NGD: Gibson SG Special Aged Cherry with Short Vibrola.
- Thread starter Mr Grumpy
- Start date
OP
Mr Grumpy
Ambassador of Comings and Goings
Ya better quit showin your old JR cause its makin that New SG look bad. Nice dog by the way
I should never have sold that junior...
Gibson's light lacquer vintage cherry is my favourite colour because it looks great and shows the wood really well.
stringtree
Well-Known Member
Ya better quit showin your old JR cause its makin that New SG look bad. Nice dog by the way
Yea, I'm even jones for the old one... and I didn't own the darn thing!
stringtree
Well-Known Member
They still make these also,just sayin
On the red SG's particularly, that wood grain poppin through is just the bees knees! :dood:
I agree with what you said. Mine too for that light lacquer vintage cherry wood poppin detail!! :dood: :dood: :dood:
What made ya pull the trigger on this one...
Mind ya, nothing wrong with this new one....
OP
Mr Grumpy
Ambassador of Comings and Goings
When I saw the picture below, I thought it'd be a similar thin lacquer to the vintage cherry.
^ there's plenty of "wood poppin detail" there, looks great.
Mine just has thicker lacquer than I was expecting... It's actually not as bad as in the photos because of the artificial light; it's kinda in the middle - you can see the wood and it does look nice, but it feels to me that they poured the lacquer too think on this one which is probably why the guitar is pretty heavy (?). When you see that the serial number is hard to read then it kinda suggests somebody poured too much lacquer.
I'll take some pictures in natural light tomorrow and see if I can get some better shots. I just had a good look at mine, and it's much nicer than the pictures here - the grain does show through and it does look nice, but I haven't captured that in the pictures.
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syscokid
Ambassador of War & Peace
Me likely, very muchie... 
... though I can see why you prefered the Juniors finish over the Special. Perhaps you can send your Special over to @eSGEe, and he could give it a serious turbo junk rub to thin down the laquer of it.
I'm assuming that the bridge P90s are the same on both guitars? Can you remember enough about the Junior and compare the pickup distance to the strings on both guitars?
Is the resistance of the volume pots the same too?
... though I can see why you prefered the Juniors finish over the Special. Perhaps you can send your Special over to @eSGEe, and he could give it a serious turbo junk rub to thin down the laquer of it.I'm assuming that the bridge P90s are the same on both guitars? Can you remember enough about the Junior and compare the pickup distance to the strings on both guitars?
Is the resistance of the volume pots the same too?
SG‘s 
Cadorman
Ambassador of the Catocaster
It's white with a black batwing. My brother still has it hanging on a wall. I'm trying to get him to send me a picture.
Amp Mad Scientist
Ambassador of Heresy
gball
Ambassador of Boogie
They still make these also,just sayin
These make me horny
stringtree
Well-Known Member
No doubt I would want the one in the pic too!
They are different.
I think Sweetwater is the only one I know of that gives the SN in the pics.
So the guitar you see is the same one you get.
Be nice if all retailers did some kind of number system to assure one gets what one sees.
Gahr
Ambassador of Blues & Brews
I think the color is very nice, but I prefer the lighter Junior. I don't know about the thickness of the lacquer. Are you sure it is not simply the color covering the grain of the wood?Blimey, I'd love a 68 with batwing, maybe in white or black - super cool!
Thanks, SG John - you have such lovely SGs, I always love your pics. I hope your new SG special works out fine for you.
Thanks, mate - but, what about the dog?
Thank you. Yeah, there's a lot to like, but they are just about the price of a 2019 SG std 61 (so Gibson could have least used a gold pearl inlay). I think, because of the dots with binding and the P90s) that I probably prefer this over a std. But, I would love a standard too!
Done in detail.
Gahr, what do you think about: 1) the colour; 2) the thickness of the lacquer?
Thanks Chas. I had a hangover this morning, was tired, was supposed to do a little trip to Japan today, but decided not to go...so when I first got it out of the case I was not blown away. But, as my mood has got better throughout the day, I'm liking the little beastie more and more - she's pretty cool.
Currently playing a rather cliched version of Hey Joe (badly)... :dood:
OP
Mr Grumpy
Ambassador of Comings and Goings
Me likely, very muchie...
I'm assuming that the bridge P90s are the same on both guitars? Can you remember enough about the Junior and compare the pickup distance to the strings on both guitars?
Is the resistance of the volume pots the same too?
If that certain somebody rubbed his junk against this lacquer he'd probably start a fire!
Are the bridge P90s the same? The obvious answer is yes, just a different housing, but they are very different sounding. The juniors bridge was more substantial and obviously angled which had it both around the same distance from the bridge and further away on the lowE side.
The wiring/pots are different; there's no orange drops (which were blue on the junior) going on in this circuit board. Now, we're into tone here, so this is conjecture/subjective, but my feeling is that the different bridge, the neck pickups magnetism, the thickness of lacquer and the circuit board probably all rob a tiny bit of tone - you can make up for it with amp settings, but the bridge pickups sound very very different to my ears.
OP
Mr Grumpy
Ambassador of Comings and Goings
Sounds gorgeous - I love those.
Thanks, Gball - it is a lovely little piece; not filth, sexy filth, like the junior, but cool nonetheless with its own personality.
I know what you're saying, and I agree, but there's also something else.
My guitar does look like the one in the stock photo, but it's so glossy I cannot get a picture to bring that across to you. You can see the wood, and a bit less lacquer would make it perfect, but my shots really exaggerate that. The wood is there, but the bastard is just soooooo reflective that I can't bring that across in pictures:
OP
Mr Grumpy
Ambassador of Comings and Goings
Thank you, Gentleman - I sent an email off to Thomann last night asking them for a new bridge; actually, I'd prefer them to refund some cash, so I can get a MojoAxe bridge like this one:
What makes me think it's the lacquer thickness is the obscuring of the serial number; you can see it's thick at that point. Also the weight, I suspect lacquer is much heavier than wood (I may be wrong here, I'm sure others will know for sure) and that's why the guitar is half a pound or so heavier than some sgs; it's still light and fine, just a lot heavier than the other SGs I've had.
The colour is really nice, it's a beautiful guitar in a different way from the junior and the solid body pelham blue special - it's just in the middle, a semi-solid colour?
SG John
Ambassador of Cool Guitars and Amps.
I installed that bridge on the SG Junior I made for my friend in London. It is excellent quality, and intonates well. I've been hoping to eventually get one of those for my '68 Junior. They also make an excellent tailpiece for '54 - '62 Juniors, Specials, and Standards (that used that tailpiece in '54 & '55). I want to put one of those on my '62 Special.