebird was my other favorite slide guitar for the same reason. You could easily slide up to the middle of the pickups without any real efforet.
Thanks for that! Neck profiles or thickness aren't problematic for me. However, having small hands and short fingers have been (at times) problematic when playing wide neck classical guitars and 12 string guitars.

If I do buy myself an SG, it's probably best that I test play a few at (God forbid) Guitar Center or place a custom order with Gibson.
 
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